The true origin of the Book of Mormon

trtip

J

JOSEPH SMITH, Jr., THE "PROPHET.

The True Origin

The Book of Mormon

*

CHARLES A: SHOOK

Author of

CUMORAH REVISITED,
THE TRUE ORIGIN OF MORMON POLYGAMY

I

TLc nature of tbe message in tne Book of
Mormon is suck tnat, if true, no one can pos-
sibly be saved and reject it; if false, no one
can possibly be saved and receive it. Therefore
every soul in all tne world is equally interested
in ascertaining its truth or falsity.

— Orson Pratt,

Cincinnati, O.
The Standard Publishing Co.

Copyright, 1914
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING CO.

Illustrations

PAGE

JOSEPH SMITH, JR., THE PROPHET Frontispiece

TITLE-PAGE OF PALMYRA EDITION OF THE BOOK OF MORMON . . 8

HYRUM SMITH 22

TITLE-PAGE OF COWDERY'S TRACT 50

SIDNEY RIGDON 119

PARLEY PARKER PRATT 127

"HILL CUMORAH" 135

Contents

CHAPTER I. PACE

The Rise of Mormonism — The Historical Outline of the
Book of Mormon— The Proposition Stated I

CHAPTER II.

The Character of Joseph Smith — The Affidavit of Peter In-
gersoll— The Affidavit of Willard Chase— The Affidavit
of William Stafford— The Affidavit of Isaac Hale— The
Signed Statements of the Citizens of Palmyra and Man-
chester, New York — The Mormon Attempt to Exonerate
Smith 16

CHAPTER III.

The Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon— David Whit-
mer — Martin Harris — Oliver Cowdery 39

CHAPTER IV.

The Life of Solomon Spaulding — Spaulding's Roman Story
— The Fairchild-Rice-Smith Correspondence — A Mormon
Lie Nailed 62

CHAPTER V.

Mrs. Davison's Boston Recorder Letter— The Quincy Whig
Reply— Mrs. McKinstry's Affidavit 78

CHAPTER VI.

The "Manuscript Found"— Its Identity with the Book of
Mormon Established — The Testimony of John Spaulding,
Martha Spaulding, Henry Lake, John N. Miller, Aaron
Wright, Oliver Smith, Nahum Howard and Artemus

Cunningham 94

vii

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII. FAGS

The Testimony of Other Witnesses— Joseph Miller— Ruddick
McKee — Abner Jackson — The Mormon Admissions of
Genuineness — The Disclosures of J. C. Bennett 103

CHAPTER VIII.

Rigdon's Connection with the Spaulding Romance — His Re-
lations with J. Harrison Lambdin — Suspected of Stealing
the Manuscript — Exhibits the Manuscript — Foretells the
Coming Out of the Book of Mormon 116

CHAPTER IX.

Rigdon's Connection with Smith — The Pretended Conversion
of Rigdon — Rigdon's Previous Visits to Smith — The
Mormon Alibi — Katherine Salisbury's Affidavit 126

CHAPTER X.

Internal Proofs from Spaulding's First Manuscript that He
Was the Author of the Book of Mormon — Both Found
under a Stone — A Great Storm at Sea — The Great Spirit
—The Revolution of the Earth— The Use of the Horse—
The Manufacture of Iron — High Priests — The Seer-
stone 155

CHAPTER XI.

Mormon Objections Answered — Size of the Book of Mormon
— Style of the Book of Mormon — Character of the Book
of Mormon— Smith's Inability to Produce the Book of
Mormon — The Challenge to Produce the Original Man-
uscript— The Character of Hurlburt and Howe — Sup-
posed Contradictions in the "Manuscript Found" to the
Book of Mormon — Conclusion 167

Foreword

From the year 1834 to the present, the majority of
anti-Mormon polemics and writers have held to the view
presented in these pages that the Book of Mormon is
nothing more than Solomon Spaulding's "Manuscript
Found," revamped. Now and then one has been found
who has doubted or denied this theory, but, generally
speaking, it is the impregnable rock upon which the anti-
Mormon forces have taken their stand.

Having been raised in the Reorganized Mormon
Church, I was, from boyhood, taught that this claim is
a myth ; that the "Manuscript Found" had come to light
in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, in 1884, and that it bears
no resemblance, whatever, to the Book of Mormon. The
influence of this training followed me even after I had
apostatized, and for some years, in papers read before
ministerial associations and elsewhere, I denied the
Spaulding theory and attributed the Book of Mormon
to the joint work of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cow-
dery. In this position I was, later, confirmed by read-
ing the book, "Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism,"
by D. H. Bays (1897), whose views, I found, coincided
exactly with my own. It was not until a copy of A. T.
Schroeder's little booklet, "The Origin of the Book of
Mormon, Re-examined in Its Relation to Spaulding's
'Manuscript Found/ " fell into my hands that I began
to see the strong points in the Spaulding theory which I
had overlooked. Becoming convinced from the reading
of Schroeder's arguments that there was more to the
Spaulding theory than I had supposed, I set myself to
the task of collecting and analyzing the evidences with

is.

x FOREWORD

the result that I am as satisfied to-day that the Book of
Mormon originated in the brain of Solomon Spaulding,
the dreamer of Conneaut, as I am that "Thanatopsis"
originated in the brain of Bryant or "Evangeline" in the
brain of Longfellow.

The Mormons have not treated the position of their
opponents fairly in this controversy. They have started
out by assuming that the Honolulu manuscript is the
"Manuscript Found," and then have asserted that those
who oppose them claim that the Book of Mormon came
from it. But this is not true. From 1834, every op-
ponent of Mormonism, who has given due consideration
to the evidences in the case, has differentiated between
the manuscript discovered in Honolulu and the "Manu-
script Found," denying that the Book of Mormon came
from the former and claiming that it came from the
latter. The effort of the Mormons to confuse the public
mind on this point is strongly suggestive of the tactics
of the ink-fish, which, finding itself pursued by the enemy
and in sore straits, emits an inky fluid in order that it
may escape under its cover.

Already the claim has been made that my books have
been written with the view to lining my pockets. In
closing, I wish to brand this accusation as absolutely
false. Not one cent of profit or royalty from the sale of
this book will find its way into my wallet. The money
and labor expended upon it have been expended wholly
in the interests of truth and not with the thought of re-
muneration. Having become convinced myself that the
Book of Mormon is a monstrous fraud, I have felt it my
duty to present to the world the evidences which con-
vinced me of this fact. Hence this book.

CHARLES A. SHOOK.

EDDYVILLE, Neb., Jan. i, 1914.

The True Origin of tke
Book of Mormon

CHAPTER I.

The Rise of Mormonism — The Historical Outline of the Book
of Mormon — The Proposition Stated.

Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was born in the
village of Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, December
23, 1805. He was the fourth of ten children and was
reared in poverty, ignorance, bigotry and superstition.
When he was ten years of age, his father took the family
to western New York, where they settled at Palmyra,
in Ontario (now Wayne) County, four years afterward
removing to the village of Manchester, a few miles dis-
tant.

In the year 1820, Joseph became very much interested
in religion through the revivals that were conducted in
Manchester by the Methodists, Presbyterians and Bap-
tists, and, being somewhat perplexed to know just which
sect to join, he decided to petition the Lord for enlight-
enment. So, retiring to the forest, he made the matter
the subject of prayer. While he was praying, the Father
and the Son appeared to him in vision, told him that he
must join none of the existing sects, that their creeds
were an abomination, and that their professors were all
corrupt. When Joseph related this vision to one of the
Methodist preachers in his neighborhood, the preacher
told him that it was all of the devil and that there are

2 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

no such things nowadays, they having ceased with the
apostles.

Joseph received his second vision on the evening of
September 21, 1823. According to his account, he had
retired to bed and had betaken himself to prayer, when
his room was lighted with a heavenly light and a person-
age stood before him who gave his name as Moroni.*
Moroni told Joseph that he had come from the presence
of the Almighty ; that there was a work for him to do ;
that his name should go out among the people for both
good and evil, and that there was a set of gold plates
deposited which contained an account of the former in-
habitants of this continent, and with them two stones,
called the Urim and Thummim, by means of which they
were to be translated. The following day, Joseph re-
paired to the spot, which he had seen in vision and which
was on a hill near Manchester, where he found the plates
as represented. His description of their depository, the
manner of their burial and the events that occurred, is
as follows:

Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario County,
New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most
elevated of any in the neighborood. On the v/ect side of this
hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size,
lay the plates deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick
and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner toward
the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the
ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth.
Having removed the earth and obtained a lever which I got
fixed under the edge of the stone and with a little exertion
raised it up, I looked in and there indeed did I behold the
plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the Breast-plate, as stated
by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed
by laying stones together in some kind of cement ; in the bottom

1In the first account of this angel visit, the angel's name was given
Nephi.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 5

of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on
these stones lay the plates and other things with them.

I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by
the messenger and was again informed that the time for bring-
ing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would until four
years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that
place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would
there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until
the time should come for obtaining the plates. Accordingly as I
had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and at
each time I found the same messenger there, and received in-
struction and intelligence from him at each of our interviews
respecting what the Lord was going to do and how and in what
manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the last days. —
Church History (Josephite), Vol. I., p. 16.

In the month of October, 1825, Smith hired out to a
Mr. Josiah Stoal, or Stowell, of Chenango County, New
York, who took him to Harmony, Susquehanna County,
Pennsylvania, and set him to work digging for a lost
silver mine. During this time, he boarded with a man
by the name of Isaac Hale, and became deeply in love
with his daughter, Emma. The Hales were very much
opposed to his suit on account of his habits, and so he
finally eloped with Emma and was married to her at the
house of Squire Tarbill, in South Bainbridge, Chenango
County, New York, January 18, 1827.

On September 22, following, Smith received the
plates from the hands of the angel, being told that he
would be held responsible for their safe-keeping, and
that if he let them go through carelessness or neglect he
would be cut off. Joseph soon observed the need of
caution, for no sooner did his neighbors hear of his pre-
tensions than they began all manner of persecutions. This
made it necessary for him to leave Manchester, where he
had been living since his elopement, and he removed to
the home of his wife's parents in Harmony, Pennsylvania,

4 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

being assisted in a financial way by Mr. Martin Harris,
a wealthy farmer from near Palmyra, who gave him
fifty dollars.

Apostle Parley P. Pratt gives us the following de-
scription of the plates and the Urim and Thummim by
which they were translated:

These records were engraved on plates, which had the ap-
pearance of gold. Each plate was not far from seven by eight
inches in width and length, being not quite as thick as common
tin. They were filled on both sides with engravings, in Re-
formed Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume
as the leaves of a book, and fastened at the edge with three
rings running through the whole. This volume was something
near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The
characters or letters upon the unsealed part were small, and
beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks
of antiquity in its construction, as well as much skill in the
art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instru-
ment, called by the ancients the Urim and Thummim, which
consisted of two transparent stones, clear as crystal, set in two
rims of a bow. This was in use in ancient times by persons
called seers. It was an instrument by the use of which they
received revelation of things distant, or of things past or future.
— A Voice of Warning, p. 73.

In the month of February, 1828, Martin Harris came
to visit Smith at Harmony, and obtained from him a
transcript of characters from the plates, which he took
to New York and submitted to Dr. Mitchell and Pro-
fessor Anthon, two learned linguists of that city, for
their examination. Harris afterwards declared that An-
thon pronounced the characters to be Egyptian, Assyrian,
Chaldaic and Arabic, and said that Smith's translation
was correct, more so than any he had before seen from
the Egyptian.1

1 Anthon afterwards positively denied making any such statement, and
raid: "This paper was, in fact, a singular scrawl. It consisted of all kinds

THE BOOK OF MORMON 6

Harris returned to Palmyra, arranged his business
and then came to Harmony, where he began to write for
Joseph. Between April 12 and June 14, 1828, he suc-
ceeded in writing 116 pages of foolscap, which, with
Smith's permission, he carried home to Palmyra to read
to his wife. This manuscript came up missing, and it
afterwards leaked out that Mrs. Harris in a rage had
burned it. For his carelessness, Harris lost his place as
Smith's scribe and Joseph was told that he need not
translate that portion of the record again.1

The work of translation was now interrupted until
April 15, 1829, when Oliver Cowdery appeared on the
scene. He had been a schoolteacher in the Smith neigh-
borhood in New York, and, hearing of Joseph's claims
from his parents, he had come down to Harmony to visit
him. On the I7th of April, following, the work of trans-
lation was resumed, and continued without further in-
terruption until it was completed. David Whitmer gives
the following description of the manner in which the
plates were translated:

I will now giye you a description of the manner in which
the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put
the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing
it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the
darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something

of crooked characters disposed in columns, and had evidently been pre-
pared by some person who had before him a book containing various
alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters
inverted or placed sideways, were arranged in perpendicular columns, and
the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle divided into various
compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently copied
after the Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way
as not to betray the source whence it was derived." — History of Mor-
monism, p. 271.

1 "Behold, I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those
words, which have gone forth out of your hands; for, behold, they shall
not accomplish their evil designs in lying against those words." — Doctring
and Covenants, 3: 6.

« THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

resembling parchment would appear; and on that appeared the
writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it
was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read
off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe,
and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph
to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another
character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the
Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God,
and not by any power of man. — Whitmer's Address, p. I2.1

On the 1 5th of the following month, John the Bap-
tist appeared and ordained Smith and Cowdery to the
Aaronic priesthood, after which, by the Baptist's com-
mand, they baptized and reordained each other.

Soon after Smith's arrival in Harmony, he formed
the acquaintance of Peter Whitmer, of Fayette, Seneca
County, New York, and in the month of June following
his ordination, Whitmer's son, David, came to visit him
and urgently invited him to accompany him home and
remain until the translation should be finished. Smith
acceded, and from this time, until their apostasy in 1838,
the Whitmers were among his staunchest friends and
most devoted disciples.

During the course of the translation, it was ascer-
tained that the Lord intended to provide three special
witnesses who were to have the privilege of viewing the
plates. Almost immediately after this discovery, Oliver
Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris requested
Joseph to inquire of the Lord if they might not be these
special witnesses. Joseph did so, and through the Urim
and Thummim received a favorable answer, upon which
they all retired to the forest, where, after fervent and

1 If the characters were interpreted for Smith upon the seer-stone, upon
what principle was he a translator? Would not this, also, make the
Almighty responsible for every grammatical and rhetorical error in the
book? If not, why not?

THE BOOK OF MORMON 7

humble prayer, the plates were shown to them by the
angel. Their testimony follows :

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people,
unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace
of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the
plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people
of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also
of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which
hath been spoken; and we also know that they have been trans-
lated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath de-
clared it unto us: wherefore we know of a surety, that the
work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the en-
gravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown
unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare
with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down
from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we
beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we
know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord
Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear ^record that these things
are true; and it is marvelous in our eyes, nevertheless, the
voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record
of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of
God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if
we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood
of all men, an^ be found spotless before the judgment-seat of
Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens.
And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

OLIVER COWDERY,
DAVID WHITMER,
MARTIN HARRIS.

Soon after this, the following testimony was obtained
from eight other witnesses who had been permitted to
view the plates :

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people,
unto whom this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, Jr., the
translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which
hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as
many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated, we did
(2)

8 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

handle with our hands : and we also saw the engravings thereon,
all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious
workmanship. And this we bear record with words of sober-
ness, that the said Smith hath shown unto us, for we have seen
and hefted, and know of a surety, that the said Smith has
got the plates of which we have spoken. And we give our
names unto the world to witness unto the world that which
we have seen; and we lie not, God bearing witness of it.

CHRISTIAN WHITMER. HIRAM PAGE.

JACOB WHITMER. JOSEPH SMITH, Sen.

PETER WHITMER, Jr. HYRUM SMITH.

JOHN WHITMER. SAMUEL H. SMITH.

When Smith and Cowdery had been ordained to the
Aaronic priesthood, John the Baptist informed them that
if they would continue faithful, they would also be ad-
mitted into the Melchisedec, or higher, priesthood of
which Peter, James and John held the keys. They now
became anxious to have this promise fulfilled, and so
made their desire the subject of fervent prayer. At
length, while tarrying before the Lord in a chamber in
Whitmer's house, the word of the Lord came to them
commanding Joseph to ordain Oliver, and Oliver Joseph,
to the eldership of the Church of Jesus Christ.

When the translation of the Book of Mormon was
completed, the copyright was secured, June n, 1829, by
Joseph Smith, "Author and Proprietor." The work of
publication, which occupied seven months,1 was let out to
Mr. Egbert Grandin, of Palmyra, New York, who agreed
to print five thousand copies for the sum of three thou-
sand dollars. Martin Harris, one of the three witnesses,
furnished the means for the publication of this edition,
and J. H. Gilbert, whose name will be frequently men-
tioned in the pages of this book, set the type.

1 Letter of J. H. Gilbert to Th. Gregg, dated at Palmyra, New York,
December 30, 1884.

THE

BOOK OF MORMON

ACCOUNT WRITTEN BY THE HAND OP MOR-
MON, UPON PLATES TAKEN FROM
THE PLATES OF NEPIfl.

Wherefore it is *n abridgment of the Record of the People of Nepiu ; a»d also .of
the LarrtwMtes ; written to the Lamaitite*. 'which area remnant of the House of
Israel ; and aiso to Jew iwtd tjenttie ; .written br way of commandment, and also
by thf spirit >->f prajiliesy and of Revelation. Written, and aealedttp, and hid
up unto the LORD, tnat they mi^ht naf be destroyed ; to ccaje forth by the gifi
and power of Gof>. unto the interpretation thereof; sealed bv the hand of Moro-
ni, aid hid u;> unto the LORD, to come forth ia doe tinse by the way of Gentile;
i!>t- totfrpretatton thereof by the gift of Goo ; an abridgment taken from the
Hook of Kther, • •

Aiso, which i* a Recofd of the People of Jared, whieh were scattered ai the time
t?m LOBD confounded the language of the jwofde when th«y were buUdiojt *
t,-#«r to frt to Hearen : which is to shew unto the remnant of the House, of
I-<f!»i>! how great things the LORD bath done for theii fathers; and thai they may
k?ur,v tUV covenants of the LORB, that tfiey are not cast off forever ; and a!*»o to
tin' convin':m? of the /«w and Genti?« tha* JESPS ia the CHRIST, the ETKH.VAL
(rfiD, ut'inissstifig Himself unto ail nations. Ami ««w if there be fault, it b»» the
<t.ist*ke of men; wherefore condemn not the things of C»oj>, thai ye mo y be
found spotless ai the judgment seat of CHKUT.

BY JOSEPH SMITH, .f U.\IOK,

AUTHOR AND PROPRIETOR*

PALMYRA:

PRWTPD BY B. B,.GRANniN, FOR. THE AUTHOR,
1830.

FACSIMILE <>r Tni.K-i'Ar.i. i»i- FIKST KDITION oi: MUKM«>-> • . .
TITLE-PAGE PALMYRA EDITION OF THE BOOK
OF MORMON.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 9

On April 6, 1830, the "Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints" was organized at Fayette, Seneca
County, New York, with six members, Joseph Smith,
Oliver Cowdery, Samuel Smith, Hyrum Smith, David
Whitmer and Peter Whitmer; Joseph Smith and Oliver
Cowdery becoming elders of the same.

This, in brief, is the history of the rise of Mormonism
as given by the Mormons themselves. It is one of the
strangest phenomena of human history that a story so
absurd and foundationless, and one in which the repu-
table citizens of Smith's own neighborhood placed not
the least bit of credence, should be accepted as a truthful
account of what actually happened, by hundreds of thou-
sands of people. It must be because men love darkness
rather than light and fiction rather than fact.

THE HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

Turning our attention now to the Book of Mormon
as a reputed sacred history of ancient America, we find
that it is written on the plan of the Bible and is divided
into fifteen different books, as follows : I Nephi, 2 Nephi,
Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Words of Mormon, Mosiah,
Alma, Helaman, Nephi, Disciple of Nephi, Mormon,
Ether and Moroni. Historically, these books cover a
period of about twenty-six centuries and describe two
distinct nations of people, the Jaredites and Nephites;
the Book of Ether being an abridged history of the
former, the other fourteen of the latter.

The first people to inhabit America, according to the
Book of Mormon, were the Jaredites, who came from
the tower of Babel under Jared and his brother, the
latter a prophet of the Lord. Leaving Babel, the Jared-
ites are said to have journeyed northward into Armenia
and from there westward over southern Europe to Spain,

10 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

the Book of Mormon land of Moriancumer. Here they
dwelt on the seashore for four years, at the close of
which time they put to sea in eight cigar-shaped barges," *
and landed, after a voyage of 344 days, upon "the east
coast of Central America, near the mouth of the river
Motagua." — Report of Committee on American Archaol-

°gy> p- 70.'

Here they are said to have founded a government, to
have built large cities (the ruins of which still remain),
to have practiced the arts and customs of an advanced
civilization, and to have settled the adjacent country.

From Central America, the Jaredites are said to
have spread their borders northward until, finally, they
included within their boundaries all of the territory of
the present United States. Many Mormon writers iden-
tify them with the mythical "Mound Builders," and at-
tribute the earthworks of the Mississippi and Ohio Val-
leys to their construction, a theory that is nullified by
the more recent archaeological researches, which make it
necessary to identify the "Mound Builders" with oui
Indian tribes.8

After dwelling here for about sixteen hundred years,
spreading over the extensive country mentioned and suf-

1 "And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even
like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water: and they were built
after a manner that they were exceeding tight, even that they would hold
water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish;
and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof
were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length
thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut,
was tight like unto a dish." — Ether, i : 5.

a This committee was appointed at the General Conference of the Re-
organized Church, held at Lamoni, Iowa, April 6-19, 1894, for the purpose
of outlining and preparing a map of Book of Mormon history.

•See Chapter VI. of my "Cumorah Revisited; or, The Book of Mor-
mon, and the Claims of the Mormons, Re-examined, from the Viewpoint of
American Archaeology and Ethnology," for a full discussion of the ques-
tion of the nationality of the Mound Builders.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 11

faring from dissensions and revolts, the Jaredites came
to an end in civil war in a battle fought about 600 B. C.
at "Hill Ramah" in western New York, in which thou-
sands were slain in a few days, only two escaping —
Coriantumr, one of the generals, and Ether, a prophet
of the Lord. The former was afterward discovered
by the people of Zarahemla and dwelt with them "nine
moons ;" Ether wrote a history of his people on a set of
plates and hid them in such a manner that they were
afterwards discovered by their successors. This, in brief,
is the history of the first colony of immigrants to reach
our shores as given in the Book of Mormon.

The book further claims that in the first year of the
reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, there was dwelling at
Jerusalem a prophet and righteous man by the name of
Lehi. Lehi had four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam and
Nephi, and, as the wickedness of the city was great, he
was commanded to take them and his wife, Saraiah, and
depart into the wilderness. After their departure, the
sons returned to Jerusalem at two different times, first
to obtain a set of brass plates which contained the gen-
ealogy of their' fathers, and, second, to induce the family
of Ishmael to join them.

After eight years, by the command of God, this little
company, now augmented by the addition of Ishmael's
family, built a ship and launched out into the Indian
Ocean, committing themselves to the care of God. The
voyage was a stormy one, but, notwithstanding this, they
successfully crossed the sea, and, in due time, landed "on
the coast of Chili, not far from the thirtieth degree, south
latitude." — Report of Committee on American Archceol-
ogy, p. 11.

Here, they found all manner of beasts — the cow, ox,
ass, horse, goat and wild goat; also such ores as gold,

12 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

silver, iron and copper. Nephi began at once to keep a
record of his people, and for this purpose he made a set
of plates and began to engrave thereon their history in
the "Reformed Egyptian" * language. In course of time,
Lehi died and the company broke up into two contending
factions, the Nephites and Lamanites, named from his
two sons, Nephi and Laman. The Nephites were enlight-
ened and civilized ; the Lamanites degenerated into com-
mon savages — they were the ancestors of our Indians.

Sometime after the division, the Nephites moved
northward into what is now Colombia and Venezuela,
their land of Zarahemla, where they found a colony of
people called the Mulekites or Zarahemlaites, who had
come over from Jerusalem about the time of its destruc-
tion by Nebuchadnezzar, under Mulek, one of the sons
of Zedekiah. From this time onward, the Nephites and
Zarahemlaites were one people.

Being a prolific people, and having their numbers in-
creased by the addition of the Zarahemlaites, the Nephites
now sent out colonies into Central America and Mexico
and, finally, into the United States, so that in the short
space of one thousand years from the time of their land-
ing upon American soil, and notwithstanding their wars
with the Lamanites, they inhabited the whole of North
America as far to the northward, at least, as the Great
Lakes.

But at last they met their downfall. Drunken with
the pride of their wonderful achievements, they had for-
gotten God, and with this forget fulness came national
deterioration, so that they fell an easy prey to their in-
veterate foes, the Lamanites. Near "Hill Cumorah"

1 This has been verbally objected to, it being claimed that the "Re-
formed Egyptian" was not invented until later, but see "Joseph the Seer,"
p. 145, where Elder Blair coincides with my statement.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 13

(the same as the Jaredite "Ramah") in western New
York, the decisive battle was fought about 400 A. D., and
the Nephite people were nearly all exterminated. Most
of those who escaped, "dissented" to the Lamanites, and
from them, it is thought, have come the tribes of "white
Indians." * Moroni, a prince of royal blood who did
not "dissent," hid himself from his enemies, and, in the
year 420 A. D., finished the record of his people upon the
plates and deposited them in "Hill Cumorah," where they
were discovered by Joseph Smith on the twenty-second
day of September, 1823.

This is, substantially, the historical account of the
Book of Mormon. Wild and weird as it is, it has ap-
pealed to those of a dreamy, visionary nature with mar-
velous effectiveness. And the Mormon churches are
largely made up of the dreamy, visionary class. If you
take the dream and vision out of Mormonism, you will
have but very little left.8

THE PROPOSITION STATED.

Since about the year 1832, it has been asserted by the
opponents of, Mormonism that, instead of being a true
and authentic history of the ancient inhabitants of Amer-
ica, the Book of Mormon is, in fact, a story written by
the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, a Congregational8 clergy-
man, for the purpose of whiling away the hours of his
poor health and providing him the means of paying his
debts. Although all anti-Mormon writers and polemics

1 "White Indians" is a misnomer. No such Indians, strictly speaking,
ever existed. The term is applied to the lighter tribes of the American race.

2 This is more apparent to one who has been in the faith than to an
outsider. The child that is raised a strict Mormon is taught to carefully
regard his dreams. Visions that, to ordinary people, are the effects of a
disordered stomach or overworked nerves, are to the good Mormon the
voice of the Lord.

8 Or Presbyterian.

14 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

have not adopted this view,1 it is the one most usually
relied upon to account for the origin of the book, and,
when understood, is one of the most effective arguments
that can be brought to bear against the delusion.

The Spaulding theory is, briefly, this: About 1809,
Solomon Spaulding, who was then living at Conneaut,
or New Salem, Ohio, became very much interested in the
aboriginal works of the country and began to write
romances based upon them. One of these, which de-
scribed a colony of Jews who came over from Jerusalem
under the leadership of Lehi and Nephi, he entitled "The
Manuscript Found." In 1812, Spaulding removed from
Conneaut to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and put this man-
uscript in the hands of one Robert Patterson, for publica-
tion. Patterson had an employe by the name of J. Har-
rison Lambdin, who, in turn, had a friend by the name
of Sidney Rigdon, who frequently lounged around the
printing-office. The manuscript, at length, came up miss-
ing, and Rigdon was suspected of the theft. This sus-
picion was afterwards confirmed by the fact that he ex-
hibited such a manuscript which he said had been written
by a preacher by the name of Spaulding. This manu-
script, it is claimed, Rigdon worked over, and, through
the assistance of Smith and Cowdery, palmed off upon
the religious world as a new revelation from God, the
Book of Mormon.

Of course the Mormons strenuously deny any con-
nection whatever between the Book of Mormon and "The
Manuscript Found," declaring that the latter was dis-
covered in the possession of Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu,

1 Chief of these is the Rev. D. H. Bays, now deceased, who, after
serving as a missionary in the Reorganized Church for twenty-seven
years, apostatized and wrote his "Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism,"
in which he denies the above position.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 15

Sandwich Islands, in 1884, and that, upon comparison,
it is shown to be entirely different from the former. The
Brighamite paper, the Deseret News, for July 19, 1900,
says:

The discovery of the manuscript written by Mr. Spaulding
and its depoeit in the Library at Oberlin College, Ohio, . . .
has so completely demolished the theory once relied upon by
superficial minds that the Book of Mormon was concocted from
that manuscript, that it has been entirely abandoned by all
opponents of Mormonism, except the densely ignorant or un-
scrupulously dishonest.

I deny the charge. The opponent of Mormonism,
who holds to the theory that the Book of Mormon orig-
inated in Spaulding's "The Manuscript Found," is neither
"densely ignorant" nor "unscrupulously dishonest." The
Honolulu manuscript is not now, and never has been,
"The Manuscript Found," but another manuscript, upon
an entirely different subject, which was written before
Spaulding began his Jewish story. It never was claimed
that the Book of Mormon originated in the manuscript
found in the Sandwich Islands. That manuscript was
known of and was described by the opponents of Mor-
monism as earty as 1834, but it was expressly denied that
it had any connection, whatever, with the Book of Mor-
mon. The "densely ignorant" and "unscrupulously dis-
honest" are the Mormons who purposely confuse the
public mind by confounding these manuscripts and speak-
ing of them as one and the same.

16 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

CHAPTER II.

The Character of Joseph Smith— The Affidavit of Peter Inger-
soll— The Affidavit of Willard Chase— The Affidavit of
William Stafford— The Affidavit of Isaac Hale— The Signed
Statements of the Citizens of Palmyra and Manchester, New
York — The Mormon Attempt to Exonerate Smith.

The early life of Joseph Smith was spent in an en-
vironment of superstition and deception that peculiarly
fitted him for the part that he was afterwards to play
as the prophet of "the new dispensation." His father
before him was a man of questionable veracity and indo-
lent habits, who spent a considerable part of his time in
"witching" with a hazel rod,1 or practicing other cere-
monies of a like mysterious nature, in order that he might
discover lost mines and buried treasures; while his
mother was a common fortune-teller, who turned many a
penny by tracing in the lines of the open palm the fortune

1The "rod" was almost as much of an essential part of the para-
phernalia of early Mormonism as the seer-stone. In a revelation given to
Oliver Cowdery at Harmony, Pennsylvania, April, 1829, I find the follow-
ing: "O, remember these words and keep my commandments. Remember
this is your gift. Now this is not all, for you have another gift, which
is the gift of working with the rod: behold, it has told you things: behold,
there is no other power save God, that can cause this rod of nature to work
in your hands, for it is the work of God; and therefore whatsoever you
shall ask me to tell you by that means, that will I grant unto you, that
you shall know." This appears in the "Book of Commandments" 7:3,
but, as it smacked too much of superstition and dark practices, it was
subsequently disguised in the "Doc. and Cov." 8:3, to read: "O, remem-
ber these words, and keep my commandments! Remember this is your
gift. Now, this is not all thy gift, for you have another gift, which is the
gift of Aaron; behold, it has told you many things; behold, there is no
other power save the power of God that can cause this gift of Aaron to
be with you; therefore doubt not, for it is the gift of God, and you shall
hold it in your hands and do marvellous works; and no power shall bo
able to take it away out of your hands, for it is the work of God."

THE BOOK OF MORMON 17

of the inquirer.1 With these examples before him, there
is little wonder that, in the earlier years of his life,
Joseph easily fell into questionable habits and engaged
in dark practices, or that later he became one of the
prime deceivers in the fraud of Mormonism.

As the foregoing characteristics of the Smith family
were well known throughout their immediate neighbor-
hood, and even in that vicinity for miles around, they
were not very successful in obtaining, among their ac-
quaintances, adherents to their peculiar religious claims
and beliefs. Not a single man of wealth or influence,
from either Palmyra or Manchester, excepting Martin
Harris, ever joined their standard. The few from that
locality, outside of Harris, who followed the Smiths into
the Mormon delusion, were all of the lower strata and
were largely pals of their midnight mysteries.

At first, Joseph began his deceptions on a small scale
and contented himself with simply "peeping" for hidden
treasures, but, being phenomenally successful in this
small way, he conceived the idea of launching out in a
more colossal deception, and, through the assistance of
Rigdon, Cowdsry, Pratt and others, Mormonism was the
result. And, as he found a few who bit at the bait of the
"money-digger," he has also found many who have bitten
at the bait of the "prophet."

When Smith first promulgated the claim that he had
found and deciphered the golden plates, his story was
treated with silent contempt by the majority of his ac-
quaintances. Knowing his poor reputation for veracity
at home, they supposed that his tale would find few
believers abroad. But, when the Mormons had left New
York and had become settled at Kirtland, Ohio, and hun-

*Mrs. Dr. Horace Eaton in "Hand-book on Mormonism," p. i.

18 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

dreds had begun to flock to their standard, they saw the
necessity of doing something to counteract the influence
of the delusion, and so gave to the world, in the form of
affidavits and signed statements, what they knew of the
eccentricities and poor practices of the Smith family.

A number of these affidavits and statements were pub-
lished in Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," of 1834, and
are copied here for the purpose of giving the reader a
true history of the early operations of the Smiths and
also showing that Joseph was not above being a party
to the transformation of one of Spaulding's novels into
a "truthful" and "divine" history of the ancient inhab-
itants of America.

THE AFFIDAVIT OF PETER INGERSOLL.

PALMYRA, Wayne County, N. Y., Dec. 2, 1833.

I, Peter Ingersoll, first became acquainted with the family
of Joseph Smith, Sen., in the year of our Lord, 1822. I lived
in the neighborhood of said family, until about 1830; during
which time the following facts came under my observation.

The general employment of the family, was digging for
money. I had frequent invitations to join the company, but
always declined being one of their number. They used various
arguments to induce me to accept of their invitations. I was
once ploughing near the house of Joseph Smith, Sen., about
noon, he requested me to walk with him a short distance from
his house, for the purpose of seeing whether a mineral rod
would work in my hand, saying, at the same time, he was
confident it would. As my oxen were eating, and being myself
at leisure, I accepted the invitation. When we arrived near
the place at which he thought there was money, he cut a small
witch-hazel bush, and gave me direction how to hold it. He
then went off some rods, and told me to say to the rod, "Work
to the money," which I did in an audible voice. He rebuked
me severely for speaking it loud, and said it must be spoken in
a whisper. This was rare sport for me. While the old man was
standing off some rods, throwing himself into various shapes,
I told him the rod did not work. He seemed much surprised at

THE BOOK OF MORMON 19

this, and said he thought he saw it move in my hand. It was
now time for me to return to my labor. On my return, I
picked up a small stone and was carelessly tossing it from one
hand to the other. Said he, (looking very earnestly,) "What
are you going to do with that stone?" "Throw it at the birds,"
I replied. "No," said the old man. "it is of great worth;" and
upon this I gave it to him. "Now," says he, "if you only knew
the value there is back of my house," and pointing to a place
near, "there," exclaimed he, "is one chest of gold and another of
silver." He then put the stone which I had given him into his
hat, and stooping forward, he bowed and made sundry ma-
noeuvres, quite similar to those of a stool-pigeon. At length,
he took down his hat, and, being very much exhausted, said, in
a faint voice, "If you knew what I had seen, you would be-
lieve." To see the old man thus try to impose upon me, I
confess, rather had a tendency to excite contempt than pity.
Yet I thought it best to conceal my feelings, preferring to appear
the dupe of my credulity, than to expose myself to his resent-
ment. His son Alvin then went through with the same per-
formance, which was equally disgusting.

Another time, the said Joseph, Sen., told me that the best
time for digging money, was in the hsat of summer, when the
heat of the sun caused the chests of money to rise near the
top of the ground. "You notice," said he, "the large stones
on the top of the ground — we call them rocks, and they truly
appear so, but they are, in fact, most of them chests of money
raised by the heat of the sun."

At another time, he told me that the ancient inhabitants of
this country used camels instead of horses. For proof of this
fact, he stated that in a certain hill, on the farm of Mr. Cuyler,
there was a cave containing an immense value of gold and sil-
ver, stands of arms, also, a saddle for a camel, hanging on a
peg, at one side of the cave. I asked him of what kind of
wood the peg was. He could not tell, but said it had become
similar to stone or iron.

The old man, at last, laid a plan which he thought would
accomplish his design. His cows and mine had been gone for
sometime, and were not to be found, notwithstanding our dili-
gent search for them. Day after day was spent in fruitless
search, until, at length, he proposed to find them by his art

20 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

of divination. So he took his stand near the corner of his
house, with a small stick in his hand, and made several strange
and peculiar motions, and then said he could go directly to the
cows. So he started off, and went into the woods, about one
hundred rods distant, and found the lost cows. But, on finding
out the secret of the mystery, Harrison had found the cows,
and drove them to the above-named place, and milked them.
So that his stratagem turned out rather more to his profit than
it did to my edification. The old man, finding that all his
efforts to make me a money-digger had proved abortive, at
length ceased his importunities. One circumstance, however, I
will mention, before leaving him. Sometime before young
Joseph found, or pretended to find, the gold plates, the old man
told me that in Canada, there had been a book found, in a
hollow tree, that gave an account of the first settlment of this
country, before it was discovered by Columbus.

In the month of August, 1827, I was hired by Joseph Smith,
Jr., to go to Pennsylvania, to move his wife's household furni-
ture up to Manchester, where his wife then was. When we ar-
rived at Mr. Male's in Harmony, Pa., from which place he had
taken his wife, a scene presented itself truly affecting. His
father-in-law (Mr. Hale) addressed Joseph, in a flood of tears:
"You have stolen my daughter, and married her. I had much
rather have followed her to her grave. You spend your time
in digging for money — pretend to see in a stone and thus try
to deceive people." Joseph wept, and acknowledged he could
not see in a stone now, nor never could; and that his former*
pretensions in that respect, were all false. He then promised
to give up his old habits of digging for money and looking
into stones. Mr. Hale told Joseph, if he would move to Penn-
sylvania and work for a living, he would assist him in getting
into business. Joseph acceded to this proposition. I then
returned with Joseph and his wife to Manchester. One cir-
cumstance occurred, on the road, worthy of notice, and I be-
lieve this is the only instance where Joe ever exhibited true
Yankee wit. On our journey to Pennsylvania, we could not
make the exact change at the toll gate near Ithaca. Joseph
told the gate tender that he would "hand" him the toll on his
return, as he was coming back in a few days. On our return,
Joseph tendered to him 25c, the toll being i2l/2. He did not

THE BOOK OF MORMON 21

recognize Smith, so he accordingly gave him back I2l/£c, After
we had passed the gate, I asked him if he did not agree
to pay double gateage on our return? "No," said he, "I agreed
to hand it to him, and I did, but he handed it back again."

