ANOTHER EXPOSITION OF MORMONISM.

We have received from the Pentecostal Publishing Company, of Louisville, Kentucky, a copy of a book written by S. J. S. Davis, called "The Origin of the Book of Mormon, together with an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Mormon Church." This book is being sold for twenty-five cents per copy. The publishers deemed it necessary to apologize for placing the book before the people, and offers such as apology the statement that there were hundreds of missionaries preaching, visiting, and distributing literature, and "doing what else they could to make converts" to the "Mormon" faith. The following is from the publisher's preface:--

The people want to know something of this strange sect, and they will find the desired information in this little volume. The author is a local preacher of the M. E. Church, and has the highest indorsements as a man of unquestioned integrity. We have allowed him to tell his story in his own way, having only changed the phraseology in a few places. We assure the reader that his statements in the following narrative are in perfect harmony with those of other writers of Mormon history, though very much more condensed. The revolting facts here given are well attested and should be known, in order that the people may be protected against the wiles of these apostles of darkness. This is the only apology we have to offer for placing this book before the people.

Thus does the reader receive the indorsement of the publishers, and we are told the author is a M. E. preacher of good standing. From the author's preface we learn that he gathers much of his information from those "who lived in the immediate vicinity of the place where the first Mormon church was organized, and were well acquainted with all the members both before and after the organization." The author says:--

My boyhood and early manhood were spent near the cradle of Mormonism. Here have I seen and heard their preachers, and I have here met with many others who, after a short trial, have become disgusted with, and left them. These and other circumstances which I will not here mention, have conspired to furnish me with facts not heretofore known to the public.

When we read this, we were somewhat pleased, in a way, for we presumed that this author would tell us something about "Mormonism" which we had not heard. We thought that he would tell us about how the Book of Mormon originated -- something new in the way of a theory by which we might account for the origin of that book which has caused the religious world so much worry and trouble. Imagine our surprise and disgust, then, on carefully perusing the expose, to learn that the worn-out Solomon Spalding "Historical Romance" was the basis for the Book of Mormon. Dr. Priestly's [sic] book on American antiquities was, we are told, the stimulus for Spalding writing his romance. Mr. Spalding became sick and died before he had opportunity to get the manuscript printed. After his death, Mr. Davis tells us, "efforts were here made for its publication, but it disappeared in a mysterious manner, and what became of the manuscript copy was never certainly known." Then he significantly adds as an introduction to the chapter in which he gives the history of Joseph Smith:--

Living near and having access to the office where the manuscript was last heard of, were some personages whom it will now be necessary to introduce to the reader. I will describe them as they were described to me by those who knew them well."

He then describes Joseph Smith as a man of low cunning and unscrupulous principles, who would steal to satisfy his covetousness. Mr. Davis quotes the language of his uncle, who said:--

He was fond of dress and display and could sometimes so far lose his prophetical dignity as to drink like a sailor and swear like a pirate.

Then is introduced to the reader in similar language Sidney Rigdon and Oliver Cowdery, and accounts for Smith getting possession of the Spalding manuscript in this way:--

It is generally believed that Rigdon, as occasional printer, saw the chance in Spalding's manuscript, and by some means placed it in the hands of Smith and Cowdery, and disappeared for a time,, his absence causing no comment as he was, by habit, liable to come and go at any time. Now with the material at hand, and the idea of engraved plates, how easy it was for Smith, who was already in communication with the celestial world, to have an angel direct him to the hill Cumorah, where he should come into possession of the plates containing a new revelation to mankind!

Thus does this M. E. preacher in good standing resurrect that dilapidated theory of the Spalding romance being the origin of the Book of Mormon, and puts it forth to the world as being facts never yet presented to the world.

After presenting to the reader this history of the origin of the Book of Mormon, he pretends to give a history of the church and an outline of some things taught and practiced. As might be presumed from his history of the "origin of the Book of Mormon," he has woefully misrepresented the facts of history, and has attributed to the mind of Joseph Smith some of the most abominable practices and doctrines that one can imagine. If Mr. Davis, as a M. E. preacher in good standing, really believes that Joseph Smith was such a man as he is represented to be in this book, we certainly think that there is one M. E. preacher who is an object for the sympathizing pity of every intelligent person. It is simply astonishing to us that one can live in this enlightened period of free thought and rapid dissemination of knowledge and really believe such rot as he presents to the public in his book, when it is so contrary to the real facts of history. We cannot believe that a man would maliciously present to his readers such falsehoods, and so we simply presume that the poor man is ignorantly deluded, and extend to him our earnest sympathy.


Note: A copy of Rev. Davis' 130 page 1899 book, Origin of the Book of Mormon, together with an Account of the Rise and Progress of the Mormon Church, is on file in the BYU Library's Special Collections. It appears likely that the book's text is based upon articles previously published by Rev. Davis in Thomas Chisholm's Louisville-based Pentecostal Herald. Rev. Davis appears to have been an early advocate of the notion that Sidney Rigdon masqueraded as Joseph Smith's "Angel Moroni," an idea that Davis may have picked up from fellow anti-Mormon, R. B. Neal of Grayson, Kentucky.

SLANDERS  UNMASKED.

Sometime during the early part of last spring, while Elder R. C. Evans was in the Western States, in consequence of some of the leading and wealthy people of the community having been baptized into the Latter Day Saint Church, the sleeping malice and hatred of the Baptist and Campbellite Churches were aroused in the persons of their respective ministers, the Rev. William R. Burrell and Rev. T. Alfred Flemming, both of whom broke out in violent tirades of abuse, and all the old slanders of the dead past were retold, such as "Spalding Romance," "Polygamy," etc. The brethren wrote to R. C. Evans, requesting him to take action in the matter. He replied, through the Hillsburg Beaver, that upon his return to Canada he would call upon the gentlemen and request them to retract their slanderous statements, or affirm them in public debate.

Several letters passed through the Beaver, on both sides. The Baptist minister most preemptorily refused to debate under any consideration whatever, stating to Bro. Evans personally, in the presence of witnesses, that he had neither the time, inclination, nor ability to meet him on the platform.

Not so with the Rev. T. Alfred Flemming. This noisy young man and famous Ohio debator, who had "probed Mormonism to the bottom." was ready to debate, but made so many foolish conditions that a discerning public readily discovered that he was working a bluff game, and had no intention of debating.

Here is a specimen of his conditions: The Latter Day Saints must pay him thirty dollars per night, and it must be paid him six nights in advance. In event of the town hall not being large enough to hold the crowd, the Saints must provide a tent with seating capacity of one thousand. This is but a sample of the conditions imposed.

Bro. Evans then formulated three propositions for each preacher, requesting them to affirm the statements made in their lectures. Upon a point blank refusal on their part to affirm anything in debate, Bro. Evans at once wrote a two column article in the local paper, exposing their dishonorable methods, riddling their cowardice, advertising the propositions they had refused to discuss, announcing that he would unmask the preachers by exposing their methods, and examining their so-called evidence.

He requested me to accompany him to Hillsburg, and in event of debate to act as his moderator; or, if otherwise, as chairman of his meetings. We left London on Tuesday forenoon, the 2d inst., for Rockwood, Ontario, where we were met by Bro. Edwin Awry, who drove us to his beautiful residence. That same evening, notwithstanding the sweltering heat, a large audience greeted Bro. Evans, and numbers stood outside, attentive listeners for over two hours.

He treated on the propositions, as publicly affirmed by them, but which they refused to stand by, viz.: "Resolved, That Joseph Smith professed to receive a revelation from God, authorizing the practice of polygamy, and that he taught and practiced polygamy." The speaker first paid his compliments to the encyclopedias, showing their general unreliability, and that they contradicted each other, and, very frequently, themselves. He then produced the evidence in the "Temple Lot suit;" Nauvoo testimonies of 1843; "Smucker;" Emma Smith, the Prophet's wife; Mrs. White; Bancroft; Bidamon; Governor Ford; Fanny Stenhouse; George Q. Cannon; Clawson; Brigham Young, and others, showing conclusively that Joseph Smith was innocent of the above allegation.

He then showed, clearly, that these preachers had done violence to the known rule of evidence by accepting the self-contradictory testimony of the infamous Brigham Young as against the combined testimony on the other side.

Elder Evans was at his best and waxed brilliantly eloquent in his exposure of the contemptible methods employed by those preachers in slandering the name of a dead man, and an innocent people; but the climax was not reached till he showed, by conference records, that polygamy was indorsed in foreign countries by Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and others. This revelation caused considerable sensation in that large and intelligent audience, and was as a bolt out of a clear sky.

He then closed by hurling a defiant challenge to the world to produce one clause in favor of polygamy, from the records of the General Conference, over which Joseph Smith presided, or that presided over by his legal successor and son, the present president of the church.

The second evening, Wednesday, July 3, another large audience greeted our brother. He took up the following proposition, as publicly asserted by the preachers.

"Resolved, That the Book of Mormon is a fraud, taken from Rev. Solomon Spalding's Manuscript Found, and arranged by Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon to deceive the people." After examining the encyclopedias on the matter, he read Pratt's reply to Sutherland, in 1842, wherein he shows that Rigdon did not see the Book of Mormon till late in 1830, when he (Pratt) and O. Cowdery presented it to him, and that he never saw Joseph Smith till 1831. Also Rigdon's letter of May 27, 1839, showing he had nothing whatever to do with the "Manuscript Found." Also Sydney Rigdon's daughter's testimony, wherein she gives the statement of her father, made to clergymen around him, "At a time," as she said, "when he had but little hope of living from one day to another." We here append the dying man's statement:

As I expect to die, and meet my Maker, I know nothing about where the manuscript of the Mormon Bible came from.

