THE  LOS  ANGELES  EXPRESS.

Vol. ?                                        Tuesday, August 12, 1905                                         No. ?




SAYS  MORMON  BIBLE  IS  AN  ALLEGORY
__________

Major Jonas Olmstead, Who Knew Spalding, Its Author, and
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, Talks of Early Days
__________

"Joe Smith, the original founder of the 'Mormon church' and the so-called 'prophet,' said his 'bible,' the Book of Mormon, was a revelation from God. His statement was unqualifiedly false. I saw the Mormon 'bible' before Joe Smith did. I saw Charles [sic] Spalding writing it. I knew both Spalding and Smith, and am thoroughly familiar with the 'prophet's' pedigree."

This remarkable statement was made by Maj. Jonas Olmstead of 827 West Tenth street. Major Olmstead served with distinction during the civil war, and while employed in the government secret service, he was instrumental in destroying a powerful anti-bellum secret society which threatened to disrupt the union and accomplish wholesale treason.

Major Olmstead, when asked for particulars concerning the above-quoted statement, added.

"I repeat, Joe Smith was a fakir, pure and simple, and though ignorant he possessed qualities which enabled him to lead the guileless and superstitious, much like Dowie and others are leading weak-minded men and women today, and withal Smith was, despite his ignorance, as cunning a scoundrel as ever cut a throat.

"I was born at Bienheim, Schoharie county, New York, eighty-seven years ago. In 1819 my father and his large family and my eldest brother and his family moved to the adjoining county, Delaware, and settled at Meredith, about five miles from Joe Smith's house. My next eldest brother settled only two miles from Joe Smith, and his eldest son, Stephen M. Olmstead, was born there. This nephew came West in 1851, and now resides at Carpentaria, Cal. He also could give many interesting accounts of Joe Smith's infamous early life. Two years ago Stephen visited the old home and slept in the room in which he was born.

"As a boy I attended school in the Adney Lewis district, on the old Kaatskill turnpike. A mile stone stood near with the sign '88 miles to Kaatskill' chiseled on it. We had at this time a teacher named Charles Spalding, a large, fine-appearing man, always clad in a threadbare suit of broadcloth. At 4 o'clock Mr. Spalding would cover the burnt logs in the fireplace with ashes, pull the old table near to the fire and sit for hours with his back to the chimney and write. He boarded with my parents. At 8 o'clock in the evening Mr. Spalding would appear at our fireside -- one worthy the name, with a fireplace that would accommodate a huge back log seven feet long. Before bed-time my good mother would make the teacher hot mush or set before him bread and milk.

Real Author of Book

"Mr. Spalding was a man of superior education. He enlivened our dull evenings by reading delightful stories from French, Latin and other books. He was an author, and wrote incessantly. His efforts were applied to the writing of novels and stories. At the close of the winter term his table drawers were full of manuscripts.

"When Mr. Spalding left us he went to Joe Smith's house to board. Soon he was taken sick and died there. In his last hours he secured a promise from Joe Smith, in the presence of witnesses, to surrender all of his manuscripts to his (Mr. Spalding's) sister, and, if she did not come to burn them. He explained that for pastime he had written an allegory, but as the work was unfinished he did not want it to go to the public. Smith solemnly promised. Spalding's sister did not come, and Joe Smith turned traitor to the dead man and used the manuscript for his own purposes. That manuscript was the basis of Smith's 'Mormon Bible.'

"Joe Smith was denounced as an impostor and a bad man by our entire community. No one in our county followed him. While living at Meredith Smith duped many of his credulous neighbors into believing that there was gold in the hills near the town. He induced them to dig all night for many nights in succession. At dawn he would declare that some one had spoken, thereby breaking the spell, 'and on that account the gold disappeared.' Thus Smith skillfully utilized the credulity of men.

"Soon after Spalding's death Smith removed to Palmyra. There he embellished, amended and arranged his 'bible.' From that time until he was mobbed in Illinois many poor people were led astray. Many others, knowing Smith to be an impostor, followed him through the promise of material reward.

"Smith's 'bible' with which I am thoroughly familiar, did not originally advocate polygamy. Smith had only one wife, and she, of course, did not believe in polygamy. To this day the orthodox Mormons, Smith's real followers, do not believe in polygamy and hold aloof from the ruling Utah aggregation.

"When Joe Smith died, however, a far worse man succeeded him as leader -- the black-hearted assassin responsible for the massacre at Mountain Meadow near Salt Lake -- the real founder of Mormon polygamy and the cult of today that is making such progress in politics and finance -- Brigham Young. The present Mormon despotism in Utah was planned by him. Smoot and Smith and the others are merely carrying out Young's program. If not destroyed it is yet destined to become a mighty power.

"Like other anarchists, the Mormons claim that the God of heaven leads them and approves their treason.

"With this vile institution in our midst, growing rapidly in power and resources, securing devotees by the thousand among the superstitious peoples of the world, invading congress, dominating the politics and domestic affairs of Utah and constantly reaching out, ready at any time to slap Uncle Sam in the face with the doctrine of state's rights, I shudder to think what the result may be.

"If the real Americans, the Anglo-Saxons, are not becoming silly they will smash this accursed evil at once. Politics, so far, has prevented it."


Note 1: For more improbable stories for Book of Mormon origins, similar to the one told by Major Olmstead, see pp. 265-270 in Elder Rudolph Etzenhouser's 1894 book, From Palmyra... The editor of the Deseret News responded to Olmstead's 1905 claims in the Aug. 25, 1905 issue of that LDS newspaper.

Note 2: The only known person even closely matching the biodata of the 87 year old man who gave the Express article was Jonas Reed Olmsted, son of Harry and Hannah, who was apparently born in 1818. However, records show that this particular Jonas died in 1903, two years before the Express article was published.

Note 3: Meredith township is located just south of Oneonta and Otego townships of Otsego county, NY. Beginning with "Harvy Olmsted" in 1810 and "Darius Olmsted" in 1820, early 19th century Census reports show several different Olmstead heads of households living in the northwest corner of Delaware county, very near Chenango county's Bainbridge and Afton townships (where Joseph Smith, Jr. was known to have temporarily resided). F. G. Mather places Joseph Smith, Jr. briefly in the Sidney-Otego area (upriver from Afton and Bainbridge), during the mid-1820s: "Three miles above Nineveh lies Afton, just on the edge of Chenango county, and a short distance above are Sidney, in Delaware County, and Otego, in Otsego county. Smith and his followers operated with the peek-stone in this part of the valley, where he was a comparative stranger." If Joseph Smith, Jr. did operate his seer-stone business in the Sidney-Otego area, he may have interacted with some Olmsteads in that place. Neither Joseph Smith senior nor junior would have occupied a residence of his own there, however, and Charles Spalding would obviously not have boarded in such a non-existent Smith house.

Note 4: John Alexander Dowie (1847-1907) was the founder of the Pentecostal "healing center," -- Zion City, north of Chicago, Illinois. Major Olmstead evidently considered Dowie a religious anarchist.