Joseph told me, on his return, that he intended to keep
the promise which he had made to his father-in-law; "but,"
said he, "it will be hard for me, for they will all oppose, as
they want me to look in the stone for them to dig money."
And, in fact, it was as he predicted. They urged him, day after
day, to resume his old practice of looking in the stone. He
seemed much perplexed as to the course he should pursue. In
this dilemma, he made me his confident, and told me what
daily transpired in the family of Smiths. One day he came
and greeted me, with a joyful countenance. Upon asking the
cause of his unusual happiness, he replied in the following lan-
guage: "As I was passing, yesterday, across the woods, after a
heavy shower of rain, I found, in a hollow, some beautiful white
sand, that had been washed up by the water. I took off my
frock, and tied up several quarts of it and then went home.
On my entering the house, I found the family at the table,
eating dinner. They were all anxious to know the contents
of my frock. At that moment, I happened to think of what I
had heard about a history found in Canada, called the golden
Bible; so I very gravely told them it was the golden Bible.
To my surprise, they were credulous enough to believe what
I said. Accordingly I told them that I had received a com-
mandment to let no one see it; for, says I, no man can see
it with the naked eye and live. However, I offered to take
out the book and show it to them, but they refused to see it,

and left the room. Now," said Joe, "I have got the d d

fools fixed, and will carry out the fun." Notwithstanding, he
told me he had no such book, and believed there never was
any such book, yet, he told me that he actually went to Willard
Chase, to get him to make a chest, in which he might deposit his
golden Bible. But, as Chase would not do it, he made a box
himself, of clapboards, and put it into a pillow-case, and allowed
people only to lift it, and feel of it through the case.

In the fall of 1827, Joseph wanted to go to Pennsylvania.
His brother-in-law had come to assist him in moving, but he
himself was out of money. He wished to borrow the money

22 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

of me, and he presented Mr. Hale as security. I told him in
case he could obtain assistance from no other source, I would
let him have some money. Joseph then went to Palmyra; and,
said he, "I there met that d - n fool Martin Harris, and told
him that I had a command to ask the first honest man I met
with for fifty dollars in money, and he would let me have it.
I saw at once," said Joe, "that it took his notion, for he
promptly gave me the fifty."

Joseph thought this sum was sufficient to bear his expenses to
Pennsylvania; so he immediately started off, and since that time
I have not been, much in his society. While the Smiths were
living at Waterloo, William visited my neighborhood; and,
upon my inquiry how they came on, he replied, "We do better
there than here; we were too well known here to do much."

PETER INGERSOLL.
STATE OF NEW YORK,

Wayne County. SS'

I certify, that on this gth day of December, 1833, personally
appeared before me the above-named Peter Ingersoll, to me
known, and made oath, according to law, to the truth of the
above statement. TH. P. BALDWIN,

Judge of Wayne County Court

THE AFFIDAVIT OF WILLARD CHASE.

MANCHESTER, Ontario County, New York, 1833.
I became acquainted with the Smith family, known as the
authors of the Mormon Bible, in the year 1820. At that time,
they were engaged in the money-digging business, which they
followed until the latter part of the season of 1827. In the
year 1822 I was engaged in digging a well. I employed Alvin
and Joseph Smith to assist me; the latter of whom is now
known as the Mormon Prophet. After digging about twenty
feet below the surface of the earth, we discovered a singularly
appearing stone, which excited my curiosity. I brought it to the
top of the well, and as we were examining it, Joseph put it
into his hat, and then his face into the top of his hat. It
has been said by Smith, that he brought the stone from the
well; but this is false. There was no one in the well but
myself. The next morning he came to me and wished to
obtain the stcne, alleging that he could see in it; but I told

HYRUM SMITH.

THE BOOK OP MORMON 23

him I did not wish to part with it, on account of its being a
curiosity, but would lend it. After obtaining the stone, he
began to publish abroad what wonders he could discover by
looking in it, and made so much disturbance among the credu-
lous part of the community, that I ordered the stone to be re-
turned to me again. He had it in his possession about two
years. I believe, some time in 1825, Hiram Smith (brother of
Joseph Smith) came to me, and wished to borrow the same
stone, alleging that they wanted to accomplish some business of
importance, which could not very well be done without the aid
of the stone. I told him it was of no particular worth to me,
but merely wished to keep it as a curiosity, and if he would
pledge me his word and honor that I should have it when
called for, he might take it; which he did, and took the stone.
I thought I could rely on his word at this time, as he had
made a profession of religion. But in this I was disappointed,
for he disregarded both his word and honor.

In the fall of 1826, a friend called upon me, and wished to
see that stone, about which so much had been said; and I told
him, if he would go with me to Smith's, (a distance of about
half a mile,) he might see it. But, to my surprise, on going
to Smith's, and asking him for the stone, he said, "You cannot
have it;" I told him it belonged to me, repeated to him the
promise he made me, at the time of obtaining the stone: upon
which he faced me with a malignant look, and said, "I don't
care who in the devil it belongs to, you shall not have it."

In the month of June, 1827, Joseph Smith, Sen., related to
me the following story: "That some years ago, a spirit had ap-
peared to Joseph his son, in a vision, and informed him that in
a certain place there was a record on plates of gold, and that he
was the person that must obtain them, arid this he must do in
the following manner: On the 22d of September, he must re-
pair to the place where was deposited this manuscript, dressed
in black clothes, and riding a black horse with a switch tail,
and demand the book in a certain name, and after obtaining it
he must go directly away, and neither lay it down nor look
behind him. They accordingly fitted out Joseph with a suit of
black clothes and borrowed a black horse. He repaired to the
place of deposit and demanded the book which was in a stone
box, unsealed, and so near the top of the ground that he could

(3)

24 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

see one end of it, and raising it up, took out the book of gold;
but fearing some one might discover where he got it, he laid
it down to place back the top stone as he found it; and turning
round, to his surprise there was no book in sight. He again
opened the box, and in it saw the book, and attempted to take
it out, but was hindered. He saw in the box something like a
toad which soon assumed the appearance of a man, and struck
him on the side of his head. Not being discouraged at trifles,
he again stooped down and strove to take the book, when the
spirit struck him again, and knocked him three or four rods
and hurt him prodigiously. After recovering from his fright, he
inquired why he could not obtain the plates; to which the spirit
made reply, "Because you have not obeyed your orders." He
then inquired when he could have them, and was answered thus i
Come one year from this day, and bring with you your oldest
brother, and you shall have them. This spirit, he said, was
the spirit of the prophet who wrote this book, and who was
sent to Joseph Smith, to make known these things to him.
Before the expiration of the year, his oldest brother died;
which the old man said was an accidental providence!

Joseph went one year from that day, to demand the book,
and the spirit inquired for his brother, and he said that he was
dead. The spirit then commanded him to come again, in just
one year, and bring a man with him. On asking who might be
the man, he was answered that he would know him when he
saw him.

Joseph believed that one Samuel T. Lawrence was the man
alluded to by the spirit, and went with him to a singular look-
ing hill, in Manchester, and showed him where the treasure
was. Lawrence asked him if he had ever discovered anything
with the plates of gold; he said no; he then asked him to look
in his stone, to see if there was anything with them. He
looked, and said there was nothing; he told him to look again,
and see if there was not a large pair of specs with the plates;
he looked and soon saw a pair of spectacles, the same with
which Joseph says he translated the Book of Mormon. Law-
rence told him it would not be prudent to let these plates be
seen for about two years, as it would make a great disturbance
in the neighborhood. Not long after this Joseph altered his
mind, and said L. was not the right man, nor had he told him

THE BOOK OF MORMON 25

the right place. About this time he went to Harmony in Penn-
sylvania, and formed an acquaintance with a young lady by the
name of Emma Hale, whom he wished to marry. -In the fall
of 1826 he wanted to go to Pennsylvania to be married; but
being destitute of means, he now set his wits to work how he
should raise money, and get recommendations, to procure the
fair one of his choice. He went to Lawrence with the following
story, as related to me by Lawrence himself. That he had
discovered in Pennsylvania, on the bank of the Susquehanna
River, a very rich mine of silver, and if he would go there
with him, he might have a share in the profits ; that it was near
high-water mark, and that they could load it into boats and take
it down the river to Philadelphia, to market. Lawrence then
asked Joseph if he was not deceiving him; no, said he, for I
have been there and seen it with mine own eyes, and if you do
not find it so when we get there, I will bind myself to be your
servant for three years. By these grave and fair promises
Lawrence was induced to believe something in it, and agreed
to go with him. L. soon found that Joseph was out of money,
and had to bear his expenses on the way. When they got to
Pennsylvania, Joseph wanted L. to recommend him to Miss H.,
which he did, although he was asked to do it ; but could not well
get rid of it as he was in his company. L. then wished to see
the silver mine, and he and Joseph went to the river, and
made search, but found nothing. Thus Lawrence had his trouble
for his pains an<d returned home lighter than he went, while
Joseph had got his expenses borne, and a recommendation to
his girl.

Joseph's next move was to get married; the girl's parents
being opposed to the match; as they happened to be from home,
he took advantage of the opportunity, and went off with her
and was married.

Now, being still destitute of money, he set his wits at work
how he should get back to Manchester, his place of residence;
he hit upon the following plan, which succeeded very well
He went to an honest old Dutchman, by the name of Stowel
and told him that he had discovered on the bank of Black
River, in the village of Watertown, Jefferson County, N. Y.,
a cave, in which he had found a bar of gold, as big as his leg,
and about three or four feet long. That he could not get it

26 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

out alone, on account of its being fast at one end; and if he
would move him to Manchester, N. Y., they would go together,
and take a chisel and mallet and get it, and Stowel should share
the prize with him. Stowel moved him.

A short time after their arrival, at Manchester, Stowel re-
minded Joseph of his promise; but he calmly replied that he
would not go, because his wife was now among strangers,
and would be very lonesome if he went away. Mr. Stowel
was then obliged to return without any gold, and with less
money than he came.

In the forepart of September, (I believe,) 1827, the prophet
requested me to make him a chest, informing me that he de-
signed to move back to Pennsylvania, and expecting soon to get
his gold book, he wanted a chest to lock it up, giving me to
understand, at the same time, that if I would make the chest he
would give me a share in the book. I told him my business
was such that I could rot make it; but if he would bring the
book to me, I would lock it up for him. He said that would
not do, as he was commanded to keep it two years, without
letting it come to the eye of any one but himself. This
commandment, however, he did not keep; for in less than two
years, twelve men said they had seen it. I told him to get it
and convince me of its existence, and I would make him a
chest ; but he said, that would not do, as he must have a
chest to lock the book in, as soon as he took it out of the
ground. I saw him a few days after when he told me that I
must make the chest. I told him plainly that I could not;
upon which he told me that I could have no share in the book.

A few weeks after this conversation he came to my house,
and related the following story: That on the 22d of September,
he arose early in the morning and took a one-horse wagon,
of some one that had staid over night at their house, without
leave or license ; and, together with his wife, repaired to the
hill which contained the book. He left his wife in the wagon,
by the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or
forty rods from the road; he said he then took the book out
of the ground, and hid it in a tree top, and returned home.
He then went to the town of Macedon to work. After about
ten days, it having been suggested that some one had got his
book, his wife went after him ; he hired a horse, and went home .

THE BOOK OF MORMON 27

in the afternoon, staid long enough to drink one cup of tea,
and then went for his book, found it safe, took off his frock,
wrapt it round it, put it under his arm and ran all the way
home, a distance of about two miles. He said he should think it
would weigh sixty pounds, and was sure it would weigh forty.
On his return home, he said he was attacked by two men in the
woods, and knocked them both down and made his escape,
arrived safe and secured his treasure. He then observed that if
it had not been for that stone, (which he acknowledged be-
longed to me,) he would not have obtained the book. A few
days afterwards, he told one of my neighbors that he had not
got any such book, nor never had such an one; but that he
had told the story to deceive the d — d fool, (meaning me,) to
get him to make a chest. His neighbors having become dis-
gusted with his foolish stories, he determined to go back to
Pennsylvania, to avoid what he called persecution. His wits
were now put to the task to contrive how he should- get money
to bear his expenses. He met one day in the streets of Palmyra
a rich man, whose name was Martin Harris, and addressed him
thus : "I have a commandment from God to ask the first man
I meet in the street to give me fifty dollars to assist me in
doing the work of the Lord by translating the golden Bible."
Martin being naturally a credulous man, hands Joseph the
money. In the spring of 1829 Harris went to Pennsylvania,
and on his return to Palmyra, reported that the prophet's wife,
in the month of, June following, would be delivered of a male
child that would be able when two years old to translate the
golden Bible. Then, said he, you will see Joseph Smith, Jr.,
walking through the streets of Palmyra with a gold Bible under
his arm, and having a gold breast plate on, and a gold sword
hanging by his side. This, however, by the by, proved false.

In April, 1830, I again asked Hiram for the stone which he
had borrowed of me; he told me that I should not have it,
for Joseph made use of it in translating his Bible. I reminded
him of his promise and that he had pledged his honor to re-
turn it; but he gave me the lie, saying the stone was not mine
nor never was. Harris at the same time flew in a rage, took
me by the collar and said I was a liar, and he could prove it
by twelve witnesses. After I had extricated myself from him,
Hiram in a rage shook his fist at me and abused me in a most

28 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

scandalous manner. Thus I might proceed in describing the
character of these high priests by relating one transaction after
another, which would all tend to set them in the same light
in which they were regarded by their neighbors; viz.: as a
pest to society. I have regarded Joseph Smith, Jr., from the
time I first became acquainted with him until he left this part
of the country, as a man whose word could not be depended
upon. Hiram's character was but very little better. What I
have said respecting the character of these men, will apply to
the whole family. What I have stated relative to the characters
of these individuals, thus far, is wholly true. After they became
thorough Mormons, their conduct was more disgraceful than
before. They did not hesitate to abuse any man, no matter how
fair his character, provided he did not embrace their creed.
Their tongues were continually employed in spreading scandal
and abuse. Although they left this part of ttye country without
paying their just debts, yet their creditors were glad to have
them do so, rather than to have them stay, disturbing the
neighborhood. WILLARD CHASE.

On the nth December, 1833, the said Willard Chase ap-
peared before me, and made oath that the foregoing statement
to which he has subscribed his name, is true, according to his
best recollection and belief. FRED'K SMITH,

Justice of the Peace of Wayne County.

THE AFFIDAVIT OF WILLIAM STAFFORD.

MANCHESTER, Ontario County, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1833.
I, William Stafford, having been called upon to give a true
statement of my knowledge, concerning the character and con-
duct of the family of Smiths, known to the world as the founders
of the Mormon sect, do say, that I first became acquainted with
Joseph, Sen., and his family, in the year 1820. They lived, at
that time, in Palmyra, about one mile and a half from my resi-
dence. A great part of their time was devoted to digging for
money: especially in the night time, when they said the money
could be the most easily obtained. I have heard them tell
marvellous tales, respecting the discoveries they had made in
their peculiar occupation of money-digging. They would say, for
instance, that in such a place, in such a hill, on a certain man's
farm, there were deposited keys, barrels and hogsheads of coined

THE BOOK OF MORMON 29

silver and gold — bars of gold, golden images, brass kettles filled
with gold and silver, gold candlesticks, swords, &.&. They
would say, also, that nearly all the hills in this part of New
York, were thrown up by human hands, and in them were large
caves, which Joseph, Jr., could see, by placing a stone of singular
appearance in his hat, in such a manner as to exclude all light;
at which time they pretended he could see all things within and
under the earth,— that he could see within the above-mentioned
caves, large gold bars and silver plates, — that he could also
discover the spirits in whose charge these treasures were,
clothed in ancient dress. At certain times, these treasures could
be obtained very easily; at others, the obtaining of them was
difficult. The facility of approaching them, depended, in a great
measure, on the state of the moon. New moon and good Friday,
I believe, were regarded as the most favorable times for ob-
taining these treasures. These tales I regarded as visionary.
However, being prompted by curiosity, I at length accepted of
their invitations, to join them in their nocturnal excursions. I
will now relate a few incidents attending these excursions.

Joseph Smith, Sen., came to me one night, and told me, that
Joseph, Jr., had been looking in his glass, and had seen, not
many rods from his house, two or three kegs of gold and silver,
some feet under the surface of the earth ; and that none others
but the elder Joseph and myself could get them. I accordingly
consented to go, and early in the evening repaired to the place
of deposit. Joseph, Sen., f rst made a circle, twelve or fourteen
feet in diameter'. This circle, said he, contains the treasure.
He then stuck in the ground a row of witch-hazel sticks, around
the said circle, for the purpose of keeping off the evil spirits.
Within this circle he made another, of about eight or ten feet in
diameter. He walked around three times on the periphery of
this last circle, muttering to himself something which I could
not understand. He next stuck a steel rod in the center of the
circles, and then enjoined profound silence upon us, lest we
should arouse the evil spirit who had the charge of these
treasures. After we had dug a trench about five feet in depth
around the rod, the old man, by signs and motions, asked leave
of absence, and went to the house to inquire of young Joseph
the cause of our disappointment He soon returned, and said,
that Joseph had remained all this time in the house, looking in

30 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

his stone and watching the motions of the evil spirit — that he
saw the spirit come up to the ring, and as soon as it beheld the
cone which we had formed around the rod, it caused the money
to sink. We then went into the house, and the old man ob-
served, that we had made a mistake in the commencement of
the operation ; if it had not been for that, said he. we should
have got the money.

At another time, they devised a scheme, by which they might
satiate their hunger with the mutton of one of my sheep. They
had seen in my flock of sheep, a large, fat, black wether. Old
Joseph and one of the boys came to me one day, and said that
Joseph, Jr., had discovered some very remarkable and valuable
treasures, which could be procured only in one way. That way
was as follows: — That a black sheep should be taken on to the
ground where the treasures were concealed — that after cutting
its throat, it should be led around a circle while bleeding. This
being done, the wrath of the evil spirit would be appeased: the
treasures , could then be obtained, and my share of them was
to be fourfold. To gratify my curiosity, I let them have a large
fat sheep. They afterwards informed me that the sheep was
killed pursuant to commandment ; but as there was some mistake
in the process, it did not have the desired effect. This, I believe,
is the only time they ever made money-digging a profitable
business. They, however, had around them constantly a worth-
less gang, whose employment it was to dig money nights, and
who, day times, had more to do with mutton than money.

When they found that the people of this vicinity would no
longer put any faith in their schemes for digging money, they
then pretended to find a Gold Bible, of which, they said, the
Book of Mormon was only an introduction. This latter book
was at length fitted for the press. No means were taken by
any individual to suppress its publication : no one apprehended
any danger from a book, originating with individuals who had
neither influence, honesty or honor. The two Josephs and
Hiram, promised to show me the plates, after the Book of
Mormon was translated. But, afterwards, they pretended to
have received an express commandment, forbidding them to
show the plates. Respecting the manner of receiving and trans-
lating the Book of Mormon, their statements were always dis-
cordant. The elder Joseph would say that he had seen the

THE BOOK OF MORMON 31

plates, and that he knew them to be gold; at other times he
would say that they looked like gold ; and other times he would
say that he had not seen the plates at all. I have thus briefly
stated a few of the facts, in relation to the conduct and char-
acter of this family of Smiths; probably sufficient has been
stated without my going into detail. WILLIAM STAFFORD.

STATE OF NEW YORK, |

Wayne County. j SS'

I certify, that on this gth day of December, 1833, personally
appeared before me William Stafford, to me known, and made
oath to the truth of the above statement, and signed the same.

TH. P. BALDWIN,
Judge of Wayne County Court

THE AFFIDAVIT OF ISAAC HALE.

HARMONY, Pa., March 20, 1834.

I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., in Novem-
ber, 1825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of men
who were called "money-diggers"; and his occupation was that
of seeing, or pretending to see by means of a stone placed in
his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pre-
tended to discover minerals and hidden treasure. His appear-
ance at his time, was that of a careless young man — not very
well educated, and very saucy and insolent to his father. Smith,
and his father, with several other "money-diggers," boarded at
my house while they were employed in digging for a mine that
they supposed /had been opened and worked by the Spaniards,
many years since. Young Smith gave the "money-diggers" great
encouragement, at first, but when they had arrived in digging,
to near the place where he had stated an immense treasure
would be found — he said the enchantment was so powerful that
he could not see. They then became discouraged, and soon
after dispersed. This took place about the I7th of November,
1825; and one of the company gave me his note for $12.68 for
his board, which is still unpaid.

After these occurrences, young Smith made several visits at
my house, and at length asked my consent to his marrying my
daughter Emma. This I refused, and gave my reasons for so
doing; some of which were, that he was a stranger, and fol-
lowed a business that I could not approve ; he then left the place.

32 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Not long after this, he returned, and while I was absent from
home, carried off my daughter into the state of New York,
where they were married without my approbation or consent.
After they had arrived at Palmyra, N. Y., Emma wrote to me
inquiring whether she could take her property, consisting of
clothing, furniture, cows, &. I replied that her property was
safe and at her disposal. In a short time they returned, bring-
ing with them a Peter Ingersoll, and subsequently came to the
conclusion that they would move out, and reside upon a place
near my residence.

Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called
"glass-looking," and that he expected to work hard for a living,
and was willing to do so. He also made arrangements with my
son Alva Hale, to go to Palmyra, and move his (Smith's)
furniture, &, to his place. He then returned to Palmyra, and
soon after, Alva, agreeable to the arrangement, went up and
returned with Smith and his family. Soon after this, I was
informed they had brought a wonderful Book of Plates down
with them. I was shown a box in which it is said they were
contained, which had, to all appearances, been used as a glass
box of the common window glass. I was allowed to feel the
weight of the box, and they gave me to understand, that the
Book of Plates was then in the box — into which, however, I
was not allowed to look.

I inquired of Joseph Smith, Jr., who was to be the first
who would be allowed to see the Book of Plates? He said it
was a young child. After this, I became dissatisfied, and in-
formed him that if there was anything in my house of that
description, which I could not be allowed to see, he must take
it away; if he did not, I was determined to see it. After that,
the plates were said to be hid in the woods.

About this time, Martin Harris made his appearance upon
the stage; and Smith began to interpret the characters or hiero-
glyphics which he said were engraven upon the plates, while
Harris wrote down the interpretation. It was said, that Harris
wrote down one hundred and sixteen pages, and lost them.
Soon after this happened, Martin Harris informed me that he
must have a greater witness, and said that he had talked with
Joseph about it — Joseph informed him that he could not or
durst not show him the plates, but that he (Joseph) would go

THE BOOK OF MORMON 33

into the woods where the Book of Plates was, and that after
he came back, Harris should follow his track in the snow, and
find the Book, and examine it for himself. Harris informed
me afterwards, that he followed Smith's directions, and could
not find the plates, and was still dissatisfied.

The next day after this happened, I went to the house where
Joseph Smith, Jr., lived, and where he and Harris were engaged
in the translation of their book. Each of them had a written
piece of paper which they were comparing, and some of the
words were "my servant seeketh a greater witness, but no
greater witness can be given him." There was also something
said about "three that were to see the thing" — meaning, I sup-
posed, the Book of Plates, and that "*/ the three did not go
exactly according to the orders, the thing would be taken from
them" I inquired whose words they were, and was informed
by Joseph or Emma, (I rather think it was the former,) that
they were the words of Jesus Christ. I told them, that I con-
sidered the whole of it a delusion, and advised them to abandon
it. The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret,
was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with
the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book
of Plates was at the same time hid in the woods!

After this, Martin Harris went away, and Oliver Cowdery
came and wrote for Smith while he interpreted as above de-
scribed. This is the same Oliver Cowdery, whose name may be
found in the Book of Mormon. Cowdery continued a scribe
for Smith until t/he Book of Mormon was completed, as I sup-
posed and understood.

Joseph Smith, Jr., resided near me for some time after this,
and I had a good opportunity of becoming acquainted with him,
and somewhat acquainted with his associates, and I conscien-
tiously believe from the facts I have detailed, and from many
other circumstances, which I do not deem it necessary to relate,
that the whole Book of Mormon (so called) is a silly fabrica-
tion of falsehood and wickedness, got up for speculation, and
with a design to dupe the credulous and unwary — and in order
that its fabricators may live upon the spoils of those who swal-
low the deception. ISAAC HALE.

Affirmed to and subscribed before me, March 20, 1834.

CHARLES DIMON, J. Peace.

34 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, |
Susquehanna County. J SS'

We, the subscribers, associate Judges of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, in and for said county, do certify that we have been
many years personally acquainted with Isaac Hale, of Harmony
township in this county, who has attested the foregoing state-
ment; and that he is a man of excellent moral character, and
undoubted veracity. Witness our hands.

WILLIAM THOMPSON.
DAVIS DIMOCK.
MARCH 21, 1834.

THE STATEMENT OF FIFTY-ONE CITIZENS OF PALMYRA,
NEW YORK.

PALMYRA, December 4, 1833.

We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith
family for a number of years, while they resided near this
place, and we have no hesitation in saying, that we consider
them destitute of that moral character, which ought to entitle
them to the confidence of any community. They were par-
ticularly famous for visionary projects, spent much of their
time in digging for money which they pretended was hid in the
earth; and to this day, large excavations may be seen in the
earth, not far from their residence, where they used to spend
their time in digging for hidden treasures. Joseph Smith,
Senior, and his son Joseph, were in particular considered en-
tirely destitute of moral character and addicted to vicious
habits'

Martin Harris was a man who had acquired a handsome
property, and in matters of business his word was considered
good; but on moral and religious subjects, he was perfectly
visionary, — sometimes advocating one sentiment, and sometimes
another. And in reference to all with whom we were ac-
quainted, that have embraced Mormonism from this neighbor-
hood, we are compelled to say, were very visionary and most
of them destitute of moral character, and without influence in
this community; and this may account why they were permitted
to go on with their impositions undisturbed. It was not sup-
posed that any of them were possessed of sufficient character
or influence to make any one believe their book or their senti-

THE BOOK OF MORMON 35

ments, and we know not of a single individual in this vicinity
that puts the least confidence in their pretended revelations.
(Signed by fifty-one citizens of Palmyra, New York.)

THE STATEMENT OF ELEVEN CITIZENS OF MANCHESTER,
NEW YORK.

MANCHESTER, November 3, 1833.

We, the undersigned, being personally acquainted with the
family of Joseph Smith, Sen., with whom the celebrated Gold
Bible, so-called, originated, state: that they were not only a
lazy, indolent set of men, but also intemperate; and their word
was not to be depended upon; and that we are truly glad to
dispense with their society.

(Signed by eleven citizens of Manchester, New York.)

The foregoing affidavits and statements were first
published in Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," of 1834,*
and, subsequently, in Bennett's "Mormonism Exposed,"
of 1842, from which I have copied them. Yet, notwith-
standing their damaging charges and the fact that they
have been before the public for eighty years, the Mor-
mons have never made a successful attempt to refute
them. Indeed, so far as I am able to learn, but one effort
at all has ever been made to clear the reputation of Joseph
Smith from tfye charges made against him by his old
neighbors, and this ended in ignominious failure.

In the year 1880, the Reorganized Mormon Church
became active in Cadillac, Wexford County, Michigan,
and added a number to their faith. To counteract their
influence, one Rev. A. Marsh, through a brother minister,
Rev. C. C. Thorne, of Manchester, New York, secured
the statements of three of the old neighbors of the
Smiths, Dan ford Booth, Orrin Reed and William Bryant,
relative to their poor reputation, and published them in

1 Howe's book was republished in 1840 under the title of "History of
Mormonism."

36 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

the Cadillac News of April 6, 1880. These statements
are as follows :

I knew Joe Smith, personally to some extent, saw him fre-
quently, knew well his reputation, he was a lazy, drinking fellow,
and loose in his habits in every way. — Danford Booth. Smith's
reputation was bad. I was acquainted with Oliver Cowdery.
He was a low pettifogger, the cat's-paw of the Smiths to do
their dirty work. — Orrin Reed. I knew the Smiths, but did not
associate with them, for they were too low to associate with.
There was no truth in them. Their aim was to get in where
they could get property. They broke up homes in that way.
Smith had no regular business. He had frequent revelations.
— Wm. Bryant.

This aroused the Mormons to action, and the fol-
lowing spring two of their elders went to New York,
concealed their identity, interviewed the individuals men-
tioned, with others, and, returning, published the in-
terviews in the issue of the Saints' Herald, of Piano,
Illinois, for June I, 1881. While these purported inter-
views do not entirely remove the traditional stigma from
the character of Smith and his associates, it must be con-
ceded that, if they were correct, these individuals stood
somewhat higher in the moral and social scale than was
before believed.

During the interview with Mr. Bryant, this gentleman
is said to have denied being personally acquainted with
the Smiths, but stated that they were considered a shift-
less set and that Joseph had the reputation of being a liar.
Mr. Booth is said to have stated that he knew nothing of
the Smiths or their character, and to have denied that
he ever had any interview with Rev. Mr. Thorne on the
subject of Mormonism in which he made the statements
as published in the Cadillac News, while Mr. Reed is
also said to have stated that he did not know the Smiths
and that he had not given a statement to Thorne for pub-

THE BOOK OF MORMON 37

lication. These purported interviews have been repeat-
edly published as an answer to the affidavits and state-
ments heretofore given.1

But this effort to relieve the reputation of Smith from
the stains that had been placed upon it, ended in bitter
defeat. Within six weeks from the time of the publica-
tion of these purported interviews, two of the parties
mentioned, Dan ford Booth and Orrin Reed, with another
who was interviewed, J. H. Gilbert, came out with affi-
davits,2 in which they affirmed that they had been grossly
misrepresented. Their affidavits follow :

Danford Booth, of the town of Manchester and county of
Ontario, N. Y., being duly affirmed, deposes: He has read the
article in the Cadillac Weekly News of April 6th, 1880, re-
specting "Cowdery and the Smith family" over the signature of
C. C. Thorne. The interview therein mentioned between de-
ponent and Thorne did take place The matters therein set
forth, alleged to have been stated by the deponent to Thorne,
were so stated by deponent to Thorne. He has read also in a
paper called the Saints' Herald, of June ist, 1881, an article pur-
porting to give what was said in an interview between W. H.
Kelley and another party and the deponent, in which it is stated
that deponent informed said parties that deponent and Thorne
never had an interview as alleged by Thorne. Deponent de-
clares that he did not so inform said parties, and that he has
no recollection of such a question being asked him by them.

(Signed) DANFORD BOOTH.

Sworn to and subscribed before me, July ist, 1881.

(Signed) N. K. COLE, J.P.

Orrin Reed, of the township of Manchester, county of
Ontario, N. Y., being duly affirmed, deposes: His age is 77.
He was born in the town of Farmington, about four miles from

1 They may be found in the "Braden-Kelley Debate," pp. 101-104, and
"From Palmyra to Independence," pp. 341-378.

a The county clerk of Ontario County, New York, informs me that
these affidavits, with an affidavit of Samantha Payne, an old neighbor of
the Smiths, and a letter of Rev. Mr. Thorne, are now on file in the
clerk's office at Canandaigua.

38 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

what is called "Mormon Hill." During the last forty-six years
he has resided in the town of Manchester, and in the same
school district in which Joseph Smith and family, of Mormon
notoriety, reside^ and three-fourths of a mile from "Mormon
Hill." He has read an article published in the Cadillac News of
April 6th, 1880, respecting "Cowdery and the Smith family,"
over the signature of C. C. Thome. The matters therein set
forth and alleged to have been stated by deponent to Thorne
were so stated by deponent, at the time and in the manner stated
in said published article. (Signed) ORRIN REED.

Affirmed and subscribed before me, June 2pth, 1881.

(Signed) N. K. COLE, J.P.

John H. Gilbert, of the town of Palmyra, Wayne county,
N. Y., being duly sworn, deposes: That in the article published
in the Saints' Herald, at Piano, 111., June ist, 1881, over the
signature of W. H. Kelley, purporting to give an interview with
the deponent on Mormonism, the deponent is grossly misrepre-
sented in almost every particular. Words are put in the mouth
of the deponent that he never uttered. The pretended answers
to the questions that the deponent did answer, are totally at
variance with the answers that the deponent really gave. The
deponent believes that such misrepresentation was done de-
signedly. (Signed) JOHN H. GILBERT.

Sworn to and subscribed before me, July I2th, 1881.

(Signed) M. C. FINLEY, J.P.

The affidavits of Booth, Reed and Gilbert plainly re-
fute the only attempt that Mormonism has ever made to
secure from the old citizens of Palmyra and Manchester
testimonies favorable to the Smiths and their followers,
and so leave their reputation about where it was before.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 3»

CHAPTER III.

The Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon — David Whitmer
— Martin Harris — Oliver Cowdery.

The three special witnesses to the Book of Mormon
were David Whitmer, Martin Harris and Oliver Cow-
dery. Whitmer was an ordinary farmer of Fayette,
Seneca County, New York; Harris was a well-to-do
farmer of Palmyra, and Cowdery was a wandering
schoolmaster. Whitmer and Harris possessed inferior
educations; Cowdery was probably above the ordinary
in this respect and was a ready scribe, because of which
he was chosen by Smith as his amanuensis and copied
from his lips the entire Book of Mormon, as we now have
it, with the possible exception of a few pages.

Before these witnesses were permitted to view the
plates, the Lord spoke to them through Joseph, as fol-
lows:

Behold, I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word,
which if you do, with full purpose of heart, you shall have a
view of the plates, and also of the breastplate, the sword of
Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to the brother
of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face
to face, and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi
while in the wilderness, on the borders of the Red Sea; and it
is by your faith that you shall obtain a view of them, even by
that faith which was had by the prophets of old.

And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them
with your eyes, you shall testify of them, by the power of God;
and this you shall do that my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., may
not be destroyed, that I may bring about my righteous purposes
unto the children of men, in this work. And ye shall testify
that you have, seen them, even as my servant Joseph Smith, Jr.,
(4)

40 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

has seen them, for it is by my power that he has seen them,
and it is because he had faith; and he has translated the book,
even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord
and your God liveth it is true. — Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 15.

Subsequent to this, these men published the testimony
already given, in which they affirmed that an angel of
God had shown them the plates and that the voice of God
had declared that the translation was His gift and by
His power.

In reference to this testimony, one of three things is
true: they either actually saw the plates and what they
described concerning them really occurred, or they were
themselves deceived, or their testimony is part of a grand
deception of which they were among the prime movers.

The last explanation of the part played by the three
witnesses in the genesis of Mormonism I believe to be
the true one, for, while Whitmer stubbornly maintained
the truthfulness of his testimony up to the very time of
his death, Harris, at the beginning of the Mormon move-
ment, made certain assertions to his relatives and ac-
quaintances which go to show that with him Mormonism
was only a cold-blooded money proposition ; while Cow-
dery, in 1839, published a full recantation and, in 1840
or 1841, became a member of the Methodist Protestant
Church of Tiffin, Ohio, serving it later in the capacity
of clerk and Sunday-school superintendent.

DAVID WHITMER.

The first connection of David Whitmer with Mor-
monism was in June, 1829, when he went to Harmony,
Pennsylvania, where Smith and Cowdery were at work
upon the translation, and brought them back to the home
of his father, Peter Whitmer, in Fayette, New York.
Shortly after this, in the same month, he was baptized

THE BOOK OF MORMON 41

by Joseph in Seneca Lake and was ordained an elder,
and when the Mormon Church was organized at his
father's house on April 6, 1830,* he became one of its
charter members. In 1831, with the larger part of the
church in New York, he removed to Kirtland and subse-
quently to Missouri, where he was cut off from the
church April 13, 1838. After this he settled at Rich-
mond, Missouri, where he lived until his death, January
25, 1888.

Whitmer, undoubtedly, adhered to his testimony up
to the very last. In a statement issued March 19, 1881,
he says:

Unto All Nations, Kindred, Tongues and People, unto Whom

These Presents Shall Come:

It having been represented by one John Murphy, of Polo,
Caldwell County, Mo., that I, in a conversation with him last
summer, denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to
the "Book of Mormon."

To the end, therefore, that he may understand me now, if
he did not then ; and that the world may know the truth, I wish
now, standing as it were, in the very sunset of life, and in the
fear of God, once for all to make this public statement :

That I have never at any time denied that testimony or any
part thereof, which has so long since been published with that
Book, as one o/f the three witnesses. Those who know me best,
well know that I have always adhered to that testimony. And
that no man may be misled or doubt my present views in regard
to the same, I do again affirm the truth of all of my state-
ments, as then made and published.

"He that hath an ear to hear let him hear;" it was no delu-
sion ! What is written is written, and he that readeth let him
understand.

And that no one may be deceived or misled by this state-

1 Whitmer, in the later years of his life, denied that the church was
founded on April 6, 1830. He says: "It is all a mistake about the
church being organized on April 6, 1830, as I will show. We were as
fully organized — spiritually — before April 6th as we were on that day." —
Address to All Believers in Christ, p. 33.

43 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

ment, I wish here to state: that I do not endorse polygamy or
spiritual wifeism. It is a great evil, shocking to the moral sense,
and the more so, because practiced in the name of religion. It
is of man and not of God, and is especially forbidden in the
Book of Mormon itself.

I do not endorse the change of the name of the church, for
as the wife takes the name of her husband so should the church
of the Lamb of God take the name of its head, even Christ
himself. It is the Church of Christ.

As to the High Priesthood, Jesus Christ himself is the last
Great High Priest, this too after the order of Melchisedec, as I
understand the Holy Scriptures.

Finally, I do not endorse any of the teachings c " the so-
called Mormons, of Latter Day Saints, which are in conflict with
the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as taught in
the Bible and Book of Mormon; for the same gospel is plainly
taught in both of these books as I understand the word of
God.

And if any man doubt should he not carefully and honestly
read and understand the same, before presuming to sit in judg-
ment and condemning the light which shineth in darkness, and
showeth the way of eternal life as pointed out by the unerring
hand of God.

In the spirit of Christ who hath said, "Follow thou me, for
I am the life, the light and the way," I submit this statement
to the world. God in whom I trust being my judge as to the
sincerity of my motives and the faith and hope that is in me of
eternal life.

My sincere desire is that the world may be benefitted by this
plain and simple statement of the truth.

And all the honor be to the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost, which is one God. Amen. DAVID WHITMER.

RICHMOND, Mo., March 19, 1881.

To this statement is subjoined the following certifi-
cate:

We, the undersigned citizens of Richmond, Ray County, Mo.,
where David Whitmer has resided since the year A. D. 1838,
certify that we have been long and intimately acquainted with
him and know him to be a man of the highest integrity, and of

THE BOOK OF MORMON 43

undoubted truth and veracity Given at Richmond, Mo., this
March 19, A. D. 1881.

Gen. Alexander W. Doniphan. Hon. Geo. W. Dunn, Judge
of the Fifth Judicial Circuit. Thos. D. Woodson, President of
Ray Co. Savings Bank. J. T. Child, editor of Conservator. H.
C Garner, Cashier of Ray Co. Savings Bank. L. C. Cantwell,
Postmaster, Richmond. Geo. I. Wasson, Mayor. Jas. A. Davis,
County Collector. C. J. Huges, Probate Judge and Presiding
Justice of Ray County Court. Geo. W. Trigg, County Clerk.
W. W. Mosby, M.D. W. A. Holman, County Treasurer. J. S.
Hughes, Banker, Richmond. James Hughes, Banker, Richmond.
D. P. Whitmer, Attorney-at-law. Hon. James W. Black, Attor-
ney-at-law. Thos. McGinnis, ex-Sheriff Ray County. J. P.
Quisenberry, Merchant. W. R. Holman, Furniture Merchant.
Lewis Slaughter, Recorder of Deeds. Geo. W. Buchanan, M.D.
A. K. Reyburn.