Also another statement was presented where Rigdon said:

I know nothing of its origin, (the Book of Mormon) only what Joseph Smith, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris stated in regard to it. I believe that the Book of Mormon was found just as Joseph Smith stated. Joseph Smith was a prophet, and this world will find it out some day.

Also Wm. Small's testimony, given in 1876, containing the statement of Patterson, the Pittsburg publisher, in which he declares that Sydney Rigdon did not obtain the Spalding story at his office, nor did Rigdon work for him when the Spalding story was in the office, as alleged.

Bro. Evans then gave a history, locating Rigdon, and giving an account of his work from 1822 to 1830, showing clearly that he had nothing whatever to do with the Spalding Romance, the Book of Mormon, or Joseph Smith during those years. He then took up D. H. Bays' work, one of the latest publications of Campbellism on Mormonism, in which he says:

The Spalding story is a failure; do not attempt to rely upon it -- it will let you down.

He next turned his attention to the Spalding story as told by Rev. Tyron Edwards, Green and others. He gave an exposure of their nonsensical and contradictory stories, in which they try to connect Joseph Smith with the Spalding Romance, in this way: Solomon Spalding began to write his Romance in 1809. Joseph Smith, at this time, was a neighbor of Spalding's, and used to spend his evenings listening to Spalding read his Manuscript. Smith borrowed this Manuscript to read to his family at home.

In the refutation of this, Bro. Evans showed that Joseph Smith was born December 23, 1805. If the above statement of the reverend gentleman be true, Joseph Smith was a neighbor of Spalding's, listened to him read his manuscript, and borrowed the same to read when he was but three or four years of age.

To prove Joseph borrowed this manuscript, Green testifies that he heard Smith tell Spalding that he had made a Mormon Bible out of it. He testified to having a conversation with Spalding as late as 1827, and that he has a letter from Mr. Jenkins, who testified that he saw and conversed with Spalding in 1829.

In refutation of the above Bro. Evans showed by the encyclopedias and other histories, including the testimony of Spalding's widow, that he (Spalding) still held his manuscript complete in 1812; that he or his wife took it away with them when they left Ohio, presented it to Patterson, the Pittsburg publisher, for publication, he returning it safely to Spalding, and that he (Spalding) held it in his possession till his death in 1816.

Queries: Did Green and Jenkins et al., talk to Solomon Spalding in 1827 or 1829, if he (Spalding) died in 1816? Did Smith borrow the manuscript, refuse to return it, and make a Mormon Bible out of it, if the story be true, as told by Mrs. Spalding and others, that the manuscript was in their (Spalding's) possession where it remained till the time of his death?

Bro. Evans then showed from the histories that the "Manuscript Found" remained in the possession of Spalding's widow from the time of her husband's death in 1816, till 1834. The Book of Mormon was in print, and thousands of copies in circulation throughout the world in 1830.

In 1834, one D. P. Hurlbut, who was excommunicated from the Latter Day Saint Church for bad conduct, swore vengeance. He made friends with one E. D. Howe, who was an infidel, and wrote a book against the Bible. Howe was angry because his wife had joined the church. Now these two men, full of spite and unbelief, decided to write a book against the church. D. P. Hurlbut went to Spalding's widow, procured the "Manuscript Found," promised to return it, gave it to Howe, then to spite Joseph Smith, and make money by the sale of their book, they got Wright, Miller, Lake, and others, with the Book of Mormon in their hands, to make up statements, that the Book of Mormon and Manuscript Found were similar, and contained same names, etc. Howe fills his books with these statements, which were false, and manufactured to deceive. Hence we have "Mormonism Unveiled," by E. D. Howe.

In order to cover the trick, they refused to return "Manuscript Found" to Spalding's widow.

Howe hides it, among other manuscripts in his printing office; he forgets where, tells Spalding's widow and others that manuscript was burned.

In 1839 and '40 he sells his printing office to L. L. Rice. The transfer of the printing department was accompanied with a large collection of old manuscripts. Years passed away. L. L. Rice moved to Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. In 1884-85 President Fairchild, of Oberlin College, Ohio, visited Mr. Rice. Looking over old manuscripts, they discover the long lost "Manuscript Found," written by Solomon Spalding. It had been in Mr. Rice's possession for over forty years, and is now on exhibition at the college in Oberlin, Ohio, College, with the following endorsement on the manuscript:

The writings of Solomon Spalding, proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller, and others. The testimonies of the above-named gentlemen are now in my possession.   Signed,   D. P. HURLBUT."

Bro. Evans closed by placing before the audience the testimony of L. L. Rice, which says:

Two things are true: first, it is a genuine writing of Solomon Spalding; and second. it is not the original of the Book of Mormon.... There is no identity of names, or of persons, or places; and there is no similarity of style between them.

Thus closed one of the most masterly efforts, in refutation of the Spalding Romance theory...

Ever yours for the truth,
                                                       A. E. MORTIMER.

Note 1: Bishop Evans takes much of this "most masterly effort" of 1901, in attempting to refute the Spalding claims, directly from his previously published text in the Dec. 13, 1899 issue of the Saints' Herald. As pointed out in the comments accompanying that article, Evans later embraced some of the old Spalding authorship claims and gave them his endorsement in his 1920 book.

Note 2: Evans' citation of the 1884 Nancy Rigdon statement and 1876 William Small statement indicates that he conducted a search of the Saints' Herald back issues for references to the Spalding authorship claims. Even this minimal demonstration of scholarship appears to be a rare example of conscientious research into past "Spalding" historical sources on the part of early twentieth century RLDS intellectuals. Generally speaking, the of expenditure of this sort of scholarly energy on the part of high church officials was dedicated to searching out old materials useful in attempted refutations of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s Nauvoo polygamy. It is quite possible that the evidence RLDS Bishop Evans discovered during his researching the Spalding authorship claims was the "straw" that broke the "camel's back" in his reevaluation and ultimate rejection of the "Mormon" Church and its purported origins.

Note 3: In citing the 1876 William Small statement, Evans implicitly accepts the fact that Robert Patterson, Sr. did once take one of Spalding's manuscripts into his possession -- a point occasionally challenged by Latter Day Saint apologists. Evans, however, leaves out Elder Small's testimony that Sidney Rigdon apparently did have some sort of connection with Patterson's Pittsburgh publishing business. According to Elder Small's recollection, Rev. Patterson, Sr. admitted that "Sidney Rigdon was not connected with the office for several years" after the Spalding manuscript was submitted for publication. "Several years" after Spalding's time in Pittsburgh (1812-1814) might extend into that period after Robert Patterson, Sr. had broken off his business relationship with publisher and bookseller Jonathan Harrison Lambdin. The break-up of their partnership in Pittsburgh occurred early in 1823. Also, later in 1823, Lambdin apparently sold copies of a debate record published by Alexander Campbell, and this at a time when Lambdin's friend, the Rev. Sidney Rigdon, was preaching proto-Campbellism in Pittsburgh and acting as Campbell's secretary in recording his Kentucky debates for publication. All things considered, the allegation for a direct "connection" between Sidney Rigdon and Patterson's former publishing "office" is more probable during 1823-24 than ten years before -- when Lambdin was merely Patterson's employee in the operation of the R. & J. Patterson book and stationery business.

ANOTHER  VERSION  OF  THE
BOOK  OF  MORMON  ORIGIN.

The following appeared in the Denver Times for August 18:

SHE SAYS JOE SMITH REALLY "SWIPED" HIS MORMON BIBLE.

According to Mrs. Diadama Chittenden, of Utica, Mo, Joseph Smith "swiped" the Mormon "bible." which he claimed was "revealed" to him. While this is not a new charge by any means, Mrs. Chittenden tells an interesting story in connection with it.

Mrs. Chittendon is now 87 years old. She was born in Canada and her maiden name was Whitney. In 1852 she was married to R. M. Chittenden, and in 1860 [sic, 1870?] the couple went to Utica, Mo., where she ever since has resided. Her husband engaged in the mercantile business, and she did much of the buying, making long trips on horseback to Lexington, Quincy and other points.

Mrs. Chittenden is hale and hearty and of sound mind today. One of her most vivid memories of the early 60s is of the origin of the Mormon "Bible," which, she declares was never revealed to Joseph Smith nor written by him, but which he stole from a millwright named Spafford, of Salem (now Conneaut), Ashtabula county, Ohio. Smith was in the employ of Spafford, who was a sort of overseer or superintendent for Squire Wright of Salem. One of Spafford's hobbies was to decant upon the Bible. He contended that he could compose and read them alternately with chapters from the Good Book and that none who heard them could tell the original from the imitation.

On a wager, Spafford, so Mrs. Chittenden says, prepared a number of chapters of his own composition in imitation of the Bible and they were read to a select number of his acquaintances. None of these were able to distinguish the imitation from the real or to tell which had been written by Spafford and which had not. Joseph Smith was among those present at the test, Mrs. Chittenden says, and he was an attentive listener at the reading and others given afterward by Spafford to exercise his hobby.

Spafford preserved the characters [sic, chapters?] he wrote with the idea of one day publishing a treatise on his hobby. Death prevented the carrying out of this plan, and when his executors came to search for his manuscripts they had each and every one of them disappeared.

It was some years after Spafford's death that the Mormon "bible," said to have been "revealed" to Joseph Smith, appeared. A copy of this work found its way to Salem and into the possession of Squire Wright, Spafford's employer. Surprised at its contents, he called two other friends of Spafford, a Doctor Hart and Zaph Lake, into consultation on "Smith's bible," and after a thorough examination they made an affidavit to the effect that the greater part of the Mormon Book was made of chapters written for his own amusement by Millwright Spafford. Mrs. Chittenden is of the impression that the affidavit was either published by or offered for publication to the Salem Reporter, a paper long since out of print.