In view of the overwhelming evidences which clearly
established that the Book of Mormon is a fraud, two ex-
planations may be given of the adherence of David Whit-
mer to his original testimony up to the time of his death :
first, he may himself have been the victim of deception
and may have honestly believed that he saw the plates;
or, being fully cognizant of the imposture, he may have
preferred to die with the world believing that he was
deceived rather than with it believing that he was a de-
ceiver. In either case his story was, evidently, not ac-
cepted even by those who certified to his integrity and
veracity, for but few, if any, of them were adherents of
the Mormon faith.

MARTIN HARRIS.

The first that we hear of Martin Harris in connection
with Mormonism, was in the fall of 1827, when he gave
Joseph fifty dollars to enable him to remove from Man-
chester to the home of his wife's parents in Harmony,
Pennsylvania. In the month of February, following, he

44 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

came to Harmony, obtained a transcript of the char-
acters on the plates and took them to Professor Anthon,
of New York City. He then returned home, arranged
his business, and, going to Harmony, began to write for
Joseph, April 12, 1828, continuing as his scribe until he
lost the 116 pages of manuscript, when he was deposed.
He was baptized in April, 1830, and removed with the
church to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831. In June of the
same year, with Joseph Smith and other elders, he left
Kirtland for Missouri, where he was present at the
dedication of the Temple lot, at Independence, August
3, 1831. He was subsequently cut off, after which he
lectured against Mormonism both in this country and in
England,1 but later became somewhat, though probably
not entirely, reconciled to the church, and removed to
Utah in August, 1870, where he died, at Smithfield,
Cache County, in July, 1875.

It is claimed that Harris never denied his testimony,
but adhered to it up to the time of his death. As proof
of this, the following letters to H. B. Emerson, of New
Richmond, Ohio, are submitted:

SMITHFIELD, Utah, Nov. 23, 1870.
Mr. Emerson,

SIR: — I received your favor. In reply I will say concerning
the plates, I do say that the angel did show to me the plates
containing the Book of Mormon. Further, the translation that
I carried to Professor Anthon was copied from these same
plates; also, that the professor did testify to it being a correct
translation. I do firmly believe and do know that Joseph Smith
was a prophet of God; for without, I know he could not have

1 This is sometimes denied. The proof of Harris lecturing against
Mormonism in this country is to be found in the charges to that effect
published in the Mormon papers after his apostasy. While, as to his
lecturing in England, the Josephite, Elder Charles Derry, says that he
went there not to oppose Mormonism in general, but only the pretensions
of Brigham Young ("Joseph the Seer," p. 106, and other works).

THE BOOK OF MORMON 45

had that gift; neither could he have translated the same. I can
give, if you require it, one hundred witnesses to the proof of
the Book of Mormon. I defy any man to show me any passage
of Scripture that I am not posted on or familiar with. 1 will
answer any question you feel like asking to the best of my
knowledge, if you can rely on my testimony of the same. In
conclusion, I can say that I arrived in Utah safe, in good health
and spirits, considering the long journey. I am quite well at
present, and have been, generally speaking, since I arrived.
With many respects, I remain your humble friend,

MARTIN HARRIS.

SMITHFIELD, Cache Co., Utah, January, 1871.
To H. Emerson,

DEAR SIR: — Your second letter, dated December, 1870, came
duly to hand. I am truly glad to see a spirit of inquiry mani-
fested therein. I reply by a borrowed hand, as my sight has
failed me too much to write myself. Your questions:

Question i. "Did you go to England to lecture against
Mormonism ?"

Answer. I answer emphatically, No, I did not. No man
ever heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mor-
mon, the administration of the angel that showed me the plates;
nor the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints, under the administration of Joseph Smith, Jun., the
prophet whom the Lord raised up for that purpose in these
latter days that He may show forth His power and glory. The
Lord has shown me these things by His Spirit, by the admin-
istration of' holy angels, and confirmed the same with signs
following, step by step, as the work has progressed, for the
space of fifty-three years.

I am, very respectfully,

MARTIN HARRIS, Sen.

Without denying the genuineness of the foregoing
letters, I now present to the reader the evidence which
goes to prove that Martin Harris, while a resident of
Palmyra, was of a greedy disposition, possessed an un-
governable temper, lived a questionable life and held ex-
travagant religious views — the kind of character that

46 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

would not hesitate to sign a false statement, provided it
might be to his pecuniary interests to do so. The follow-
ing is a letter of his wife, Lucy Harris, which was first
published in Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled" :

PALMYRA, November 29, 1833.

Being called upon to give a statement to the world of what
I know respecting the Gold Bible speculation, and also of the
conduct of Martin Harris, my husband, who is a leading char-
acter among the Mormons, I do it free from prejudice, realizing
that I must give an account at the bar of God for what I say.
Martin Harris was once industrious, attentive to his domestic
concerns, and thought to be worth about ten thousand dollars.
He is naturally quick in his temper, and in his mad-fits fre-
quently abuses all who may dare to oppose him in his wishes.
However strange it may seem, I have been a great sufferer by
his unreasonable conduct. At different times while I lived with
him, he has whipped, kicked and turned me out of the house.
About a year previous to the report being raised that Smith had
found gold plates, he became very intimate with the Smith
family, and said he believed Joseph could see in his stone any
thing he wished. After this he apparently became very san-
guine in his belief, and frequently said he would have no one
in his house that did not believe in Mormonism; and because I
would not give credit to the report he made about the gold
plates, he became more austere towards me. In one of his fits
of rage he struck me with the butt-end of a whip, which I
think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the size
of my thumb, and three or four feet long. He beat me on the
head four or five times, and the next day turned mp ->ut of
doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner. The next day
I went to the town of Marion, and while there my flesh was
black and blue in many places. His main complaint against me
was, that I was always trying to hinder his making money.

When he found out that I was going to Mr. Putnam's, in
Marion, he said he was going too, that they had sent for him
to pay them a visit. On arriving at Mr. Putnam's, I asked them
if they had sent for Mr. Harris ; they replied, they knew nothing
about it; he, however, came in the evening. Mrs. Putnam told
him never to strike or abuse me any more; he then denied ever

THE BOOK OF MORMON *1

striking me; she was however convinced that he lied, as the
marks of his beating me were plain to be seen, and remained
more than two weeks. Whether the Mormon religion be true
or false, I leave the world to judge, for its effects upon Martin
Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent and abusive
to me. His whole object was to make money by it. I will
give one circumstance in proof of it. One day, while at Peter
Harris's house, I told him he had better leave the company of
the Smiths, as their religion was false; to which he replied:
"If you would let me alone, I could make money by it."

It is in vain for the Mormons to deny these facts; for they
are all well known to most of his former neighbors. The man
has now become rather an object of pity; he has spent most of
his property, and lost the confidence of his former friends. If
he had labored as hard on his farm as he has to make Mormons,
he might now be one of the wealthiest farmers in the country.
He now spends his time in traveling through the country spread-
ing the delusion of Mormonism, and has no regard whatever
for his family.

With regard to Mr. Harris's being intimate with Mrs.
Haggard, as has been reported, it is but justice to myself to state
what facts have come within my own observation, to show
whether I had any grounds for jealousy or not. Mr. Harris
was very intimate with this family, for some time previous to
their going to Ohio. They lived a while in a house which he
had built for their accommodation, and here he spent the most
of his leisure hours ; and made her presents of articles from the
store and hovfse. He carried these presents in a private manner,
and frequently when he went there, he would pretend to be
going to some of the neighbors, on an errand, or to be going
into the fields. After getting out of sight of the house, he
would steer a straight course for Haggard's house, especially
if Haggard was from home. At times when Haggard was from
home, he would go there in the manner above described, and
stay till twelve or one o'clock at night, and sometimes until
daylight.

If his intentions were evil, the Lord will judge him accord-
ingly, but if good, he did not mean to let his left hand know
what his right hand did. The above statement of facts I affirm
to be true. LUCY HARRIS.

48 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

In a statement, published by Howe and dated at
Palmyra, November 28, 1833, Mrs. Abigail Harris, sister-
in-law of Martin, says:

In the second month following, Martin Harris and his wife
were at my house. In conversation about Mormonites, she ob-
served that she wished her husband would quit them, as she
believed it was all false and a delusion. To which I heard Mr.
Harris reply: "What if it is a lie; if you will let me alone I
will make money out of it!" I was both an eye and ear witness
of what has been stated above.

Henry Harris, brother of Martin, made oath to the
following statement before Jonathan Lapham, justice of
the peace:

Joseph Smith, Jr., Martin Harris and others, used to meet
together in private, a while before the gold plates were found,
and were familiarly known by the name of the "Gold Bible
Company." They were regarded by the community in which
they lived, as a lying and indolent set of men, and no confidence
could be placed in them.

After Harris had apostatized, Smith denounced him
in the Elders' Journal1 of August, 1838 —

as so far beneath contempt that a notice of him would be too
great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make. The church exerted
some restraint on him, but now he has given loose to all kinds
of abominations, lying, cheating, swindling, with all kinds of
debauchery.

Such a man was Martin Harris, one of the three
witnesses to the Book of Mormon. With such a char-
acter, who can doubt that he would scruple to sign a lie
or to maintain its truthfulness up to the very hour of his
death?

iNot having the Elders' Journal at hand, I have copied this from
the "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 173.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 49

OLIVER COWDERY.

Oliver Cowdery was born in the town of Wells, Rut-
land County, Vermont, October, 1805. When about
twenty years of age, he removed to the State of New
York, where he was employed as a clerk in a store until
the winter of 1828-9, when he taught school in the town
of Manchester.1 Here he became acquainted with the
Smiths, and through them learned of Joseph and the
plates. In April, 1829, he went to Harmony, Pennsyl-
vania, where he became the celebrated scribe of Mor-
monism. He was baptized by Joseph in May, 1829, and
continued with the church up to the time of his expul-
sion, April 12, 1838. After this he removed to Tiffin,
Ohio, where he practiced law, and, renouncing Mormon-
ism, united with the Methodist Protestant Church. Later,
he went to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, where he followed his
profession and became a candidate for the Legislature,
but was defeated because of his former connection with
Mormonism.2 The Mormons claim that in 1848 he was
rebaptized into the church at Kanesville, Iowa, by Apos-
tle Orson Hyde, and that he contemplated moving to
Salt Lake, but was cut off by death before this desire
was realized. He died at Richmond, Missouri, in March,
1850, while visiting his brother-in-law, David Whitmer.
Whitmer declares that on his death-bed Cowdery charged
him to be true to his testimony to the Book of Mormon.1
However true this last statement may be, and I neither
affirm nor deny it, we have positive proof that Oliver
Cowdery did, in 1839, renounce Mormonism, and did,

1 Lorenzo Saunders, whose letter is published in Chapter IX., says
that he was in league with the Smiths as early as 1826.

2 This information comes from a letter of Judge Gibson, of Tiffin,
Ohio, to Th. Gregg, of Hamilton, Illinois, and dated August 3, 1882.

* See "Whitmer's Address," p. 8.

60 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

later, become a member of the Methodist Protestant
Church. The evidence in support of this is so clear
and conclusive that it is sheer folly for the Mormons to
deny it.

In 1839 the following "Defense in a Rehearsal of My
Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter Day
Saints" * was published by Cowdery, the printing being
done at Pressley's job-office, Norton, Ohio:

DEAR PEOPLE OF GOD: — I offer you a "Defense" which I am
grieved to make, but my opposers have put me to the necessity,
and so far as my memory serves, I pledge my veracity for the
correctness of the account

I deny that I have ever conspired with any, or ever exerted
any influence to destroy the reputation of the First Elder, al-
though evidence which is to be credited assures me that he has
done everything he could to injure my standing, and his in-
fluence has been considerably exerted to destroy my reputation
and, I fear, my life.

You will remember in the meantime, that those who seek
to villify my character have been constantly encouraged by him.
There was a time when I thought myself able to prove to the
satisfaction of every man that the translator of the Book of
Mormon was worthy of the appellation of a Seer and a Prophet
of the Lord, and in which he held over me a mysterious power
which even now I fail to fathom; but I fear I may have been
deceived, and especially so fear since knowing that Satan has
led his mind astray.

(1) When the Church of Christ was set up by revelation,
he was called to be First Elder, and I was called to be Second
Elder, and whatever he had of Priesthood (about which I am
beginning to doubt) also had I.

(2) But I certainly followed him too far when accepting
and reiterating, that none had authority from God to administer
the ordinances of the gospel, as I had then forgotten that John,
the beloved disciple, was tarrying on earth and exempt from
death.

1 Cowdery'i "Defense" may be obtained of R. B. Neal, Grayson, Ky.,
for ten cents per copy.

DEFENCE

IN A

Rehearsal cf My

FOR

Separating Myself

FROM THE

LATTER DAY SAINTS

BY OLIVER COWDERY

Second Elder o* The Church of Christ.

This Defence is not protected by a copyright, as
1 wisn no man, to be confined alone to my permis-
sion/in printing what is meant for the eyes and
knowledge of the nations of the earth.

"God doth not walk in crooked paths;
Neither doth he turn to the right hand.
Nor the the left neither doth he vary
From that which he hath said."

Pressley's Job Office,

Norton, Ohio,

1839.

FACSIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF COWDERY'S TRACT

THE BOOK OF MORMON 61

I am well aware that a rehearsal of these things at this day
will be unpleasant reading to the First Elder; yet so it is, and it
is wisdom that it should be so. Without rehearsing too many
things that have caused me to lose my faith in Bro. Joseph's
seership, I regard his frequent prediction that he himself shall
tarry on the earth till Christ shall come in glory, and that neither
the rage of devils nor the malice of men shall ever cause him
to fall by the hand of his enemies until he has seen Christ in
the flesh at his final coming, as little short of a piece of blas-
phemy; and it may be classed with that revelation that some
among you will remember which sent Bro. Page and me so un-
wisely to (3) Toronto with a prediction from the Lord by Urim
and Thummim that we would there find a man anxious to buy
the First Elder's copyright. I well remember we did not find
him, and had to return surprised and disappointed. But so
great was my faith, that, in going to Toronto, nothing but calm-
ness pervaded my soul, every doubt was banished, and I as
much expected that Bro. Page and I would fulfill the revelation
as that we should live. And you may believe without asking me
to relate the particulars, that it would be no easy task to describe
our desolation and grief.

Bro. Page and I did not think that God would have deceived
us through "Urim and Thummim," exactly as came the Book
of Mormon; and I well remember how hard I strove to drive
away the foreboding which seized me, that the First Elder had
made tools of us, where we thought, in the simplicity of our
hearts, that we were divinely commanded.

And what served to render the reflection past expression
in its bitterness to me, was, that from his hand I received bap-
tism, by the direction of the Angel of God, whose voice, as it
has since struck me, did most mysteriously resemble the voice of
Elder Sidney Rigdon,1 who, I am sure, had no part in the trans-
actions of that day, as the Angel was John the Baptist, which I
doubt not and deny not. When I afterward first heard Elder
Rigdon, whose voice is so strikingly similar, I felt that this
"dear" brother was to be in some sense, to me unknown, the
herald of this church as the Great Baptist was of Christ.

(4) I never dreamed, however, that he would influence the

1 This is a mild way of letting the cat out of the bag. I am strongly
of the opinion that Rigdon was the "angel" of Mormonism.

52 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Prophet, Seer and Revelator to the Church of Latter Day Saints,
into the formation of a secret band at Far West, committed to
depredations upon Gentiles and the actual assassination of apos-
tates from the church, which was done in June last and was
only one of many wrong steps.

These are facts which I am rehearsing, and if they shall be
called in question, I am able to establish them by evidence which
I can bring forward in abundance.

Still, although favored of God as a chosen witness to bear
testimony to the divine authority of the Book of Mormon, and
honored of the Lord in being permitted, without money and
without price, to serve as scribe during the translation of the
Book of Mormon, I have sometimes had seasons of skepticism,
in which I did seriously wonder whether the prophet and I were
men in our sober senses when we would be translating from
plates through "the U'im and Thummim" and the plates not be
in sight at all.

But I believed both in the Seer and in the "Seer Stone," and
what the First Elder announced as revelation from God, I
accepted as such, and committed to paper with a glad mind and
happy heart and swift pen ; for I believed him to be the soul
of honor and truth, a young man who would die before he
would lie.

Man may deceive his fellow man, deception may follow de-
ception, and the children of the wicked one may seduce the
unstable, untaught in the ways of righteousness and peace, for
I felt a solemn awe about me, being deep in the faith, that the
First Elder was a Seer and Prophet of God, giving the truth
unsullied through "Urim and Thummim," dictated by the will
of the Lord, and that he was persecuted for the sake of the
truth which he loved. Could I have been deceived in him?

I could rehearse a number of things to show either that I
was then deceived, or that he has since fallen from the lofty
place in which fond affection had deemed him secure.

I remember his experience as he had related it to me, and
lacking wisdom, I went to God in prayer. I said : "O Lord, how
dark everything is ! Let thy glory lighten it, and make bright the
path for me. Show me my duty. Let me be led of thy Spirit."

Shall I relate what transpired? I had a message from the
Most High, as from the midst of eternity; for the vail was

THE BOOK OF MORMON 63

parted and the Redeemer Himself, clothed in glory, stood before
me. And He said:

"After reproving the Latter Day Saints for their corruption
and blindness in permitting their President, Joseph Smith, Jr.,
to lead them forth into errors, where I led him not, nor com-
manded him, and saying unto them, 'Thus saith the Lord,' when
I said it not unto him, thou shalt withdraw thyself from among
them."

And I testify that Jesus, whose words I have been rehearsing,
hath even so commanded me in an open vision.

The Lord revealed to me that the First Elder is leading the
Saints astray, and ordered me to quit them after delivering the
message which this "Defense" delivers. I shall ever remember
this expression of the Saviour's grace with thanksgiving, and
look upon his amazing goodness to me with wonder.

When I had sufficiently recovered my self-possession to ask
in regard to the errors into which Joseph Smith, Jr., was taking
the Saints, the Redeemer instructed me plainly: "He hath given
revelations from his own heart and from a defiled conscience as
coming from my mouth and hath corrupted the covenant and
altered words which I had spoken. He bith brought in high
priests, apostles and other officers, which in these days, when
the written word sufficeth, are not in my church, and some of
his deeds have brought shame to my heritage by the shedding of
blood. He walketh in the vain imaginations of his heart, and my
Spirit is holy and does not dwell in an unholy temple, nor are
angels sent to reveal the great work of God to hypocrites."

I bowed my face in shame and said : "Lord ! I entreat thee,
give me grace to bear thy message in print where I fear to take
it by word of mouth."

And he said, "The grace is given thee," and he vanished out
of my sight.

Prepare your hearts, O ye saints of the Most High, and come
to understanding. The prophet hath erred and the people are
gone astray through his error. God's word is open. We may
read it. There is no "First Presidency" there, no "High Priest-
hood" save that of Christ himself, no Patriarch to the Church,
and wonderful to tell, the "First Elder" hath departed from God
in giving us these things, and in changing the name of the church.

Oh, the misery, distress and evil attendant upon giving heed

54 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

unto the "doctrines of men"! The gospel has been perverted
and the Saints are wandering in darkness, while a full cup of
suffering is poured upon them. A society has been organized
among them to inflict death upon those who are deemed apos-
tates, with the knowledge and sanction of the First Elder.

This, I confess, is a dark picture to spread before those
whom I am to warn, but they will pardon my plainness when I.
assure them of the truth of what I have written.

Bearing this message to them is the hardest work of my
life, although many have been the privations and fatigues which
have fallen to my lot to endure for the Gospel's sake since
April sth, 1829.

It is disgraceful to be led by a man who does not scruple to
follow his own vain imagination, announcing his own schemes as
revelations from the Lord.

And I fear he is led by a groundless hope, no better than
the idle wind or the spider's web. Having cleared my soul by
delivering the message, I do not deem it necessary to write
further on the subject now.

Jesus has saved men in all ages and saves them now, and
not by our Priesthood either. The "First Elder" errs as to that
The Lord has said, long since, and his word remains steadfast
as the eternal hills, that to him who knocks it shall be opened,
and whosoever will, may come and partake of the waters of life
freely; but a curse will surely fall upon those who draw near to
God with their mouths, and honor him with their lips, while
their hearts are far from him.

I no longer believe that all the other churches are wrong.

Get right, O ye people, get right with God, and may the Lord
remove his judgments from you, preserve you in his kingdom
from all evil, and crown you in Christ. Amen.

MARCH 3, 1839. O. COWDERY.

After Cowdery had apostatized, his life, with that
of Whitmer and others, was threatened by his former
brethren and he was forced to flee from Missouri to
Ohio. At this time, it was freely admitted by the Mor-
mons that he had denied his testimony to the Book of
Mormon, and the following poem was composed in ref-
erence to his renunciation :

THE BOOK OF MORMON 65

"Amazed with wonder! I look round

To see most people of our day
Reject the glorious gospel sound
Because the simple turn away:
But does it prove there is no time,
Because some watches will not go?

"Or prove that Christ was not the Lord
Because that Peter cursed and swore,
Or Book of Mormon not his word

Because denied by Oliver?
Or prove that Joseph Smith is false
Because apostates say 'tis so?"

After severing his connection with the church, and
his return to the state of Ohio, Cowdery settled at
Tiffin, where he practiced law, and in 1840 or 1841
became a member of the Methodist Protestant Church.
During the time that he practiced law in Tiffin, Cow-
dery's partner was Judge W. Lang. In the following
letter, addressed to Thomas Gregg, of Hamilton, Illinois,
author of "The Prophet of Palmyra," this gentleman says
respecting the history of Cowdery at Tiffin :

TIFFIN, O., Nov. 5, 1881.

DEAR SIR: — Your note of the 1st inst. I found upon my desk
when I returned home this evening and I hasten to answer.
Once for all I desire to be strictly understood when I say to
you that I cannot violate any confidence of a friend though he
be dead. This I will say that Mr. Cowdery never spoke of
his connection with the Mormons to anybody except to me. We
were intimate friends. The plates were never translated and
could not be, were never intended to be. What is claimed to
be a translation is the "Manuscript Found" worked over by C.
He was the best scholar amongst them. Rigdon got the original
at the job printing office in Pittsburgh as I have stated. I often
expressed my objection to the frequent repetition of "And it
came to pass" to Mr. Cowdery and said that a true scholar
ought to have avoided that, which only provoked a gentle smile
from C. Without going into detail or disclosing a confided
(5)

66 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

word, I say to you that I do know, as well as can now be known,
that C. revised the "Manuscript" and Smith and Rigdon approved
of it before it became the "Book of Mormon." I have no
knowledge of what became of the original. Never heard C. say
as to that. Smith was killed while C. lived here. I well remem-
ber the effect upon his countenance when he read the news in
my presence. He immediately took the paper over to his house
to read to his wife. On his return to the office we had a long
conversation on the subject, and I was surprised to hear him
speak with so much kindness of a man that had so wronged
him as Smith had. It elevated him greatly in my already high
esteem, and proved to me more than ever the nobility of his
nature. C. never gave me a full history of the troubles of the
Mormons in Mo. and 111., but I am sure that the doctrine of
polygamy was advocated by Smith and opposed by Cowdery.
Then when they became rivals for the leadership, Smith made
use of this opposition by Cowdery to destroy his popularity and
influence, and which finally culminated in the mob that demol-
ished Cowdery's house the night when he fled. This Whitmer
you speak of must be the brother-in-law of Cowdery whose
wife was a Whitmer. It may be true that he has the original
MS. Now as to whether C. ever openly denounced Mormonism
let me say this to you: no man ever knew better than he how
to keep one's own counsel. He would never allow any man to
drag him into a conversation on the subject. Cowdery was a
Democrat and a most powerful advocate of the principles of the
party on the stump. For this he became the target of the
Whig stumpers arid press, who denounced him as a Mormon
and made free use of C.'s certificate at the end of the Mormon
Bible to crush his influence. He suffered great abuse for this
while he lived here on that account. In the second year of his
residence here he and his family attached themselves to the
Methodist Protestant Church, where they held fellowship to the
time they left for Elkhorn. I have now said about all that I feel
at liberty to say on these points and hope it may aid you some in
your researches. If Mrs. Cowdery is still living, I would be
glad to learn her post office address so as to enable me to write
to her. You have now the substance of all I remember on the
subject and if it proves of any benefit to your enterprise (in
which I wish you success), you are certainly welcome. I could

THE BOOK OF MORMON 5?

only answer your questions in the manner I did because some of
them were not susceptible of a direct answer by me.

Resp. Yours, W. LANG.

In a letter to Mr. Gregg, dated at Tiffin, Ohio, August
3, 1882, Judge W. H. Gibson, an old acquaintance and
friend of Cowdery, says:

Referring, now, to yours of the I3th February, making in-
quiries as to Oliver Cowdery, I beg to reply, though perhaps
too late for your purpose. I think that it is absolutely certain
that Mr. C, after his separation from the Mormons, never con-
versed on the subject with his most intimate friends, and never
by word or act, disclosed anything relating to the conception,
development or progress of the "Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints." He was an able lawyer, a fine orator, a
ready debater and led a blameless life, while residing in this
city. He united with the Methodist Protestant Church, and was
a consistent, active member.

Mrs. Adeline M. Bernard, adopted daughter of Oliver
Cowdery, wrote as follows of Cowdery 's connection with
the Methodist Protestant Church :

JACKSON, Oct. 3, 1881.
MR. GREGG,

Sir: — Your letter of August 18 was received in due time, and
the reason that I did not answer it sooner was on account of
sickness. In the first place, you say that Whitmer states that
Mr. Cowdery held the original Manuscripts of the Book of Mor-
mon and when he came to die placed them in the hands of Mr.
Whitmer. All he, O. C, had was the B. of M. and the M.
hymn book. Joe Smith said that as fast as he translated from
the golden plates the B. of M., the angel took them from them
and nothing was left him but the B. of M. Second, I know
that Mr. Cowdery joined the Protestant Methodist Church in
1841 and you can write to W. M. Lang, of Tiffin, Ohio, and he
will search the Ch. records and send you a transcript of his.
O. C.'s membership. I suppose that Maria Cowdery, or Mrs.
Johnson as she is now, feels a delicacy in saying anything about
her father's belief in M. I don't think that any of the family
connection belong to the M. C. except David Whitmer, and he

58 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

was always a very visionary man, but he renounced M. when
O. C. did. I do not know of anything more you want to know,
but if there is tell me and I will try and inform you the best I
can. ADELINE M. BERNARD/

I now introduce the affidavit of G. J. Keen, a highly
respected citizen of Tiffin, as proof that Cowdery re-
nounced Mormonism and united with the Methodist
Protestant Church:

STATE OF OHIO,
County of Seneca.

Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Notary
Public within and for said county, G. J. Keen, a resident of said
county, to me well known, and being sworn according to law
makes oath and says:

I was well acquainted with Oliver Cowdery who formerly
resided in this city, that sometime in the year 1840 Henry
Cronise, Samuel Waggoner and myself, with other Democrats
of this county, determined to establish a Democratic newspaper
in this city to aid in the election of Martin Van Buren to the
Presidency, and we authorized Henry Cronise, Esq., to go East
and purchase a suitable press for that purpose. Mr. Cronise
went East, purchased a press and engaged Oliver Cowdery to
edit the paper. Mr. Cowdery arrived in Tiffin (O.) some time
before the press arrived. Some time after Mr. Cowdery's ar-
rival in Tiffin, we became acquainted with his (Cowdery's) con-
nection with Mormonism.

We immediately called a meeting of our Democratic friends,
and having the Book of Mormon with us, it was unanimously
agreed that Mr. Cowdery could not be permitted to edit said
paper.

Mr. Cowdery opened a law office in Tiffin, and soon effected
a partnership with Joel W. Wilson.

In a few years Mr. Cowdery expressed a desire to associate
himself with a Methodist Protestant church of this city.

Rev. John Souder and myself were appointed a committee

1 The letters of Lang, Gibson and Mrs. Bernard have been turned over
to the American Anti-Mormon Association by the family of Th. Gregg, to
whom they are addressed. I have made these copies directly from the
originals.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 69

to wait on Mr. Cowdery and confer with him respecting his
connection with Mormonism and the Book of Mormon.

We accordingly waited on Mr. Cowdery at his residence in
Tiffin, and there learned his connection, from him, with that
order, and his full and final renunciation thereof.

We then inquired of him if he had any objection to making
a public recantation.

He replied that he had objections; that, in the first place,
it could do no good ; that he had known several to do so and
they always regretted it. And, in the second place, it would
have a tendency to draw public attention, invite criticism, and
bring him into contempt.

"But," said he, "nevertheless, if the church require it, I will
submit to it, but I authorize and desire you and the church to
publish and make known my recantation."

We did not demand it, but submitted his name to the church,
and he was unanimously admitted a member thereof.

At that time he arose and addressed the audience present,
admitted his error and implored forgiveness, and said he was
sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism.

He continued his membership while he resided in Tiffin, and
became superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and led an ex-
emplary life while he resided with us.

I have lived in this city upwards of fifty-three years, was
auditor of this county, was elected to that office in 1840.

I am now in my eighty-third year, and well remember the
facts above related. (Signed) G. J. KEEN.

Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence, this
I4th day of April, A. D 1885. FRANK L. EMICH,

Notary Public in Seneca, O.

Another very interesting proof of Cowdery 's con-
nection with the Methodist Protestant Church at Tiffin
is to be found in the records of the business meetings of
the male members of that church. The minutes of such
a meeting, held January 18, 1844, are as follows :

Minutes of a meeting of the Male Members of the Methodist
Protestant Church of Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, held pursuant
to adjournment.

The meeting came to order by appointing Rev. Thomas

60 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Cushman Chairman, and Oliver Cowdery Secretary. On ascer-
taining and it appearing that more than two-thirds of the male
members of said Society were present, it was on motion

Resolved, That we accept the Charter for the legal organiza-
tion of said Society passed by the General Assembly of the
State of Ohio, January iQth, 1843, and that we become and now
are organized under and in accordance with the provisions of
the same.

On motion, it was further resolved that John Souder, Joseph
Walker, William Campbell, John Shinefelt and Benjamin Nye
be, and they are hereby appointed and chosen Trustees for said
Society for and during the term of one year and until their
successors are chosen and accept said office.

Resolved, That the annual meeting of the male members of
this Society be held at this place one year from this date at
half past 6 p. m. for the purpose of electing five Trustees for
said Society, unless previously called by a vote of two-thirds
of the male members of this Society to be held at another
time.

Resolved, That the Trustees appointed by this meeting be
authorized to call a special meeting of this Society for the pur-
pose of adopting such By-laws as may be necessary for the well
being of the same.

Resolved, That the first meeting of the Trustees of this
Society, elected by this meeting, be held at the office of O.
Cowdery on Tuesday, the 23rd inst, at half past 6 o'clock p. m.

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by
the Chairman and Secretary.

On motion the meeting adjourned without delay.

THOS. B. CUSHMAN, Chairman.

OLIVER COWDERY, Secretary.

JAN. 18, 1844.

It is not at all likely that Oliver Cowdery would have
been chosen secretary of "a meeting of the Male Mem-
bers of the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, Ohio,"
if he was not a member of that church; and it is not at
all likely that he would have been a member of that
church if he had not renounced Mormonism.

With these facts before us, it is sheer folly for Mor-

THE BOOK OF MORMON 61

monism any longer to deny that Oliver Cowdery did at
one time in his history renounce the faith and did con-
nect himself with the Methodist Protestant Church of
Tiffin, Ohio.

62 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

CHAPTER IV.

The Life of Solomon Spaulding — Spaulding's Roman Story — The
Fairchild-Rice-Smith Correspondence — A Mormon Lie Nailed.

Solomon Spaulding was born at Ash ford, Connecti-
cut, in 1761 ; graduated from Dartmouth College in 1785,
and completed his course in theology in 1787. After this
he preached for a time, but finally became an infidel,1 quit
preaching and engaged in the mercantile business2 in
Cherry Valley, New York, where he failed financially in
1807. I*1 1809, with a business partner, Henry Lake, he"
built a forge at Conneaut, or New Salem, Ohio, where he
again failed in 1812. The same year he removed to
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he lived two years, re-
moving, at the expiration of this time, to the town of
Amity, in the same State, where he made his home up to
the time of his death in 1816.

SPAULDING'S ROMAN STORY.

It was while living at Conneaut that Spaulding be-
came interested in the aboriginal works of the country
and began to write romances based upon them. The
first of these, which is variously known as his "Manu-
script No. i," "Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek,"
"Honolulu Manuscript" and "Roman Story," he began
in the year 1809.* This manuscript gives an account of

1 The proof of this is the fragment of a letter attached to his "Manu-
script Story."

* Mrs. Dickenson eays that Spaulding was principal of an academy at
Cherry Valley, New York. ("New Light on Mormonism," p. 13.) His
brother John says, however, that he went into the mercantile business in
that place with his brother Josiah.

* Some say in the year 1808.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 63

a party of Romans who, in the time of Constantino, in a
voyage to Britain, were driven from their course by con-
trary winds and were thrown upon our Atlantic coast.
Making their way inland, they came in contact with two
native tribes, the Sciotans and Kentucks, who are de-
scribed as living, respectively, north and south of the
Ohio River. This story is the purported history of these
aboriginal tribes, giving an account of their customs,
habits, manner of government and wars. Its author was
a Roman by the name of Fabius, who is represented as
writing it on twenty-eight rolls of parchment in the Latin
language and afterward depositing it in an artificial cave
near Conneaut, where Spaulding claims that he dis-
covered it. It was never -finished, for it ends abruptly.
Spaulding gave as his reason for throwing it aside that
he wished to go further back in his dates and write in
the old Scriptural style, that his story might appear more
ancient — a wish that was afterwards accomplished in his
"Manuscript Found," from which, it is claimed, the Book
of Mormon has been revamped.

After Spaulding's death, his widow removed to the
home of her brother, W. H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley,
New York. Among the things that she carried with her
was an old,/ "hair-covered trunk" which contained the
sermons, essays and a "single manuscript" of her de-
ceased husband. In 1820, Mrs. Spaulding married a Mr.
Davison, of Hartwick, New York, and took the trunk to
that place with her. Her daughter, Matilda Spaulding,
was married to Dr. A. McKinstry in 1828, and removed
to Monson, Hampden County, Massachusetts, where her
mother followed her soon afterwards and where she
spent the remainder of her life. When Mrs. Davison re-
moved from Hartwick, the trunk spoken of was left in
the care of her cousin, Mr. Jerome Clark, of that place.

64 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Leaving the Spauldings for the present, we return to
Conneaut, Ohio. In 1832 or 1833, a "woman preacher"
came to that place and read copious extracts from the
Book of Mormon before a congregation composed, in
part, of Spaulding's relatives and old acquaintances. The
book was immediately recognized by Spaulding' s brother
and others as a plagiarism of the "Manuscript Found,"
and considerable indignation was manifested that it
should have been put to so unholy a use as to be trans-
formed into a new Bible. The excitement was so in-
tense that a citizens' meeting was called, and Dr. Philas-
trus Hurlburt, who had been a Mormon, but who had
been cut off from the church, Mormons say, for immo-
rality, was deputed to visit Mrs. Davison and secure, if
possible, the "Manuscript Found," that it might be com-
pared with the Book of Mormon and the fraud be ex-
posed.

Hurlburt went, first, to Onondaga Valley, New York,
where he secured the recommendation of Mr. Sabine,
Mrs. Davison's brother, and from there to Monson, Mas-
sachusetts, where he met Mrs. Davison herself. At first
this lady declined to give her consent to let the writings
of her former husband pass out of her possession, but
upon receiving Hurlburt's solemn promise that the man-
uscript he was seeking would be returned, she reluctantly
acceded, and Hurlburt went to Hartwick and obtained
from the old trunk in Mr. Clark's possession the "single
manuscript" which it contained, and which at that time
was supposed to be the "Manuscript Found."

Hurlburt then returned to Ohio and delivered the
manuscript, with other matter which he had collected, to
a Mr. E. D. Howe, editor of the Painesville Telegraph,
who was then engaged in writing his book, "Mormonism
Unveiled." But, when this gentleman examined the

THE BOOK OF MORMON 65

manuscript, he discovered that it was not the "Manu-
script Found" at all, but Spaulding's first story, entitled
"Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek." He also after-
wards exhibited it to the old acquaintances of Spaulding,
who immediately recognized it as his work, but who de-
clared that it was not the "Manuscript Found," but an-
other manuscript written earlier.

This romance was not returned to Mrs. Davison, as
had been agreed upon, and was soon lost track of. Howe
declared that it had been destroyed by fire, while the
Spauldings accused Hurlburt of having sold it to the
Mormons. But neither of these explanations of its dis-
appearance proved true. In 1839-40, Howe sold his print-
ing establishment to a Mr. L. L. Rice, who, with a part-
ner, began publishing an antislavery newspaper. Rice
subsequently sold out and removed to Honolulu, Sand-
wich Islands, where, in 1884, he accidentally discovered
this manuscript in his possession, it having been inad-
vertently transferred to him by Howe, among other
things, when he bought out his printing establishment.

Soon after its discovery, this manuscript was placed
in the library of Oberlin College, Ohio, where it still re-
mains. Both of the Mormon Churches have made copies
of it, which ]they publish under the erroneous title, "Man-
uscript Found."

THE FAIRCHILD-RICE-SMITH CORRESPONDENCE.

With the finding of the Honolulu manuscript, interest
in the question of the origin of the Book of Mormon was
re-aroused, and papers and magazines throughout the
country heralded the news of the new find and discussed
its probable bearing upon the traditional theory, so long
held, of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the Spaul-
ding Romance. Pres. J. H. Fairchild, of Oberlin College,

66 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

having been in Honolulu at the time of the discovery
of this manuscript, wrote a brief note in regard to the
same for the Bibliotheca Sacra, which was widely copied
by papers and magazines1 throughout the country. This
note, with three letters from the pen of Mr. L. L. Rice,
the finder, appear in the preface to the Josephite edition
of this manuscript. The note is as follows :

The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the
traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding, will probably have
to be relinquished. That manuscript is doubtless now in the
possession of Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands,
formerly an anti-slavery editor in Ohio, and Rr many years
State Printer at Columbus. During a recent visit to Honolulu,
I suggested to Mr. Rice that he might have valuable anti-slavery
documents in his possession, which he would be willing to con-
tribute to the rich collection already in the Oberlin College
Library. In pursuance of this suggestion, Mr. Rice began look-
ing over his old pamphlets and papers, and at length came upon
an old, worn and faded manuscript of about one hundred and
seventy-five pages, small quarto, purporting to be a history of
the migrations and conflicts of the ancient Indian Tribes, which
occupied the territory now belonging to the States of New York,
Ohio and Kentucky. On the last page of this manuscript is a
certificate* and signature, giving the names of several persons
known to the signer, who have assured him that to their per-
sonal knowledge the manuscript was the writing of Solomon
Spaulding. Mr. Rice has no recollection how or when this
manuscript came into his possession. It was enveloped in a
coarse piece of wrapping paper, and endorsed in Mr. Rice's
hand-writing, "A Manuscript Story."

There seems no reason to doubt that this is the long-lost
story. Mr. Rice, myself and others compared it with the Book
of Mormon; and could detect no resemblance between the two,
in general or in detail. There seems to be no name or incident

1 Grinnell (Iowa) Herald; Western Watchman, Eureka, California;
New York Observer, Frank Leslie's Sunday Maqazine, etc.

1 "The Writings of Sollomon Spaulding Proved by Aron Wright,
Oliver Smith, John N. Miller & others. The testimonies of the above
gentlemen are now in my possession. (Signed) D. P. HURLBURT."

THE BOOK OF MORMON «T

common to the two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon,
in imitation of the English Scriptures, does not appear in the
manuscript. The only resemblance is in the fact that both
profess to set forth the history of lost tribes. Some other ex-
planation of the origin of the Book of Mormon must be found,
if any explanation is required.

(Signed) JAMES H. FAIRCHILD.

The three letters of Mr. Rice I now give, reserving
my comments on the same, as I also shall on the note of
President Fairchild, until their close:

HONOLULU, Sandwich Islands, March 28, 1885.

MR. JOSEPH SMITH :l — The Spaulding Manuscript in my pos-
session came into my hands in this wise. In 1839-40 my partner
and myself bought of E. D. Howe the Painesville Telegraph,
published at Painesville, Ohio. The transfer of the printing de-
partment, types, press, &c., was accompanied with a large col-
lection of books, manuscripts, &., this manuscript of Spaulding
among the rest. So, you see, it has been in my possession over
forty years. But I never examined it, or knew the character
of it, until some six or eight months since. The wrapper was
marked, "Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek." The wonder is,
that in some of my movements, I did not destroy or burn it
with a large amount of rubbish that had accumulated from
time to time.

It happened that Pres't Fairchild was here on a visit, at the
time I discovered the contents of it, and it was examined by
him and others' with much curiosity. Since Pres't Fairchild pub-
lished the fact of its existence in my possession, I have had
applications for it from half a dozen sources, each applicant
seeming to think that he or she was entitled to it. Mr. Howe
says when he was getting up a book to expose Mormonism as a
fraud at an early day, when the Mormons had their head»
quarters at Kirtland, he obtained it from some source, and it
was inadvertently transferred with the other effects of his
printing office. A. B. Deming, of Painesville, who is also get-
ting up some kind of a book I believe on Mormonism, wants
me to send it to him. Mrs. Dickinson, of Boston, claiming to

1 President of the Reorganized Church.

68 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

be a relative of Spaulding, and who is getting up a book to show
that he was the real author of the Book of Mormon, wants it.
She thinks, at least, it should be sent to Spaulding's daughter, a
Mrs Somebody — but she does not inform me where she lives.
Deming says that Howe borrowed it when he was getting up
his book, and did not return it, as he should have done, &c.

This Manuscript does not purport to be "a story of the
Indians formerly occupying this continent;" but is a history of
the wars between the Indians of Ohio and Kentucky, and their
progress in civilization, &c. It is certain that this Manuscript
is not the origin of the Mormon Bible, whatever some other
manuscript may have been. The only similarity between them,
is, in the manner in which each purports to have been found —
one in a cave on Conneaut Creek — the other in a hill in Ontario
County, New York. There is no identity of names, of persons,
or places; and there is no similarity of style between them. As
I told Mr. Deming, I should as soon think the Book of Revela-
tion was written by the author of Don Quixote, as that the
writer of this Manuscript was the author of the Book of Mor-
mon. Deming says Spaulding made three copies of "Manuscript
Found," one of which Sidney Rigdon stole from a printing
office in Pittsburg. You can probably tell better than I can,
what ground there is for such an allegation.

As to this Manuscript, I can not see that it can be of any
use to any body, except the Mormons, to show that IT is not
the original of the Mormon Bible. But that would not settle
the claim that some other manuscript of Spaulding was the
original of it. I propose to hold it in my own hands for a while,
to see if it can not be put to some good use. Deming and Howe
inform me that its existence is exciting great interest in that
region. I am under a tacit, but not a positive pledge to Presi-
dent Fairchild, to deposit it eventually in the Library of Oberlin
College. I shall be free from that pledge, when I see an oppor-
tunity to put it to a better use. Yours, &c., L. L. RICE.

P. S. — Upon reflection, since writing the foregoing, I am of
the opinion that no one who reads this Manuscript will give
credit to the story that Solomon Spaulding was in any wise the
author of the Book of Mormon. It is unlikely that any one who
wrote so elaborate a work as the Mormon Bible, would spend
his time in getting up so shallow a story as this, which at best

THE BOOK OF MORMON 69

is but a feeble imitation of the other. Finally, I am more than
half convinced that this is his only writing of the sort, and that
any pretense that Spaulding was in any sense the author of the
other, is a sheef fabrication. It was easy for any body who
may have seen this, or heard anything of its contents, to get up
the story that they were identical. L. L. R.

HONOLULU, Sandwich Islands, May i4th, 1885.
MR. JOSEPH SMITH :

Dear Sir — I am greatly obliged to you for the information
concerning Mormonism, in your letters of April 3Oth and May
2d. As I am in no sense a Mormonite, of course it is a matter
of curiosity, mainly, that I am interested in the history of Mor-
monism.

Two things are true concerning this manuscript in my pos-
session: First, it is a genuine writing of Solomon Spaulding;
and second, it is not the original of the Book of Mormon.

My opinion is, from all I have seen and learned, that this
is the only writing of Spaulding, and there is no founda-
tion for the statement of Deming and others, that Spaulding
made another story, more elaborate, of which several copies
were written, one of which Rigdon stole from a printing
office in Pittsburgh, &c. Of course I can not be as certain
of this, as of the other two points. One theory is, that
Rigdon, or some one else, saw this manuscript, or heard it
read, and from the hints it conveyed, got up the other and
more elaborate writing on which the Book of Mormon was
founded. Take that for what it is worth. It don't seem to me
very likely. ,

You may be at rest as to my putting the manuscript into
the possession of any one who will mutilate it, or use it for a
bad purpose. I shall have it deposited in the Library of Oberlin
College, in Ohio, to be at the disposal for reading of any one
who may wish to peruse it; but not to be removed from that
depository. My friend, President Fairchild, may be relied on as
security for the safe keeping of it. It will be sent there in
July, by a friend who is going there to "take to himself a
wife." Meantime, I have made a literal copy of the entire
document — errors of orthography, grammar, erasures, and all —
which I shall keep in my possession, so that any attempt to
mutilate it will be of easy detection and exposure. Oberlin is

70 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

a central place, in the vicinity of Conneaut, where the manu-
script was written.

I have had an idea, sometimes, that it is due to the Mor-
mons to have a copy of it, if they took interest in it enough
to publish it. As it is only of interest as showing that it is
not the original of the Book of Mormon, no one else is likely
to wish it for publication.

Miss Dickinson, whom you call a granddaughter of Solomon
Spaulding, represents herself to me as his grandniece: "My
great uncle, Rev. Solomon Spaulding," she writes.

Rev. Dr. Hyde, President of the Institution, in this place,
for training Native Missionaries for Micranesia, (a very promi-
nent and successful institution,) has written an elaborate account
of this manuscript, and of Mormonism, and sent it for publica-
tion in the Congregationalist, of Boston. I presume it will be
published, and you will be interested in reading it.

Very respectfully yours, L. L. RICE.

HONOLULU, H. I., June 12, 1885.

PRESIDENT J. H. FAIRCHILD: — Herewith I send to you the
Solomon Spalding Manuscript, to be deposited in the Library of
Oberlin College, for reference by any one who may be desirous
of seeing or examining it. As a great deal of inquiry has been
made about it since it became known that it was in my posses-
sion, I deem it proper that it be deposited for safe keeping,
where any one interested it it, whether Mormon or Anti-Mor-
mon, may examine it. It has been in my possession forty-six
years — from 1839 to 1885 — and for forty-four years of that time
no one examined it, and I was not aware of the character of
its contents. I send it to you enclosed in the same paper
wrapper, and tied with the same string that must have enclosed
it for near half a century — certainly during the forty-six years
since it came into my possession. I have made and retain in
my possession a correct literal copy of it, errors of orthography,
of grammar, erasures and all. I may allow the Mormons of
Utah to print it from this copy, which they are anxious to do;
and a delegation is now in the Islands, awaiting my decision on
this point. They claim that they are entitled to whatever benefit
they may derive from its publication ; and it seems to me there
is some justice in that claim. Whether it will relieve them in
any measure, from the imputation that Solomon Spalding was

THE BOOK OF MORMON 71

the author of the Book of Mormon, I do not attempt to decide.
It devolves upon their opponents to show that there are or were
other writings of Spalding — since it is evident that this writing
is not the original of the Mormon Bible.

Truly yours, &c., L. L. RICE.

P. S.— The words "Solomon Spaulding's Writings" in ink on

the wrapper were written by me, after 1 became aware of the

contents. The words "Manuscript Story— Conneaut Creek," in

faint penciling, were as now when it came into my possession.

Having put before the reader the foregoing corre-
spondence, I now invite his attention to a brief, critical
examination of the same.

First, the manuscript described is not the "Manu-
script Found," from which it is claimed the Book of
Mormon was revamped, but an entirely different ro-
mance, entitled on the wrapper, "Manuscript Story — Con-
neaut Creek." Professor Fairchild says that this title
appeared on the wrapper in Mr. Rice's handwriting, but
Rice, himself, declares that it was there, "in faint pencil-
ing," when it first came into his possession. For a reason
that will appear in the next chapter, I believe that it was
on the wrapper long before it fell into the hands of Dr.
Hurlburt.

Secondly, Professor Fairchild seems not to have fully
understood, at this time, the Spaulding-manuscript the-
ory. He speaks of this manuscript as "the long-lost
story," wholly unmindful of the fact that, fifty years be-
fore, Howe, in his "Mormonism Unveiled," had given a
paragraph outline of it and had declared that he had sub-
mitted it to the acquaintances of Spaulding, who had ad-
mitted that the latter was its author, but who had ex-
pressly denied that it was the "Manuscript Found." It
is, therefore, not "the long-lost story" at all, but a
totally different story, written earlier and bearing no
more relation to the "Manuscript Found" than Long-

(6)

72 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

fellow's "Evangeline" bears to his "Hiawatha." The
difference in style between this manuscript and the Book
of Mormon is explained by the statement of Spaulding,
when he threw it aside, that he intended to change the
style and go further back in his dates that his story
might appear more ancient.

Thirdly, Mr. Rice, in denying that the "Manuscript
Story" was in any sense the basis of the Book of Mor-
mon, admits the contention of nearly all learned anti-
Mormon polemics, both before and since his time, that
another manuscript of Spaulding's might have formed
such a basis. He says:

It is certain that this Manuscript is not the origin of the
Mormon Bible, whatever some other manuscript may have been.

And:

But that would not settle the claim that some other manu-
script of Spaulding was the original of it.

Fourthly, Professor Fairchild, in October, 1900, so
far changed his sentiments expressed sixteen years be-
fore, that he admitted the same contention. In the month
mentioned, and shortly before his death, he signed the
following statement in the presence of Rev. J. D. Nut-
ting:

FAIRCHILD'S LAST STATEMENT.

With regard to the manuscript of Mr. Spaulding now in the
Library of Oberlin College, I have never stated, and know of
no one who can state, that it is the only manuscript which
Spaulding wrote, or that it is certainly the one which has been
supposed to be the original of the Book of Mormon. The dis-
covery of this Ms. does not prove that there may not have been
another, which became the basis of the Book of Mormon. The
use which has been made of statements emanating from me a5
implying the contrary of the above is entirely unwarranted.

JAMES H. FAIRCHILD.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 73

With this last statement, Professor Fairchild nullifies
the wrong inferences which have been drawn from his
first declaration, and swings into line with the position
generally assumed by intelligent anti-Mormon polemics,
that there was another manuscript, different from the one
found in Honolulu, which became the basis of the Book
of Mormon.

A MORMON LIE NAILED.

In the preface to the copy of the Honolulu manu-
script, as published by the Reorganized Mormon Church,
I find the following false and misleading statement:

Herewith we present to the reader the notorious "Manu-
script Story" ("Manuscript Found"1) of the late Rev. Solomon
Spalding. What gives this document prominence is the fact
that, for the past fifty years, it has been made to do duty by
the opposers of the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, as the source, the root, and the
inspiration, by and from which Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon
wrote said Book of Mormon and organized said Church. . . .

This seeming huge hindrance and insurmountable obstacle
which is always thrown in the way of the investigator with all
the skill and power that craft and cunning and malice and fear
and blind zeal can invent and command, vanishes from the pres-
ence of this /original witness in the case ; for when it speaks
it reveals the flimsiness and falsity of the claim that it was in
any way or in any sense the origin of the Book of Mormon,
or that there is the least likeness between the two. This newly
found "missing link" completes the chain of evidence which
proves that the "Manuscript Found" never was and never could
be made the occasion, cause or germ of the Book of Mormon.

It would be difficult to find, among all that has been
written upon this subject, a more false, misleading and

1 Notice that the title, "Manuscript Found," appears in parentheses.
It is not to be found on the manuscript anywhere, and it is wholly a
gratuitous assumption to call the latter the "Manuscript Found."

74 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

incorrect statement than the foregoing. How an in-
telligent and honest writer could have penned these
words, in the face of what Howe, Hurlburt, Bennett and
Braden had written prior to this time to the contrary, is
inexplicable. The "Manuscript Story" was never "made
to do duty by the opposers of the Book of Mormon and
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as the
source, the root, and the inspiration, by and from which
Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon wrote said Book of
Mormon and organized said Church." From 1834 it was
expressly denied that this manuscript had anything to do
with the Book of Mormon or that it was the "Manuscript
Found." ll A paragraph review of it was given in Howe's
book in 1834, and the contents of it were well known and
employed in public discussion* before the manuscript, it-
self, was found in 1884. The writer of the foregoing
could not have been ignorant of these facts ; they were to
be found in the books widely known of and read among
the members of his church.8

In 1834, Howe wrote as follows of the "Manuscript
Story": *

The trunk referred to by the widow was subsequently ex-
amined and found to contain only a single MS. book, in Spal-
ding*s handwriting, containing about one quire of paper. This
is a romance, purporting to have been translated from the

1 "Disbelievers in Joseph Smith's 'find' have never claimed that the
Book of Mormon was a plagiarism of the Oberlin manuscript, and all
the powder used by the Mormons on that subject is a wasted explosive."
— Stanton's "The Three Movements," p. 43.

'See the "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 91.

'The Mormons well knew the contents of the "Manuscript Story"
long before it was found in Honolulu, and Reynolds, in his "Myth of the
Manuscript Found," p. 52 (1883), gives the outline of it. Then, in the
face of the fact that Howe, Bennett and other anti-Mormons, following
the Conneaut testimonies about to be given, claimed that the "Manuscript
Found" was a Jewish romance, how could he honestly assert that they
claimed that the Book of Mormon came from the former? There has been
some pretty hard Mormon lying all along the line.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 75

Latin, found on twenty-four rolls of parchment, in a cave, on
the banks of Conneaut Creek, but written in modern style, and
giving a fabulous account of a ship's being driven upon the
American coast, while proceeding from Rome to Britain, a
short time previous to the Christian era, this country then being
inhabited by the Indians. This old MS. has been shown to
several of the foregoing witnesses, who recognize it as Spal-
ding's, he having told them that he had altered his first plan of
writing, by going farther back with dates, and writing in the old
Scripture style, in order that it might appear more ancient
They say that it bears no resemblance to the "Manuscript
Found."

This is the first description ever given in print of
this "Manuscript Story" which was afterwards found in
the possession of Mr. Rice, of Honolulu. And Howe
here disclaims that it was the "Manuscript Found," hence
that it was the basis of the Book of Mormon. Yet, in
the face of this fact, we are coolly told that this manu-
script has been made to do service "as the source, the
root, and the inspiration, by and from which Joseph
Smith and Sydney Rigdon wrote said Book of Mormon
and organized said Church" !

This same statement appeared again in the second
edition of Howe's book of 1840, and in Bennett's "Mor-
monism Exposed" of 1842.

Howe, again, in 1881, disclaimed any connection or
resemblance, whatever, between the "Manuscript Story"
and the "Manuscript Found." In a letter, addressed to
Elder T. W. Smith, an apostle of the Reorganized
Church, he says:

PAINESVILLE, Ohio, July 26th, 1881.

SIR:— Your note of 21 st is before me,— and I will answer
your queries seriatim.

1st. — The manuscript you refer to was not marked on the
outside or inside "Manuscript Found." It was a common-place
story of some Indian wars along the borders of our Great Lakef,

™ THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

between the Chicagoes and Eries, as I now recollect1— not in
Bible style — but purely modern.

2d. — It was not the original "Manuscript Found," and I dp
not believe Hurlburt ever had it.

3d. — I never saw or heard read the "Manuscript Found," but
have seen five or six persons who had, and from their testimony,
concluded it was very much like the Mormon Bible.

4th. — -Never succeeded in finding out anything more than was
detailed in my book of exposure published about fifty years ago.

5th. — The manuscript that came into my possession I suspect
was destroyed by fire forty years ago.

I think there has been much mist thrown around the whole
subject of the origin of the Mormon Bible and the "Manuscript
Found," by the several statements that have been made by those
who have been endeavoring to solve the problem after sleeping
quietly for half a century. Every effort was made to unravel
the mystery at the time, when nearly all the parties were on
earth, and the result published at the time, and I think it all
folly to try to dig out anything more. Yours, etc.,

E. D. HOWE.

Dr. Hurlburt, also, bears testimony to the fact that
the manuscript which he obtained from Mrs. Davison,
and which is now in Oberlin College Library, is not the
"Manuscript Found." In a statement issued at Gibson-
burg, Ohio, January 10, 1881, he says:

To all whom it may concern:

In the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four (1834), I went
from Geauga county, Ohio, to Monson, Hampden county, Mass.,
where I found Mrs. Davison, late widow of the Rev. Solomon
Spaulding, late of Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio. Of her
I obtained a manuscript, supposing it to be the manuscript of
the romance written by the said Solomon Spaulding, called the
"Manuscript Found," which was reported to be the foundation
of the "Book of Mormon." I did not examine the manuscript
till I got home, when upon examination I found it to contain

1 Notice Howe saying, "As I now recollect." He is mistaken in
regard to the tribes mentioned. They were not the Chicagoes and the
Eries, but the Sciotans and Kentucks.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 77

nothing of the kind, but being a manuscript upon an entirely
different subject. This manuscript I left with E. D. Howe, of
Painesville, Geauga county, Ohio, now Lake county, Ohio, with
the understanding that when he had examined it he should
return it to the widow. Said Howe says the manuscript was
destroyed by fire, and further the deponent saith not.

(Signed) D. P. HURLBURT.

The manuscript, then, which Hurlburt obtained from
Mrs. Davison, was not the "Manuscript Found," from
which it is claimed the Book of Mormon was taken, but
was "upon an entirely different subject." The same dis-
tinction between the manuscripts was also made by Clark
Braden in the celebrated Braden-Kelley debate, held at
Kirtland, Ohio, in 1884, a short time before the Hono-
lulu manuscript came to light.1

Reader, when the Mormon elder, who comes to your
door with his literature, tells you that the "Manuscript
Found," from which it is claimed the Book of Mormon
was taken, was discovered in Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands,
in 1884, and that they now have it in printed form for
twenty-five cents per copy, don't you believe it. The
manuscript from Honolulu is not the "Manuscript
Found," but the "Manuscript Story ;" the former may be
found, revamped, as the Book of Mormon, at the pub-
lishing-houses of the Brighamite and Josephite Mormon
Churches.

1 Sec "Braden-Kclley Debate" (first e<L), p. 75.

78 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

CHAPTER V.

Mrs. Davison's Boston Recorder letter— The Quincy Whig Re-
ply—Mrs. McKinstry's Affidavit

Immediately after the death of Solomon Spaulding,
his widow removed to the home of her brother, William
H. Sabine, a prominent lawyer of Onondaga Valley,
New York, carrying with her the trunk which contained
the writings of her deceased husband. In 1820, she was
married to a Mr. Davison, of Hartwick, near Coopers-
town, New York, and removed to that place, taking the
trunk and its contents with her. And eight years later
we find her at Monson, Massachusetts, living with her
daughter, Mrs. McKinstry, having left the trunk at Hart-
wick in the care of her cousin, Jerome Clark.

It has been the contention of some that Spaulding
made several drafts of the "Manuscript Found," one of
which was in the trunk while it remained at the house of
Squire Sabine at Onondaga Valley, and that Joseph
Smith, who worked as a teamster for Sabine, either stole
or copied it. But I am convinced that this contention is
not correct, for, if Smith worked for Sabine at this
time, as alleged,1 but which is doubtful, he was both
too young and too illiterate to have taken much interest
in such a romance, and the "single manuscript" which
this trunk contained is now known to have been, not
the "Manuscript Found," but the "Manuscript Story,"
while the testimony of Joseph Miller, a friend of Spaul-
ding at Amity, Pennsylvania, reveals the fact that the
"Manuscript Found," itself, was stolen from the Patter-

»"New Light on Monnonism," p. 21.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 79

son printing-office before Spaulding's death, which oc-
curred in 1816. The confusion upon this point largely
arises from the letters of Mrs. Davison and her daughter,
Mrs. McKinstry, who seem to have retained but a vague
recollection of what Spaulding wrote and to have paid
but little attention to his writings after his death. In
the letters of both, while a number of statements are un-
doubtedly correct, there is a distinct tendency to identify
the "single manuscript" in the old hair trunk with the
"Manuscript Found," which is disproved by that manu-
script, itself, since its discovery in 1884.

MRS. DAVISON'S BOSTON "RECORDER" LETTER.

In 1838-39, the missionaries of the Mormon Church
opened operations in the town of Holliston, Massachu-
setts. In that town there existed a Congregational church
of which the Rev. John Storrs was the pastor. Some
of the members of Dr. Storrs5 church became proselytes
to the Mormon faith, and this caused him to bestir
himself to action,1 and, through Prof. D. R. Austin,
principal of the Monson (Massachusetts) Academy, he
obtained a statement from Mrs. Davison which he pub-
lished in May, 1839, in the Boston Recorder. This state-
ment of Mrs. Davison is as follows :

As the Book of Mormon, or Golden Bible (as it was origi-
nally called), has excited much attention, and is deemed by a
certain new sect of equal authority with the Sacred Scriptures,
I think it is a duty which I owe to the public to state what I
know touching its origin.

That its claims to a divine origin are wholly unfounded

>P. P. Pratt says: "If the public will be patient, they will doubtless
find that the piece signed 'Matilda Davison' (Spaulding's widow) is a base
fabrication by Priest Storrs, of Holliston, Massachusetts, in order to save
his craft, after losing the deacon of his church, and several of its most
pious and intelligent members, who left his society to embrace what they
considered to be truth." — Letter in Ntvi York Era, 1839.

80 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

needs no proof to a mind unperverted by the grossest delusions.
That any sane person should rank it higher than any other
merely human composition is a matter of the greatest astonish-
ment; yet it is received as divine by some who dwell in enlight-
ened New England, and even by those who have sustained the
character of devoted Christians. Learning recently that Mor-
monism had found its way into a church in Massachusetts, and
has impregnated some with its gross delusions, so that excom-
munication has been necessary, I am determined to delay no
longer in doing what I can to strip the mask from this mother
of sin, and to lay open this pit of abominations.

Solomon Spaulding, to whom I was united in marriage in
early life, was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and was dis-
tinguished for a lively imagination, and a great fondness for
history. At the time of our marriage he resided in Cherry
Valley, New York. From this place, we removed to New
Salem, Ashtabula county, Ohio, sometimes called Conneaut, as
it is situated on Conneaut Creek. Shortly after our removal
to this place, his health sunk, and he was laid aside from active
labors. In the town of New Salem there are numerous mounds
and forts supposed by many to be the dilapidated dwellings and
fortifications of a race now extinct. These ancient relics arrest
the attention of the new settlers, and become objects of research
for the curious. Numerous implements were found, and other
articles evincing great skill in the arts. Mr. Spaulding being an
educated man, and passionately fond of history, took a lively
interest in these developments of antiquity; and in order to
beguile the hours of retirement and furnish employment for his
lively imagination, he conceived the idea of giving an historical
sketch of this long lost race. Their extreme antiquity led him
to write in the most ancient style, and as the Old Testament is
the most ancient book in the world, he imitated its style as
nearly as possible. His sole object in writing this imaginary
history was to amuse himself and his neighbors. This was about
the year 1812. Hull's surrender at Detroit occurred near the
same time, and I recollect the date well from that circumstance.
As he progressed in his narrative, the neighbors would come in
from time to time to hear portions read, and a great interest
in the work was excited among them. It claimed to have been
written by one of the lost nation, and to have been recovered

THE BOOK OF MORMON 81

from the earth, and assumed the title of "Manuscript Found."
The neighbors would often inquire how Mr. Spaulding pro-
gressed in deciphering the manuscript; and when he had a suf-
ficient portion prepared, he would inform them, and they would
assemble to hear it read. He was enabled, from his acquaintance
with the classics and ancient history, to introduce many singular
names, which were particularly noticed by the people, and could
be easily recognized by them. Mr. Solomon Spaulding had a
brother, Mr. John Spaulding, residing in the place at the time,
who was perfectly familiar with the work, and repeatedly heard
the whole of it read. From New Salem we removed to Pitts-
burg, in Pennsylvania. Here Mr. Spaulding found a friend and
acquaintance in the person of Mr. Patterson, an editor of a
newspaper. He exhibited his manuscript to Mr. Patterson, who
was very much pleased with it, and borrowed it for perusal. He
retained it for a long time, and informed Mr. Spaulding that
if he would make out a title page and preface, he would publish
it and it might be a source of profit. This Mr. Spaulding re-
fused to do. Sidney Rigdon, who has figured so largely in the
history of the Mormons, was at that time connected with the
printing office of Mr. Patterson, as is well known in that region,
and as Rigdon himself has frequently stated, became acquainted
with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript, and copied it. It was a matter
of notoriety and interest to all connected with the printing
establishment. At length the manuscript was returned to its
author, and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington
county, etc., where Mr. Spaulding deceased in 1816. The manu-
script then fell into my hands, and was carefully preserved.
It has frequently been examined by my daughter, Mrs. M'Kens-
try, of Monson, Mass., with whom I now reside, and by other
friends.

After the Book of Mormon came out, a copy of it was
taken to New Salem, the place of Mr. Spaulding's former resi-
dence, and the very place where the "Manuscript Found" was
written. A woman1 preacher appointed a meeting there; and in

1 Mormons claim that they never had a "woman preacher," and use
this as one of the arguments in their attempt to discredit Mrs. Davison's
testimony. But it does not say that it was a Mormon "woman preacher."
It may have been a woman preacher of some other connection. The
probability, however, is that it is a typographical error for "Mormon
preacher." Or it may have been some lady convert to Mormonism, who,

82 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

the meeting read and repeated copious extracts from the Book
of Mormon. The historical part was immediately recognized
by all the older inhabitants, as the identical work of Mr. Spaul-
ding, in which they had all been so deeply interested years before.
Mr. John Spaulding was present and recognized perfectly the
work of his brother. He vas amazed and afflicted that it should
have been perverted to so wicked a purpose. His grief found
vent in a flood of tears, and he arose on the spot, and expressed
to the meeting his sorrow and regret that the writings of his
deceased brother should be used for a purpose so vile and
shocking. The excitement in New Salem became so great, that
the inhabitants had a meeting, and deputed Dr. Philastrus Hurl-
burt, one of their number, to repair to this place and to obtain
from me the original manuscript of Mr. Spaulding, for the
purpose, of comparing it with the Mormon Bible, to satisfy their
own minds, and to prevent their friends from embracing an
error so delusive. This was in the year 1834. Dr. Hurlburt
brought with him an introduction and request for the manu-
script, which was signed by Messrs. Henry Lake, Aaron Wright,
and others, with all of whom I was acquainted, as they were my
neighbors when I resided at New Salem. I am sure that nothing
would grieve my husband more, were he living, than the use
which has been made of his work. The air of antiquity which
was thrown about the composition, doubtless suggested the
idea of converting it to the purposes of delusion. Thus an
historical romance, with the addition of a few pious expressions,
and extracts from the sacred Scriptures, has been construed into
a new Bible, and palmed off upon a company of poor deluded
fanatics as Divine. I have given the previous brief narration,
that this work of deep deception and wickedness may be searched
to the foundation and the authors exposed to the contempt and
execration they so justly deserve.

(Signed) MATILDA DAVISON.

This letter of Mrs. Davison, judging from the facts
that we now possess, presents to us a strange conglom-

while not a preacher officially, was practically such by reading copious
extracts from the Book of Mormon. Mormon women are not forbidden
taking part in their social services, and I have heard them do as much
as claimed here.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 83

eration of truth and error. This confusion is, doubtless,
due to the failure of memory during the lapse of time
between the death of her husband and the date of her
writing. She is certain that one of her husband's ro-
mances resembled the Book of Mormon and was written
in imitation of the Old Testament style of speech. In
this supposition she is doubtless correct. But she is also
certain that this manuscript was copied by Rigdon while
it lay in the Patterson printing-office, and that it was
afterwards returned to her family and was by them care-
fully preserved until it was delivered to Dr. Hurlburt.
In this she is doubtless incorrect. Everything goes to
show that the "Manuscript Found" was not finally re-
turned to the Spaulding family, but that it was stolen,
not copied, by Sidney Rigdon, who, with the assistance
of Smith and Cowdery, transformed it into the Book of
Mormon. Mrs. Davison has made a mistake in sup-
posing1 that the manuscript which she preserved so long
was the "Manuscript Found," whereas it was an entirely
different manuscript upon an entirely different subject.

THE QUINCY "WHIG" REPLY.

Some months after the purported letter of Mrs. Davi-
son appeared in the Boston Recorder, the following inter-
view was published, in reply, in the Whig of Quincy,
Illinois :

1 At another time, Mrs. Davison was not so certain that the "Manu-
script Found" was returned to. her family or that it was the trunk
manuscript. Howe says: "She states that Spaulding had a great variety
of manuscripts, and recollects that one was entitled the 'Manuscript
Found;' but of its contents she has now no distinct knowledge. While
they lived in Pittsburgh, she thinks it was once taken to the printing-office
of Patterson & Lambdin; but whether it was ever brought back to the
house again, she is quite uncertain; if it was, however, it was then, with
his other writings, in a trunk which she had left in Otsego County, New
York." — Quoted in "Mormonism Exposed," p. 120.

84 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

A CUNNING DEVICE DETECTED.

It will be recollected that a few months since an article ap-
peared in several of the papers, purporting to give an account
of the origin of the Book of Mormon. How far the writer of
that piece has effected his purposes, or what his purposes were
in pursuing the course he has, I shall not attempt to say at this
time, but shall call upon every candid man to judge in this
matter for himself, and shall content myself by presenting be-
fore the public the other side of the question in the form of a
letter, as follows:

Copy of a letter written by Mr. John Haven, of Holliston,
Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, to his daughter, Elizabeth Haven,
of Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois.

"Your brother Jesse passed through Monson, where he saw
Mrs. Davison and her daughter, Mrs. McKinstry, and also Dr.
Ely, and spent several hours with them, during which time he
asked them the following questions, viz. :

"Question — Did you, Mrs. Davison, write a letter to John
Storrs, giving an account of the origin of the Book of Mormon?

"Answer — I did not.

"Q. — Did you sign your name to it?

"A. — I did not, neither did I ever see the letter until I saw
it in the Boston Recorder, the letter was never brought to me
to sign.

"Q. — What agency had you in having this letter sent to Mr.
Storrs?

"A. — D. R. Austin came to my house and asked me some
questions, took some minutes on paper, and from these minutes
wrote that letter.

"Q. — Have you read the Book of Mormon?

"A. — I have read some of it.

"Q.— Does Mr. Spaulding's manuscript and the Book of Mor-
mon agree?

"A.— I think some few of the names are alike.

"Q.— Does the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a re-
ligious pepole?

"A. — An idolatrous people.

"Q.— Where is the manuscript?

"A.— D. P. Hurlburt came here and took it, said he would
get it printed and let me have one half of the profits.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 86

"Q.— Has D. P. Hurlburt got the manuscript printed?

"A.— I received a letter stating that it did not read as he
expected, and he should not print it.

"Q. — How large is Mr. Spaulding's manuscript?

"A.— About one-third as large as the Book of Mormon.

"Q._To Mrs. McKinstry: How old were you when your
father wrote the manuscript?

"A.— About five years of age.

"Q. — Did you ever read the manuscript?

''A.— When I was about twelve years old I used to read it
for diversion.

"Q. — Did the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a religious
people ?

"A.— An idolatrous people.

"Q. — Does the manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree?

"A. — I think some of the names agree.

"Q. — Are you certain that some of the names agree?

"A. — I am not.

"Q. — Have you read any in the Book of Mormon?

"A.— I have not.

"Q. — Was your name attached to that letter, which was sent
to Mr. John Storrs, by your order?

"A. — No, I never meant that my name should be there.

"You see by the above questions and answers, that Mr, Austin,
in his great zeal to destroy the Latter-day Saints, has asked Mrs.
Davison a few questions, then wrote a letter to Mr. Storrs in
his own language. I do not say that the above questions and
answers werfe given in the form that I have written them, but
these questions were asked, and these answers given. Mrs.
Davison is about seventy years of age, and somewhat broken."

This may certify that I am personally acquainted with Mr.
Haven, his son and daughter, and am satisfied they are persons
of truth. I have also read Mr. Haven's letter to his daughter,
which has induced me to copy it for publication, and I further
say, the above is a correct copy of Mr. Haven's letter.

A. BADLAM.*

There are a few points in this "Cunning Device De-

1 1 have copied this letter from Reynolds' "Myth of the Manuscript
Found," pp. 21, 22.

86 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

tected" l to which it will be well to call the reader's at-
tention :

First, if the purported letter of Mrs. Davison, as
published in the Boston Recorder, is not genuine, but is
the production of Principal D. R. Austin, this may ac-
count for the errors which it contains, and which have
been circulated as truths by the Mormons themselves.
By this letter, the Mormons have zealously sought to
establish the identity of the "Manuscript Found" with
the "single manuscript" in the old hair trunk and which
afterwards fell into the hands of Hurlburt.

Secondly, the charge is made that the "Cunning De-
vice Detected," as I have given it and as it appears in
present-day Mormon literature, has been maliciously gar-
bled and an important admission of Mrs. Davison left
out. A. T. Schroeder, in his excellent little pamphlet,
"The Origin of the Book of Mormon Re-examined in
Its Relation to the Spaulding's Manuscript Found," page
I3> says:

On page 22 of the "Myth of the Manuscript Found" this in-
terview appears with the statement that the Boston Recorder
article was in the main true, carefully omitted.

Thomas Gregg, also, claims that the admission of
Mrs. Davison, that the Boston Recorder article "was in
the main true," was to be found in the Mormon paper,
the Times and Seasons, Vol. L, p. 47.*"

If this is true, why have the Mormons left this im-
portant admission out of their later publications of the
Haven letter?*

Thirdly, Haven does just what Austin is accused of

*I have tried to locate the files of the Quincy Whig, containing ihit
letter, but so far have been unsuccessful.

•"Prophet of Palmyra," p. 421.

•If this is true, it is not the first time that Mormonism has garbled
testimony to further its ends.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 87

having done. He declares that Mrs. Davison told his
son, Jesse, that she did not write or sign the Boston
Recorder letter, but that Professor Austin came to her
home, asked some questions, took down some minutes
and wrote the letter. And then Haven, himself, admits
that the questions and answers in the "Cunning Device
Detected" are not given in their original form. So, if
there are just grounds for questioning the Boston Re-
corder letter, there are equally as just grounds for ques-
tioning the Quincy Whig reply. If Mrs. Davison did not
write and sign the former, she certainly did not write
and sign the latter, and, by his own admission, Haven
took as much liberty with what Mrs. Davison told his
son, Jesse, as Austin took with what Mrs. Davison told
him. And, in favor of the Boston Recorder letter, we
have the admission published in the Mormon paper, the
Times and Seasons, that it was "in the main true."

Fourthly, this purported interview with Mrs. Davison
and her daughter, Mrs. McKinstry, disagrees with the
sworn statement of Mrs. McKinstry afterwards made.
In her purported interview with Jesse Haven, we find the
following questions and answers:

Q.— Does the manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree?
A. — I think some of the names agree.
Q. — Are you certain that some of the names agree?
A. — I am not.

In her sworn statement, on this point, which we shall
presently give, Mrs. McKinstry says:

Afterward he (Spaulding) read the manuscript which I had
seen him writing, to the neighbors and to a clergyman, a friend
of his, who came to see him. Some of the names that he men-
tioned, while reading to these people, I have never forgotten.
They are as fresh to me today as though I heard them yesterday.
They were Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite, Nephi.

88 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

In the Haven letter, Mrs. McKinstry is said to have
been uncertain in regard to the identity of certain names
in her father's manuscript with those in the Book of
Mormon ; in her affidavit, made in 1880, she says that
the four Book of Mormon names given were as fresh to
her then as though she had heard them only the day
before. It seems very probable that Haven, who was evi-
dently either a Mormon or a Mormon sympathizer, wrote
down the answers of Mrs. McKinstry so as to make them
appear as favorable as possible to the claims of the Book
of Mormon — an art in which the Mormons are partic-
ularly accomplished.

MRS. M'KINSTRY'S AFFIDAVIT.

Mrs. Matilda Spaulding McKinstry has left us the
following sworn statement in regard to the manuscripts
of her father:

WASHINGTON, D. C, April 3rd, 1880.

So much has been published that is erroneous concerning the
"Manuscript Found," written by my father, the Rev. Solomon
Spaulding, and its supposed connection with the book, called the
Mormon Bible, I have willingly consented to make the following
statement regarding it, repeating all that I remember personally
of this manuscript, and all that is of importance which my
mother related to me in connection with it, at the same time
affirming that I am in tolerable health and vigor, and that my
memory, in common with elderly people, is clearer in regard to
the events of my earlier years, rather than those of my maturer
life.

During the war of 1812, I was residing with my parents in a
little town in Ohio called Conneaut. I was then in my sixth
yeaf. My father was in business there, and I remember his
iron foundry and the men he had at work, but that he remained
at home most of the time and was reading and writing a great
deal. He frequently wrote little stories, which he read to me.
There were some round mounds of earth near our house which
greatly interested him, and he said a tree on the top of one of

THE BOOK OF MORMON 89

them was a thousand years old. He set some of his men to
work digging into one of these mounds, and I vividly remember
how excited he became when he heard that they had exhumed
some human bones, portions of gigantic skeletons, and various
relics. He talked with my mother of these discoveries in the
mound, and was writing every day as the work progressed.
Afterward he read the manuscript which I had seen him writing,
to the neighbors and to a clergyman, a friend of his, who came
to see him. Some of the names that he mentioned while reading
to these people I have never forgotten. They are as fresh to
me today as though I heard them yesterday. They were Mor-
mon, Maroni, Lamenite, Nephi.

We removed from Conneaut to Pittsburg while I was still
very young, but every circumstance of this removal is distinct
in my memory. In that city my father had an intimate friend
named Patterson, and I frequently visited Mr. Patterson's library
with him, and heard my father talk about books with him. In
1816 my father died at Amity, Pennsylvania, and directly after
his death my mother and myself went to visit at the residence
of my mother's brother, William H. Sabine, at Onondaga Val-
ley, Onondaga County, New York. Mr. Sabine was a lawyer oi
distinction and wealth, and greatly respected. We carried all
our personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk,
in which my mother had placed all my father's writings which
had been preserved. I perfectly remember the appearance of
this trunk, and of looking at its contents. There were sermons
and other papers, and I saw a manuscript, about an inch thick,
closely w/ritten, tied with some of the stories my father had
written for me, one of which he called "The Frogs of Wynd-
ham." On the outside of this wrapper were written the words,
"Manuscript Found." I did not read it, but looked through it
and had it in my hands many times, and saw the names I had
heard at Conneaut, when my father read it to his friends. I
was about eleven years of age at this time.