Note 1: This same story was republished in a Colorado paper twelve years later and again reprinted in the July 2, 1913 issue of the Saints' Herald. Diadama Whitney Chittenden was probably the same Diadama Whitney who married John L. Edwards on May 17, 1835, a few miles west of Conneaut, Ashtabula Co., Ohio. If so, she would have been a contemporary of Zaphna Lake, the son of Solomon Spalding's business partner at New Salem, "Conneaut Witness" Henry Lake. It is possible that Diadama later married a Mr. R. M. Chittenden and moved to Missouri. A "Job Whitney" is on the 1819 New Salem voter list and an "Aaron Whitney" is on the 1835 Ashtabula voter list. Diadama Whitney was apparently the daughter of John Whitney and Rachael Thayer. The Thayer family was numerous in the Ohio Western Reserve during the early days.

Note 2: The Spafford family were among the very first pioneers in the Ohio Western Reserve. Amos Spafford was a member of the first surveying party sent into northern Ohio. Another member of that party was Seth Pease, a relative of Calvin Pease, the lawyer with whom Solomon Spalding transacted land sales in Ohio. There were no known Spaffords living in the Conneaut area during the early years of the 19th century, however. The closest sounding name to "Spafford" among the residents of that era would have been "Spalding." Mrs. Chittenden has almost certainly confused the two family names in her memory.

Note 3: Solomon Spalding is not known to have been a "millwright," but he did have a mill pond and water-wheel driven trip-hammer constructed as part of his early iron forge operations on the east bank of Conneaut Creek. See his c. 1810-11 draft of an agreement with Itham Joyner to construct a mill at or near his own forge. Aaron Wright set up the first flour mill in the Conneaut area and it apparently was also situated near Spalding's forge -- perhaps on the same mill pond (see the mention of Wright in the Spalding-Joyner agreement). It is quite possible that Aaron Wright also owned a share in Spalding's water wheel, trip-hammer, and forge operation, at least up until 1811, when Henry Lake became Spalding's partner in that business. While this sort of business relationship would not necessarily have made the Hon. Aaron Wright Spalding's "employer," it may have left Spalding financially beholding to "Squire Wright."

Note 4: Although Solomon Spalding reportedly did write historical fiction in the biblical style and reportedly did read that work aloud to an audience, there is no other known reference to his attempting to imitate the Bible to the point that "none who heard" that historical fiction "could tell the original from the imitation." While it is not impossible that a man of Joseph Smith, Sr.'s age could have attended a Spalding reading in New Salem, prior to the end of 1812 (when Spalding departed that area), it does seem impossible that his young son, Joseph Smith, Jr., could have listened to anybody read imitation scripture in New Salem, Ohio in 1811-12. Mrs. Chittenden says that "Squire Wright," who was "surprised" at the Book of Mormon's contents, "called two other friends of Spafford, a Doctor Hart and Zaph Lake, into consultation on 'Smith's Bible,' and after a thorough examination they made an affidavit..." Actually, the Spalding associates that Aaron Wright, Esq. spoke with on this subject in 1832 (and who made out affidavits with him in 1833) were Doctor Howard (not "Hart") and Henry Lake (father of "Zaph"). About the only useful information obtainable from the above article is that a garbled version of the Spalding authorship claims was still being told in northern Ohio during the early 1860s, when Mrs. Chittenden apparently heard the account she relates fifty years later. No affidavits written by any of the "Conneaut witnesses" are known to have been printed in Ashtabula county newspapers during the 1830s.

A  BRIGHT  SPOT  IN  THE  RAGE  OF  BATTLE.

We quote the following from the Carter County Bugle, published at Grayson, Kentucky, for Friday, September 27, 1901. It is from the pen of R. B. Neal, of the Christian Church, who, as it will be seen, avows antagonism to what he is pleased to style "Smithianity," forgetting that the faith he holds may as appropriately be styled "Campbellism...

... I have often advised against the rail-riding and house-burning methods... rail-riding, feather-coating methods are to be vigorously denounced... More, such a course is desired by the Mormon leaders. It confirms their followers in the faith of Mormonism, and creates a sympathy for the ism on the part of many...

There are Mormons and Mormons. Most folks know only the Utah wing, with the headquarters at Salt Lake City... It is the elders of this wing that are all over Kentucky and the South pushing their plea. There is another wing or denomination of Mormons... with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa...

R. B. NEAL.      

Note: This report appears to mark the first editorial encounter between the RLDS Church and Rev. Robert B. Neal (1847-1925) of Grayson, Kentucky, a former member of the Utah Ministerial Association and the self-styled head of the "The American Anti Mormon Association." Not content with the printing of an occasional article in the Carter County Bugle, Rev. Neal began publishing his own anti-Mormon tracts in Grayson at about this same time. Although some of the information Neal provides and some of the sources he cites may provide valuable contributions to the study of Mormon history, his publications and the materials he furnished to other writers, such as to Charles A Shook, are notoriously unreliable and perhaps not even genuine.

LECTURES  ON  CHURCH  HISTORY.
NO.  6.

BY HEMAN C. SMITH, CHURCH HISTORIAN.

Delivered at Lamoni, Iowa, September 22, 1901.
Reported for Herald by Sr. Annie Allen.

... In the fall of 1830 a revelation was given commanding Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, and John Whitmer to take a mission to the West for the purpose of visiting the Indians. They took their departure shortly after the revelation was given and went most of the way on foot, visiting a tribe of Indians at Buffalo, New York, and then went on to Kirtland, Ohio, where they stopped for a while, not because they had found Indians, but because Parley Pratt, one of the four, was an intimate acquaintance of Sidney Rigdon who resided near Kirtland, and he desired to see his friend and present this new found faith to him. So he called on Sidney Rigdon, who was a prominent minister in what was known as the Disciple Church, and presented the Book of Mormon. We are told Mr. Rigdon objected to the book at first, but the testimony was so strong in its favor that he finally consented to investigate, and after a careful investigation he accepted the truth of the message, and became from that time a prominent defender of the work, and later occupied a prominent position in the church. I may not be able to finish this narrative, but I want to call your attention to a few points in regard to it. There was an effort made afterwards to connect Sidney Rigdon with the Book of Mormon, and to do this they trumped up the story that Rigdon had some connection with what is known as the Spalding Manuscript, and they said that Sidney Rigdon had stolen this manuscript from a printing office in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and after he had examined it he sent it to Joseph Smith, and out of the manuscript the Book of Mormon was made. You know more about this theory than I am able to tell you to-night. This story has been circulated from time to time, and has found its way into some of our encyclopedias and histories, where it has done great damage. You will never read in history where any attempt is made to prove it true, it is simply asserted that it was stolen by Sidney Rigdon and changed by him into the Book of Mormon. When public speakers have been called upon to prove that assertion they have totally failed to prove that Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith ever met before the publication of the Book of Mormon, that they ever were nearer each other during this time than when Joseph Smith was in western New York and Sidney Rigdon was in northern Ohio. Almost all of the time Sidney Rigdon is accounted for in public records and some of our enemies have come to the conclusion that they can not prove the Spalding story and have abandoned it, while others cling to it.

Mr. Rigdon knew nothing of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon until Parley Pratt brought it to him when he was residing in Mentor, Ohio, in the year 1830. There is about a fourth class lawyer in Salt Lake City who, having more cunning than logic, and more of the disposition of the buzzard than the dove, has tried to revise that old story. You have heard something of the missing link in the Darwinian Theory, and he undertakes to supply the missing link in the Spalding story theory. He says that link is Parley P. Pratt. He could not connect Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, so he tells us that Parley Pratt was a friend of Sidney Rigdon's and they were associated in northern Ohio, and Pratt went back to New York and there he became acquainted with Joseph Smith, there the Book of Mormon was published and Pratt took it to Rigdon. The theory is that Rigdon stole the manuscript and sent it by Pratt to New York and Joseph and Pratt worked it up and thus the Book of Mormon was manufactured. That is the newest story and you will probably think it is a little more plausible than the old one, but it does not account for how Sidney Rigdon and Parley Pratt ever knew of that obscure boy up there in New York; how they got the information that he would be a suitable person for their scheme; or how they became acquainted with Joseph. It seems to me a strange thing that these men, both ministers of the gospel, would send the manuscript to an obscure boy and make him the leading character in the whole scheme. They never knew him but trusted him and preferred him without being acquainted with him. This story is just as bad as the old one so far as dates are concerned, and dates are stubborn things.

In October, 1826, this young man Parley Pratt went to a place about thirty miles west of the city of Cleveland Ohio; there he took some government land, and stayed there all the winter. In the spring of 1827 he made some improvements and then did like a great many other young men do, went back home to New York. Somebody lived there that was interesting him, and when he got back he got married, and he and his wife in October, 1827, went back to his place that he had been opening in the forest of Ohio, and there they stayed for several years. In 1829, mark the date, Sidney Rigdon came into the neighborhood where this family lived and began preaching the reformation then being promulgated by A. Campbell, and others, and Pratt united with the movement and thus became a co-laborer with Rigdon... so Mr. Schroeder falls down on this as badly as Messrs. Howe and Hurlbut did on the original story... I said in the beginning that Sidney Rigdon knew nothing of the Book of Mormon until his friend Parley Pratt called upon him at Mentor, Ohio, and presented him with the book...