After we had been at my uncle's for some time, my mother
left me there and went to her father's house at Pomfret, Con-
necticut, but did not take her furniture nor the old trunk of
manuscripts with her. In 1820 she married Mr. Davison, of
Hartwicks, a village near Cooperstown, New York, and sent for
the things she had left at Onondaga Valley, and I remember that

90 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

the old trunk, with its contents, reached her in safety. In 1828,
I was married to Dr. A. McKinstry of Hampden County, Massa-
chusetts, and went there to reside. Very soon after my mother
joined me there, and was with me most of the time until her
death in 1844. We heard, not long after she came to live with
me — I do not remember just how long — something of Mor-
monism, and the report that it had been taken from my father's
"Manuscript Found;" and then came to us direct an account of
the Mormon meeting at Conneaut, Ohio, and that, on one occa-
sion, when the Mormon Bible was read there in public, my
father's brother, John Spaulding, Mr. Lake and many other
persons who were present, at once recognized its similarity to
the "Manuscript Found," which they had heard read years be-
fore by my father in the same town. There was a great deal
of talk and a great deal published at this time about Mormonism
all over the country. I believe it was in 1834 that a man named
Hurlburt came to my house at Monson to see my mother, who
told us that he had been sent by a committee to procure the
"Manuscript Found" written by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding,
so as to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a
letter to my mother from my uncle, Wm. H. Sabine, of Onon-
daga Valley, in which he requested her to loan this manuscript
to Hurlburt, as he (my uncle) was desirous "to uproot (as he
expressed it) this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt represented that
he had been a convert to Mormonism, but had given it up, and
through the "Manuscript Found/' wished to expose its wicked-
ness. My mother was careful to have me with her in all the
conversations she had with Hurlburt, who spent a day at my
house. She did not like his appearance and mistrusted his
motives, l.ut having great respect for her brother's wishes and
opinions, she reluctantly consented to his request. The old
trunk, containing the desired "Manuscript Found," she had
placed in the care of Mr. Jerome Clark of Hartwicks, when
she came to Monson, intending to send for it. On the re-
peated promise of Hurlburt to return the manuscript to us, she
gave him a letter to Mr. Clark to open the trunk and deliver
it to him. We afterwards heard tha* he had received it from
Mr. Clark, at Hartwicks, but from that time we have never had
it in our possession, and I have no present knowledge of its
existence, Hurlburt never returning it or answering letters re-

THE BOOK OF MORMON 91

questing him to do so. Two years ago, I heard he was still
living in Ohio, and with my consent he was asked for the
"Manuscript Found." He made no response although we have
evidence that he received the letter containing the request. So
far I have stated facts within my own knowledge. My mother
mentioned many other circumstances to me in connection with
this subject which are interesting, of my father's literary tastes,
his fine education and peculiar temperament. She stated to me
that she had heard the manuscript alluded to read by my father,
was familiar with its contents, and she deeply regretted that her
husband, as she believed, had innocently been the means of
furnishing matter for a religious delusion. She said that my
father loaned this "Manuscript Found" to Mr. Patterson, of
Pittsburg, and that when he returned it to my father, he said:
"Polish it up, finish it and you will make money out of it."
My mother confirmed my remembrances of my father's fondness
for history, and told me of his frequent conversations regarding
a theory which he had of a prehistoric race which had inhabited
this continent, etc., all showing that his mind dwelt on this
subject. The "Manuscript Found," she said, was a romance
written in Biblical style, and that while she heard it read, she
had no special admiration for it more than other romances he
wrote and read to her. We never, either of us, ever saw, or in
any way communicated with the Mormons, save Hurlburt as
above described; and while we have no personal knowledge that
the Mormon Bible was taken from the "Manuscript Found,"
there were many evidences to us that it was and that Hurlburt
and the others at the time thought so. A convincing proof to
us of this belief was that my uncle, William H. Sabine, had
undoubtedly read the manuscript while it was in his house, and
his faith that its production would show to the world that the
Mormon Bible had been taken from it, or was the same with
slight alterations. I have frequently answered questions which
have been asked by different persons regarding the "Manuscript
Found," but until now have never made a statement at length
for publication. (Signed) M. S. McKiNSTRY.

Sworn and subscribed to before me this 3rd day of April,
A. D. 1880, at the city of Washington, D. C.

CHARLES WALTER, Notary Public.*

This affidavit was first published in Scribner's Monthly for August, 1880.

92 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

We call the attention of the reader to the following
points which are brought out in the foregoing affidavit:

First, Mrs. McKinstry certifies that her mother told
her that her father wrote a number of romances.

Secondly, she states further that one of these ro-
mances, called the "Manuscript Found," resembled the
Book of Mormon in the use of such proper names as
Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite and Nephi. This manu-
script, then, could not have been the one that Hurlburt
afterwards obtained from the old trunk, for that manu-
script contains no such names as these.

Thirdly, she declares that her mother informed her
that the "Manuscript Found" was written in Biblical
style; another proof that it was not the manuscript now
in the library of Oberlin College, which is not written in
Biblical style.

Fourthly, she states that the manuscript in the old
trunk was examined by her when eleven years of age
and that it had the words "Manuscript Found" written
on the wrapper. In this we know that she was mis-
taken, for no such title appears on the manuscript found
in Honolulu. But the words, "Manuscript Story — Con-
neaut Creek," do appear in "faint penciling." This is
the title which Mrs. McKinstry undoubtedly saw when
she was eleven years of age, and her mistake is probably
due to the failure of memory during the great number of
years that elapsed between the time when she last saw
this manuscript and the date of her affidavit. This would
seem to show that as early as 1817 the title, "Manu-
script Story," in "faint penciling," was on the wrapper
of the romance from Honolulu and that it was probably
placed there by her father himself.

Fifthly, Mrs. McKinstry thinks that the trunk manu-
script was the same as the one recognized by the old

THE BOOK OF MORMON 93

citizens of Conneaut as the basis of the Book of Mormon.
We shall see, presently, that in this she is mistaken.

Although the letters of both Mrs. Davison and Mrs.
McKinstry contain a number of errors, these are easily
detected by the facts that have been brought to light
since 1884. So, culling these errors out, we have the in-
vulnerable facts remaining that Solomon Spaulding wrote
one manuscript in Biblical style and employed names that
afterwards appeared in the Book of Mormon. This was
his celebrated "Manuscript Found."

THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

CHAPTER VI.

The Manuscript Found — Its Identity with the Book of Mormon
Established — The Testimony of John Spaulding, Martha
Spaulding, Henry Lake, John N. Miller, Aaron Wright,
Oliver Smith, Nahum Howard and Artemas Cunningham.

Having established the distinction between the manu-
script discovered in Honolulu and the "Manuscript
Found," I now pass to those evidences which go to iden-
tify the latter with the basis of the Book of Mormon.
These evidences consist of the testimonies of eleven of
the relatives and acquaintances of Solomon Spaulding,
who heard him read his celebrated "Manuscript Found."
They are met by the Mormons either with silence, with
evasion or with a blustering denial.

The opinion of some of those, outside of Mormonism,
who have made the matter the subject of special study,
is that Solomon Spaulding made three copies, or drafts,
of his "Manuscript Found," * as follows :

1. The Nephite copy. This copy was written at Con-
neaut, and is thought to have contained only the outline
of Nephite history as given in the Book of Mormon.

2. The Zarahemlaite copy. This copy is thought to
have been begun at Conneaut and completed at Pitts-
burgh. It is supposed to have contained all that was in
the former copy, with the account added of the colony
which came to America under Mulek at the time of the
destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

3. The Jaredite copy. This copy is supposed to have
been written at Pittsburgh, and to have contained all that

1 See "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 75.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 85

was in the preceding copies, with the Jaredite portion of
the Book of Mormon added.

I must confess that this classification of the writings
of Solomon Spaulding is ingenious, but it requires the
following of altogether too slender lines of evidence to be
very trustworthy. I shall, therefore, make no attempt to
discriminate between the different copies, or drafts, of
the "Manuscript Found," if such really existed, as some
other authors have done, but to settle down to the easier
task of showing that this manuscript, whether it orig-
inally existed in one or in three drafts, was identical with
the Book of Mormon in proper names and general his-
torical outline.1

In order to accomplish this, I shall put before the
reader, in this chapter and in the following chapter, the
testimonies of the eleven witnesses referred to, who
either at Conneaut or Amity heard the "Manuscript
Found" read. The testimonies of the eight to be given
in this chapter were first published in Howe's "Mormon-
ism Unveiled" of 1834,* and constitute, says A. T.
Schroeder, "the most important single collection of orig-
inal evidence ever made upon the subject." '

THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN SPAULDING.

Solomon Spaulding was born in Ashford, Conn., in 1761,
and in early life contracted a taste for literary pursuits. After
he left school, he entered Plainfield Academy, where he made
great proficiency in study, and excelled most of his classmates.

1 Personally, I very much doubt if Spaulding ever wrote more than
one copy of his "Manuscript Found," though this may have been written
in three installments, first the Nephite part, then the Zarahemlaite, and
lastly the Jaredite. But that he did write one manuscript at least, which
gave a history of the first two peoples, is beyond question.

* Not having Howe's book at hand, I have copied them from Bennett's
"Mormonism Exposed," pp. 115-120.

8 "The Origin of the Book of Mormon, Re-examined in Its Relation to
Spaulding's 'Manuscript Found,' " p. 40.

96 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

He next commenced the study of law, in Windham county, in
which he made little progress, having in the meantime turned
his attention to religious subjects. He soon after entered Dart-
mouth College, with the intention of qualifying himself for the
ministry, where he obtained the degree of A.M., and was after-
wards regularly ordained. After preaching three or four years,
he gave it up, removed to Cherry Valley, N. Y., and commenced
the mercantile business, in company with his brother Josiah. In
a few years he failed in business, and in the year 1809 removed
to Conneaut, in Ohio. The year following, I removed to Ohio,
and found him engaged in building a forge. I made him a visit
in about three years after, and found that he had failed, and
was considerably involved in debt. He then told me he had
been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the
avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts.
The book was entitled the "Manuscript Found," of which he
read to me many passages. It was an historical romance of the
first settlers of America, endeavoring to show that the Ameri-
can Indians are the descendants of the Jews, or the lost tribes.
It gave a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem, by
land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the command
of Nephi and Lehi. They afterwards had quarrels and con-
tentions, and separated into two distinct nations, one of which
he denominated Nephites, and the other Lamanites. Cruel and
bloody wars ensued, in which great multitudes were slain. They
buried their dead in large heaps, which caused the mounds so
common in this country. Their arts, sciences and civilization
were brought into view in order to account for all the curious
antiquities found in various parts of North and South America.
I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and to my great
surprise I find it nearly the same historical matter, names,
&c., as they were in my brother's writings. I well remember
that he wrote in the old style, and commenced about every
sentence with "And it came to pass," or "Now it came to
pass," the same as in the Book of Mormon, and according
to the best of my recollection and belief, it is the same as
my brother Solomon wrote, with the exception of the religious
matter. By what means it has fallen into the hands of Joseph
Smith, Jr., I am unable to determine.

JOHN SPAULDING.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 97

THE TESTIMONY OF MARTHA SPAULDING.

I was personally acquainted with Solomon Spaulding, about
twenty years ago. I was at his house a short time before he
left Conneaut; he was then writing an historical novel founded
upon the first settlers of America. He represented them as an
enlightened and warlike people. He had for many years con-
tended that the aborigines of America were the descendants of
some of the lost tribes of Israel, and this idea he carried out
in the book in question. The lapse of time which has inter-
vened, prevents my recollecting but few of the leading incidents
of his writings; but the names of Nephi and Lehi are yet fresh
in my memory, as being the principal heroes of his tale. They
were officers of the company which first came off from Jeru-
salem. He gave a particular account of their journey by land
and sea, till they arrived in America, after which disputes arose
between the chiefs, which caused them to separate into dif-
ferent bands, one of which was called Lamanites, and the other
Nephites. Between these were recounted tremendous battles,
which frequently covered the ground with the slain; and their
being buried in large heaps was the cause of the numerous
mounds in the country. Some of these people he represented as
being very large. I have read the Book of Mormon, which has
brought fresh to my recollection the writings of Solomon Spaul-
ding; and I have no manner of doubt that the historical part of
it is the same that I read and heard read more than twenty
years ago. The old, obsolete style, and the phrases of "and it
came to pass," &c., are the same. MARTHA SPAULDING.

THE TESTIMONY OF HENRY LAKE.

CONNEAUT, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, Sept., 1833.
I left the State of New York, late in the year 1810, and ar-
rived at this place, about the first of January following. Soon
after my arrival, I formed a copartnership with Solomon Spaul-
ding, for the purpose of rebuilding a forge which he had com-
menced a year or two before. He very frequently read to me
from a manuscript which he was writing, which he entitled the
"Manuscript Found," and which he represented as being found
in this town. I spent many hours in hearing him read said
writings, and became well acquainted with its contents. He

98 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

wished me to assist him in getting his production printed, al-
leging that a book of that kind would meet with a rapid sale. I
designed doing so, but the forge not meeting our anticipations,
we failed in business, when I declined having anything to do
with the publication of the book. This book represented the
American Indians as the descendants of the lost tribes, gave an
account of their leaving Jerusalem, their contentions and wars,
which were many and great. One time, when he was reading to
me the tragic account of Laban, I pointed out to him what I
considered an inconsistency, which he promised to correct; but
by referring to the Book of Mormon, I find, to my surprise,
that it stands there just as he read it to me then. Some months
ago, I borrowed the Golden Bible, put it into my pocket, carried
it home, and thought no more of it. About a week after, my
wife found the book in my coat pocket, as it hung up, and com-
menced reading it aloud as I lay upon the bed. She had not
read twenty minutes, till I was astonished to find the same
passages in it that Spaulding had read to me more than twenty
years before, from his "Manuscript Found." Since that, I have
more fully examined the said Golden Bible, and have no
hesitation in saying that the historical part of it is principally, if
not wholly, taken from the "Manuscript Found. ' I well recol-
lect telling Mr. Spaulding that the so frequent use of the words
"And it came to pass," "Now it came to pass," rendered it
ridiculous. Spaulding left here in 1812, and I furnished him the
means to carry him to Pittsburgh, where he said he would get
the book printed and pay me. But I never heard any more from
him or his writings, till I saw them in the Book of Mormon.

HENRY LAKE.

THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN N. MILLER.

SPRINGFIELD, Pa., September, 1833.

In the year 1811, I was in the employ of Henry Lake and
Solomon Spaulding, at Conneaut, engaged in rebuilding a forge.
While there, I boarded and lodged in the family of said Spaul-
ding for several months. I was soon introduced to the manu-
scripts of Spaulding, and perused them as often as I had leisure.
He had written two or three books or pamphlets on different
subjects; but that which more particularly drew my attention
was one which he called the "Manuscript Found." From this

THE BOOK OF MORMON 9»

he would frequently read some humorous passages to the com-
pany present. It purported to be the history of the first settle-
ment of America, before discovered by Columbus. He brought
them off from Jerusalem, under their leaders; detailing their
travels by land and water, their manners, customs, laws, wars,
&c. He said that he designed it as an historical novel, and that
in after years it would be believed by many people as much as
the history of England. He soon after failed in business, and
told me he would retire from the din of his creditors, finish his
book and have it published, which would enable him to pay his
debts and support his family. He soon after removed to Pitts-
burgh, as I understood.

I have recently examined the Book of Mormon, and find in
it the writings of Solomon Spaulding, from beginning to end,
but mixed up with Scripture and other religious matter, which
I did not meet with in the "Manuscript Found." Many of the
passages in the Mormon book are verbatim from Spaulding, and
others in part. The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni, and :n fact
all the principal names, are brought fresh to my recollection by
the Golden Bible. When Spaulding divested 1.1s history of its
fabulous names, by a verbal explanation, he landed Lis people
near the Straits of Darien, which I am very confident Le called
Zarahemla; they were marched about that country for a length
of time, in which wars and great bloodshed ensued; he brought
them across North America in a northeast direction.

JOHN N. MILLER.

THE TESTIMONY OF AARON WRIGHT.

CONNEAUT, AugUSt, 1833.

I first became acquainted with Solomon Spaulding in 1808
or '9, when he commenced building a forge on Conneaut Creek.
When at his house, one day, he showed and read to me a history
he was writing, of the lost tribes of Israel, purporting that they
were the first settlers of America, and that the Indians were
their descendants. Upon this subject we had frequent conver-
sations. He traced their journey from Jerusalem ta America,
as it is given in the Book of Mormon, excepting the religious
matter. The historical part of the Book of Mormon I know to
be the same as I read and heard read from the writings of
Spaulding, more than twenty years ago; the names, more espe-

100 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

cially, are the same without any alteration. He told me his
object was to account for all the fortifications, &c., to be found
in this country, and said that in time it would be fully believed
by all, except learned men and historians. I once anticipated
reading his writings in print, but little expected to see them in
a new Bible. Spaulding had many other manuscripts, which I
expect to see when Smith translates his other plate. In con-
clusion, I will observe, that the names of, and most of the his-
torical part of the Book of Mormon, were as familiar to me
before I read it, as most modern history. If it is not Spaulding's
writing, it is the same as he wrote ; and if Smith was inspired, I
think it was by the same spirit that Spaulding was, which he
confessed to be the love of money. AARON WRIGHT.

THE TESTIMONY OF OLIVER SMITH.

CONNEAUT, AugUSt, 1833.

When Solomon Spaulding first came to this place, he pur-
chased a tract of land, surveyed it out, and commenced selling
it. While engaged in this business, he boarded at my house, in
all nearly six months. All his leisure hours were occupied in
writing an historical novel, founded upon the first settlers of
this country. He said he intended to trace their journey from
Jerusalem, by land and sea, till their arrival in America; give
an account of their arts, sciences, civilization, wars, and con-
tentions. In this way, he would give a satisfactory account of
all of the old mounds so common to this country. During the
time he was at my house, I read and heard read one hundred
pages or more. Nephi and Lehi were by him represented as
leading characters, when they first started for America. Their
main object was to escape the judgments which they supposed
were coming upon the old world. But no religious matter was
introduced as I now recollect. Just before he left this place,
Spaulding sent for me to call on him, which I did. He then
said that although he was in my debt, he intended to leave the
country, and hoped I would not prevent him. For, says he, you
know I have been writing the history of the first settlement
of America, and I intend to go to Pittsburgh, and there live a
retired life, till I have completed the work, and when it is
printed, it will bring me a fine sum of money, which will enable
me to return and pay off all my debts. The book, you know,

THE BOOK OF MORMON 101

will sell, as every one is anxious to learn something upon that
subject. This was the last I heard of Spaulding or his book,
until the Book of Mormon came into the neighborhood. When
I heard the historical part of it related, I at once said it was
the writings of old Solomon Spaulding. Soon after, I obtained
the book, and on reading it, found much of it the same as
Spaulding had written, more than twenty years before.

OLIVER SMITH.

THE TESTIMONY OF NAHUM HOWARD.

CONNEAUT, AugUSt, 1833.

I first became acquainted with Solomon Spaulding, in Decem-
ber, 1810. After that time, I frequently saw him at his house,
and also at my house. I once, in conversation with him, ex-
pressed a surprise at not having any account of the inhabitants
once in this country, who erected the old forts, mounds, &c.
He then told me that he was writing a history of that race of
people; and afterwards frequently showed me his writings,
which I read. I have lately read the Book of Mormon, and be-
lieve it to be the same as Spaulding wrote, except the religious
part. He told me that he intended to get his writings published
in Pittsburgh, and he thought that in one century from that time,
it would be believed as much as any other history.

NAHUM HOWARD.

THE TESTIMONY OF ARTEMAS CUNNINGHAM.

In the month of October, 1811, I went from the township of
Madison to Conneaut, for the purpose of securing a debt due
me from Solomon Spaulding, I tarried with him nearly two
days, for the purpose of accomplishing my object, which I was
finally unable to do. I found him destitute of the means of
paying his debts. His only hope of ever paying his debts ap-
peared to be upon the sale of a book which he had been writing.
He endeavored to convince me from the nature and character
of the work, that it would meet with a ready sale. Before show-
ing me his manuscripts, he went into a verbal relation of its
outlines, saying that it was a fabulous or romantic history of the
first settlement of this country, and as it purported to have been
a record found buried in the earth, or in a cave, he had adopted
the ancient or Scripture style of writing. He then presented his

102 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

manuscripts, when we sat down, and spent a good share of the
night in reading them, and conversing upon them. I well re-
member the name of Nephi, which appeared to be the principal
hero of the story. The frequent repetition of the phrase, "I
Nephi," I recollect as distinctly as though it was but yesterday,
although the general features of the story have passed from my
memory, through the lapse of twenty-two years. He attempted
to account for the numerous antiquities which are found upon
this continent, and remarked that, after this generation had
passed away, his account of the first inhabitants of America
would be considered as authentic as any other history. The
Mormon Bible I have partially examined, and am fully of the
opinion that Solomon Spaulding had written its outlines before
he left Conneaut.

This completes the original testimony on the "Manu-
script Found" as given by E. D. Howe in 1834. By it
the following points are established :

First, Solomon Spaulding wrote several manuscripts
which he was fond of exhibiting to his acquaintances.

Secondly, one of these manuscripts, and the most im-
portant of them, bore the title of the "Manuscript
Found."

Thirdly, this manuscript agreed with the Book of
Mormon in its general historical outline and proper
names, it containing such proper names as Lehi, Nephi,
Nephites, Lamanites, Laban, Zarahemla and Moroni.

Fourthly, it was also written in Scripture style, and
began nearly every paragraph with "And it came to pass"
and "Now it came to pass." It could not, therefore,
have been identical with the manuscript found in Hono-
lulu, which does not contain these introductory expres-
sions.

Fifthly, the "Manuscript Found" was devoid of the
religious matter found in the Book of Mormon, hence
this must have been added later, presumably by Rigdon.
Are these coincidences purely accidental?

THE BOOK OF MORMON 103

CHAPTER VII.

The Testimony of Other Witnesses — Joseph Miller — Ruddick
McKee — Abner Jackson — The Mormon Admissions of Gen-
uineness— The Disclosures of J. C. Bennett.

Since 1834, other witnesses have borne testimony to
the close resemblance of the "Manuscript Found" to the
Book of Mormon, even as touching certain details.

THE TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH MILLER.

Joseph Miller was a resident of Amity, Pennsylvania,
and a particular friend of Solomon Spaulding while he
resided at that place. In a letter to Thomas Gregg,1 he
says:

TEN MILE, Washington Co., Pa., Jan. 20, 1882.
DEAR SIR: — In answer to yours, I would state that I was
familiar with Solomon Spaulding. I worked in Amity, where he
lived, and as the fashion was at that day, we all assembled at
his house in the evenings (as he kept tavern), and he frequently
would read from his manuscript. The work was very odd. The
words "Moreover," "And it came to pass," occurred so often
that the boys about the village called him "Old Came to Pass."
He told me he lived in Ohio when he wrote his manuscript.
He said he lost his health, and he commenced writing a history
of the mounds near where he lived, or of the people who built
them. He afterwards removed to Pittsburgh, and kept a little
store to support his family, and while there he took his manu-
script to Mr. Patterson, then engaged in a publishing house.
Mr. Patterson told him if he would write a title page he would
publish it. He left the copy and moved to Amity. He after-
wards went back to have his MS. published, but it could not be
found. He said there was a man named Sidney Rigdon about
the office, and they thought he had stolen it. The passage you

1 "Prophet of Palmyra," pp. 441, 442.
(8)

104 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

refer to, on page 148, as Cooper has it, is in reference to being
marked with red in their foreheads.

"Nephites," I recollect distinctly, as occurring very often;
as to "Lamanites" it is not so distinct, — and a great many other
names that were very odd.

The MS. that I saw, would not, I think, make as large a
book as the Book of Mormon.

Spaulding was a very poor man ; during his stay at Amity, I
was very familiar with him, bailed him for money at least twice ;
and by request of Spaulding, assisted his wife some in settling
up his little business — made his coffin and helped lay him in
his grave. JOSEPH MILLER.

In the Pittsburgh Telegraph of February 6, 1879, we
find the following from the pen of Mr. Miller:

Mr. Spaulding seemed to take great delight in reading from
his manuscript written on foolscap. I heard him read most if
not all of it; and had frequent conversations with him about it.
Some time ago I heard most of the Book of Mormon read. On
hearing read the account of the battle between the Amlicites
and the Nephites (Book of Alma, chapter II.), in which the
soldiers of one army placed a red mark on their foreheads, to
distinguish them from their enemies, it seemed to reproduce in
my mind not only the narrative, but the very words, as they had
been imprinted on my mind by reading Spaulding's manuscript.1

THE TESTIMONY OF RUDDICK M'KEE.

In the Washington (Pennsylvania) Reporter for
April 21, 1879, Ruddick" McKee, of Washington, Dis-
trict of Columbia, said in regard to Spaulding and his
romance :

In the fall of 1814 I arrived in the village of "Good WS1P
and for eighteen or twenty months sold goods in the store pre-
viously occupied by Mr. Thos. Brice. It was on Main street, a
few doors west of Spaulding's Tavern, where I was a boarder.
With both Mr. Solomon Spaulding and his wife I was quite in-

1 "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 42.
•Sometimes spelled Redick.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 105

timately acquainted. I recollect quite well Mr. Spaulding spend-
ing much time in writing (on sheets of paper torn out of an old
book) what purported to be a veritable history of the nations
or tribes who inhabited Canaan. He called it "Lost History
Found," "Lost Manuscript," or some such name, not disguising
that it was wholly a work of the imagination, written to amuse
himself and without any immediate view to publication. I was
struck with the minuteness of his details and the apparent truth-
fulness and sincerity of the author. I have an indistinct recol-
lection of the passage referred to by Mr. Miller about the
Amlicites making a cross with red paint on their foreheads to
distinguish them from enemies in the confusion of battle.1

THE TESTIMONY OF ABNER JACKSON.

The evidence that I have already given is sufficient to
establish the plagiarism, but I introduce one more testi-
mony. The following statement of Rev. Abner Jackson,
of Canton, Ohio, was communicated to the Washington
County (Pennsylvania) Historical Society, December 20,
1880 ':

It is a fact well established that the book called the Book of
Mormon, had its origin from a romance that was written by
Solomon Spaulding, in Conneaut, a small village in Ashtabula
County, Ohio, about A. D. 1812. Spaulding was a highly edu-
cated man about six feet high, of rather slender build, with a
dark complexion, black eyes, black hair, rather slow of speech,
never trifling, pleasant in conversation, but seldom laughing
aloud. His deportment was grave and dignified in society, and
he was much respected by those of his acquaintance. He was
a clergyman of the Presbyterian order, and for a time a settled
pastor in the city of New York. So said his brother John
Spaulding and others in the neighborhood, who heard him preach.
It was said that failing health caused him to resign the pastorate.
He then came to Richfield, Otsego County, New York, and
started a store, near wher? my f other lived, about the beginning
of the present century.

1 Schroeder, p. 46.

•"Prophet of Palmyra," pp. 444-450.

106 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Spaulding contracted for large tracts of land along the
shore of Lake Erie, on each side of the state line, in both Penn-
sylvania and Ohio. My father exchanged with him, the farm
on which he lived in Otsego County, New York, for land in
Erie County, Pa., where the town of Albion now stands, and
moved on it A. D. 1805. It was then a dense forest. Shortly
after my father moved, Spaulding sold his store in Richfield,
and moved to Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio, and built a
forge on Conneaut Creek, two miles from Conneaut Harbor,
and two miles from the state line. In building this he failed,
sold out, and about the beginning of the year 1812, com-
menced to write his famous romance called by him the Manu-
script Found.

This romance, Mr. Spaulding brought with him on a visit to
my father, a short time before he moved from Conneaut to Pitts-
burgh. At that time I was confined to the house with a lame
knee, and so I was in company with them and heard the conver-
sation that passed between them. Spaulding read much of his
manuscript to my father, and in conversation with him, ex-
plained his views of the old fortifications in this country, and
told his romance. A note in Morse's Geography suggested it as
a possibility that our Indians were descendents of the lost tribes
of Israel. Said Morse, they might have wandered through Asia
up to Behring's Strait, and across the strait to this continent.
Besides there were habits and ceremonies among them that re-
sembled some habits and ceremonies among the Israelites of
that day. Then the old fortifications and earth mounds, con-
taining so many kinds of relics and human bones, and some of
them so large, altogether convinced him that they were a larger
race and more enlightened and civilized than are found among
the Indians among us at this day. These facts and reflections
prompted him to write his Romance, purporting to be a history
of the lost tribes of Israel.

He begins with their departure from Palestine, or Judea,
then up through Asia,1 points out their exposures, hardships and
sufferings, also their disputes and quarrels, especially when they
built their craft for passing over the straits. Then after their

1 If Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" gave this migrational direction,
the account was afterwards changed, because the Book of Mormon ha*
them come across the Pacific Ocean to South America.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 107

landing, he gave an account of their divisions and subdivisions
under different leaders, but two parties controlled the balance.
One of them was called the righteous, worshipers and servants
of God. These organized with prophets, priests and teachers,
for the education of their children, and settled down to culti-
vate the soil, and to a life of civilization. The others were idol-
aters. They contended for a life of idleness; in short, a wild,
wicked, savage life.

They soon quarreled, and then commenced war anew, and
continued to fight, except at very short intervals. Sometimes
one party was successful and sometimes the other, until finally
a terrible battle was fought, which was conclusive. All the
righteous were slain, except one, and he was Chief Prophet and
Recorder. He was notified of the defeat in time by Divine
authority; told where, when and how to conceal the record, and
He would take care that it should be preserved, and brought to
light again at the proper time, for the benefit of mankind. So
the Recorder professed to do, and then submitted to his fate. I
do not remember what that fate was. He was left alone of
his party. I do not remember that anything more was said of
him.

Spaulding's romance professed to find the record where the
Recorder concealed it, in one of those mounds, one of which
was but a few rods from Spaulding's residence. Soon after this
visit, Spaulding moved to Pittsburgh, and took his manuscript
to the Pittsburgh Gazette office, intending to have it printed, but
in this he failed. My brother, J. J. Jackson, was a recruiting
officer in the U. S. Army, and stationed at Pittsburgh at that
time. Being well acquainted with Spaulding and his lady, he
soon found them, and in his letters home would inform us how
they were getting along. The last account he gave us of them
was that he was selling pictures and she was sewing up clothing
for the soldiers. The next we heard of them was by report.
Spaulding moved to Amity, Washington County, Pa., and soon
after died and was buried there. His wife and daughter went
to her brother, Lawyer Sabine, Onondaga Valley, Onondaga Co.,
N. Y. When I was returning from Clarksburg, W. Va., to my
home in New Brighton, Beaver Co., Pa., A. D. 1840, I passed
through Amity, hunted the grave of Spaulding and copied from
the headstone the following inscription:

108 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

"IN MEMORY OF

Solomon Spaulcling, who departed this life Oct. 2oth, A. D., 1816.
Aged ss years.

"Kind cherubs guard the sleeping clay,

Until the great decision day,

And saints complete in glory rise,

To share the triumph of the skies."

Spaulding frequently read his manuscript to the neighbors
and amused them as he progressed with his work. He wrote it
in Bible style. "And it came to pass" occurred so often that
some called him "Old Come to Pass."

So much for Spaulding's romance; now for the Book of
Mormon.

The first account of the Book of Mormon that i saw, was a
notice in my father's newspaper, stating that Joseph Smith, Jr.,
professed having dreamed that an angel had appeared to him
and told him to go and search in a place he named in Palmyra,
N. Y., and he would find a gold-leaf Bible. Smith was incred-
ulous and did not go until the second or third time he dreamed
the same dream. Then he said he went, and, to his surprise, he
found the golden Bible, according to his dreams. But it was
written in a language so ancient that none could be found able
either to read it or tell in what language it \vr.s written. Some
time after, another statement appeared that an angel had con-
sented to read and interpret it to Joseph Smith, and he should
report it to a third person, who should write it in plain English,
so that all might read the new Bible and understand its import.
Some time after, in 1830, the book was published at Palmyra,
N. Y., called a New Revelation; the Book of Mormon. This
purports to be a history of the lost tribes of the Children of Is-
rael. It begins with them just where the romance did, and it
follows the romance very closely. It is true there are some
verbal alterations and additions, enlarging the production some-
what, without changing its main features. The Book of Mormon
follows the romance too closely to be a stranger. In both many
persons appear havinr the same name; as, Maroni, Mormon,
Nephites, Moroni, Lama, Lamanite, Nephe and others.

Here then we are presented with romance second, called the
Book of Mormon, telling the same story of the same people,
traveling from the same plain, in the same way, having the same

THE BOOK OF MORMON 109

difficulties and destination, with the same wars, same battles and
same results, with thousands upon thousands slain. Then see
the Mormon account of the last battle at Cumorah, where all
the righteous were slain. They were called the Nephites, the
others were called Lamanites (see Moroni's account of the
closing scene), "and now it came to pass that a great battle was
fought at Cumorah. The Lamanites slew all the Nephites (ex-
cept Moroni), and he said, I will write and hide up the Record
in the earth, and whither I go, it mattereth not." — Book of
Mormon, page 344, third American edition.1 How much this
resembles the closing scene in the Manuscript Found. The most
singular part of the whole matter is, that it follows the romance
so closely, with this difference : the first claims to be a romance ;
the second claims to be a revelation of God, a new Bible ! When
it was brought to Conneaut and read there in public, old Esq.
Wright heard it, and exclaimed, "Old Come to Pass has come
to life again." Here was the place where Spaulding wrote and
read his manuscript to the neighbors for their amusement and
'Squire Wright had often heard him read his romance. This
was in 1832, sixteen years after Spaulding'c death. This 'Squire
Wright lived on c, farm just outside of the little village. I was
acquainted with him for twenty-five years. I lived on his farm
when I was a boy and attended school in the village. I am par-
ticular to notice these things to show that I had an opportunity
of knowing what I am writing about.

After I commenced writing this article, I heard that an
article in Scribner's Monthly, for August, 1880, on the Book of
Mormon, contained a note and affidavit of Mrs. Matilda S. Mc-
Kinstry, Solomon Spaulding's only child, stating that she re-
membered her father's romance. I sent at once for the Monthly,
and on the 613, 614, 615 and 616 pages, found the article and
her testimony. Her statement from the commencement, until
they moved to Pittsburgh, in all essential particulars I know to
be true. She relates those acts as they occurred to my own
personal knowledge, though she was then a little girl. She is
now about seventy-five years of age.

I stated before that I knew nothing of Spaulding after he
moved to Pittsburgh, except by letters and newspapers. He
soon moved to Amity, Washington County, Pa., and shortly

1 This is not an exact quotation.

110 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

after this he died and his wife went to her brother's. His
daughter's account of the deceitful method by which Hurlburt
gained possession of and retained Spaulding's manuscript, is, I
think, important and should not be lost sight of. She was no
child then. I think she has done her part well in the vindi-
cation of the truth by her unvarnished statement of what she
remembered of her father's romance. I have not seen her since
she was a little girl, but I have seen both of these productions,
heard Spaulding read much of his romance to my father and
explain his views and reasons for writing it. I also have seen
and read the Book of Mormon, and it follows Spaulding's
romance too closely to Le anything else than a borrowed pro-
duction from the romance. I think that Mrs. McKinstry's state-
ment fills a gap in my account from Spaulding's removal to Pitts-
burgh, to the death of his wife in 1844. I wish, if my statement
is published that hers also be published., with it, that the truth
may be vindicated by the truth beyond any reasonable doubt.

(Signed) ABNER JACKSON.
CANTON, Ohio, Dec. 20, 1880.

THE MORMON ADMISSIONS OF GENUINENESS.

While the Mormons deny the truthfulness of the
testimony in this and the preceding chapter, they con-
cede its genuineness.1 As proof of this, I submit the
following extract from the pen of Elder Brigham H.
Roberts, of the Utah Mormon Church, taken from the
"Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations Man-
ual" for 1905-1906, pages 465 and 466:

In the fall of 1833, a number of affidavits were taken from
the former neighbors and friends of Solomon Spaulding, and
one was given by his brother, John Spaulding, and one by the
latter's wife, Martha Spaulding. They at the time were residing
in Crawford, Pennsylvania, and both testified that they had
"recently read the Book of Mormon," and recognized in it the
general outlines of Solomon Spaulding's story, claimed especially

1 By the genuineness of these testimonies, I mean that they were
actually made and subscribed to by the parties to whom they are ac-
credited.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 111

to remember the names "Nephi and Lehi;" the words "Nephites
and Lamanites;" as also the ancient scriptural style and the
frequent use of the phrase "and it came to pass;" and that the
American Indians are descendents of the Jews, or "lost tribes
of Israel."

Mr. Henry Lake, an associate in business with Mr. Spaulding,
living at Conneaut in the fall of 1833, in connection with others
that will be named, living in the same neighborhood, testified
that Solomon Spaulding read to him from the "Manuscript
Found;" that it represented the American Indians as the de-
scendants of the "lost tribes" of Israel, and that he suggested
to Mr. Spaulding that the frequent use of the phrase "and it
came to pass" rendered the book ridiculous.

John N. Miller testified substantially to the same things say-
ing in addition that Spaulding's story landed his colony near the
"Straits of Darien," which he was confident he called "Zara-
hemla."

Aaron Wright testified substantially to the same things as
the foregoing. That the American Indians, according to Spaul-
ding's story, were descendants of the "lost tribes" of Israel, and
claims especially that the historical part of the Book of Mormon
is substantially what he heard read from the "Manuscript Found"
though he excepts out of the work, as not being Spaulding's, the
religious matter.

Oliver Smith testified substantially to the same things, say-
ing in effect that on reading the Book of Mormon he at once
recognized it as the writings of Solomon Spaulding.

Nahum Howard testified that he had recently read the Book
of Mormon and believed that all but the religious part of it was
the same as that written by Spaulding.

Artemas Cunningham, living in Perry, Geauga county, Ohio,
testified that in 1811 he waited upon Solomon Spaulding at his
home in New Salem, to collect debts, and that the latter read
to him on that occasion some parts of his manuscript story,
after partially examining the Book of Mormon he became con-
vinced that Spaulding had written its outlines before he left
Conneaut.

It is upon the testimony of these parties that the Spaulding
theory rests. Subsequently many others claimed to have informa-
tion upon the subject, and gave affidavits and statements to news-
papers almost ad infinitum, constantly varying the claims and

112 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

adding items that so burdened the theory with inconsistencies
and contradictions that it breaks down, as we shall see, under
the accumulation.

As further proof of the genuineness of the testimony
already given, I submit the following admission from the
pen of Joseph Smith, president of the Reorganized
Church, as found in his pamphlet, "The Spaulding Story
Re-examined," page 6:

The witnesses, with scarcely an exception, are of that class
that gives secondary or hearsay evidence.1 John Spaulding tells
what his brother told him. Martha Spaulding states, that having
read the Book of Mormon, she has no doubt it is the same
historically that she read and heard read more than twenty years
ago. Nahum Howard states only what he says Spaulding told
him. Artemas Cunningham recollects an expression, "I Nephi,"
as occurring in the reading of a manuscript by Spaulding — but
pleads the lapse of twenty-two years as accounting for a failure
to remember more fully the general plot. After a partial ex-
amination, he believes that Spaulding wrote the outlines before
leaving Conneaut.