Note 1: It is difficult to reconcile RLDS Historian Heman C. Smith's pronouncement ("Sidney Rigdon knew nothing of the Book of Mormon until his friend Parley Pratt called upon him") with the 1994 conclusion reached by Rigdon's LDS biographer, Richard S. Van Wagoner: "Publication of the 'Golden Bible'... had been recounted in several Western Reserve and New York newspapers as early as 1827... There can be little doubt that Rigdon, an enthusiastic reader of newspapers, was aware of the book before it was placed in his hands." Elder Smith makes it appear as though, months after his 1830 Mormon baptism, "There was an effort made" by the enemies of Mormonism, "to connect Sidney Rigdon with the Book of Mormon, and to do this they trumped up the story that Rigdon had some connection with what is known as the Spalding Manuscript." Actually, the belief that Sidney Rigdon had a secret role in bringing forth the Book of Mormon pre-dates the first articulation of the Spalding authorship claims by two or three years. As Parley P. Pratt himself said in 1838: "Early in 1831, Mr. Rigdon having been ordained, under our hands, visited elder J. Smith, Jr., in the state of New-York, for the first time; and from that time forth, rumor began to circulate, that he (Rigdon) was the author of the Book of Mormon. The Spaulding story never was dreamed of until several years afterwards." As early as Feb. 15, 1831 Ohio newspaper editors were saying things like this: "Rigdon was formerly a disciple of Campbell's and who it is said was sent out to make proselytes, but is probable he thought he should find it more advantageous to operate on his own capital, and therefore wrote, as it is believed the Book of Mormon." Rigdon's name was not clearly linked to the nascent Spalding authorship claims until mid-Dec. 1833 when D. P. Hurlbut announced: "The pretended religious character of the work ["a respectable clergyman's original manuscript"] has been superadded by some more modern hand -- believed to be the notorious Rigdon."

Note 2: Elder Heman C. Smith remarks that A. T. Schroeder's 1901 attempt to establish Parley P. Pratt as a pre-1830 link between Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, Jr. "is the newest story" amongst the Spalding authorship claims. However, the report of Pratt serving as just such a clandestine middle man was voiced at least as early as 1842, when the Rev. Samuel Williams said: "it appeared that a certain Parley P. Pratt, an intimate friend of Rigdon's, in the secret of the Golden Bible... in the habit of traveling from Ohio to New York... communicated between Rigdon, Smith, Harris, Cowdery, &c. His conversion was so easy, as well as that of S. Rigdon, to Mormonism, that the whole affair plainly showed, that Rigdon ascertained... that Joseph Smith was bold enough... to answer his purpose; and that the whole matter was arranged before the Golden Bible ever made its appearance in Kirtland, Ohio." Rev. Williams adds to this in an 1878 communication, saying: "Parley Pratt was a tin Pedlar who passed from Conn. out to the West who brought about the acquaintance between Rigdon and Smith." Elder Smith says that the allegation, "does not account for how Sidney Rigdon and Parley Pratt ever knew of that obscure boy up there in New York," but he does not take into account that the "obscure boy" lived practically right on the major East-West trade and communication route, the Erie Canal. Also, if Smith's own story can be trusted, since the early 1820s the young treasure-finder, seer, and revelator had suffered a terribly intense religious persecution -- a story that any itinerant pedestrian peddler whose travels brought him through the Palmyra area should have heard sooner or later.

Note 3: Elder Heman C. Smith also remarks that, even if Pratt and Rigdon were cooperating to bring forth the Book of Mormon, "They never knew him [Smith] but trusted him and preferred him without being acquainted with him." Again, the RLDS Historian does not account for Rigdon's living in close proximity to Oliver Cowdery's brother, Erastus Cowdery, in Trumbull Co., Ohio in 1819-21, and for Oliver himself also being an itinerant pedestrian peddler in western New York during the early 1820s. There was opportunity for Oliver to meet and become acquainted with his cousin, Joseph Smith, Jr., and there was opportunity for Oliver to become acquainted with Rigdon's friend (and fellow itinerant pedestrian peddler) Parley P. Pratt. A pre-1830 web of acquaintance linking Pratt, Cowdery, Rigdon, and Smith -- however far-fetched it may sound to some students of early Mormon history -- cannot be ruled out, based upon the evidence available. Elder Smith's notion, that Pratt and Rigdon did not become acquainted until 1829, rests upon no known facts. Pratt was a Baptist, living within the limits of the Mahoning Baptist Association in 1827-29. During that period, the highly mobile Rev. Sidney Rigdon was arguably the most famous preacher in that organization, frequently visiting members throughout the Ohio Western Reserve. To attempt to argue that Pratt did not know Rigdon prior to 1829 is ridiculous; it is more reasonable to assume they had an opportunity to meet and become acquainted before 1829 than it is to assume that they did not.

LECTURES  ON  CHURCH  HISTORY.
NO.  10.

BY HEMAN C. SMITH, CHURCH HISTORIAN.

Delivered at Lamoni, Iowa, November 17, 1901.
Reported for Herald by Sr. Annie Allen.

It seems that this subject is almost an endless one. We have been trying to get over the ground as fast as possible. We have felt we were not getting along as fast as we would like to, yet it seems that a part of our audience wants to hear more of the details than we have been presenting. We thought that we would leave Kirtland and the East and commence to-night in regard to Missouri, and the events that happened in connection with the settling of the church in that country, but during the week we received a card from Ohio, in which this request was made:

Make plain some points in the experience of the church while here, such as the object of their coming here; the spirit of speculation that was among them, and the result; the banking business; Dr. Hurlbut's excommunication; the Spalding story; why they left here in 1838, etc.

So it might be well for us to-night to speak to our Ohio audience to some extent, and mention some things....

I want to repeat again to-night, that if the fraud that has been charged against Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had been true, they never would have gone to that neighborhood [Kirtland], for they were only about fifty miles from the place where the Spalding romance was said to have been written, and it is not likely that men would come right back there where this story was written, to palm it off upon the world, where they were most likely to be detected by people who knew about the manuscript. It is a very good circumstantial evidence that they knew nothing about the Spalding matter, and they never stole the manuscript...

In regard to the Dr. Hurlbut case which some wanted to know something about, he is not the kind of character I like very much to talk about. The less said in regard to such men, sometimes the better. There is plenty of evidence to show the man was anything but what he ought to have been, but let me state to you right here that he is the man that assisted E. D. Howe in compiling certain evidence against Mormonism, so-called, found in his "History of Mormonism," published in Painesville, Ohio, in 1834, and again in 1840. Those affidavits were gathered by Dr. Hurlbut, and also the manuscript from which it was said the Book of Mormon was manufactured was obtained by Hurlbut and placed in the hands of Howe. As you know, the manuscript was lost sight of for a great many years, after it got in the hands of E. D. Howe, but subsequently it was found in the hands of L. L. Rice, in Honolulu, who bought the printing press and fixtures of Mr. Howe and removed them to his island home. I do not care to enter upon the Spalding story more fully than we have done: it would take too long to follow it in all its details.

In regard to Dr. Hurlbut we will state some of the things regarding him, that you may see what kind of a character it was that gathered this material that was expected to be the death of Mormonism. He at one time belonged to the church at Kirtland, was at one time an elder in the church and went on a mission to the East and returned, and upon his return there were charges preferred against him. We have the history of it here and we will read it:

A conference of high priests in the translating room in Kirtland on the third of June, and the first case presented was that of Dr. P. Hurlbut, who was accused of unchristian conduct with the women, while on a mission to the east: on investigation it was decided that his commission be taken from him, and that he be no longer a member of the church of Christ.

This was done June 3, 1833.

This is the first reference I have found to his trouble in the history. He was charged there with "unchristian conduct," and was then expelled from the church. Later we find that he appealed from this decision. On the 21st day of June, only eighteen days after he had been expelled, this document was presented to the Presidency and High Council:

I, Dr. P. Hurlbut, having been tried before the bishop's council of high priests on a charge of unchristianlike conduct with the female sex, and myself being absent at the time, and considering that strict justice was not done me, I do, by these presents, most solemnly enter my appeal unto the President's council of high priests, for a rehearing, according to the privilege guaranteed to me in the laws of the church, which council is now assembled in the schoolroom, in Kirtland, this twenty-first day of June, 1833....

Brother Hurlbut's case was then laid before the court, and the testimony against him, given in by Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith, and duly investigated. The decision of the court was, that Brother Hurlbut should be forgiven, because of the liberal confession which he made. This court also decided that the bishop's council decided correctly on the case, and that Bro. Hurlbut's crime was sufficient to cut him off from the church; but on his confession he was restored....

Mark you, that though he was restored it was because of his confession. But the appellate court, so far as the decision of the bishop's court was concerned, indorsed the findings that he was guilty of some kind of unchristian conduct while he was an elder of the church. Two days after he was arraigned again, on June 23, 1833.

Brother Doctor P. Hurlbut was called in question, by a general council; and Brother Gee, of Thompson, testified that Brother Hurlbut said that he deceived Joseph Smith's God, or the spirit by which he was actuated, etc. There was also corroborating testimony brought against him, by Brother Hodges, and the council cut him off from the church.

So that after he was restored by making a confession, he went on and boasted he had deceived Joseph Smith's God; this statement was as much as to say he had not repented at all, and two days after he was again expelled. That is the kind of a record the man had in the church. That is not all. After he was expelled from the church, he made threats against the peace of the community and against the life of Joseph Smith, and was arraigned before the law. The result of this arraignment we will give you briefly, for we do not wish to spend too much time on Dr. Hurlbut. Joseph Smith gives an account of the trial of Dr. Hurlbut:

Monday, March 31, 1834, I went to Chardon to attend the court, in the case against Dr. P. Hurlbut.... Wednesday the 2d, and Thursday the 3d, attended the court. Hurlbut was on trial for threatening my life.