Having established by the admissions of these gentle-
men that the testimonies given were really borne by the
individuals to whom they are ascribed, I now pass to
prove that the latter were persons of excellent reputa-
tion for honesty and veracity. Of the eight whose testi-
monies are given in the preceding chapter, E. D. Howe
says:

We might therefore introduce a great number of witnesses,
all testifying to the same general facts; but we have not taken
the trouble to procure the statements of but few, all of whom
are the most respectable men, and highly esteemed for their
moral worth, and their characters for truth and veracity are un-
impeachable. In fact, the word of any one of them would have
more weight in any respectable community, than the whole

'Compare this assertion carefully with the statements of these parties
and see how wide of the truth it is.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 113

family of Smiths and Whitmers, who have told about hearing
the voice of an angel.

As throwing light upon the reputation of two of our
witnesses, Aaron Wright and Henry Lake, I also offer
the following affidavit of Mr. J. H. Britton, of Paines-
ville, Ohio:

THE STATE OF OHIO, ")

Lake County. J ss<

Before me, a notary public in and for said county, per-
sonally appeared J. H. Britton, who, being duly sworn, on his
oath says:

That he is now a resident of Painesville in said county, and
is now of the age of seventy-two years; was born in the town
of Van Buren, Onondaga Co., N. Y., and he further says: I
was living in my father's home in the township of Richmond,
Ashtabula Co., O., from about 1836 until about 1848, and during
that time I became and was acquainted with Aaron Wright and
Henry Lake, two of the persons who have furnished statements
as to the origin of the Book of Mormon; which statements are
published in E. D. Howe's "History of Mormonism" or "Mor-
monism Unveiled," published at Painesville, O., in 1834; that I
knew said Wright and Lake well, that they were men of good
reputation for truth and veracity, and were in every way well
esteemed and respected in the community where they lived. Mr.
Wright then lived in the village of Conneaut, in said county, and
was one of the pioneers of the vicinity, and a large owner of
real-estate, and owned a flouring-mill which was reported to be
the first mill of its kind built in that vicinity. Mr. Lake also
lived near Mr. Wright, and was also one of the first settlers
of the vicinity. And further affiant sayeth not.

J. H. BRITTON.

Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 22d
day of June, 1905. G. N. TUTTLE,

(Seal) Notary public in and for said county.

In this chapter and the preceding, we have established
three things:

First, that Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" resem-
bled the Book of Mormon in general historical outline

114 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

and in such proper names as Lehi, Nephi, Laman,
Nephites, Lamanites, Amlicites and Zarahemla.

Secondly, that the testimonies of the eleven indi-
viduals, who have certified to these facts, are genuine.

Thirdly, that the character of these individuals was
considered the best and their reputation for honesty and
veracity was unimpeachable.

THE DISCLOSURES OF JOHN C. BENNETT.

Dr. John C. Bennett, Quartermaster General of the
state of Illinois, became a convert to Mormonism in the
summer of 1840 and soon after removed to the city of
Nauvoo. Here he rapidly grew in favor with the prophet
Joseph Smith and the Mormon people until he was ele-
vated to the position of "assistant president" ' of the
Church during the illness of Sidney Rigdon. The in-
timacy between Smith and Bennett continued until the
summer of 1842, when they quarreled and Bennett
left Nauvoo. Later, he published an expose of the
conditions in that city through the columns of the San-
gamo Journal, of Springfield, Illinois, and his book,
"Mormonism Exposed." On the origin of the Book of
Mormon, he says :

I will remark here, in confirmation of the above, that the
Book of Mormon was originally written by the Rev. Solomon
Spaulding, A.M., as a romance, and entitled the "Manuscript
Found," and placed by him in the printing-office of Patterson
and Lambdin, in the city of Pittsburg, from whence it was
taken by a conspicuous Mormon divine, and re-modeled, by
adding the religious portion, placed by him in Smith's possession,
and then published to the world as the testimony exemplifies.
This I have from the Confederation, and of its perfect cor-
rectness there is not the shadow of a doubt. There never were
any plates of the Book of Mormon, excepting what were seen

1 See Times and Seasons, Vol. II., p. 3&7-

THE BOOK OF MORMON 116

by the spiritual, and not the natural, eyes of the witnesses. The
story of the plates is all chimerical.1

The Mormons answer this and other disclosures of
Bennett by saying that he had been cut off from the
church, that he was therefore sore at the Prophet, and
that his testimony is all a lie. But they can not deny that
before his apostasy he was held in the very highest
esteem,* or that he enjoyed the confidence of the other
Mormon leaders as few men did. Therefore, as his story
agrees perfectly with what others have testified to, I be-
lieve that it must be accepted as true. The ' 'conspicuous
Mormon divine" was none other than Sidney Rigdon,
who was a warm friend of Bennett and who was on the
verge of leaving the Mormons at this time himself.

1 "Mormonism Exposed," pp. 123, 124. Bennett says further: "Shortly
after I located in Nauvoo, Joe promised to me to go to New York and
get some plates engraved, and bring them to him, so that he could exhibit
them as the genuine plates of the Book of Mormon, which he pretended
had been taken from him and 'hid up' by an angel, and which he would
profess to have recovered. He calculated upon making considerable money
by this trick, as there would of course be a great anxiety to see the plates,
which he intended to exhibit at twenty-five cents a sight. I mentioned
this proposition to Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, on the day the Prophet made it,
and requested her to keep it in memory, as it might be of much im-
portance" (p. 175). Mrs. Pratt afterwards confirmed Bennett's state-
ment. Dr. Wyl, "Mormon Portraits," p. 21, says: "When asked by me
in the spring of 1885 about this statement of John C. Bennett, Mrs. Pratt
confirmed it fully and stated also that Bennett had reported to her thi»
conversation with Joseph on the very day when it happened." Was there
ever a bigger grafter than Joseph Smith?

2 Here is one of the many good things said about Bennett by the
Mormon press before his apostasy: "We would say, that if untiring dili-
gence to aid the afflicted and the oppressed, zeal for the promotion of
literature and intelligence, and a virtuous and consistent conduct, are evi-
dences of popularity, &c., we venture to say that no man deserves the
appellations of 'popular and deserving' more than Gen. J. C. Bennett." —
Times and Seasons, 2: 351.

116 THE TRUE .ORIGIN OF

CHAPTER VIII.

Rigdon's Connection with the Spaulding Romance — His Rela-
tions with J. Harrison Lambdin — Suspected of Stealing the
Manuscript — Exhibits the Manuscript — Foretells the Coming
Out of the Book of Mormon.

Sidney Rigdon was born at Piney Fork, Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1793. The place of
his birth is variously estimated at from six to twelve
miles from Pittsburgh.1 He lived on the farm with his
parents up to the time of his father's death in 1810, and
after that until his twenty-sixth year, or till 1819. He
united with the Baptist Church at Piney Fork, May 31,
1817, and was licensed to preach in March, 1819. In the
month of May following, he removed to Trumbull
County, Ohio. The following year he was ordained a
Baptist minister and was married to Phoebe Brooks, a
sister of the wife of Adamson Bentley, who at that time
was a minister in the Baptist Church, but who was
afterwards prominently connected with the movement of
the Campbells. In November, 1821, Rigdon received a
call from the Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, and began
his pastoral duties in February, 1822. On October n,
1823, he was excluded for heresy, and, subsequently, with
the assistance of Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott,
organized a Disciple church of which he became the
pastor. He continued to preach for the Disciples up to
the time that he became a Mormon in November,' 1830.

1 Schroeder, p. 15.

2 Some accounts say in December.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 117

RIGDON'S RELATIONS WITH J. HARRISON LAMBDIN.

In the year 1812, Spaulding removed from Conneaut,
Ohio, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in order to have his
"Manuscript Found" published. At this time, Robert
. Patterson was in the printing business in that city in the
firm of Patterson & Hopkins, which continued until Jan-
uary, iSiS.1 During the years 1812-16, in which the re-
lations of Spaulding with Patterson existed, J. Harrison
Lambdin was an employe at the printing-office. It has
been claimed that Rigdon was also employed by Patter-
son at this time, but this claim lacks proof. However,
the facts are established that he was a particular friend
of Lambdin and that he spent considerable of his time
lounging around the office. As establishing this point,
I submit the testimony of Mrs. R. J. Eichbaum, given
September 18, 1879:

My father, John Johnson, was postmaster at Pittsburg for
about eighteen years, from 1804 to 1822. My husband, William
Eichbaum, succeeded him, and was postmaster for about eleven
years, from 1822 to 1833. I was born August 25, 1792, and when
I became old enough, I assisted my father in attending to the
postoffice, and became familiar with his duties. From 1811 to
1816, I was the regular clerk in the office, assorting, making up,
dispatching, opening and distributing the mails. Pittsburg was
then a small town, and I was well acquainted with all the stated
visitors at the office who called regularly for their mails. So
meager at that time were the mails that I could generally tell
without looking whether or not there was anything for such
persons, though I would usually look in order to satisfy them.
I was married in 1815, and the next year my connection with
the office ceased, except during the absences of my husband. I
knew and distinctly remember Robert and Joseph Patterson, J.
Harrison Lambdin, Silas Engles and Sidney Rigdon. I re-
member Rev. Mr. Spaulding, but simply as one who occasionally
called to inquire for letters. I remember there was an evident

1 Schroeder, p. 19.

118 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

intimacy between Lambdin and Rigdon. They very often came
to the office together. I particularly remember that they would
thus come during the hour on Sabbath afternoon when the office
was required to be open, and I remember feeling sure that Rev.
Mr. Patterson knew nothing of this, or he would have put a
stop to it. I do not know what position, if any, Rigdon filled
in Patterson's store or printing office, but am well assured he
was frequently, if not constantly, there for a large part of the
time when I was clerk in the postoffice. I recall Mr. Engles say-
ing that "Rigdon was always hanging around the printing office."
He was connected with the tannery before he became a preacher,
though he may have continued the business whilst preaching.

The testimony of Mrs. Eichbaum nullifies the claim
of certain Mormon writers that "Sidney Rigdon never
was at Pittsburgh, or any other place, at the same time
as Mr. Spaulding's manuscript was there, and therefore
he could not have seen or read it." ! While he may not
have lived * at Pittsburgh until he assumed the pastorate
of the Baptist Church of that city, it is very improbable,
even if we lay aside the foregoing statement, that he was
never there before that event, as his parents' farm was
only between six and twelve miles distant and as he con-
tinued to reside with his mother until the year 1819.
Spaulding's Romance was stolen from Patterson's estab-
lishment in 1815 or 1816, at which time Rigdon was
twenty-three or twenty- four years of age. To contend,
therefore, that a young man that old, in good health and
mental vigor, would live but a few miles distant from
the leading city and chief trading-point of that part of
the country and never visit it, is so absurd that it is not

1 Schroeder, p. 21.

a"Myth of the Manuscript Found," p. 23.

8 The testimonies that Mormons present (see "Myth, etc.," p. 25) to
prove that Rigdon could not have stolen the manuscript simply prove that
he did not live in Pittsburgh before 1822, and this we concede. But he
did live only a few miles from there until 1819. This Mormons have to
concede.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

THE BOOK OP MORMON 119

worth consideration. The fact is, that while Rigdon
lived at Piney Fork, he was frequently in Pittsburgh,
and while there lounged around the printing-office, so he
had ample opportunity to steal the manuscript as has been
charged.

RIGDON SUSPECTED OF THE THEFT.

Rigdon not only had the opportunity to steal the man-
uscript, but he was also suspected of being the thief by
Spaulding himself. On this point, Joseph Miller, whose
testimony upon another occasion we have given, says :

My recollection is that Spaulding left a transcript of the
manuscript with Patterson for publication. The publication was
delayed until Spaulding could write- -a preface. In the meantime
the manuscript was spirited away, and could not be found.
Spaulding told me that Sidney Rigdon had taken it, or was sus-
pected of taking it. I recollect distinctly that Rigdon's name
was mentioned in connection with it.1

This same gentleman, in a letter to Mrs. Ellen E.
Dickinson and dated at Ten Mile, Pennsylvania, Feb-
ruary 13, 1882, says again:

Patterson said he, Patterson, would publish it, if he, Spauld-
ing, would write a title page. He told me he kept a little store
in Pittsburg. He then moved to Amity, leaving a copy of the
manuscript in Patterson's hands. After being at Amity some
time, he went back to Pittsburg, took his title page; he called
it the lost manuscript found. When he went to Pittsburg, the
manuscript could not be found. He said there was, or had been,
a man by the name of Sidney Rigdon (who) had stole it.1

The physician who attended Spaulding during his last
illness was Dr. Cephas Dodd. With him Spaulding was
very confidential, and confided to him his suspicions of
the theft. After the death of Spaulding, Dr. Dodd pur-

1 "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 44.
* "New Light on Mormonism," p. 140.
(9)

120 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

chased a copy of the Book of Mormon, and, after reading
it, inscribed the following on one of the fly-leaves, June
6, 1831 :

This work, I am convinced by facts related to me by my de-
ceased patient, Solomon Spaulding, has been made from writings
of Spaulding, probably by Sidney Rigdon, who was suspicioned
by Spaulding with purloining his manuscript from the publishing-
house to which he had taken it; and I am prepared to testify
that Spaulding told me that his work was entitled, "The Manu-
script Found in the Wilds of Mormon ; or Unearthed Records
of the Nephites." From his description of its contents, I fully
believe that this Book of Mormon is mainly and wickedly copied
from it. CEPHAS DODD.

JUNE 6, 1831.

RIGDON EXHIBITS THE MANUSCRIPT.

The next step in the history of this manuscript is its
exhibition by Rigdon. While he was pastor of the Bap-
tist Church of Pittsburgh, Rev. John Winter, M.D., was
a member of his church and a schoolteacher of that city.
Dr. Winter testifies as follows :

In 1822 or 3, Rigdon took out of his desk in his study a
large MS. stating that it was a Bible romance purporting to be
a history of the American Indians. That it was written by one,
Spaulding, a Presbyterian preacher whose health had failed and
who had taken it to the printers to see if it would pay to publish
it. And that he (Rigdon) had borrowed it from the printer as a
curiosity.1

Dr. Winter died at Sharon, Pennsylvania, in the year
1878, but his testimony is vouched for by Rev. J. A.
Bonsall, his son-in-law, Rev. A. G. Kirk and Mrs. Mary
W. Irvine, Dr. Winter's daughter.

Under date of December 7, 1879, Mrs. Amos Dunlap,
a niece of Mrs. Rigdon, wrote as follows from Warren,
Ohio:

1 "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 49.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 121

When I was quite a child I visited Mr. Rigdon's family. He
married my aunt. They at that time lived at Bainbridge, Ohio,
(1826-27). During my visit, Mr. Rigdon went to his bedroom
and took from a trunk which he kept locked, a certain manu-
script. He came out into the other room and seated himself by
the fireplace and commenced reading it. His wife at that moment
came into the room and exclaimed : "What, you are studying
that thing again?" or something to that effect. She then added:
"I mean to burn that paper." He said: "No, indeed, you will
not; this will be a great thing some day." Whenever he was
reading this, he was so completely occupied that he seemed en-
tirely unconscious of anything passing around him.1

Since Rigdon, and no one else, has ever claimed that
he himself wrote such a manuscript, we are warranted,
in the light of the other evidences adduced, in believing
that this was none other than the romance of Solomon
Spaulding which he had exhibited to Dr. Winter three
or four years before.

RIGDON FORETELLS THE COMING OUT OF THE BOOK OF
MORMON.

Rigdon did not stop with the exhibition of this man-
uscript; he foretold the coming out of a book describing
the ancient inhabitants of America, at least three years
before the Book of Mormon appeared. In the Millennial
Harbinger for 1844, page 39, there appeared the follow-
ing letter from Adamson Bentley, Rigdon's brother-in-
law:

SOLON, January 22, 1841.

DEAR BROTHER SCOTT:— Your favor of the 7th December is
received. I returned from Philadelphia, Pa., on the loth, and the
answer to your acceptable letter has been deferred. I was much
gratified to hear from you and family, but would be much more
so to see you once more in the flesh, and talk over our toils and
anxieties in the cause of our blessed Redeemer.

1 Schrocder, p. 24.

122 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

You request that I should give you all the information I
am in possession of respecting Mormonism. I know that Sidney
Rigdon told me there was a book coming out (the manuscript
of which had been found engraved on geld plates) as much as
two years before the Mormon book made its appearance in this
country or had been heard of by me. The same I communicated
to brother A. Campbell. The Mormon book has nothing of
baptism for the remission of sins in it;1 and of course at the
time Rigdon got Solomon Spaulding's manuscript he did not
understand the scriptures on that subject. I cannot say he
learnt it from me, as he had been about a week with you in
Nelson and VVindham, before he came to my house. I, however,
returned \vith him to Mentor. He stated to me that he did not
feel himself capable of introducing the subject in Mentor, and
would not return without me if he had to stay two weeks with
us to induce me to go. This is about all I can say. I have no
doubt but the account given in Mormonism Unmasked is about
the truth. It was got up to deceive the people and obtain their
property, and was a wicked contrivance with Sidney Rigdon and
Joseph Smith, Jr. May God have mercy on the wicked men,
and may they repent of this their wickedness!

May the Lord bless you, brother Scott, and family!

Yours most affectionately, ADAM SON BENTLEY.

In the same paper, Alexander Campbell, editor, cor-
roborated the foregoing statement and commented upon
Bennett's letter in the following note :

The conversation alluded to in Brother Bentley's letter of
1841, was in my presence as well as his, and my recollection of
it led me, some two or three years ago, to interrogate Brother
Bentley touching his recollection of it, which accorded with
mine in every particular, except the year in which it occurred,
he placing it in the summer of 1827, I in the summer of 1826,
Rigdon at the same time observing that in the plates dug up in
New York, there was an account, not only of the aborigines of
this country, but also it was stated that the Christian religion
had been preached in this country during the first century, just
as we were preaching it in the Western Reserve.

»In this Bentley was mistaken, and Campbell corrected his mistake in
the same issue.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 123

Adamson Bentley and Alexander Campbell were pio-
neer preachers in the great Restoration movement, and
their testimonies will not fail to carry weight. They
establish beyond a doubt that Rigdon knew of the opera-
tions of Smith years before his pretended conversion to
Mormonism.

As further confirmatory of the same contention, we
have the testimony of Darwin Atwater, of Mantua
Station, Ohio, communicated to A. S. Hayden April 26,
1873, in the form of a letter which is published in the
latter's book, "History of the Disciples in the Western
Reserve," pages 239, 240. Mr. Atwater says:

Soon after this, the great Mormon defection came on us
(Disciples of Christ). Sidney Rigdon preached for us, and not-
withstanding his extravagantly wild freaks, he was held in high
repute by many. For a few months before his professed con-
version to Mormonism, it was noticed that his wild, extravagant
propensities had been more marked. That he knew before of the
coming of the Book of Mormon is to me certain, from what he
said the first of his visits at my father's, some years before. He
gave a wonderful description of the mounds and other antiquities
found in some parts of America, and said that they must have
been made by the Aborigines. He said there was a book to bt
published containing an account of those things. He spoke of
these in his eloquent, enthusiastic style, as being a thing most
extraordinary.

Still another witness, to whom Rigdon expressed his
expectations, was Dr. S. Rosa. This gentleman wrote
from Painesville, Ohio, under date of June 3, 1841, as
follows :

In the early part of the year 1830, when the Book of Mor-
mon appeared, either in May or June, I was in company with
Sidney Rigdon, and rode with him on horseback a few miles.
Our conversation was principally upon the subject of religion,
as he was at that time a very popular preacher of the denom-
ination calling themselves "Disciples," or Campbellites. He re-

124 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

marked to me that it was time for a new religion to spring up;
that mankind were all rife and ready for it. I thought he al-
luded to the Campbellite doctrine. He said it would not be long
before something would make its appearance; he also said that
he thought of leaving Pennsylvania, and should be absent for
some months. I asked him how long. He said it would depend
upon circumstances. I began to think a little strange of his re-
marks, as he was a minister of the gospel. I left Ohio that fall
and went to the state of New York to visit my friends who lived
in Waterloo, not far from the mine of golden Bibles. In No-
vember 1 was informed that my old neighbor, E. Partridge, and
the Rev. Sidney Rigdon were in Waterloo, and that they both
had become the dupes of Joe Smith's necromancies. It then
occurred to me that Rigdon's new religion had made its ap-
pearance, and when I became informed of the Spaulding manu-
script, I was confirmed in the opinion that Rigdon was at least
accessory, if not the principal, in getting up this farce.1

Dr. Rosa supplies a number of links for the chain
that connects Sidney Rigdon with the Mormon fraud.
In the first place, the foregoing conversation occurred,
according to Rosa, in May or June of 1830, which was
about six months before Rigdon openly united with the
Mormons. In the second place, Rigdon told him that a
new religion was about to make its appearance, which
shows that he had some anticipations along that line,
hence that he must have kept informed of the movements
of Smith. And, in the third, Rigdon declared that he
thought of leaving Pennsylvania and of being gone some
months, probably to confer with Smith in regard to the
launching of the new ecclesiastical craft.

The evidence which I have presented in this chapter
seems to establish conclusively that Sidney Rigdon was
an intimate friend of J. Harrison Lambdin, an employe
in the Patterson printing-office, and that he, living not
more than twelve miles distant from Pittsburgh, was

1 Schroeder, p. 25.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 125

frequently in that city and lounged around the office;
that at this time the "Manuscript Found" of Spaulding,
which had been placed in Patterson's hands for publica-
tion, came up missing and that Rigdon was suspected of
the theft ; that Rigdon, after Spaulding's death, exhibited
such a manuscript, which, upon one occasion, he de-
clared had been written by Spaulding, and that at least
three years before the Book of Mormon came out and
the Mormon Church was organized, he made disclosures
to certain individuals which go to show that at this time
he was perfectly familiar with the movements and plans
of Joseph Smith.1

xThe "Doctrine and Covenants" (34:2) throws out a hint of Rigdon's
former connection with Mormonism in these words: "Behold, verily, verily
I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked upon thee and thy works. I
have heard thy prayers and prepared thee for a greater work. Thou art
blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold, thou wast sent forth even
as John, to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah which should
come, and thou knew it not." Nearly all Gentiles will agree with the
Mormons that Sidney prepared the way before the Mormon delusion, but
when it comes to the statement that he knew it not, it is quite another
thing.

126 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP'

CHAPTER IX.

Rigdon's Connection with Smith — The Pretended Conversion of
Rigdon — Rigdon's Previous Visits to Smith — The Mormon
Alibi — Katherine Salisbury's Affidavit.

It is the conviction of nearly all of the opponents of
Mormonism, who have paid particular attention to the
history of its origin, that the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints was not an emanation from the mind
of Joseph Smith, but that it was first conceived of by
Sidney Rigdon,1 and that Smith was merely his tool in
giving the movement publicity while he played his part
behind the scenes until his pretended conversion in the
year 1830. And it is a further conviction that Rigdon
and his puppet, Smith, were not the only members of
the conspiracy, but that associated with them were Hyrum
Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Martin Harris
and probably others, who came in to play their particular
roles and to receive in return the honors and pecuniary
benefits of the Mormon kingdom.*

The part that Rigdon played in the genesis of Mor-
monism was most secret, but the evidences of it, though
meager, are conclusive. It is certain that he made a

1 Strange as it may seem upon any other hypothesis, the very doctrines
that Rigdon preached before 1830 became a most vital part of the Mormon
system after that date.

•Personally, I am satisfied that the "Gold Bible Company" was com-
posed of a larger number of individuals than the ordinary reader has ever
dreamed of, and that each had his part to play in springing the system
upon the world. Rigdon was the theologian, Smith the prophet, Cowdery the
scribe, Harris the financier, Parley P. Pratt the dreamer and Orson Pratt
the logician. The underlying motives were two: first, to make money out
of the fraud, and, secondly, to gratify lust. These motives come to the
surface, here and there, all the way through the history of Mormonism.

PARLEY PARKER PRATT.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 127

number of clandestine visits to Palmyra before 1830, and
was known in that vicinity as the "mysterious stranger/'
while it is also believed that he communicated with Smith
through their confederates, Oliver Cowdery and Parley
P. Pratt. Cowdery first appeared publicly upon the
Mormon stage in the year 1829, although we have every
reason to believe that he was secretly playing an im-
portant part before; but Pratt withheld his debut until
August, 1830, when he was suddenly and miraculously
converted while on a visit to New York and began at
once his work as a missionary. From this time on, he
was a prominent actor in the Mormon drama until he
fell a victim of his own lust at the hands of an enraged
husband, Hector McLean, in 1857, whose wife he had
seduced and whose home he had broken up.1

THE PRETENDED CONVERSION OF RIGDON.

In October, 1830, a revelation was received directing
Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and
Ziba Peterson to leave New York and go on a mission
among the Indians.* As soon as this revelation was re-
ceived, the "sisters" of the church set themselves to the
task of providing the requisite clothing, and, about the
1 5th of the month, the four men designated "started on
their mission, preaching and baptizing on their way,
wherever an opportunity offered.8

1 Mrs. McLean, who lived in Arkansas, had been converted to Mor-
monism by Pratt, and, later, had left her husband and children and gone
to Salt Lake City, where she became his polygamous wife. After this,
she and Pratt returned axd attempted to abduct the children, but failed.
The enraged father threatened Pratt's life, and the latter fled on horse-
back. When McLean heard of his flight, he gave chase, and, overtaking
kirn, killed him with his bowie-knife, twelve miles north of Van Buren,
Arkansas.

'"Doctrine and Covenants," Sec. 31.

* "Joseph Smith and His Progenitors," p. 305.

128 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Sidney Rigdon, at this time, lived at Mentor, two
miles from Kirtland, Ohio, and had given up preaching
and gone to farming, declaring that "he had been mis-
taken all his lifetime." J He was evidently cleaning and
garnishing his house for its early reception of Mor-
monism.

Sometime in November, the Mormon missionaries
reached Mentor, and Pratt, being acquainted with Rig-
don, called upon him and presented him with a copy of
the Book of Mormon. Pratt says :

We called on Elder S. Rigdon, and then for the first time
his eyes beheld the Book of Mormon, I, myself, had the happi-
ness to present it to him in person. He was much surprised, and
it was with much persuasion and argument 2 that he was prevailed
on to read it, and after he had read it, he had a great struggle
of mind, before he fully believed and embraced it; and when
finally convinced of its truth, he called together a large congre-
gation of his friends, neighbors and brethren, and then ad-
dressed them very affectionately for nearly two hours during
most of which time, both himself and nearly all the congregation
were melted into tears. He asked forgiveness of everybody who
might have had occasion to be offended with any part of his
former life; he forgave all who had persecuted or injured him
in any manner, and the next morning himself and wife were
baptized by Elder O. Cowdery. I was present, it was a solemn
scene, most of the people were great affected, they came out of
the water overwhelmed in tears.8

The date of Rigdon's baptism, according to the
"Diary" of Lyman Wight, who was baptized at the same
time, was November 14, 1830. This is said to have been

1 Testimony of Reuben P. Harmon in the "Braden-Kelley Debate."
a Pratt did not always tell the same story in regard to the manner in
which Rigdon received the Book of Mormon. At another time, he said:
"He was much interested, and promised a thorough perusal of the book."
— Journal of History, January, 1910, p. 15. The two diverse accounts by
the same person are probably inadvertencies due to neither being the truth.
'"Myth of the Manuscript Found," p. 33.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 129

about a fortnight1 after the Book of Mormon was first
presented to him. But Howe declares that Rigdon was
baptized the second day after Pratt's arrival,2 while H.
H. Clapp, a resident of Rigdon's vicinity, more specif-
ically puts the baptism within thirty-six hours.8 In any
of these cases, Rigdon's conversion was altogether too
sudden and romantic for a truly candid, careful and con-
scientious investigator, especially when we consider the
startling claims of Mormonism, and we are strongly im-
pressed that it was only part of a prearranged plan and
that his pretended emotions were invented for the oc-
casion to swing his neighbors to that imposture which
he had, covertly, been one of the means of foisting upon
the world.

RIGDON'S PREVIOUS VISITS TO SMITH.

In the month of December following his conversion,
Sidney Rigdon went to Waterloo, New York, accom-
panied by Edward Partridge, for the purpose of meeting
Joseph Smith, and immediately took up the work of
openly promulgating the Mormon faith. In the latter
part of January, Joseph and his family left New York
and started for Kirtland, the home of Rigdon, where they
arrived about the first of February.*

Mormons declare that prior to this visit of Rigdon to
the Smiths in New York, he had no acquaintance with
them and never visited them, and, hence, that he could
not have been in collusion with Joseph in springing Mor-
monism upon the world. As an answer to this claim, I
now submit the testimonies of a number of the neighbors

1 "Church History," Vol. I., p. 141.

2 "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 104.

8H. H. Clapp, in a letter to James T. Cobb, of Utah.
* "Church History," Vol. I., p. 169.

130 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

of the Smiths in New York, who declare that Rigdon
did know of Joseph and that he personally visited him
before the year 1830.

Mrs. Horace Eaton, wife of Dr. Horace Eaton, who,
for thirty-two years, had been a resident of Palmyra and
who had heard of the doings of the Smith family from
the lips of their acquaintances, says, in a paper read be-;
fore the Union Home Missionary Meeting held at Buf-J
falo, New York, May 27, 1881 :

Early in the summer of 1827, a "mysterious stranger" seeks
admittance to Joe Smith's cabins The conferences of the two
are most private. This person, whose coming immediately pre-
ceded a new departure in the faith, was Sidney Rigdon, a back-
sliding clergyman, at this time a Campbellite preacher in Mentor,
Ohio.1

Pomeroy Tucker, a neighbor of the Smiths and one
of the proof-readers of the Book of Mormon, says :

A mysterious stranger now appears at Smith's and holds
intercourse with the famed money-digger. For a considerable
time no intimation of the name or purpose of this stranger
transpired to the public, not even to Smith's nearest neighbors.
It was observed by some that his visits were frequently repeated.
The sequel of the intimacies of this stranger and the money-
digger will sufficiently appear hereafter. There was great con-
sternation when the 118 pages of manuscript were stolen from
Harris, for it seems to have been impossible, for some unac-
countable reason, to retranslate the stolen portion. The reap-
pearance of this mysterious stranger at Smith's at this juncture
was again the subject of inquiry and conjecture by observers,
from whom was withheld all explanations of his identity and
purpose. When the Book of Mormon appeared, Rigdon was an
early convert. Up to this time, he had played his part in the
background^ and his occasional visits to Smith's had been ob-
served by the inhabitants as those of the mysterious stranger.
It had been his policy to remain in concealment until all things
were in readiness for blowing the trumpet of the new gospel.

1 "Hand-book on Mormonism," p. 3.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 131

He now came to the front as the first regular preacher in
Palmyra.1

On May 2, 1879, Abel D. Chase, another neighbor
of the Smiths, signed the following statement, relative to
the visits of Sidney Rigdon to Palmyra before 1830:

PALMYRA, Wayne Co., N. Y., May 2, 1879.

I, Abel D. Chase, now living in Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y.,
make the following statement regarding my early acquaintance
with Joseph Smith and incidents about the production of the
so-called Mormon Bible. I was well acquainted with the Smith
family, frequently visiting the Smith boys and they me. I was
a youth at the time from twelve to thirteen years old, having
been born Jan. 19, 1814, at Palmyra, N. Y. During some of my
visits at the Smiths, I saw a stranger there who they said was
Mr. Rigdon. He was at Smith's several times, and it was in the
year of 1827 when I first saw him there, as near as I can recol-
lect. Some time after that tales were circulated that young Joe
had found or dug from the earth a book of plates which the
Smiths called the Golden Bible. I don't think Snrth had any
such plates. He was mysterious in his actions. The pecpstone,
in which he was accustomed to look, he got of my elder brother
Willard while at work for us digging a well. It was a singular-
looking stone and young Joe pretended he could discover hidden
things in it.

My brother Willard Chase died at Palmyra, N. Y., March
10, 1871. His affidavit, published in Howe's "History of Mor-
monism," is genuine. Peter Ingersoll, whose affidavit was pub-
lished in the same book, is also dead. He moved West years
ago and died about two years ago. Ingersoll had the reputation
of being a man of his word, and I have no doubt his sworn state-
ment regarding the Smiths and the Mormon Bible is genuine.
I was also well acquainted with Thomas P. Baldwin, a lawyer
and Notary Public, and Frederick Smith, a lawyer and magis-
trate, before whom Chase's and Ingersoll's depositions were
made, and who were residents of this village at the time and for
several years after. ABEL D. CHASE.

Abel D. Chase signed the above statement in our presence,

1 "Braden-Kelley Debate," p. 46.

132 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

and he is known to us and the entire community here as a man
whose word is always the exact truth and above any possible
suspicion. PLINY T. SEXTON.

J. H. GILBERT.1

I now have the pleasure of presenting to the reader
two letters touching upon this point that have never
been published before. The first of these was written
by Mr. Thomas Gregg, of Hamilton, Illinois, the author
of "The Prophet of Palmyra;" the second is the reply
to the same, written by Mr. Lorenzo Saunders, of Read-
ing, Hillsdale County, Michigan, who was an intimate
acquaintance of the Smiths. Mr. Gregg died before he
had the opportunity of publishing Mr. Saunders' letter,
and later the correspondence was turned over to Mr. R.
B. Neal, of Gray son, Kentucky, secretary of the Ameri-
can Anti-Mormon Association, who has kindly loaned
these documents to me to publish in this book. The
letters have been carefully copied from their originals
and appear just as they were formerly written, except
that in that of Saunders a number of errors in spelling,
capitalization and punctuation have been corrected.
Saunders was an aged man, and this, coupled with his
poor educational advantages as a boy, accounts for the
errors which appear. I regard his letter as one of the
most important documents which we have bearing on
the present question.

The letter of Mr. Gregg is as follows :

HAMILTON, Hancock Co., 111., January 19, 1885.
MR. LORENZO SAUNDERS,

Dear Sir: — Permit me, a stranger, to "interview" you by
letter. Mr. J. H. Gilbert, of Palmyra, N. Y., introduces us. He
names you among the very few left, who know something about

1 "Mormon Portraits," p. 230.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 133

the origin of Mormonism, and the life and career of Joe Smith,
the pretended Prophet. I am engaged on a work — mainly a
History of the Mormon Era in Illinois — but with which I wish
to incorporate the Rise and Progress of the miserable fraud in
and about Palmyra. A main point I wish to investigate is as
to how the Spaulding Manuscript got into Smith's hands previous
to 1829 when the B. of M. was first printed. Some think Cow-
dery was the medium — some that it was Rigdon. Of course, it is
hard to remember after a period of 50 or 60 years, little occur-
rences unimportant at the time; but I am induced to apply to
you, as a neighbor of the Smiths, hoping you may be able to
recall events that may help me out. What can you recall of
Cowdery's career? His first appearance among you — what he
was doing — where he came from — and what seemed to have
brought him into closer relationship with Smith? Also, of
Rigdon — Gilbert says it is thought you saw him once at Smith's.
Can you be sure of that? and whether it was before the B. of M.
was printed? Did you know the 12 signers, certifying to the
Divine origin of the B. of M. — the Whitmers — Harris — Hiram
Page — and all the Smiths — and were they ignorant or sensible —
learned or unlearned — and did they, or any of them, seem to
adhere to Smith while he was digging for treasure, &c.?

You see I can chalk out a great variety of subjects or points
on which I want information ; but I might cut it short by asking,
in general, for such information as you can give that will en-
lighten the public on the Origin of Mormonism — and more
especially its connection with the Rev. Spaulding's book. Of
course you are an aged man — I know what it is to be an old
man, myself; but these cold winter days, we can do little else
than sit in the house and read and write — and perhaps you will
be able to find time to reply to this, and thus oblige very much,
Your friend and obt. Ser., TH. GREGG.

P. S.— -More questions: Did you ever see, or try to see, the
pretended plates, or how Smith acted in regard to them? Or
did you ever see the hole in the ground, on Cumorah Hill, in
which the plates were found — or was there ever such a hole?
Please answer on, and return this sheet, and if not enough of
paper, add to it— I will pay postage.

In reply to Mr. Gregg's letter, Mr. Saunders wrote
from Reading, Michigan, as follows:

134 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

READING, January 28, 1885.
MISTER GREGG,

Dear Sir. I received your note ready at hand and will try
(to) answer the best I can and give all the information I can as
respecting Mormonism and the first origin. As respecting Oliver
Cowdery, he came from Kirtland in the summer of 1826 and
was about there until fall and took a school in the district where
the Smiths lived and the next summer he was missing and I
didn't see him until fall and he came back and took our school
in the district where we lived and taught about a week and went
to the schoolboard and wanted the board to let him off and
they did and he went to Smith and went to writing the Book
of Mormon and wrote all winter. The Mormons say it want
wrote there but I say it was because I was there. I saw Sidney
Rigdon in the Spring of 1827, about the middle of March. I
went to Smiths to eat maple sugar, and I saw five or six men
standing in a group and there was one among them better
dressed than the rest and I asked Harrison Smith who he was
(and) he said his name was Sidney Rigdon, a friend of Joseph's
from Pennsylvania. I saw him in the Fall of 1827 on the road
between where I lived and Palmyra, with Joseph. I was with a
man by the name of Jugegsah (spelling doubtful, C. A. S.).
They talked together and when he went on I asked Jugegsah
(spelling doubtful, C. A. S.) who he was and he said it was
Rigdon. Then in the summer of 1828 I saw him at Samuel
Lawrence's just before harvest. I was cutting1 corn for Law-
rence and went to dinner and he took dinner with us and when
dinner was over they went into another room and I didn't see
him again till he came to Palmyra to preach. You want to
know how Smith acted about it. The next morning after he
claimed to have got (the) plates he came to our house and said
he had got the plates and what a struggle he had in getting
home with them. Two men tackled him and he fought and
knocked them both down and made his escape and secured the
plates and had them safe and secure. He showed his thumb
where he bruised it in fighting those men. After (he) went
from the house, my mother says, "What a liar Joseph Smith is;
he lies every word he says; I know he lies because he looks so

1 He probably means plowing corn, as this was too early in the season
for the other.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 135

guilty; he can't see out of his eyes; how dare (he) tell such
a lie as that." The time he claimed to have taken the plates
from the hill was on the 22 day of September, in 1827, and I
went on the next Sunday following with five or six other ones
and we hunted the side hill by course and could not find no place
where the ground had been broke. There was a large hole
where the money diggers had dug a year or two before, but no
fresh dirt. There never was such a hole; there never was any
plates taken out of that hill nor any other hill in that county,
was in Wayne county. It is all a lie. No, sir, I never saw the
plates nor no one else. He had an old glass box with a tile
(spelling doubtful, C. A. S.) in it, about 7x8 inches, and that
was the gold plates and Martin Harris didn't know a gold plate
from a brick at this time. Smith and Rigdon had an intimacy
but it was very secret and still and there was a mediator between
them and that was Cowdery. The Manuscripts was stolen by
Rigdon and modelled over by him and then handed over to Cow-
dery and he copied them and Smith sat behind the curtain and
handed them out to Cowdery and as fast as Cowdery copied
them, they was handed over to Martin Harris and he took them
to Egbert Granden, the one who printed them, and Gilbert set
the type. I never knew any of the twelve that claimed to have
seen the plates except Martin Harris and the Smiths. I knew
all of the Smiths, they had not much learning, they was poor
scholars. The older ones did adhere (spelling doubtful, C. A. S.)
to Joseph Smith. He had a peep stone he pretended to see in.
He could see all the hidden treasures in the ground and all the
stolen property. But that was all a lie, he couldn't see nothing.
He was an impostor. I now will close. I don't know as you
can read this. If you can, please excuse my bad spelling and
mistakes. Yours With Respect,

From LORENZO SAUNDERS.*

1 STATE OF NEBRASKA, •»
County of Dawson. jss>

Charles A. Shook, being duly sworn according to law, deposeth and
saith that the foregoing letters of Thomas Gregg and Lorenzo Saunders
are verbatim copies (excepting spelling, punctuation and capitalization) of
the originals now in the possession of the American Anti-Mormon Associa-
tion. CHARLES A. SHOOK.

Subscribed to in my presence and sworn to before me, at Eddyvillc,
Nebraska, this i3th day of February, 1913.

B. R. HEDGLIN, Notary Public.
(10)

136 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

The following deductions from Mr. Saunders' letter
should be noted by the reader :

First, Oliver Cowdery first came to Palmyra in the
summer of 1826 instead of in the winter of 1828-9, as the
Mormons claim.

Secondly, he came from Kirtland, Geauga County,
Ohio. Rigdon had removed to the same county the
spring before, and Cowdery may have been sent by him
to New York for a purpose. •

Thirdly, part of the Book of Mormon was written
at the home of the Smiths near Palmyra, instead of all
of it being written at Harmony, Pennsylvania, and Fay-
ette, New York.

Fourthly, according to Saunders' positive knowledge,
Rigdon made at least three visits to Palmyra before 1830:
in March, 1827 ; in the fall of 1827, and in the summer
of 1828. We shall, presently, make good use of these
dates.

THE MORMON ALIBI.

In their attempt to refute the testimony just given,
the Mormons claim that the distance between Mentor,
Ohio, where Rigdon resided, and Palmyra, New York,
where Smith lived, was so great that, in those days of
slow locomotion, it would have been impossible for Rig-
don, who was so burdened with the arduous duties of an
active minister, to have visited and conferred with Smith
as charged. On this point, Elder Heman C. Smith, his-
torian of the Reorganized Church, says :

The life of Sidney Rigdon was that of an active minister,
and his whereabouts can be determined by public records so
frequently as to make it impossible that he could have made the
long and tedious journeys to New York (which this story makes
necessary) for the purpose of conspiring with Joseph Smith in
those days of slow transportation.— Church History, Vol. i, p. 145*

THE BOOK OF MORMON 137

But this position is wholly untenable. Sidney Rigdon
was an itinerant preacher and did just what Elder Smith
says it was impossible for him to do ; he made "long and
tedious journeys." And the fact that he made such long
and tedious journeys is to be found largely in the litera-
ture of the Mormon Church itself. In May, 1819, we
find him moving from near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to
Trumbull County, Ohio, and later back again.1 Next,
we find him on a mission to Kentucky with his brother-
in-law, Adamson Bentley.* In the spring of 1826, he re-
moved to Geauga County, Ohio, and located at Bain-
bridge.8 After this, we hear of him at Mentor, Perry,
Austintown, Shalersville, New Lisbon and Warren,
Ohio, and in May or June, 1830, in Pennsylvania.* All
of these movements occurred before he became a
Mormon.

After his pretended conversion, we find him going
straight to Waterloo, New York, to confer with Smith
and to return with him two months later. In company
with Joseph Smith and Freeman Nickerson, in the fall of
1833, ne went on a mission to Canada, where he labored
one month. In the summer and fall of 1836, we find him
in the Eastern States with Joseph Smith, Hyrttm Smith
and Oliver Cowdery. And last, but not least, we are told
that between the years 1831 and 1838, he made four trips
to Missouri, a distance of not less than eight hundred
miles.6 As Palmyra, New York, is only 252 miles from
Mentor, Ohio, over the L. S. & M. S. and N. Y. C.
& H. R. Railroads, and as Rigdon was accustomed to
long and frequent moves, the distance would not have

1 "Church History," Vol. I., p. 130.

a "History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve," p. 19.

8 "History of the Disciples," p. 191.

* See testimony of Dr. Rosa.

B "Journal of History," July, 1910, pp. 279-286.

138 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

made it impossible for him to have conferred with Smith
before 1830.

But, says the Mormon objector, even if what you
say is true, it would have required time for Rigdon to
have made such visits, and we have his whereabouts de-
termined by public records so frequently that this element
is wanting and thus the impossibility still remains. Very
well, then, let us examine the alibi.

The following list of events and dates has been com-
piled by Elder E. L. Kelley, of the Reorganized Church,
from court records and historical and personal sources,
and arranged as I give it, by Elder Heman C. Smith, of
the same church, and published in the Josephite "Journal
of History," Vol. III., No. i, pages 16-20. This list is
said to cover the movements of Rigdon from November
2, 1826, to November 14, 1830, so thoroughly and fully
that no opening is left to slip in spaces of time sufficiently
lengthy for him to visit Palmyra, New York, before his
conversion in 1830.

STATE OF OHIO, ")
Geauga County, j

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between John G. Smith and Julia Giles, on the second of Novem-
ber, 1826, agreeable to license obtained from court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded the I3th of Dec., 1826.

January, 1827. Elder Rigdon held public meetings in Mantua,
Ohio. (Hayden's History of the Disciples of the Western Re-
serve.)

February, 1827. Preached funeral discourse of Hannah Tan-
ner, Chester, Ohio. (Authenticated by Henry Tanner.)

March and April, 1827. Held protracted meetings at Mentor,

THE BOOK OF MORMON 139

Ohio; baptizing Nancy M. Sanforcl, William Dunson and wife,
and others. (Evidence by Nancy M. Sanford, Mantua, Ohio.)

STATE OF OHIO, ")
Geauga County, j

This is to certify that on the fifth day of June, 1827, in the
village of Painesville, I solemnized the marriage contract be-
tween Theron Freeman and Elizabeth Waterman, agreeable to
license obtained from the clerk of the court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded June 7, 1827.

June 15, 1827. Baptized Thomas Clapp, and others, Mentor,
Ohio. Personal testimony of Henry H. Clapp, Mentor, Ohio.

STATE OF OHIO,
Geauga County.

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between James Gray and Mary Kerr, in township of Mentor,
on the 3d of July, 1827. SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.

Recorded July 12, 1827.

STATE OF OHIO, |
Geauga County. j

This is to certify that on the ipth of July, 1827, I solemnized
the marriage contract in the township of Kirtland, between
Alden Snow and Ruth Parker, agreeably to license obtained from
clerk of the court of the said county. SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.

Recorded August io, 1827.

August 23, 1827. Elder Rigdon met with the Ministerial
Association of the Western Reserve at New Lisbon, Ohio.

STATE OF OHIO,
Geauga County,

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract on
the Qth of October, 1827, in the township of Mentor, between

140 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Stephen Sherman and Wealthy Mathews, agreeably to license
obtained from the clerk of court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded October 27, 1827.

October 20, 1827. A member of the ministerial council at
Warren, Ohio.

November, 1827. Held a series of meetings at New Lisbon,
Ohio.

STATE OF OHIO, ) sg
Geauga County. J

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Alvin Wait and Sophia Gunn, on the 6th of Dec., 1827,
in the township of Kirtland, agreeably to license obtained from
the clerk of the court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded December 12, 1827.

STATE OF OHIO,
Geauga County.

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Roswell D. Cottrell and Matilda Olds, in the township
of Concord, on the I3th day of December, 1827, agreeably to
license obtained from the clerk of court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded January 8, 1828.

STATE OF OHIO, 1
Geauga County, j

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Otis Harrington and Lyma Corning, in the township of
Mentor, on the I4th of February, 1828, agreeably to license
obtained from the clerk of the court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

EDWARD PAINE, Jun., Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded March 31, 1828.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 141

March, 1828. Instructor of a class in theology at Mentor,
Ohio ; and also held a series of meetings at Mentor and Warren,
Ohio. Zebulon Rudolph, afterwards an elder in the Disciples
Church, was a member of this class in theology, with others.
He became a man of note in the Western Reserve.

April, 1828. Elder Rigdon conducted a great religious re-
vival at Kirtland, Ohio.

May, 1828. He meets with Alexander Campbell at Shaler-
ville, Ohio, and held a protracted meeting at that place.

June, 1828. Elder Rigdon baptized Henry H. Clapp at Men-
tor, Ohio.

August, 1828. Attended great yearly association at Warren,
Ohio.

STATE OF OHIO, )
Geauga County. J

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Luther Dille and Clarissa Kent, in the township of
Mentor, on the 7th day of September, 1828, agreeably to license
obtained from the clerk of the court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded October 13, 1828.

STATE OF OHIO, 1
Geauga County, j S!

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Nachor Corning and Phebe E. Wilson, in the township
of Mentor, on the i8th day of September, 1828, agreeably to
license obtained from the clerk of the court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk Com. Pleas.
Recorded October 13, 1828.

142 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

STATE OF OHIO,

Geauga County.

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Albert Churchill and Anna Fosdick on the ist of
January, 1829, in the township of Concord, agreeably to license
obtained from the clerk of the court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk of Com. Pleas.
Recorded February 12, 1829.

STATE OF OHIO, )
Geauga County. J

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Erastus Root and Rebecca Tuttle on the ist day of
February, 1829, in the township of Mentor, agreeably to a license
obtained from clerk of court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk of Com. Pleas.
Recorded February 12, 1829.

March, 1829. Protracted meeting, Mentor, Ohio.

April 12, 1829. Protracted meeting at Kirtland, Ohio.

Lyman Wight, in his private journal, says: "I resided in
this place (Warrensville, Ohio) till 1829, about the month of
May, when I heard Sidney Rigdon preach what was then called
Rigdonite doctrine. After hearing him go through the principle
of baptism for the remission of sins, I went forward and was
baptized by his hands.

July I, 1829. Organized church at Perry, Ohio.

In the journal of Lyman Wight, he writes August (same
year) : "My wife was baptized together with John Murdock and
many others by Sidney Rigdon."

THE BOOK OF MORMON 143

STATE OF OHIO, )
Geauga County. J

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between John Strong and Ann Eliza More, on the I3th of
August, 1829, in the township of Kirtland, agreeably to license
obtained from clerk of court of said county.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk of Com. Pleas.
Recorded September 14, 1829.

STATE OF OHIO,
Geauga County.

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Darwin At water and Harriett Clapp, on the I4th day of
September, 1829, in the township of Mentor, agreeably to license
obtained from clerk of said county. SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk of Com. Pleas.

Recorded October 7, 1829.

September, 1829. Series of meetings at Mentor, Ohio, bap-
tizing J. J. Moss, who was afterwards Disciple minister of some
note.

STATE OF OHIO,

Geauga County, j

This is to certify that I solemnized the marriage contract
between Joel Roberts and Relief Bates, on the ist of October,
1829, in the township of Perry, agreeably to license obtained
from clerk of court of said county. SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk of Com. Pleas.

Recorded October 7, 1829.

October, 1829. At Perry, Ohio.

November, 1829. Held meetings at Wait Hill,, Ohio; bap-
tizing Alvin Wait.

STATE OF OHIO, |
Cuyahoga County, j

This certifies that I solemnized the marriage contract be-
tween David Chandler and Polly Johnson in the township of

144 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Chagrin on the 31 st day of December, one thousand, eight hun-
dred and twenty-nine, agreeably to license obtained from the
clerk of the court of said county. SIDNEY RIGDON,

Pastor Baptist Church in Mentor, Geauga Co., Ohio.
Filed and Recorded January 12, 1830.

March, 1830. At Mentor, Ohio.

June i to 30. At Mentor, Ohio.

July, 1830. Protracted meeting at Pleasant Valley, Ohio;
baptized forty-five.

August, 1830. With Alexander Campbell at Austintown,
Ohio.

STATE OF OHIO,
Geauga County. S'

This certifies that I married Lev/is B. Wood to Laura Cleave-
land in Kirtland Township, on the 4th of November, 1830.

SIDNEY RIGDON.

D. D. AIKEN, Clerk of Com. Pleas.
Recorded November n, 1830.

Lyman Wight states that "my Family and myself were bap-
tized on November 14, 1830." And his widow states that she
distinctly remembers that Rigdon was baptized on the same day.

This is the alibi by which our Mormon friends seek
so zealously to combat and overthrow the testimonies of
Smith's neighbors. But, giving them every date, and
this includes the dates of the recording of the various
marriage certificates which probably would not have re-
quired the personal presence of Rigdon either at court or
at any other particular place, and we have them "beaten
to a frazzle." Their alibi is so full of great gaps (and
these occur right at the very times when our witnesses

THE BOOK OF MORMON

145

declare that Rigdon was in Palmyra) that it is not only
worthless as evidence to the Mormons, but is of positive
value to their opponents. I now submit the list of dates
and events arranged in simpler form and with the wide
gaps of time indicated, so that the reader can readily dis-
cover the weakness of this alibi as evidence to those who
seek by it to prove that Sidney Rigdon could not have
been in New York between the years 1826 and 1830.

•VINT

1826
1826
1827
1827

1827
1827

1827
1827
1827
1827
1827
1827
1827
1827

1827
1827
1827
1827
1827
1827
1827
1828
1828
1828
1828

Nov.
Dec.
Jan.
Feb.

Mar.
Apr.

June
June
June
July
July
July
Aug.
Aug.

Oct.

Oct.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Dec.

Dec.

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Mar.

2
13

5
7
15
3

12

19

IO

23

9

20
27

6

12

13

8
14

Marriage of Smith and Giles.
Above marriage recorded.
Held meeting at Mantua, O.
Funeral of Hannah Tanner, Chester, O.

(Gap of about one month.)
Held meeting at Mentor, O.
Held meeting at Mentor, O.

(Gap of possibly month and a half.)
Marriage of Freeman and Waterman.
Above marriage recorded.
Baptized Thomas Clapp at Mentor, O.
Marriage of Gray and Kerr.
Above marriage recorded.
Marriage of Snow and Parker.
Above marriage recorded.
Met with Ministerial Asso., New Lisbon, O.

(Gap of one month and seventeen days.)
Marriage of Sherman and Mathews.
At Ministerial Council, Warren, O.
Marriage of Sherman and Mathews recorded.
Held meeting at New Lisbon, O.
Marriage of Wait and Gunn.
Above marriage recorded.
Marriage of Cottrell and Olds.
Above marriage recorded.
Marriage of Herrington and Coming.
Above marriage recorded.
Instructed theological class, Mentor, O,

146

THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

ri
•
>
*

I

0

>
H

EVENT

1828

Apr.

Conducted revival at Kirtland, O.

1828

May

Met Campbell at Shalersville.

1828

June

Baptized H. H. Clapp, Mentor, O.

(Gap of possibly two months.)

1828

Aug.

At Association, Warren, O.

1828

Sept.

7

Marriage of Dille and Kent.

1828

Sept.

18

Marriage of Corning and Wilson.

1828

Oct.

13

Above marriages recorded.

(Gap of two months and a half.)

1829

Jan.

i

Marriage of Churchill and Fosdick.

1829

Feb.

i

Marriage of Root and Tuttle.

1829

Feb.

12

Above marriages recorded.

1829

Mar.

Meeting at Mentor, O.

1829

Apr.

12

Meeting at Kirtland, O.

1829

May

. .

Baptized Lyman Wight.

(Gap of possibly one month and a half.)

1829

July

I

Organized church at Perry, O.

1829

Aug.

Baptized Mrs. Lyman Wight.

1829

Aug.

13

Marriage of Strong and More.

1829

Sept.

14

Above marriage recorded.

1829

Sept.

14

Marriage of Atwater and Clapp.

1829

Sept.

. .

Held meeting at Mentor, Ohio.

1829

Oct.

I

Marriage of Roberts and Bates.

1829

Oct.

7

The last two marriages recorded.

1829

Oct.

At Perry, O.

1829

Nov.

Held meeting at Wait Hill, O.

1829

Dec.

31

Marriage of Chandler and Johnson.

1830

Jan.

12

Above marriage recorded.

(Gap of possibly two months.)

1830

Mar.

At Mentor, O.

(Gap of two months.)

1830

June

. .

At Mentor, O.

1830

July

. .

Held meeting at Pleasant Valley, O.

1830

Aug.

Met Campbell at Austintown, O.

(Gap of easily two and a half months.)

1830

Nov.

4

Marriage of Wood and Cleaveland.

1830

Nov.

II

Above marriage recorded.

1830

Nov.

14

Rigdon baptized by Cowdery.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 147

In this alibi, we have nine wide gaps, of over a month
in each, in which the whereabouts of Rigdon is not ac-
counted for, and some of them occurring at the very
times when the old citizens of Palmyra say that he was
in New York conferring with Smith. Three of these
gaps occur in the year 1827, two in 1828, one in 1829 and
three in 1830.

As Rigdon lived only 252 miles from Palmyra, if he
traveled at the rate of fifty miles a day, which was less
than the ordinary distance traveled by stage in those days,1
it would have required five days to go and five days to
return, so in all our calculations concerning Rigdon's
visits to New York, we must make an allowance of ten
days for time spent on the road.

Again, it is not to be supposed that it would have been
necessary for his visits to have been of extraordinary
lengths, for, according to the generally accepted theory,
the "Manuscript Found" had been thoroughly worked
over and was ready for transcription before it passed
out of Rigdon's hands. This would make his presence
necessary only as an adviser, and this would require him
being there only a few days at most. So, the time it
took to go to Palmyra and to return, with sufficient time
for a reasonable visit, could be easily included within one
month. Rigdon could, therefore, have been in Palmyra,
New York, a dozen times between the years 1826 and
1830 and still the list of dates and events as given by
Elders Kelley and Smith remain intact.

1 An ex-stage-driver here in Nebraska tells me that he used to make
seventy-five miles a day, but the roads were probably better than in New
York and Ohio. However, fifty miles a day was easily made. When
Rigdon left Kirtland in January, 1838, he went at the rate of sixty miles
in ten hours ("Church History," 2: 136), and David Whitmer, at the time
that he went to Harmony, Pennsylvania, for Smith, in 1829, took just two.
days to make the distance of 135 miles ("Mother Lucy," p. 162).

148 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

The date when Rigdon first met Smith is not known
and never will be definitely known, but a statement in
Mother Lucy's "Joseph Smith and His Progenitors" (ed.
1908), page 101, raises a strong suspicion that it was late
in 1824 or early in 1825. She says :

Shortly after the death of Alvin, a man commenced laboring
in the neighborhood, to effect a union of the different churches,
in order that all might be agreed, and thus worship God with
one heart and with one mind.

Alvin died in November, 1824. Rigdon had left the
Baptist Church in August preceding, according to his
own account, and had become identified with Campbell
in preaching the doctrine, which might, in the colloquial
of the common people, be defined as "a union of the dif-
ferent churches, in order that all might be agreed, and
thus worship God with one heart and one mind." Rela-
tively speaking, there were but few ministers preaching
this doctrine at that time, and it should not surprise us
if Rigdon were the "man" who came to the Smith neigh-
borhood soon after Alvin's death, and that this event
marked his first contact with his "prophet," Joseph Smith,

But, permitting the reader to accept this inference for
what it is worth, we pass on to surer ground. Lorenzo
Saunders declares that he saw Rigdon at Palmyra three
times before 1830: in the middle of March, 1827; in the
fall of 1827, and in the summer of 1828. On the last
visit, Pomeroy Tucker agrees with Saunders, while Zeb-
ulon Rudolph, father-in-law of President Garfield, sup-
plies us with information which would seem to establish
a later visit, during the early part of the year 1830. Let
us now consider the circumstances which might have re-
quired the presence of Rigdon at Palmyra at the different
times specified.

In the present consideration, we shall move upon the

THE BOOK OF MORMON 140

theory that Sidney Rigdon was the "angel" that ap-
peared to Joseph Smith. Angels, in Mormon theology,
are simply exalted men,1 and, according to Oliver Cow-
dery, the voice of the "angel of God," who spoke to
himself and Smith at the time of their baptism, did "most
mysteriously resemble the voice of Elder Sidney Rigdon."
Therefore, I believe that if we put the appearance of
Sidney Rigdon at those points in Mormon history wher-
ever "angels" appear, we will have established a number
of historical facts.

Saunders says that he first saw Rigdon at the Smiths
in the middle of March, 1827. He tells us that he was
there to eat maple sugar, and saw a group of five or six
men (probably the "Gold Bible Company"), and that
Harrison Smith told him that one of them, better dressed
than the rest, was Sidney Rigdon, a friend of Joseph's
from Pennsylvania. In the month of February of that
year, Rigdon preached the funeral sermon of Hannah
Tanner, of Chester, Ohio, and in the following month of
March commenced a series of meetings at Mentor. After
the funeral of the Tanner woman, he could easily have
found time to go to Palmyra, play the "angel stunt" and
then return in time for the Mentor meeting. And,
strange to say, according to Mother Lucy's account,1 the
"angel" did appear to Joseph about this time. In Jan-
uary, 1827, Joseph had returned with his wife from
Pennsylvania, "in good health and fine spirits." Some
time after this, his father had occasion, one morning, to
send him to Manchester. Joseph did not return until
nearly six o'clock in the evening, and when his father
asked the reason, he replied that he had taken the worst

1 "Gods, angels and men are all of one species, one race, one great
family." — Key to Theology, p. 33.

'"Joseph Smith and His Progenitors," p. 112.

150 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

chastisement that he had ever received in his life. Smith,
senior, supposing that the chastisement had been given at
the hands of some of the neighbors, was very angry, but
Joseph quieted him and said that "it was the angel of the
Lord : as I passed by the Hill Cumorah, where the plates
are, the angel met me, and said that I had not been en-
gaged enough in the work of the Lord ; that the time had
come for the record to be brought forth ; and that I must
be up and doing, and set myself about the things which
God had commanded me to do." Sure, Joseph had not
been paying enough attention to business, but, instead, he
had been down to Harmony, Pennsylvania, stealing a
wife and, because of the opposition of her people, had
some notion of throwing up his prophetic office and
working for a living, and "angel" Rigdon, after he had
preached Hannah Tanner's funeral sermon, had just
quietly slipped over into New York to see about it and
give him a chastisement. Joseph said further: "But,
father, give yourself no uneasiness concerning the repri-
mand that I have received, for I know the course that I
am to pursue, so all will be well." The course that he
was to pursue was to continue to do as he had been doing
in deceiving the people by getting them ready for the
springing of the great "Latter-day Swindle."

The second time that Saunders saw Rigdon at Pal-
myra was in the fall of 1827. What occurred in the fall
of 1827? On the 22d of September of that year, Joseph
Smith claimed to receive the plates, and it was necessary
again for "angel" Rigdon, alias Moroni, to be present.
And the Mormon alibi is deficient at this point, for, be-
tween August 23 and October 9, 1827, we have a gap of
one month and seventeen days in which it does not ac-
count for Rigdon's whereabouts.

The third visit of Rigdon to Palmyra, that Saunders

THE BOOK OF MORMON 151

mentions, was in the summer of 1828, just before harvest.
Tucker seems, also, to have known something about this
visit, as he speaks of Rigdon being at the Smiths soon
after the 116 pages of manuscript were destroyed by Mrs.
Harris. This occurred in the month of June, and again
we have the alibi coinciding with the testimony of
Saunders and also with the testimony of Pomeroy
Tucker. Between the months of June and August, 1828,
there are weeks in which no light is thrown upon the
movements of Rigdon by the Mormon alibi.

Lastly, we have every reason to believe that Rigdon
and Smith were together during the winter preceding
the publication of the Book of Mormon. Zebulon Ru-
dolph says :

During the winter previous to the appearance of the Book
of Mormon, Rigdon was in the habit of spending weeks away
from home, going no one knew whither. He often appeared
preoccupied and he would indulge in dreamy, visionary talks,
which puzzled those who listened. When the Book of Mormon
appeared and Rigdon joined in the advocacy of the new religion
the suspicion was at once aroused that he was one of the framers
of the new doctrine, and that probably he was not ignorant of
the authorship of the Book of Mormon.

Between December 31, 1829, and the month of March,
1830, the alibi does not give us a single clue as to the
movements of Rigdon except mentioning the fact that on
January 12, 1830, the certificate of the marriage between
David Chandler and Polly Johnson was recorded.

By the facts that I have just -given, I believe that it is
positively proved that Sidney Rigdon was in Palmyra,
New York, at least four times before he openly became
a Mormon: in March, 1827; in September, 1827; in June,
1828, and in the winter of 1830.*

1 On May 15, 1829, "John the Baptist," whose voice, Cowdery says,
"did most mysteriously resemble the voice of Elder Sidney Rigdon," ap-
(11)

152 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

THE AFFIDAVIT OF KATHERINE SALISBURY.

Katharine Salisbury was a sister of Joseph Smith.
In the year 1881, she made the following sworn state-
ment, in which she certifies that Sidney Rigdon never
was, to her knowledge, in the home of her parents until
after his conversion to Mormonism in November, 1830.

STATE OF ILLINOIS, }
Kendall County. ) SS*

I, Katherine Salisbury, being duly sworn, depose and say,
that I am a resident of the state of Illinois, and have been for
forty years last past; that I will be sixty-eight years of age,
July 28th, 1881.

That I am a daughter of Joseph Smith, Senior, and sister to
Joseph Smith, Jr., the translator of the Book of Mormon. That
at the time the said book was published, I was seventeen years
of age; that at the time of the publication of said book, my
brother, Joseph Smith, Jr., lived in the family of my father, in
the town of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, and that he
had all of his life to this time made his home with the family.

That at the time, and for years prior thereto, I lived in and
was a member of such family, and personally knowing to the
things transacted in said family, and those who visited at my
father's house, and the friends of the family, and the friends
and acquaintances of my brother, Joseph Smith, Jr., who visited
at or came to my father's house.

That prior to the latter part of the year A. D. 1830, there
was no person who visited with, or was an acquaintance of, or
called upon the said family, or any member thereof to my knowl-
edge, by the name of Sidney Rigdon; nor was such person
known to the family, or any member thereof, to my knowledge,
until the last part of the year A. D. 1830, or the first part of
the year 1831, and some time after the organization of the
Church of Jesus Christ, by Joseph Smith, Jr., and several months
after the publication of the Book of Mormon.

That I remember the time when Sidney Rigdon came to my

peared to Smith and Cowdery at Harmony, Pennsylvania, and conferred
upon them the Aaronic priesthood. Notice that part of May and all of
June of that year are not accounted for in the alibi.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 153

father's place, and that it was after the removal of my father
from Waterloo, N. Y., to Kirtland, Ohio. That this was in the
year 1831, and some months after the publication of the Book
of Mormon, and fully one year after the Church was organized,
as before stated herein.

That I made this statement, not on account of fear, favor,
or hope of reward of any kind; but simply that the truth may
be known with reference to said matter, and that the foregoing
statements made by me are true, as I verily believe.

KATHERINE SALISBURY.

Sworn before me, and subscribed in my presence, by the said
Katherine Salisbury, this isth day of April, A. D. 1881.

J. H. JENKS, Notary Public.

It would be supposed that a member of the Smith
family, and one who was seventeen years of age in 1830,
would, from personal knowledge, be able to give the
public information upon the point at issue that would be
both valuable and accurate. But such is not the case in
the present instance. The affidavit of Mrs. Salisbury is
so full of glarring errors that it is wholly valueless as
evidence, and the investigator is impressed that it was
either made with the design of concealing events that
really did happen or else that the affiant was lamentably
ignorant of her own family history.

In the first place, Mrs. Salisbury says :

At the time of the publication of said book, my brother,
Joseph Smith, Jr., lived in the family of my father, in the town
of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, and that he had, all
of his life to this time, made his home with the family.

The very contrary of this last statement is true. In-
stead of living all of his life, up to the publication of the
Book of Mormon, with his parents in Manchester, New
York, Joseph went, some time after he was married, to
the home of his wife's people, the Hales, in Harmony,
Pennsylvania, where he resided from December, 1827,
up to June, 1829, when he removed to the home of the

164 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

Whitmers in Seneca County. Mother Lucy, in writing of
Mrs. Harris, says:

When she returned home, being about two weeks after her
arrival in Harmony, the place where Joseph resided, she en-
deavored to dissuade her husband from taking any further part
in the publication of the record. — Joseph Smith and His Pro-
genitors (ed. 1908), p. 135.

The second error that Mrs. Salisbury makes is m re-
gard to the time of the first public visit of Rigdon to the
Smiths. She says:

I remember the time when Sidney Rigdon came to my
father's place, and that it was after the removal of my father
from Waterloo, N. Y., to Kirtland, Ohio. That this was in the
year 1831, and some months after the publication of the Book of
Mormon, and fully one year after the Church was organized, as
before stated herein.

Here Mrs. Salisbury has Rigdon visiting her father's
family, for the first time, after they had removed to
Kirtland, Ohio, in the year 1831 and "fully one year
after the Church was organized." In refutation of this,
I cite the following from Lucy Smith (p. 205) :

In December of the same year (1830), Joseph appointed a
meeting at our house. While he was preaching, Sidney Rigdon
and Edward Partridge came in, and seated themselves in the
congregation.

This was in Waterloo, New York, before 1831, and
only about nine months after the Church was organized.
If Mrs. Salisbury failed to remember this most important
visit of Sidney Rigdon to her father's family in Water-
loo, New York, in 1830, when she was seventeen years
of age, is it unlikely that she failed to remember the
other visits of this gentleman made secretly and when fhe
was still younger?

THE BOOK OF MORMON 165

CHAPTER X.

Internal Proofs from Spauldingfs First Manuscript that He Was
the Author of the Book of Mormon — Both Found under a
Stone— A Great Storm at Sea— The Great Spirit— The Revo-
lution of the Earth— The Use of the Horse — The Manu-
facture of Iron — High Priests — The Seer-stone.

On the authorship of the "Manuscript Story," now
on deposit in the library of Oberlin College, there is a
unanimity of opinion. Mormons and Gentiles, alike, are
agreed that it was written by Solomon Spaulding. The
difference exists between the two parties on the grounds
of its identification with the "Manuscript Found;" the
Mormons claiming that it is one and the same with that
manuscript, the Gentiles claiming that it is another manu-
script entirely.

While I am forced by the logic of the evidence to take
the latcer view, I believe that Solomon Spaulding incor-
porated in his "Manuscript Found" some of the features
which first appeared in his "Manuscript Story," and that
these, notwithstanding the undoubted thorough revision
of Sidney Rigdon, have come down to us and appear in
the Book of Mormon.

It is my purpose in the present chapter to point out
these points of resemblance and to weave them into my
fabric as cumulative evidence to support the general
position that I have taken that the author of the "Manu-
script Story" was the author of the basis of the Book of
Mormon.

Before making my quotations from the "Manuscript
Story," it will be necessary for me to explain the peculiar

156 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

markings that occur. As the original manuscript stands,
it is full of erasures and mistakes of various kinds.1 In
order to represent these, so that the reader can have the
work in print just as it appears in manuscript, it was
found necessary by the publishers to invent a system of
marking. In this system, those words and sentences
which are underlined are stricken out in the original,

while those places marked thus are illegible.

With this explanation, I shall give my quotations from
this manuscript just as they appear in the copy of the
original as published by the Reorganized Church. My
quotations from the Book of Mormon will also be taken
from their reprint of the third American edition of that
book.

BOTH FOUND UNDER A STONE.

Both the "Manuscript Story" and the Book of Mor-
mon are said to have been found under a stone, which
stone was raised with a lever in the hands of the finder.
Spaulding gives the following account of the reputed
finding of the first:

Near the west Bank of the Coneaught River there are the
remains of an ancient fort. As I was walking and forming
various conjectures respecting the character situation & numbers
of those people who far exceeded the preesent Indians in works
of art and inginuety, I hapned to tread on a flat stone. This
was at a small distance from the fort, & it lay on the top of a
great small mound of Earth exactly horizontal. The face of it
had a singular appearance. I discovered a number of characters,
which appeared to me to be letters, but so much effaced by the
ravages of time, that I could not read the inscription. With the
assistance of a leaver I raised the stone. But you may easily

1 These are sometimes held up to prove that Spaulding was not as
learned a man as he is supposed to have been, but a careful study of his
"Manuscript Story" will show that they are due to pure carelessness. In
some instances, he spells a word correctly and in others incorrectly. This
was, probably, his first draft, which he never expected any one to see.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 167

conjecture my astonishment when I discovered that its ends
and sides rested on stones & that it was designed as a cover to
an artificial Cave. I found by examining that its sides were

lined with stones built in a comnical form with

down, & that it was about eight feet deep. — M. S., p. n.

After giving a description of this cave, Spaulding
continues :

Observing one side (of the cave, C. A. S.) to be perpendicular
nearly three feet from the bottom, I began to inspect that part
with accuracy. Here I noticed a big flat stone fixed in the form
of a doar. I immediately tore it down and Lo, a cavity within
the wall presented itself it being about three feet in diamiter
from side to side and about two feet high. Within this cavity I
found an earthen Box with a cover which shut it perfectly tite.
The Box was two feet in length one & half in breadth &
one & three inches in diameter. My mind filled with awful
sensations which crowded fast upon me would hardly permit my
hands to remove this venerable deposit, but curiosity soon gained
the assendency & the box was taken £ raised to open it. When
I had removed the Cover I found that it contained twenty-eight

rolls of parchment — & — that when appeared to be

manuscrips written in eligant hand with Roman Letters & in
the Latin Language. — M. S., p. 12.

This is Spaulding's fictitious account of the finding
of the "Manuscript Story." Now let us read Joseph
Smith's description of the finding of the Mormon plates :

Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario County,
New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most ele-
vated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill,
not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the
plates deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and round-
ing in the middle on the upper side, and thinner toward the
edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground,
but the edge all around was covered with earth. Having re-
moved the earth and obtained a lever which I got fixed under
the edge of the stone and with a little exertion raised it up, I
looked in and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim
and Thummim, and the Breastplate, as stated by the mes-

158 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

senger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones
together in some kind of cement; in the bottom of the box,
were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones
lay the plates and the other things with them.— Church History,
Vol. I., p. 16.

Spaulding claimed to find his manuscripts under a
flat stone, which he raised with a lever, and in an earthen
box. Smith claimed to find his plates under a stone,
which was thick in the middle, but thin at the edges, and
which he raised with a lever, and in a stone box. Spaul-
ding represents himself as accidentally discovering his
records; Smith declares that the depository of his was
revealed to him by the angel Moroni.

A GREAT STORM AT SEA.

The "Manuscript Story" and the Book of Mormon
both agree in describing a great storm at sea during the
voyage which brought the people they describe from the
Old World to the New. The former says :

One day he (Constantine, C. A. S.) says to me Fabius you

must go to Brittian & carry a~ important to the

general of our army there — sail in a vessel & return

when she returns. Preparation was made instantly and we

sailed The vessel laden with provisions for the army

Cloath-knives and other implements for their use had

now arived near the coasts of Britain when a tremenduous storm
arose & drove us into the midst of the boundless Ocean. Soon
the whole crew became lost S: bewildered. They knew not
the direction for to the rising Sun or polar Star, for the heavens
were covered with clouds; & darkness had spread her sable
mantle over the face of the raging deep. Their minds were
filled with consternation and despair. & unanimously agreed that
What could we do? How be extrecated from the insatiable
jaws of a watry tomb. Then it was that we felt our absolute
dependence on that Almighty & gracious Being who holds the

winds & floods in hands. From him alone could we

expect deliverance. To him our most fervent desires assended.
Prostrate & on bended nees we poured forth incessant Suppli-

THE BOOK OF MORMON 159

cation & even Old Ocean appeared to sympathize in our distress
by returning the echo of our vociforos Cries & lamentations.
After being driven five days with incridable velocity before the
furious wind the storm abated in its violance. — M. S., p. 15.

The Book of Mormon account of a similar storm is
as follows:

And it came to pass that after they (Laman and Lemuel,
C. A. S.) had bound me (Nephi, C. A. S.), insomuch that I
could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the
Lord, did cease to work ; wherefore, they knew not whither they
should steer the ship, insomuch, that there arose a great storm,
yea, a great and terrible tempest ; and we were driven back upon
the waters for the space of three days ; and they began to be
frightened exceedingly, lest they should be drowned in the sea:
nevertheless they did not loose me. And on the fourth day
which we had been driven back, the tempest began to be ex-
ceeding sore.

And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up
in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back
upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began
to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that
they must perish, save that they should repent of their iniquities ;
wherefore, they came unto me and loosed the bands which were
upon my wrists, and behold, they had swollen exceedingly ; and
also mine ankles were much smollen, and great was the soreness
thereof.

And it came to pass after they had loosed me, behold, I took
the compass, and it did work whither I desired it. And it came
to pass that I prayed unto the Lord ; and after I had prayed,
the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a
great calm. — B. of M., pp. 42, 43.

In both accounts, the storm which occurred ceased in
answer to prayer.

THE GREAT SPIRIT.

Both records declare that the ancient Americans be-
lieved in the Great Spirit. Spaulding gives the following
address of an ancient American chieftain:

(12)

160 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

The Speaker then extended his hands & spoke. Hail, ye
favorite children of the great and good Spirit, who resides in
the Sun who is the father of all living creatures & whose arms
encircle us all around. — M. S., p. 23.

In the Book of Mormon, I find King Lamoni saying
this:

Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such
great punishments upon this people, because of their murders?
—B. of M., p. 253.

And Ammon is represented as asking King Lamoni:

Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said,
Yea. And Ammon said, This is God. — B. of M., p. 255.

This appellation stamps both books as a fraud, for
it is now conceded by all of the leading students of the
ancient American religions that the American Indian
knew nothing whatever of the "Great Spirit" until he
heard of him through the white missionary. The native
terms for God do not express the idea of personality,
but simply of the supernatural in general, the mysterious,
the incomprehensible, the unknown.1

Maj. J. W. Powell, former chief of the Smithsonian
Institution, says:

Nations with civilized institutions, art with palaces, mono-
theism as the worship of the Great Spirit, all vanish from the
priscan condition of North America in the light of anthropologic
research. Tribes with the social institutions of kinship, art with
its highest architectural development exhibited in the structure
of communal dwellings, and polytheism in the worship of mythic
animals and nature-gods remain. — First Report of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, p. 69.

Mr. F. S. Dellenbaugh, a prominent archaeologist, also
says:

They had no understanding of a single "Great Spirit" till

1 See Chapter VIII. of my "Cumorah Revisited."

THE BOOK OF MORMON 161

the Europeans, often unconsciously, informed them of their own
belief.— North Americans of Yesterday, p. 375.

THE REVOLUTION OF THE EARTH.

Fabius, after reaching our shores, reasoned as follows
on the revolution of the earth :

Whereas, if according to the platonic system, the earth is a
globe & the sun is stationary, then the earth by a moderate veloc-
ity perform her revolutions. — M. S., p. 29.