Again on the 7th:

Bishop Whitney, Elders Frederick G. Williams, Oliver Cowdery, Heber C. Kimball, and myself met in the council room, and bowed down before the Lord, and prayed that he would furnish the means to deliver the Firm from debt, that they might be set at liberty; also that I might prevail against the wicked man, Hurlbut, and that he might be put to shame.

April 9 After an impartial trial, the court decided that Dr. P. Hurlbut be bound over under two hundred dollar bonds, to keep the peace for six months, and pay the cost, which amounted to near three hundred dollars, all of which was in answer to our prayers, for which I thank my Heavenly Father.

So you see this court decided the man was not only guilty, but was a dangerous character, and that life was unsafe with those with whom he was at enmity. It occurred to us when we read the statement of Joseph Smith, it would be a good thing to find out whether such a case were on record in the county where Joseph Smith said Dr. Hurlbut was on trial, and so in 1896 we wrote to the clerk of the court and had a certified copy of the record made, and it is published in his exact words. The decision of the court after summing up the evidence, says:

William Holbrook Justice of the Peace.

And thereupon came the Prosecuting Attorney for the County and also the said defendant, and the Court having heard the said complaint and also all the testimony adduced by the said complainant, and also by the said defendant and having duly considered the same are of opinion that the said complainant had ground to fear that the said Doctor P. Hurlbut would wound, beat or kill him or destroy his property as set forth in said complaint. Wherefore it is ordered and adjudged by the Court that the said Doctor P. Hurlbut enter into a new recognizance with good and sufficient security in the sum of two hundred dollars hereafter to keep the peace and be of good behavior to the citizens of the State of Ohio generally and to the said Joseph Smith Junior in particular for the period of six months, and it is further ordered that the said Doctor P. Hurlbut pay the costs of this prosecution taxed at the sum of one hundred and twelve dollars and fifty-nine cents. And thereupon came the said Doctor P. Hurlbut with Charles A. Holmes and Elijah Smith as his sureties in open Court, entered into a recognizance in the penal sum of two hundred dollars each, conditioned that the said Doctor P. Hurlbut shall for the period of six months from and after this day keep the peace and be of good behavior to all the citizens of the State of Ohio generally and to the said Joseph Smith Jun. in particular.

M. Birchard P. J.

Certificate to Common Pleas Record.

The State of Ohio, }
Geauga County, ss. }

I, B. D. Ames Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, within and for said County, And in whose custody the Files, Pleadings, Journals, Records, Execution Dockets, and Seal of said Court, are required by the Laws of the State of Ohio to be kept, hereby certify that the foregoing copy of Record is taken and copied from the Records of the proceedings of the Court of Common Pleas within and for said Geauga County, and that said foregoing copy has been compared by me with the original Record and that the same is a correct transcript therefrom..

In Testimony Whereof, I do hereunto subscribe my name officially, and affix the Seal of said Court, at the Court House in Chardon in said County, this l6th day of July, A. D. 1896.   (Seal)   B. D. AMES Clerk.

So the record is there yet, just exactly corresponding with the statement made by Joseph Smith, corroborating all he said regarding Dr. Hurlbut. I think that is all we need to say about him.

It was thought when this book that Dr. Hurlbut and E. D. Howe were instruments in getting up was published, that it was a death-blow to Mormonism and the Book of Mormon; and to show you just which one died I want to relate a little experience I had personally. I was in a second-hand book store down here in Kansas City, and looking over the books I saw one entitled, "History of Mormonism," by E. D. Howe. I asked the proprietor, "How much for this book?" and he said, $1.25. I then found an original copy of the book of Mormon. I asked, "How much is this book worth?" and he said, $125. That is the way it killed it. The original copy of the Book of Mormon, one hundred twenty-five dollars; the other one hundred twenty-five cents. I asked him why he asked so much, and he answered, that it was one of the original ones, -- one that does not teach polygamy. I was not able to purchase it, so I have not the book. That is, briefly stated, the record Dr. Hurlbut made in the church, and his connections with the church in 1833 and 1834.


Note 1: Elder Heman C. Smith remarks that Rigdon and his Mormon associates "never would have gone to that neighborhood [Kirtland], for they were only about fifty miles from the place where the Spalding romance was said to have been written." However, assuming that Sidney Rigdon did obtain possession of Spalding's historical story at an early date, it does not also follow that Rigdon knew that the story had been largely composed in Ashtabula Co., Ohio and that certain residents of that place had repeatedly heard the story read aloud as an explanation for the unusual Indian mounds and artifacts of the area. It probably came as a great surprise to both Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, Jr. when various Mormon elders reported the public avowal of the Spalding authorship claims in that place, following Orson Hyde's initial preaching there early in 1832.

Note 2: Elder Smith also says that "the manuscript from which it was said the Book of Mormon was manufactured was obtained by Hurlbut and placed in the hands of Howe." While the first part of this statement may be true, the second half is rather problematic. As early as 1875, D. P. Hurlbut's former lawyer stated that: "In the winter of 1833-34, a self-constituted committee of citizens of Willoughby, Mentor, and Painesville met a number of times... At one of the meetings we had before us the original manuscript of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding... From this work of the Rev. Mr. Spaulding the Mormon Bible was constructed. I do not think there can be any doubt of this. It was the opinion of the committee after comparing the Mormon Bible with the manuscript. The style of composition, the names, etc., were the same." That D. P. Hurlbut was exhibiting something resembling the Book of Mormon text, following his return to Ohio at the end of 1833 is confirmed by an early Kirtland Justice of the Peace, John C. Dowen: "I heard Dr. P. Hurlbut... deliver his first lecture in the Methodist Church in Kirtland, Ohio, on the origin of the Book of Mormon. He said he had been in New York and Pennsylvania and had obtained a copy of Spaulding's Manuscript Found. He read selection[s] from it, then the same from the Book of Mormon. He said the historical part of it was the same as Spaulding's Manuscript Found... I read all of his [Hurlbut's] manuscript, including Spaulding's Manuscript Found, and compared it with the Book of Mormon, the historical part of which is the same as Spaulding's Manuscript Found." Similar recollections from the last part of December 1833 are provided by Messrs. Charles Grover, Jacob Sherman, and William Riley Hine, the last of whom said: "I heard Hurlbut lecture in the Presbyterian Church in Kirtland. He said he would, and he did prove that the "Book of Mormon" was founded on a fiction called "Manuscript Found," written by Solomon Spaulding... Hurlbut had a copy of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" with him. He and others spoke three hours.. I heard Hurlbut lecture before, and after he saw Spaulding's widow." Whether this alleged copy of the "Manuscript Found" was truly a Spalding holograph remains uncertain. At any rate, there is no evidence that D. P. Hurlbut gave it to E. D. Howe, when he entrusted the editor with his research findings at the beginning of Feb. 1834. The unfinished Spalding manuscript found in Honolulu in 1884 (and described by E. D. Howe in 1834) is not the "Manuscript Found." As Conneaut witness Aaron Wright said, upon seeing the unfinished story: "I have examined the writings which he [Hurlbut] has obtained from [sd] Spaldings widowe I recognise them to be the writings handwriting of [sd] Spalding but not the manuscript I had refferance to in my statement before alluded to as he informed me he wrote in the first place he wrote for his own amusement and then altered his plan and commenced writing a history of the first settlement of America the particulars you will find in my testimony dated August 1833.

Note 3: Elder Smith goes to a considerable effort to demonstrate that the character of D. P. Hurlbut was not a good one. It is probable that the outcomes of the 1834 Painesville and Chardon trials of D. P. Hurlbut were greatly influenced by a preponderance of loyal Mormon testimony in behalf of Joseph Smith, Jr. None of that redeems the character of Mr. Hurlbut to any great extent, but the possibility that he was convicted on less than fully reliable courtroom testimony should be kept in mind. Regardless of his admittedly bad character, the evidence he and others collected in reference to the Spalding authorship claims stands or falls upon its own intrinsic merits (and not upon those of D. P. Hurlbut).

DOWN  WITH  "MORMONISM." -- NO. 3.

It is positively out of the power of the defenders of the faith to meet and refute every misstatement made about the beliefs, doctrines, and conduct of the believers... Some pious soul of a preacher, or some unprincipled sensational news-gatherer... Such men do not stop to think... whether they could give satisfactory proof if their statements should be called in question; it seems to be sufficient if it will "down Mormonism."

Another instance of this occurred in the discussion between Bro. James W. Gillen on the part of the church, and Reverend Clark Braden on the part of the Christian or Disciple Church, at Stewartsville, Missouri. In order to make an argument against the faith upon the old Spalding romance theory, Reverend Braden assumed that Spalding had written three or four manuscripts and that the one used by Dr. Hurlbut and E. D. Howe in 1834 was but one of them. No evidence of the truthfulness of his saying was given, but others quoting from him assume that it was so proven...

---

McDowell-Bridwell Debate.

Discussion by the above-named gentlemen was held in the Disciple church at McArthur, Ohio, commencing Monday evening, January 6, and continuing twelve sessions of two hours each... Mr. Bridwell is a recognized scholar of shrewdness and ability... [his] theory of opposition on the first proposition is, Joseph Smith possessed Boudinot's work, also Ethan Smith's work, both of which treat the subject of Israel in America, and Caleb Atwater's condensed idea of archaeology, and from these the theory of the Book of Mormon was spun. It was argued by Mr. Bridwell that Ethan Smith and Boudinot quoted the same prophecies which are used by Latter Day Saints and their works antedate Joseph Smith. He had the very air ladened with "buried cities, extinct civilizations, Indian descendants of the ten lost tribes," etc., at the time Joseph was concocting the Book of Mormon. He read recommendations of Ethan Smith's work from points all around Palmyra, New York, circling Joseph Smith, but Mr. Bridwell did not, nor could he, prove that Joseph Smith had the book in his possession. Solid matter presented by Elder McDowell pulverised this theory...