In the Book of Mormon, Helaman says:

Yea, and if he say unto the earth, Move, it is moved ; yea, if
he say unto the earth, Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out
the day for many hours, it is done: and thus according to his
word, the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the
sun standeth still: yea, and behold, this is so; for sure it is the
earth that moveth, and not the sun. — B. of M., p. 410.

THE USE OF THE HORSE.

Both the "Manuscript Story" and the Book of Mor-
mon inform us that the ancient Americans made use of
the horse. In the first mentioned, I find the following:

The ground was plov/ed by horses & generally made very
mellow for the reception of the seed. — M. S., p. 35.

There are a number of references in the Book of
Mormon to the use of the horse, but the following will
suffice :

And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the
land, and raise all manner of grain, and of fruit, and flocks of
herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle, of every kind, and
goats, and wild goats, and also many horses.— B. of M., p. 133.

It is now agreed that, while the horse was an in-
habitant of America in the earlier geologic epochs, he
ceased to exist long before man had attained to any
considerable degree of culture as represented in the Book
of Mormon. Dr. D. G. Brinton says :

162 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

There is no doubt but that the horse existed on the continent
contemporaneously with postglacial man; and some palaeon-
tologists are of the opinion that the European and Asian horses
were descendents of the American species; but for some mys-
terious reason the genus became extinct in the New World
many generations before its discovery.— The American Race,
P- 50.

THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON.

On the manufacture of iron tools and implements, the
"Manuscript Story" says:

The manufacturing of lead Iron & lead was understood, but
was not carried on to that extent & perfection as in Europe. A
small quantity of Iron in proportion to the number of Inhab-
itants served to supply them with all the impliments which cus-
tom had made necessary for their use. By hammering & hard-
ening their Iron they would convert it nearly into the con-
sistence of Steal & fit it for the purpose of edged tools. — M. S.t
p. 36.

In the Book of Mormon, Nephi says :

And I did teach my people to build buildings: and to work
in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of
brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious
ores, which were in great abundance. — B. of M., p. 64.

No fact is better established than that the American
race did not use manufactured iron and steel tools before
the discovery. Says Prof. Cyrus Thomas, of the Smith-
sonian Institution:

The use of iron as a metal was unknown in America previous
to the discovery by Columbus. — American Archeology, p. n.

HIGH PRIESTS.

On this point, the "Manuscript Story" says :

Labamack accepted the office of Emperor & his four counsel-
lor were appointed. Lambon was ordained high Priest & his
four assistants chosen. — M. S., p. 63.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 18*

On the appointment of the Nephite Alma to such an
office, the Book of Mormon says:

And it came to pass that Alma was appointed to be the first
chief judge; he being also the high priest; his father having
conferred the office upon him, and had given him the charge
concerning all the affairs of the church. — B. of M., p. 204.

THE SEER-STONE.

We now come to an identity between the "Manuscript
Story" and the claims of Mormonism which is most con-
clusive in proving that the Mormon fraud had its in-
ception in the brain of Solomon Spaulding, the dreamer
of Conneaut. In the "Manuscript Story" we find one of
the characters employing a stone exactly as Joseph Smith
is said afterward to have employed the Urim and Thum-
mim or the seer-stone. Of Hamack, a character in his
first novel, Spaulding says:

Hamack then arose & in his hand he held a stone which he
pronounced transparent. Thro* this he could view things present
& things to come, could behold the dark intriques & cabals of
foreign courts, & behold discover hidden treasures, secluded from
the eyes of other mortals. He could behold the galant and his
mistress in their bedchamber, & count all their moles warts &
pimples. Such was the clearness of his sight, when this trans-
parent stone was placed before his eyes. He looked firmly &
steadfastly on the stone & raised his prophetic voice. — M. S.,
p. 98.

The following is a description of the manner in which
Joseph Smith is said to have employed the Urim and
Thummim, from the pen of David Whitmer, one of the
three witnesses, and published in the Chicago Times of
August 7, 1875. Let the reader carefully compare this
description with the foregoing account from the "Manu-
script Story," and then decide for himself whether or not
there are good grounds for believing that this feature of

164 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

the Mormon fraud was first conceived in the mind of the
dreamer of Conneaut. Whitmer says:

And (I) was an eye-witness to the method of procedure.
The plates were not before Joseph while he translated. . . .
The method pursued was common-place, but nevertheless effec-
tive. Having placed the Urim and Thummim in his hat, Joseph
placed the hat over his face, and with prophetic eyes read the
invisible symbols, syllable by syllable and word by word, while
Cowdery or Harris acted as recorders. ... So illiterate was
Joseph at that time, that he didn't even know that Jerusalem
was a walled city, and he was utterly unable to pronounce many
of the names which the magic power of the Urim and Thummim
revealed, and therefore spelled them out in syllables, and the
more erudite scribe put them together. The stone was the same
used by the Jaredites at (from?) Babel. I have frequently placed
it to my eyes, but could see nothing through it. I have seen
Joseph, however, place it to his eyes and instantly read signs
one hundred and sixty miles distant, and tell exactly what was
transpiring there. When I went to Harmony after him, he told
me the name of every hotel at which I had stopped on the road,
read the signs, and described various scenes without having ever
received any information from me. — Quoted in "Joseph the
Seer" p. 72.

Hamack could view things present and things to
come, dark intrigues and cabals, hidden treasures, amo-
rous practices, and even moles and warts and pimples,
through his stone. Joseph could read signs one hundred
and sixty miles distant, the names on the hotels, and
behold various scenes through which Whitmer passed,
through his. Reader, is not this coincidence suspicious,
to say the least ? *

I close this chapter with the following verses from the
pen of A. O. Hooten, of Bridge, Oregon, in which are
summed up the points of identity between the "Manu-
script Story" and the Book of Mormon :

1 See also "Mosiah" 5: 10 for a similar stone in use by a Nephite seer.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 165

Solomon and Joseph, they each found a "record,"
And each of the "records," was very, very old.

Solomon's was in "Latin," and written on "parchment,
Joseph's "Reformed Egyptian," "engraved" on "plates" of
"gold."

'Twas just under a "stone," which he raised by a "lever,"
That each found his "record," each dry, safe and sound

Solomon's in a "box," in a cave "artificial,"
Joseph's in a "box," near the surface of the ground

Of each of the "records," only part was "translated,"
Each one gave his reasons, why a part was reserved.

Solomon's was a novel, while Joseph's was "more bible,"
For many centuries, hidden, miraculously preserved.

The "records" each tell us, while parties crossed the ocean
Tremenduous storms arose, surging billows everywhere,

Yet all were safely landed, and not one life was lost,
They were saved from destruction in answer to prayer.

Each "record" mentions horses, that were found upon the land,
"Burnt offerings" people offered, to cleanse them from all
sin,

Judges were appointed, that justice might be done,

And different peoples, three, this land were dwelling in.

Each "translator" must have "planets" that move in regular form.

And "Oracles" their words received, as coming from above.
"Sacred" writings kept separate, and "characters" used for words,

The wicked punished for a while, then saved by redeeming
love.

Each builds his forts of "earth" thrown up with timbers placed
on top,

Has property held in "common," and counsellors four or two,
Has a man whose words, accepted, as coming from above,

Just so he calls it "revelation," that's enough to them 'tis true.

But the thing that was dearest, to each "translator's" heart,
Was the magical "interpreters" or "transparent stone" so clear ;

With them nothing could be hidden, all things came to view,
Moles and pimples, warts and wrinkles, all things far and near.

166 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

There's no "likeness" shoots the "nigger" 'neath the "woodpile"

of the saints,
This "missing link" of "evidence" at last completes the

"chain." »
Yet Spaulding wrote his "manuscript," before Smith found his

"book,"

And there's nineteen points of identity. Will Mormons please
explain ?

»The preface to the 'Manuscript Story" by the Reorganized Church
•peaks of it as "this hobgoblin of the pulpit, this 'nigger-in-the-woodpile'
of the press and the forum," and this "newly found 'missing link' " which
"completes the chain of evidence."

THE BOOK OP MORMON 1«7

CHAPTER XL

Mormon Objections Answered — Size of the Book of Mormon —
Style of the Book of Mormon — Character of the Book of
Mormon — Smith's Inability to Produce the Book of Mormon
— The Challenge to Produce the Original Manuscript — The
Character of Hurlburt and Howe — Supposed Contradictions
in the "Manuscript Found" to the Book of Mormon— Re-
capitulation.

Various objections have, from time to time, been
raised against the theory that the Book of Mormon orig-
inated in the celebrated "Manuscript Found" of Solomon
Spaulding. It is objected that the Book of Mormon
is too elaborate a work to have come from such a
small manuscript as Spaulding wrote; that the style of
the book is too common for a scholar so learned as
Spaulding is represented to have been, and that it differs
widely from the style of his "Manuscript Story;" that its
doctrinal teachings are radically different from those that
one would expect from the pen of a Presbyterian clergy-
man; that Smith was wholly unable, independent of di-
vine help, to perform the task assigned him; that the
Mormon demand to produce Spaulding' s purported Jew-
ish manuscript has never been complied with, hence that
this manuscript never existed ; that the character of Hurl-
burt and Howe was so low and detestable that their testi-
mony and work is discredited thereby, and that certain
contradictions must have appeared in Spaulding's second
manuscript, if that manuscript ever existed, to the his-
torical and doctrinal teachings of the Book of Mormon.
These are the most important objections that have
been raised against the theory which finds the original

168 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

of the Book of Mormon in the "Manuscript Found."
While these objections possess but little force to those
who are familiar with the evidences adduced and the
positions taken by the advocates of the Spaulding theory,
they are so plausible on the face of them and are so in-
geniously presented as often to deceive the superficial
and those who have little or no information on the
grounds that are really occupied by those who hold to
this view. It is for the purpose of supplying this in-
formation, therefore, that this chapter is written.

The Mormons have ever taken full advantage of the
confusion that arises over the forced identification of the
"Manuscript Found" with the "Manuscript Story," and
in some instances they have applied the descriptions of
the one to the other, and vice versa, and by so doing
have produced a mass of apparent contradictions, incon-
sistencies and absurdities that is both ludicrous and dis-
gusting. It is only when the distinction between the two
manuscripts is clearly fixed in the mind that the investi-
gator is able to work himself out of the fog of Mormon
sophistry and misrepresentation and into the sunlight of
truth.

The true theory of the revamping of the Book of
Mormon from the "Manuscript Found" is this: About
the year 1809, Solomon Spaulding began an historical
novel, based upon the antiquities of America, in which he
described the first colonists as coming to our shores from
Jerusalem under the leadership of Lehi and Nephi. This
novel, which he called the "Manuscript Found," he placed
in the printing establishment of Robert Patterson, of
Pittsburgh, from which it was stolen by Sidney Rigdon
in 1815 or 1816. Rigdon afterwards rewrote this man-
uscript, retaining only the historical outline, proper names
and certain Scriptural expressions, but adding a large

THE BOOK OF MORMON 169

amount of religious matter and clothing the whole in his
own style and manner of expression, after which he put
it in the hands of Joseph Smith, a young "money-digger"
of western New York, about the year 1827, who, in turn,
read it off from behind a sheet to another accomplice,
Oliver Cowdery, who wrote it down as it fell from his
lips and got it in shape for the printer. I believe this to
be the theory of the revamping of the Spaulding story
as it would be stated by the majority, at least, of those
who advocate it. No one claims that the historical part
of the Book of Mormon is just as Spaulding wrote it,
word for word. The whole thing was rewritten by Rig-
don, who retained from the original only the outline, the
proper names and certain Scriptural expressions.

With this explanation, let us now take up the ob-
jections that have been offered, and give them a fair,
candid and careful examination.

THE SIZE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

It is objected that the "Manuscript Found" could not
have been the basis of the Book of Mormon, for the
reason that it was too meager a thing to make a book the
size of the latter. Elder E. L. Kelley says:

The manuscript Spaulding is said to have written was too
meager a thing to in any sense compare with a manuscript that
would make a book the size of the Book of Mormon. — Braden
and Kelley Debate (first ed.), p. 80.

Further on he adds :

Taking up the first reason, it will at once be clear to you
that a manuscript written in the English language, as they con-
cede Spaulding's was, to contain the amount of matter that is
included in the strictly historical part of the Book of Mormon,
would cover at least fifteen hundred pages of foolscap paper.
Was the "Manuscript Found" such? The statements of those
who claim they saw the "Manuscript Found," place it beyond

170 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

doubt that it was no such. Mrs. McKinstry, the daughter of
Solomon Spaulding, in her evidence, says, that she, "Read the
manuscript frequently when she was about twelve years of age,
and that it was about one inch in thickness." She read it fre-
quently, so it could not have been very large. Then their other
trumped up witnesses all, or nearly all, say they heard it read.
Henry Lake heard it read. John N. Miller heard it read from
beginning to end. Aaron Wright heard Spaulding read it, etc.
Mrs. Matilda Spaulding, wife of Solomon Spaulding, states in
her testimony published in the Illinois Quincy Whig, that it was
about a third as large as the Book of Mormon and that her
daughter (Mrs. McKinstry) read it frequently. Hurlburt who
was commissioned by Henry Lake, John Miller, Aaron Wright,
€t al. (Braden's witnesses), to go and get the Spaulding writing,
went and got it he says, and the only one in Spaulding's hand-
writing which the widow had. That he delivered it to E. D.
Howe of Painesville, who was writing the book to break down the
Mormons, and Howe says, page 288, of his book in describing
it, that, "The trunk referred to by the widow was subsequently-
examined and found to contain only a single manuscript book
in Spaulding's handwriting, containing about one quire of paper."
Then according to the description of the manuscript itself
by those who actually saw it, it must have been a very small
affair indeed in comparison to the historical portion of the Book
of Mormon. In fact there was no comparison of the one, to
the other, whatever.

The above is confusion confounded. It is an instance
of flagrantly jumbling the two manuscripts together in
order to produce an effect of absurdity and inconsistency.
The manuscript which Mesdames Davison and McKins-
try describe could not have been the "Manuscript Found"
at all, but was the "Manuscript Story." The former was
never in the "old hair trunk" after Spaulding's death,
for the reason that it was in the hands of Rigdon. These
ladies, as we have already shown, were mistaken, for the
manuscript they describe has been traced from the old
trunk to Hurlburt, from Hurlburt to Howe, from Howe
to Rice and from Rice to the Oberlin College Library, and

THE BOOK OF MORMON 171

the only title that it bears is "Manuscript Story — Con-
neaut Creek," and this "in faint penciling," while it is
profoundly different from the "Manuscript Found" as
this is described by John Spaulding, Henry Lake and the
others.

Again, what if the original "Manuscript Found" was
a much shorter work than the Book of Mormon? How
does this prove that it could not have been the basis of
the latter? Mr. Kelley's statement that the historical
part of the Book of Mormon alone "would cover at
least fifteen hundred pages of foolscap paper," is away
wide of the mark. By a test which I have made, I have
found that the whole Book of Mormon, historical part
and all, can be easily written upon twelve hundred pages.
Another fact is that about three-fourths of the book is
religious matter, and we contend that this was the work
of Rigdon. This would leave, by a fair estimate, about
three hundred pages for the historical part, written just
as it is, and if this were reduced to a consistent size by
the omission of redundant and superfluous language, rep-
etitions, etc., Rigdon's overdress, it would fill a space in
print at most one-eighth the size of the Book of Mormon.
So the statements of Lake, Miller and Wright, concern-
ing the size of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found," may be
correct after all.

THE STYLE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

I. It is claimed that the historical and doctrinal parts
of the Book of Mormon are so closely interwoven that
they could not have been the work of two independent
writers. Elder J. R. Lambert says:

The historical and doctrinal parts are so closely blended and
interwoven, throughout the book, that it is evident that who-
ever wrote all or any part of the history contained in the book,

172 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

also wrote the doctrine presented with it. — Objections to the
Book of Mormon Answered and Refuted, p. 76.

But Mr. Lambert proceeds to reason upon the
grounds, which we have already denied, that his op-
ponents hold to the view that the historical part of the
Book of Mormon is verbally the work of Spaulding. I
feel sure that no anti-Mormon writer, who has given
the matter due consideration, holds to any such theory.
All that we claim is that Rigdon took the historical out-
line, proper names and certain Scriptural expressions
from the "Manuscript Found," and clothed them in his
own particular literary style, and presented them to the
world as the Book of Mormon. This would not have
been an impossible feat, for it is done every day in our
public schools, the scholars reproducing in their own
language the thoughts of another. This is what we claim
Rigdon did.

2. Again, it is objected that the style of the Book of
Mormon is altogether too common for a man of the
education and literary ability of Solomon Spaulding.1
Elder W. W. Blair writes :

That any one of judgment, on reading the book, could for
one moment think that Rev. Mr. Spaulding, commonly reputed
to be a man of poetic nature, romantic tastes and high scholastic
attainments, ever wrote the book, or even one page of it, is
more than we can believe. Had he, or any man of finished
education, written the book, their scholarly attainments would
have been manifest in the style, language and arrangement of the
book. — Joseph the Seer, p. 174.

J When it is to the advantage of the Mormons, Spaulding's ability is
run up, and when not to their advantage to run it up, it is run down.
Right in this same connection, Blair says: "Whoever will read the 'Man-
uscript Story' written by Rev. Spaulding, will perceive that he had neither
the religion, the morals, the information, nor the intellectual ability, to
write the Book of Mormon, nor anything to compare with it" (p. I75)«
In the first quotation, the Book of Mormon, as a literary production, is
below Spaulding; in this quotation, it is above him.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 173

But here, again, Mr. Blair proceeds to argue along
the same line as Mr. Lambert, and assumes that his op-
ponents hold that the Book of Mormon, or at least the
historical part of it, is just as it came from Spaulding's
pen without being worked over. I say that no such the-
ory would, for a moment, be held by any anti-Mormon
polemic who would give the subject the consideration
that it deserves. While the outline, proper names and a
few Scriptural expressions, as "And it came to pass/*
etc., are undoubtedly Spaulding's, the dress, with its frills
and flounces of verbosity, redundancy and repetition,
comes from the dressmaking establishment of Sidney
Rigdon.

3. It is further objected that the Book of Mormon
is not written either in the style of Rigdon or that of
Smith, hence that it must have come from a higher
source and must be divine. On this point, Elder George
Reynolds says :

It is not written in the language of either Joseph Smith or
Sidney Rigdon. If we compare the revelations given through
Joseph Smith at the time the plates were being translated, we
find an altogether different diction; or let us compare it with
the Lectures on Faith in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants
and then with the acknowledged writings of Sidney Rigdon, and
we shall find there is nothing common in any of these with the
peculiarities of grammatical construction and verbal idiosyn-
crasies of the Book of Mormon. — Myth of the Manuscript Found,
PP. 38, 39-

But I am not so sure of this. In come respects the
style of the Book of Mormon may differ from the style
of Smith's revelations, the difference being due to the
respective character of each, one being mainly historic,
the other mainly prophetic. But, how about Rigdon?
His style is described to have been "eloquent" and "en-
thusiastic," just such a style as would abound in verbosity

174 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

and redundancy of speech.1 Besides being a backwoods
preacher of those times when revival excitement ran
high, he undoubtedly employed the hackneyed expressions
of the backwoods revivalist. Such Book of Mormon ex-
pressions, therefore, as "everlastingly too late," "did sing
redeeming love," "experienced a change of heart" and
"lay down the weapons of your rebellion," strongly im-
press us as Rigdonisms, and confine the production of
the Book of Mormon to that period in the world's his-
tory when such expressions were in common use.

THE CHARACTER OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

The doctrinal character of the Book of Mormon is
made a further objection to its Spaulding authorship, it
being claimed that it smacks more of "Campbellism" than
it does of Presbyterianism.

The doctrinal portions of the Book of Mormon are not those
that one would expect from a retired clergyman of the Presby-
terian school. They begin with the history and are intimately
interwoven with it from first to last; and some of the cardinal
features of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith are discarded.
A Baptist writer, Professor Whitsitt, in a lecture delivered be-
fore a Baptist Pastors' Conference, and published in the Western
Recorder, takes the ground that the Book of Mormon was writ-
ten in the direct interest of the Campbellites, and in support of
their confession of faith, that "Jesus is the Christ." — Joseph
Smith, in "The Spaulding Story Re-examined," p. 13.

If Mr. Spaulding, a Congregational (or Presbyterian) min-
ister, wrote the book, he would have filled it with his doctrine
instead of advocating in it such doctrines as are found in the
book, many of which are in no sense Congregational, but rather
tin-Congregational. — W. W. Blair, in "Joseph the Seer," p. 174.

But it has never been claimed that Spaulding's ro-

1 Hayden says of Rigdon: "His notion was graceful, his language
copious, fluent in utterance, with articulation clear and musical." — History
of the Disciples, p. 192.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 175

mance was a religious romance. It was purely an histor-
ical account of a fictitious people, and to this all of his
relatives and acquaintances agree. The religious part
was added by Sidney Rigdon, who, from 1824 to 1830,
was a colaborer with Alexander Campbell, Walter
Scott and Adamson Bentley, in the great Restoration
movement, hence the points of "Campbellism," so-
called, which appear. Another thing to be taken into
consideration is that Solomon Spaulding, at this time, was
neither a Presbyterian nor a "Campbellite," but a skeptic,
and so if he had any religious views at all, they must
have been antagonistic to Christianity. All that the re-
ligious character of the Book of Mormon proves is that
it was revamped from the "Manuscript Found" after
Rigdon had become familiar with the doctrine of bap-
tism for the remission of sins and other points of the-
ology as held by the Campbells.

SMITH'S INABILITY TO PRODUCE THE BOOK OF MORMON.

It is denied that Joseph Smith could, in any way, have
produced the Book of Mormon, and, as it was above his
ability, it is claimed that it must have come from God.
Mr. Blair says :

That Joseph Smith, without the inspiration of God, could
write that book, abounding as it does in the most accurate items
of history, declaring improbable historical facts, facts which have
since been fully attested by the antiquarian and the geologist:
disseminating a system of morals and religion that challenges
the criticism, and that is worthy of the admiration of the race
and publishing a series of prophecies the most important and
startling, many of which are being fulfilled under our own ob-
servation— that he could do such a work, under such conditions,
it would be far more difficult to believe, than to believe what he
claims, viz., the guidance and inspiration of God. — Joseph the
Seer, p. 175.

Let us, to start with, take a look at the remarkable

(13)

176 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

things which Mr. Blair refers to as proof that Smith was
under the guidance and inspiration of God.

In the first place, it is claimed that he produced a
book which abounds in the most accurate items of his-
tory, many of which have since been fully attested by the
antiquarian and the geologist. This statement is suf-
ficient to raise a smile. Is a book which says that Christ
was to be "born at Jerusalem" (Alma 5:2) historically
accurate? And is a book which stands in open conflict
with the great facts pertaining to the ancient inhabitants
of America, as revealed by archaeological research, to be
trusted as coming from God? I have proved conclu-
sively a score or more of connections between the Book
of Mormon and archaeological science,1 and yet we re-
peatedly hear, in spite of these proofs to the contrary,
that the claims of the Book of Mormon have been fully
confirmed "by the antiquarian and the geologist"!

As for the morality of the Book of Mormon, it proves
nothing as to its inspiration. Thousands of books teach
good morals without being inspired. Such books as
"Pilgrim's Progress," by Bunyan; "In His Steps," by
Sheldon, and "What a Young Man Ought to Know,"
by Stall, are morally uplifting to a greater degree than
the Book of Mormon, and yet their authors would hoot
at the suggestion that they were inspired to write them.
The moral light which shines from the pages of the
Book of Mormon is reflected from the Bible. It has not
given the world a single moral truth that it did not have
in the Christian Scriptures before it appeared.

Lastly, Smith's prophecies or revelations are decidedly
weak in proving that he was under the guidance and in-
spiration of God. The honest and virtuous mind can

aSee my "Cumorah Revisited."

THE BOOK OF MORMON 177

have but little confidence in a prophet whose guiding
spirit speaks of an individual as "my servant John C.
Bennett," and promises to accept his work if he con-
tinues (Doc. and Cov., 107:6), when, at the same time,
he was "a very mean .nan" and a wife deserter, having
"a wife and two or three children in McConnelsville,
Morgan County, Ohio" (Church History, Vol. II., p.
585). Either the Mormon god connived at wife desertion
in defiance of Matt. 19:5, or else he was ignorant in
1841 of what Bennett did in 1838.

So, whether you take up the Book of Mormon as a
history or a code of morals, or consider the prophecies
of Joseph Smith, you will find nothing so remarkable that
it would be above the ability of the "Gold Bible Com-
pany."

But, turning now to the real part which Smith played
in the imposture, we find that it would not require more
than a young man of his age and education, and of that
time, was able to perform. His sole work was, first, to
play the prophet, and, secondly, to read off to Cowdery,
from behind the sheet, "syllable by syllable and word by
word," what Rigdon had already written down. And
this he did, according to Whitmer, in a most bungling
manner, having to spell some of the words out, letter
by letter. To claim that he had to be inspired for such
a procedure, is an insult to common sense.

THE CHALLENGE TO PRODUCE THE MANUSCRIPT.

But perhaps the flimsiest objection that has ever been
raised against this theory is that the opponents of the
Book of Mormon have never been able to produce the
manuscript which they claim was its original, hence that
this manuscript never existed. As early as 1839, Parley
P. Pratt, through the New York Era, tauntingly said:

178 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

Now if there is such a manuscript in existence, let it come
forward at once and not be kept in the dark.

In throwing out this challenge, Pratt knew perfectly
well that he was safe, and every Mormon knows the
same in issuing the same challenge to-day, for the "Gold
Bible Company" would have had a smaller degree of
common sense than we give them credit for if, after this
manuscript had served its purpose, they had carelessly
let it lie around to fall into Gentile hands and thus expose
their fraud.

It is not strange that Mormons would take advantage
of such an objection, and grasp at it as a drowning man
would at a straw, in order to save their failing cause, but
the incomprehensible thing is that some anti-Mormon
writers, who have rejected the Spaulding theory, have
also thrown out this challenge to the members of their
own party, and at the inability of the latter to produce
the manuscript have derisively declared that "the entire
theory connecting Sidney Rigdon and the Spaulding ro-
mance with Joseph Smith in originating the Book of
Mormon must be abandoned." Rev. D. H. Bays, who
for twenty-seven years was an elder in the Reorganized
Church, and who, after his apostasy, wrote his "Doc-
trines and Dogmas of Mormonism," in a rather caustic
letter to A. T. Schroeder,1 then of Salt Lake City, Utah,
and dated at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 7, 1899,
demands :

If "three manuscripts" ever existed, why not produce the
evidence to prove it? Why not induce that library of "over one
thousand books and pamphlets" to yield up some of its hidden
treasures of knowledge upon this point, and settle this mooted
question once for all? Mormonism for more than half a century

1 Mr. Schroeder, later, ably refuted the contentions of Mr. Bays in hit
"The Origin of the Book of Mormon Re-examined," etc.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 179

has been demanding the production of the "Manuscript Found,"
that it might be compared with the Book of Mormon. — Josephite
"Journal of History," January, 1909, p. 93.

He then sums up his arguments against the Spaulding
theory in the following astounding propositions:

1. The existence of a second manuscript is assumed, not
proved.

2. If such manuscript really existed, no proof is offered to
show the "absolute identity" of the names with those in the
Book of Mormon.

It is surprising to rne now, after once having sided
with Mr. Bays in his theory of the Cowdery-Smith origin
of the Book of Mormon, that a gentleman, so familiar
with the history and evidence of the present controversy,
as he claims to have been, should take his stand upon two
such baseless propositions as these.

First, the existence cf Spaulding's "second manu-
script" is not assumed, but proved — proved by the testi-
mony of eleven witnesses, the genuineness of which testi-
mony is admitted both by the Brighamite, Roberts, and
the Josephite, Smith. As these gentlemen, and no others,
have ever shown that our eleven witnesses lied in the
testimonies which it is admitted they gave, these testi-
monies stand as proving that the "second manuscript" of
Spaulding really existed. And yet Bays overlooked this
fact!

Secondly, how Mr. Bays could say that no proofs have
ever been offered to show the "absolute identity" of the
names in this "second manuscript" with those in the
Book of Mormon, when eight of these admittedly genuine
testimonies had been before the world for sixty-six years
certifying to this very fact, is also beyond the limits of
human understanding.

Mr. Bays' whole argument, then, falls in the face of

180 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

the eleven testimonies which we have already given in
Chapters VI. and VII.

The demand to produce Spaulding's second manu-
script suggests the following illustration: Jones steals a
hog from Brown. Eleven of Brown's friends see the
hog in Jones' pen and identify it as belonging to Brown.
Jones takes the hog to White and they kill and eat it.
After the hog is all devoured, Brown has Jones arrested
for the crime and introduces his eleven witnesses to
prove his guilt. But the justice decides that, as the hog
can not be produced, Jones is innocent.

Now for the application : Rigdon steals a manuscript
from Spaulding and, with Smith's assistance, revamps it
into the Book of Mormon, after which he destroys it, as
no doubt he did. Eleven witnesses testify to the identity,
in historical outline and proper names, of Spaulding's
manuscript with the Book of Mormon, but Rev. D. H.
Bays and the Mormons demand that, as the Spaulding
manuscript can not be produced, the case against Rigdon
be dismissed and he be adjudged not guilty!

THE CHARACTERS OF HURLBURT AND HOWE.

It is charged that the characters of Hurlburt and
Howe, who secured the testimonies of eight of the eleven
witnesses which we have given, were so corrupt that
these testimonies are discredited thereby. Elder E. L.
Kelley says:

Do you blame me, then, ladies and gentlemen, for stating
before you I cannot take as evidence anything that has passed
through such hands as Mr. Hurlburt and Howe, unless I have
the original statement to compare, or it can be proven outside
in some way that these statements that he has been referring
to — but never reading in full to you — are unaltered a±id genuine?
Here is where he gets his John Spaulding, Martha Spaulding,
Henry Lake, John Miller, Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith and

THE BOOK OF MORMON 181

Nahum Howard. Do you want me to swallow their contra-
dictory, self -accusing, wholly improbable, malicious falsehoods,
rather than accept the truth of God? Could anything pure and
immaculate have passed through that sewer of filth and come
out worthy of the palate of decent men and women? — Braden
and Kelley Debate (first ed.), pp. US, 116. BfiDCTOft Llbr?5

The charge that is made against Hurlburt is that he
was cut off from the church for immorality, and against
Howe, that he was jealous because his wife and sister
united with the Mormons.

But, suppose that both of these charges are true, how
does that affect the testimonies of John Spaulding and the
rest, since it is admitted by the highest Mormon authority
that these testimonies are genuine? Hurlburt and Howe
may have possessed characters as black as midnight, but
if the statements they secured were actually made and
signed as represented, how has their own individual cor-
ruption affected them ? With the admissions of genuine-
ness which their own leading men have made, it ap-
pears very inconsistent for the Mormon churches to
attempt to discredit the Conneaut testimonies by the poor
characters of men who never made them.

Mr. Kelley did with these testimonies just what all
Mormons do and have to do: he issued a blustering de-
nial and brought out no proof to support the same, simply
calling them "contradictory, self -accusing, wholly im-
probable, malicious falsehoods." Let the reader com-
pare this charge with the statements themselves, and he
will see how far it is from the truth.

As for the accusations against Hurlburt and Howe,
they may have been guilty of the things charged and
they may not. The policy of Mormonism has always
been to attempt to blacken the character of every man
who has ever openly and successfully opposed it. Howe's

182 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

book is, probably, the most important book ever written
against Mormonism, as it was the first and contains so
much original testimony that stands as a huge mountain
in the way of the onward advance of Mormonism. Un-
able to meet and overthrow this testimony, the Mormons
turn and vent their spleen on the devoted heads of its
compilers. Other men, also, besides Hurlburt, were guilty
of seduction in the Mormon Church, and among them
Smith himself, but they were never excommunicated.

SUPPOSED CONTRADICTIONS IN THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND**
TO THE BOOK OF MORMON.

It is claimed, further, that in the descriptions of the
purported "Manuscript Found" which exist, certain con-
tradictions to the Book of Mormon appear.

1. It is said that the "Manuscript Found" is declared
to have described an idolatrous people instead of a people
who worshiped God and obeyed his laws as the Book of
Mormon describes. This objection is based upon a ques-
tion and its answer found in the Haven-Davison inter-
view as published in the Quincy Whig of 1839.

Q. Does the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a religious
people ?

A. An idolatrous people.

But here, again, we have the same old play on Mrs.
Davison's mistake of confounding the trunk manuscript
with the "Manuscript Found." The former does describe
an idolatrous people, the aborigines, but it also describes
a Christian colony which came from Rome. The latter
described a company of Jews that came from Jerusalem,
and, while only incidentally religious, probably repre-
sented them as worshipers of their Jehovah.

2. It is objected, further, that, according to the Con-
neaut testimonies, the "Manuscript Found" described the

THE BOOK OF MORMON 183

Jewish colony as the lost tribes of Israel, while the Book
of Mormon makes them out to be only of the tribe of
Joseph. After giving, on page 46 of his "Myth of the
Manuscript Found," the claim that Spaulding's "Man-
uscript Found" gave an account of the immigration of
the lost tribes to America, Reynolds says on page 47 :

It is well to remark that the Book of Mormon makes but
very few references to the ten tribes, and in those few, it directly,
plainly and unequivocally states that the American Indians are
not the descendants of the ten tribes, and further, that the ten
tribes never were in America, or any part of it, during any
portion of their existence as a nation. On the other hand, the
Book of Mormon as directly informs us from whom the abo-
rigines, or natives of this continent, are descended. This being
the case, how is it possible for the two works to be identical?

To this objection I reply as follows: The theory of
the Book of Mormon is so closely akin to the theory of
the origin of the American Indians in the lost tribes, as
advocated before and about 1830 by such writers as
Adair, Boudinot, Smith and Priest, that it would be very
easy for the witnesses, who had not heard the "Manu-
script Found" read for twenty years, to confound one
with the other. Even to-day we hear intelligent people,
some of whom have read the Book of Mormon, un-
thoughtedly speak of it as a history of the lost tribes.*
The important thing is that the writers of both romances
have the ancient inhabitants (Israelites) coming from the
city of Jerusalem and under the leadership of Lehi and
Nephi.

• As an example of this common mistake, see "Nortk Americans of
Yesterday," p. 403, by Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, an employe of our
National Museum and an accomplished archaeologist, where he says: "Cer-
tain resemblances between the myths of the Amerinds and those of the
Israelites increased the belief that the American race is the Lost Tribes.
The Mormons specially hold to thit opinion. But there i$ positively no
ground for the belief."

184 THE TRUE ORIGIN OP

3. The Rev. Abner Jackson, in his testimony, says
that Spaulding begins "their [Nephites'] departure from
Palestine, or Judea, then up through Asia, points out
their exposures, hardships and sufferings, also their dis-
putes and quarrels, especially when they built their craft
for passing over the straits." This is objected to as being
entirely different from the migrational account in the
Book of Mormon, which has the Nephites crossing over
the Pacific Ocean and landing upon the coast of South
America. This objection may be met in several ways:
First, it may have been according to the original plot of
the "Manuscript Found," as heard read by Jackson, to
have the Nephites enter America via Behring Strait,
and this feature may have been afterwards changed by
Spaulding himself; or it may have been changed by Rig-
don still later; or, what seems more probable, Jackson,
who was a very aged man at the time that he made his
statement, may have confused the migrational account in
the "Manuscript Found" with the theory, so widely held
when he was a boy, that the lost tribes entered America
by way of Alaska. The latter was the theory of many
investigators at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

RECAPITULATION.

In conclusion, I wish to sum up the points which I
have endeavored to establish in the preceding pages :

i. THE "MANUSCRIPT STORY."

I. About 1809, Solomon Spaulding, a retired Con-
gregational or Presbyterian preacher, living at Conneaut,
Ohio, wrote a small manuscript which he claimed to have
found written in the Latin language on twenty-eight rolls
of parchment in an artificial cave on Conneaut Creek,
and which purported to be the historical account of a

THE BOOK OF MORMON 185

party of Romans who were thrown upon our shores in
the time of Constantine the Great.

2. This manuscript he abandoned and placed in an
"old hair trunk," which at his death in 1816 was taken
to the home of his wife's brother, W. H. Sabine, of
Onondaga Valley, New York.

3. In 1820, this trunk, with the manuscript, was re-
moved to Hartwick, New York, where it was later placed
in the care of Jerome Clark, a cousin of Mrs. Spaulding,
now Mrs. Davison.

4. The manuscript remained in the "old hair trunk"
until 1834, when Dr. Hurlburt, from Ohio, with the per-
mission of Mrs. Spaulding-Davison, took it to Paines-
ville, of that State, and turned it over to E. D. Howe,
author of "Mormonism Unveiled."

5. It was in the possession of E. D. Howe until 1839
or 1840, when it was inadvertently transferred to L. L.
Rice, who bought Howe's printing establishment. Rice
took it to Columbus, Ohio, where for years he was the
State printer.

6. After this, Rice removed to Honolulu, Hawaiian
Islands, and, though unaware of it, carried this manu-
script with him. In 1884 it was accidentally discovered
by him, and later placed in the Oberlin College Library,
Oberlin, Ohio.

7. The Mormons have published copies of it, which
they erroneously entitle "Manuscript Found."

ii. THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND."

I. In 1809, after he had thrown aside his "Manu-
script Story," Spaulding began a new romance in the
Scriptural style, which he entitled "Manuscript Found."
This romance, which he often read to his neighbors, pur-
ported to be the history of a Jewish colony that came to

186 THE TRUE ORIGIN OF

our shores in early times under the leadership of Lehi
and Nephi.

2. In 1812, Spaulding removed to Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania, for the purpose of having this manuscript
printed, and placed it in the printing establishment of
Robert Patterson.

3. In 1814, Spaulding left Pittsburgh and went to
Amity, Pennsylvania, where he died in October, 1816.

4. While Spaulding's relations with Patterson existed,
the latter had in his employ a young man by the name
of J. Harrison Lambdin, who, in turn, had a friend by
the name of Sidney Rigdon, who lived a few miles in the
country on his mother's farm, but who frequently lounged
around the printing-office.

5. Before Spaulding's death, his manuscript came up
missing, and he told two intimate acquaintances, Joseph
Miller and Dr. Cephas Dodd, that he suspected Rigdon
of the theft.

6. In 1822 or 1823, and again in 1826 or 1827, Rigdon
exhibited such a manuscript to Dr. John Winter and Mrs.
Amos Dunlap, his wife's niece, which he told the former
had been written by a man by the name of Spaulding.

7. Between the years 1826 and 1830 he told Adamson
Bentley, Alexander Campbell, Darwin Atwater and Dr.
Rosa a number of startling things, among them that a
golden book had been dug up in New York which gave an
account of the ancient inhabitants of this continent and
stated that the Christian religion had been preached here
in early times just as it was then being preached by
Campbell and his coadjutors.

8. During this time, Rigdon was seen at Palmyra,
New York, or vicinity, at three different times : in March,
1827; in the fall of 1827, and again in the summer of
1828.

THE BOOK OF MORMON 187

9. In the late fall of 1830, Rigdon was converted to
Mormonism, after only a few days' investigation, and
later became one of its most prominent leaders.

These, I believe, are the links in that chain of evi-
dence which, when followed from the Book of Mormon,
leads us directly to Spaulding's "Manuscript Found."

THE END.

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