Ever willing to give reasons for hope entertained,

S. W. L. Scott.      

Note 1: It is interesting to see that, as late as 1902, the Rev. Clark Braden was still occasionally making reference to the Spalding authorship claims while debating the issues of Mormonism with RLDS elders. Most references to Braden's debates in the 1890s and early 1900s appear to show that he only rarely made use of the Spalding argument in such disputations. Probably Braden grew weary of repeating the same old arguments to RLDS elders, who came to debate well stocked with their own rehearsed counter-arguments. One thing is clear, however, Braden adopted the idea that the Spalding manuscript discovered in Honolulu in 1884 was not the "Manuscript Found" described by Solomon Spalding's old associates. Whether or not he ever uncovered and presented any additional evidence to support this particular argument remains unknown.

Note 2: With the publication of S. W. L. Scott's letter regarding the McDowell-Bridwell Debate, the "Ethan Smith theory" for Book of Mormon origins reappeared in the Saints' Herald for the first time since July 1887. During the intervening 15 years, Ethan Smith's name was occasionally mentioned in the Saints' Herald, but in offering supposed proof of the historicity of the Book of Mormon, not as one of its possible sources. Rev. [J. T.?] Bridwell apparently picked up his notions concerning an Ethan Smith connection with the Book of Mormon from I. W. Riley's 1902 Yale master's thesis (published in 1903), in which the author says of Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews: "This work was published in Poultney, Vermont, next to Windsor County, where Joseph's parents once lived, and by 1825 had circulated to westernmost New York." Bridwell apparently missed seeing other possible relevant connections: (1) That Oliver Cowdery had lived very near Poultney, Vermont and no doubt knew Ethan Smith -- who was the pastor of Oliver's step-mother and half-sisters and who had been married by Oliver's Great Uncle, Nathanael Emmons (who also endorsed one of Ethan's several books on religion); (2) That Ethan Smith reportedly knew and corresponded with his fellow Dartmouth graduate, Solomon Spalding; and (3) that early LDS leaders quoted Ethan Smith, Elias Boudinot, etc. as offering historical support for their Book of Mormon. RLDS Elder Rudolph Etzenhouser took up the matter of Elias Boudinot in his Aug. 19, 1903 article, "A Star in the West," but in that report he generally avoids consideration of the probable Ethan Smith connection to the Book of Mormon. The Utah Mormon scholar, B. H. Roberts, would again resurrect the Ethan Smith theory in later years.

REVEREND M'MILLAN AND THE SPALDING ROMANCE.

It is always a surprise to those who are interested in the latter-day work to notice the manner of statement and augmentation adopted by certain religious writers who make attempts to account for the origin of the Book of Mormon and the rise of the church, organized April 6, 1830.

As a specimen of what is referred to above, we quote from a tract written by Reverend D. J. McMillan, D. D. It is one of a series headed, "Social Service. Series D. -- Anti-Mormon," published at 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York. "Historical Sketch of Mormonism."

Under the subhead, ITS ORIGIN, on page 5, referring to Sidney Rigdon, this Reverend McMillan writes:

Then he was for a time pastor of an independent church in Pittsburg, and making the book-store and publishing house of Patterson and Lambdin a place of frequent resort, became somewhat familiar with their business. Among the manuscripts was a novel written by Solomon Spaulding, and called "The Manuscript Found." He advanced the theory that the Indians in this country descended from two colonies, one of which came from the Tower of Babel, the other many centuries later from Jerusalem. Mr. Spaulding died without having his novel published. Mr. Rigdon became deeply interested in this novel and must have copied it and changed it by introducing many passages of scripture so as to make it appear to be a revelation from God. But his stay in Pittsburg was short. He started westward on an independent mission. He preached that the latter days were at hand, and that God was about to reveal new truth to his chosen few. He soon had a flourishing church near Mentor, Ohio,"

We italicise the above quotation from the word must to the word revelation for the purpose of emphasizing the cool manner in which it is assumed that Patterson and Lambdin had a manuscript novel written by Solomon Spalding, and the equally cool and easy assumption that Sidney Rigdon "must have copied it."

This bare assumption is taken as proof that the supposed writing of Solomon Spalding called the "Manuscript Found," had been duly identified and proved to have been written by Reverend Spalding, to have come into possession of Messrs. Patterson and Lambdin and there to have been copied by Sidney Rigdon, pastor of an independent church in Pittsburg. Instead of establishing such a line of sequent events as this, by proofs, the ground is covered by assumption. Mr. Rigdon "must have copied it." That is decidedly clever,

Mr. Rigdon says, No; but Reverend McMillan, says, Yes; and, of course, what Reverend McMillan says goes in orthodox circles, for is he not a very reverend gentleman?

Not satisfied with the suppositions above stated, the Reverend McMillan presents the second line of suppositious statement, as follows.

The family of Joseph Smith claims to be of Scotch extraction and to have lived in New England ever since 1700. The mother of Joseph was a fortune-teller. Both parents were illiterate and superstitious. They were among the people in Vermont who, during the first decade of the present century, followed a strange delusion under the leadership of one Wingate. By the use of an instrument which they called "St. John's Rod" the followers of this impostor claimed to be able to discover gold, silver, currents of water under ground, and medicinal roots and herbs, and to cure all manner of diseases. Like the victims of all such delusions they banked with unlimited impudence upon the "Lost Tribes of Israel," and promised a gathering of the favored people of God, and a "Latter-day Glory" far exceeding the glory of former days. The whole movement proved to be a scheme of a band of swindlers. Wingate, the leader, was arrested, but escaped from justice, and the movement came to an end.

Joseph's birth occurred at a time when the Wingate movement was at its height. Ten years later his parents removed to Palmyra, New York. Here Joseph grew up in a home without refinement. His parents were ignorant, indolent, and intemperate. He had health and strength, an active mind and a vivid imagination. Being without school advantages he followed his own crude ideas. He was fascinated with the wild romance of Captain Kidd, and with a company of youthful followers he would hunt at night for buried money in the fields about his father's home. He is said to have had a religious turn of mind, and during a revival he was exercised very deeply on the subject. His imagination, his superstitions, and his religious excitement combined to create wonderful visions in his untutored mind. He was about fifteen years of age when he began to see visions and dream dreams. These experiences continued through seven years. During four years of this period Joseph was absent from his father's house seeking employment in various capacities, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. His movements for two years can not be definitely traced. But during his absence he was for a time in the employ of Wm. H. Sabine, at whose house the widow of Reverend Solomon Spaulding, was making her home. In the garret of the house was stowed away in an old trunk Mr. Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" referred to above, which she had received from the Pittsburg publisher after Mr. Spaulding's death. Soon after Joseph's return to his father's home, he was visited by Rigdon, from Mentor, Ohio. Whether they had met during Joseph's absence, we do not know. The two doubtless became known to each other through a mutual friend, Mr. Parley P. Pratt, who was a traveling tinker and a preacher of some ability. Mr. Pratt plied his two-fold vocation between Palmyra, New York and Mentor, Ohio. He knew and admired Mr. Rigdon, -- indeed was frequently a member of his congregation. After this visit of Mr. Rigdon's -- which was early in the summer of 1827, Joseph said that he was told in dreams and visions, that he was chosen of the Lord to be a great prophet to restore the Gospel which had been taken from the world many centuries ago. He went so far as to declare that an angel came into his room at midnight, awoke him and read to him five chapters of the Bible, and afterward took him to a hill which he called Cummorah. The hill is four miles from Palmyra, and is at present the property of Admiral Sampson. There Joseph claims to have discovered the wonderful plates, and unearthed them by the help of the angel. He describes the plates as bound by rings, in the form of a book, and concealed in a stone crypt or vault where they had been hidden from this wicked world 1,400 years. The plates he says were four inches wide and eight inches long, and about the thickness of an ordinary sheet of tin, forming a book about six inches thick.

This second supposition makes Joseph Smith to have access to this very celebrated "Manuscript Found," while an "illiterate, unlearned boy," barely turned twelve years of age while at work for a brief period in the family of Mr. Sabine, a relative of Mrs. Spalding, the said manuscript being in a small hair trunk at Mr. Sabine's house, having been returned to Mrs. Spalding at Mr. Spalding's death. Mr. Spalding died at Amity, Pennsylvania, in 1816. Joseph Smith was born at the close of the year 1805, December 23; so that, if the manuscript was returned to Mrs. Spalding in a reasonable time after her husband's death, it would be during 1816, when Joseph Smith would be but eleven years old, when he had access to said hair trunk. This supposition is too glaringly inconsistent to be entitled to a moment's belief.

In order to connect Sidney Rigdon with this second line of supposition it is assumed that he visited Joseph Smith in New York in 1827. Of this suppositious visit no proof has ever been made. But Reverend McMillan treats it as a matter established, and therefore reasons from it as a proved fact. It is a most unreliable and mischievous way of reasoning, and such men as Reverend McMillan should be ashamed to resort to it.

This second line starts out with a falsehood. The family of Joseph Smith does not claim a Scotch origin; for it traces back to one Robert Smith from England, and his wife, and locates them in New Hampshire, in 1631.

Again, the family were not followers of one Wingate and Reverend McMillan places him in the narrative with an evidence.

Reverend McMillan dignified the common "witch hazel" "divining rod," in use all over the country in the region and time when and where the Smiths lived, and which is even now used in frontier places to locate wells, underground streams, and among superstitious miners to locate veins of metal, as being "St. John's Rod," a name we never heard it given before. But Reverend McMillan should know that Joseph Smith was neither the first nor the last who has tried to find Captain Kidd's reputed buried treasure, or to find water or mineral wealth. We have no knowledge that Joseph Smith ever did such a thing, but if he did, what of it? Was it a crime?ĘDid Farmer Stoal, for whom Joseph Smith worked, break any law of God or man searching for minerals in the hills of Pennsylvania> Surely no.

In all that supposed labor and superstitious hunting after water and metals, there was no mixing of religious fervor concerning the "Lost Tribes of Israel," or "The Latter-day Glory." These were an aftermath of McMillan's conjecture. The movements of Joseph Smith from his birth to his death have been kept record of, and no two years elapsed without his whereabouts being traced by those interested in him, or whose duty or pleasure it was to know of him and what he was doing.

But this interval of "two years" is clearly an invention to furnish a provocation for the supposition that during it Joseph Smith copied the Manuscript Found in the possession of Mrs. Spalding, while that good lady was living at W. H. Sabine's place, and to allow for a possible concoction of the Book of Mormon scheme.

Reverend McMillan remarks: "The two doubtless became known to each other through a mutual friend, Parley P. Pratt, who was a traveling tinker, and a preacher of some ability."

Reverend McMillan supposes it by his "doubtless;" that is, it is not to be doubted, and therefore it is so, authenticated and proved.

Elders Rigdon and P. P. Pratt agree that they two met after the Book of Mormon was in print, Pratt being the one who presented the printed volume to Elder Rigdon in the fall of 1830, after its publication.

It is not a little curious that there has not yet been a definite settling upon one or the other of these suppositious origins for the Book of Mormon, and we can only account for it upon the hypothesis that the man did, who, while hunting, saw a calf which he thought might be a deer, so he took aim and shot at it, as he afterward said, "In such a way as to miss it if it was a calf, but hit it if it was a deer."


Note 1: Rev. McMillan's telling of the story of Joseph Smith, Jr. having once worked for Solomon Spalding's brother-in-law, William Harvey Sabine, is not especially convincing. Neither is the story that the youthful Joseph then stole a Spalding manuscript from Sabine's house. This tale has long been a part of the traditional lore in the extended Spalding family. It crops up as early as 1851, in the article "The Yankee Mahomet." There the writer quotes Spalding's widow as saying: "In 1817, the year subsequent to my husband's death, I removed to Onondaga county, in New-York, and from thence to Hartwick, Otsego county, in the same State, having with me a trunk containing his writings. At time latter place I married again; and soon after went to Massachusetts. From 1817 to 1820 the trunk remained at Onondaga Hollow. After my marriage in 1820, it was removed to Hartwick, where it remained until 1832. A man of the name of Smith was, between 1823 and 1827, frequently seen prowling round the house without any ostensible object, so suspicious were his maneuvers, that he was once or twice arrested as a common vagabond, and only escaped the penalties of the law by running away." To this the reporter adds: "Mrs. Spaulding, at the time of giving this testimony, was old, and family misfortunes had impaired her memory, so as to destroy her recollection of the smaller circumstances attendant upon the removal of the trunk. She remembers, however, that the above-mentioned trunk contained quite a number of writings, at the time when she left it at Onondaga hollow; and although no one was known to have visited it between 1817 and 1832, it was found, by examination in the latter year, to contain but one manuscript, and that unimportant. The fact that Smith was near this vicinity and engaged in questionable business at the time, during which his revelations were in course of preparation, seems therefore, in connection with the others above mentioned, to show that he himself purloined the manuscript..."

Note 2: Ellen E. Dickinson, the grand-daughter of William Harvey Sabine, presented the definitive (though thoroughly unconvincing) rendition of this old family tradition in her 1885 book New Light on Mormonism. Even if it could be established that Joseph Smith, Jr. (or Joseph Smith, Sr. -- or any Joe named "Smith") ever frequented Mr. Sabine's farm in Onondaga County, it boggles even the wildest of imaginations, to think that the Palmyra Smiths ended up with the same Spalding manuscript as did Sidney Rigdon, and that Rigdon and the Smiths later met, found they both had the story, and so they used their two copies of Spalding's fictional history to create the Book of Mormon.

EDITORIAL.

MR.  MAHAFFEY'S  RARE (?)  DISCOVERY.

We have lately received clippings from various papers giving an account of how one Rev. J. E. Mahaffey, of Granitesville, South Carolina, has discovered (?) the origin of the Book of Mormon. Dispatches from Columbia, South Carolina, report Mr. Mahaffey as having made the following statements over his signature. We quote from the Globe-Democrat for September 29.

The age of strange things has not passed away. When Mormonism was first organized and the Book of Mormon circulated in Conneaut, Ohio, many of the friends and acquaintances of Reverend Solomon Spalding affirmed that it was the writings of that gentleman, who had been dead about fourteen years. Attempts were made to secure his writings at that time and compare them with the Book of Mormon, but either through lack of interest by proper persons, or through some trickery of the Mormons, the attempt failed its purpose and rather resulted in a victory for the Mormons.

All of Spalding's writings mysteriously disappeared, and over seventy years have passed away and nothing further of any consequence has been done in this direction. The Mormons have gone on deceiving and being deceived with Joseph Smith's tale of angels and golden plates until to-day they have a membership of nearly 500,000. During the past ten years they have gained 96,982 members. During the last year alone they gained 65,000 members in the East. They now have 2,000 missionaries in the field, and are fast becoming the most formidable element in modern civilization. They hold the balance of power in seven of the United States and are adroitly colonizing in half a dozen others.

But truth is coming to the front at last. The original Spalding manuscript has been found. It was resurrected in Honolulu, Hawaii, our now possession, and is now deposited in the library of Oberlin College, in Ohio, and through the kindness of that institution I have had the loan of it for the purpose of examination and comparison with the Book of Mormon. A careful examination of the two documents shows more than twenty features of perfect identity. Lack of space forbids their appearance here in full, but the following examples briefly stated will give an idea of how they stand. For example:

Both stories pretend to be translations or abridgments of other and more elaborate records found buried in the earth.

Both stories trace the ancestry of the American Indians from the old world, and give tragic accounts of their providential passage across the ocean to the American continent; their settlements; the rise and fall of nations; their political divisions; terrible wars, etc.

Both stories cater to the use of the same transparent stone, through which sights could be seen, hidden treasures translated, etc.

Both stories contain the same account of an army contending in battle, and painting their foreheads red in order to distinguish themselves from their enemies in times of confusing excitement.

Both stories are characterized by the same tale of a "sacred roll," which was believed to have been of divine origin, and which formed the basis of religious beliefs and teaching.

Both stories contain accounts of the discovery of other nations who had preceded them to the American continent, and that some of these other nations were in a savage state, but were soon educated and restored to civilization.

One more important feature is this: "The hieroglyphics of the "plates" described by Joseph Smith are identical with the literary style of a people described in the Spalding Romance. The identity here is perfect in every respect.

These are only a few examples of the many features of identity, some of which are threefold in detail, and will bear even the closest analytical subdivision -- all proving conclusively that either the Book of Mormon is a plagiarism of the Spalding manuscript, or the manuscript a plagiarism of the Book of Mormon. It is either the one or the other. But as a result of eight years of careful and painstaking work, I have collected abundant reliable proof that Spalding wrote and rewrote his romance on this subject several times between the years 1810 and 1816. Smith says he got in possession of his wonderful document in 1827, and had known where it was for four years previous to that time. The evidence at hand indicates that Smith appropriated a final revision of Spalding's Romance from an old hair-covered, moth-eaten trunk which was left at the residence of Mr. Sabine during Smith's employment at that place as teamster, about the year 1820, and had doubtless known where it was ever since that time.

The evidence also shows that Sidney Rigdon got possession of another copy which had been left in Patterson's printing office in Pittsburg in 1815, and a perfectly plain connection is established between those two gentlemen through the mediation of Parley Parker Pratt, showing how they finally got together and inaugurated their wonderful scheme of deception, which is undoubtedly the greatest religious fraud that has ever been perpetrated.

I wish to say, in conclusion, that I do not believe the Mormons of to-day are aware of their error. I believe they are ignorantly sincere in their beliefs and labors, and nothing I have said or done is to be construed as a refutation on the honesty or sincerity of those who are living up to the light they have. But it is our solemn duty to give them the true story of their delusion and fortify others against being led astray.

We are glad Mr. Mahaffey gives the "Mormons" credit for being honest, though ignorant of their deluded condition. But really, the presence of the "Spalding Romance" in the library of Oberlin College has been known to the majority of believers in [the] Book of Mormon for years, and we have for many years kept for sale at this office published copies of this famous "Manuscript Found," We fear Mr. Mahaffey is somewhat behind the times in his "discovery." We think, too, Mr. Mahaffey has made several errors in his figures. However, such articles as Mr. Mahaffey's are so numerous that it scarcely pays to give them any attention whatever. Our best way is to press steadily forward and pay no attention to such misrepresentations until we are compelled to.


Note 1: In its basic premises, Rev. Mahaffey's reconstruction of Mormon origins resembles that of the Reverend Duncan J. McMillan, as reported in the Aug. 6, 1902 issue of the Herald. Mahaffey's attempt to marry the story of the youthful Joseph Smith obtaining a Spalding manuscript from the William Harvey Sabine house with that of Sidney Rigdon obtaining another copy of the same manuscript in Pittsburgh remains as unconvincing as the similar attempt made by Ellen E. Dickinson in 1885.

Note 2: Rev. Mahaffey's truly remarkable innovation here is that he finds numerous points of thematic parallelism in the Oberlin Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon. A few previous writers on the subject noticed that the two texts shared some general features, but not so many as to argue for an internal relationship of their respective contents. Although Mahaffey does provide a few valid examples of thematic parallelism, his overall attempt at matching the two texts involves a considerable amount of imagination and exaggeration. Not all of his "twenty features of perfect identity" are particularly convincing. And, although Mahaffey says that "Lack of space forbids their appearance here in full," the same writer provides very little additional argument for "perfect identity" in his 1902 booklet, wherein he describes his theories and reconstructions in somewhat greater detail. One thing Mahaffey does not make very clear in his 1902 press release to the Globe-Democrat is how he gets from the text of the Oberlin document to the very different story found in the Book of Mormon, in his saying "Spalding wrote and rewrote his romance on this subject several times between the years 1810 and 1816." In his 1902 booklet Mahaffey gives a more comprehendable explanation of this theory: "As proven by abundant testimony, a part of which will be noticed later, Spalding adopted the literary style of the Bible in re-writing his story according to the new plot, which dated back into Bible times and really pretended that it was a continuation of the Bible from the times of Zedekiah."

Note 3: Although Charles A. Shook does not cite Mahaffey's work, it is likely that the RLDS apostate saw this article in the Herald and that it served as an inspiration in Shook's own 1914 compilation of thematic parallels between the two works. Shook's list of parallels was studied and expanded in 1931 by Mr. M. D. Bown, a graduate student at Brigham Young University. Another researcher, James Bales, working independently of Bown, built upon Shook's foundation and published a similar list of thematic parallels (Seventy-Five "Points of Similarity") in 1958. These are just a few of the numerous attempts by various writers to compare and contrast the two texts over the years since Mahaffey's "rare discovery." One of the more recent attempts to demonstrate a direct connection between the Oberlin manuscript and the Book of Mormon is Vernal Holley's small volume Book of Mormon Authorship. Holley essentially adopts Mahaffey's theories and brings them up to date, adding new examples of thematic parallelism and discussing their possible importance. Holley, however, goes beyond Mahaffey and most other writers by compiling numerous examples of phraseology shared by the two texts.

Note 4: The Latter Day Saint response to all of these attempts to point out textual resemblance between the writings of Solomon Spalding and the story told in the Book of Mormon has been consistent: "pay no attention to such misrepresentations until we are compelled to." One rare instance in which a Mormon writer broached this topic in print was Dr. Hugh Nibley's 1959 article "The Comparative Method." There the well-known LDS apologist says: "Recently a Protestant minister pointed to 75 resemblances between the Book of Mormon and the Manuscript Story. None of them alone is worth anything, but his position is that there are so many that, taken altogether, they must be significant... [but] What kind of parallels are these? Seventy-five or seven hundred fifty, its all the same -- such stuff adds up to nothing."

"A  STAR  IN  THE  WEST."

After the McDowell-Bridwell debates, Bro. A. B. Kirkendall, of Creola, Ohio, thought it advisable to be in possession of Boudinot's work, "A Star in the West," issued in 1816, "Archaeologia Americana" (American Archaeology), issued in 1820 [sic]. and "View of the Hebrews," by Ethan Smith, issued in its second edition in 1825. By an extended effort, and paying a pretty good price, he secured them. As they are rare works now I thought something as to their contents might be of value, if the issue in the ever-continuing conflict shall be from Mr. Bridwell's position; and perhaps, otherwise. In the brief on Boudinot, in reference to Bridwell's arraignment of P. P. Pratt, Bro. A. B. Kirkendall's opinion is that quotation marks have been made to include, what was intended by Pratt, as his own language, summing up traditions in a way. This seems quite possible.

Interest centers in these briefs, in a measure, at least, as the works they are upon have been used by Mr. Bridwell to show that Joseph Smith had ample from which to form the Book of Mormon. I am of the opinion (having read them) that no candid, fair-minded person could read them and the Book of Mormon, and conclude the Book of Mormon originated in such a way. It is possible, of course, Mr. Smith, or any other man might have read such works and reproduced from them; but it does not follow of necessity that such was done by Mr. Smith in the case of the Book of Mormon, though some things agree. The points of dissimilarity. leave the matter clear, in the case of the Book of Mormon. If, as Mr. Bridwell would have it, these books being so much in use, so accessible to Mr. Smith and it is so clear that he drew from them, why, oh why, was there not a Bridwell to point it out then? Fate of fates, Bridwell must have been born out of due time! So evident, yet none saw it, and Mormonism went on!

Can it be the deceased, distinguished Boudinot, first speaker of the House of Representatives, and also the first president of the American Bible Society, had no friends remaining to defend his work? Did the "American Antiquarian Society," existing by the enactment of the legislature of Massachusetts and of Congress, and composed of many of the distinguished men of the time, sit idly by, seeing Joseph Smith utilize their work, to impose on mankind, and make no objection? Ethan Smith, author of "View of the Hebrews," probably still lived in the early years of the publication of the Book of Mormon, but, if he did not, had he, too, no friends to object to the ill use of his book? Ethan Smith's book, the latest of the three, was published in 1825, or five years before the Book of Mormon. E. D. Howe published "Mormonism Unveiled" in or about 1835, ten years after Ethan Smith's work, and five years after the Book of Mormon. He snatched up at once the Spalding tale (an unpublished affair), and did not publish it because it did not read as expected -- would not answer his purpose. Hall and all the Goliaths who have opposed Mormonism in those days and all since, even down to John T. Bridwell, lost the opportunity of his recent important discovery, that from Boudinot, etc., the Book of Mormon was formed, when it would have been so easy to have shown it up from those words, so abundant as they were at the appearance of the Book of Mormon. What a compliment to the whole army of stalwarts opposing Mormonism! Even Bays saw the Spalding tale would not do, but could not see the other. Who can not see that if it were true, as Bridwell claims, scores would have seen it back in 1830, and urged it at every mention of the Book of Mormon. It would have found place in the encyclopedias and histories equal to the Spalding tale. 

The Spalding tale theory was driven to the extremity of four supposed copies, and yet this of Mr. Bridwell's still eluded the grasp of such searching theorists. Mr. Bridwell's discovery is one more boomerang -- it will do its work on the return trip.

That Mr. Bridwell found points of identity is granted. But the points of dissimilarity count most sometimes. Between an ostrich and a canary there are points in common, each having two wings, two feet, two eyes, and one beak; both are clothed with feathers, but their size and their song for ever bar their similarity. No claim of the knowledge of the existence of the Cliff-dwellers dates back as far as 1860, yet thirty years before that the Book of Mormon told of such a people in such habitations. They were the Cliff-dwellers. The continental cataclysm, which the Book of Mormon records as having occurred at the time of the crucifixion of the Savior, is borne out by incontrovertible evidences.

A continual enlargement of the evidence that some mysterious, divine personage visited the ancient Americans, an ever widening knowledge of the tradition as to the cataclysm, and that it was attended by a period of darkness, and other features attaching, do not admit of being explained away by the limited knowledge of seismic disturbances and theories concerning them at the time of the origin of the Book of Mormon.

Submarine vessels were not in use at or before 1830, nor till very recently. The first colony from Babel, the Jaredites of Book of Mormon history, came in such vessels. The physical features of South America were disclosed in such detail in the Book of Mormon as could only have been by those on the ground; that opportunity Joseph Smith did not have, neither did any existing work of his day contain it.

Ancient American hieroglyphics are similar to those of the Book of Mormon plates, and both have similarities in the Egyptian and the Hebrew.

Mr. Bridwell has only developed difficulty for himself and all who follow in his wake. He has heaped shame upon his predecessors, accusing them, as he has, of such stupidity as not to have seen what to him is so clearly a fact. Who will succeed Mr. Bridwell, and with what? 

Elias Boudinot, having been first speaker of the House of Representatives and first president of the American Bible Society, may justly be rated among the notables. He wrote a work entitled: "A Star in the West," which was published in 1816. His purpose was to prove that the American Indians were the Lost Ten Tribes. At the completion of his writing and the research it afforded, he says he was gratified to find that he is not alone in his sentiments on this unpopular subject. (Preface, page 3.)

Of his method and work of compilation: "The writer will avail himself of the best accounts given by the Spanish writers he can meet with, the histories written by our own people who first visited this land, or have since made themselves acquainted with the native inhabitants, and record anything relative to their languages, customs, manners, and habits, such as Colden, Adair, Brainerd, Edwards, Jr., . . . Beaty, Bartram and others." -- Introduction, page 29. In chapter nine as Spanish writers he quotes from Acosta, Lopes de Gamara, Lericus, Ribault, Landon, Don Antonio de Ulloa Lact, Escarbotus, Malyenda, Abbe Clavigero Emanuel de Moraes, (a Portuguese,) and others.

Chapter one takes up the Hebrew people: identity, condition, effects of bondage, the deliverance, and continuation of their history in detail. Division into Israel and Judah. Traces Israel to the last known point, from Bible and associated history. Reaches the conclusion that they crossed from Kamschatka to this continent.

Chapter two is an inquiry as to where descendants of Hebrews may be found. Evidence from Bible and such authors as favored their location on this continent is presented. William Penn's work of 1682 among them.

Chapter three is "an inquiry into the language of the American Indians." A comparative table of English, Charibee, Creek, Mohegan, and Hebrew. Summing up: "To speak in general terms, their language in their roots, idiom, and particular construction, appears to have the whole genius of the Hebrew, and what is very remarkable, and well worthy of serious observation, has most of the peculiarities of that language, especially those in which it differs from most other languages, and often both in letters and signification, synonymous with the Hebrew language."

Chapter four is entitled, "The Indian traditions as received by their nations." They hold it as a certain fact, as delivered down from their ancestors, that their forefathers, in very remote ages, came from a far-distant country, by the way of the west." -- Page 109.

"It is said, among their principal, or beloved men, that they have it handed down from their ancestors, that the book which the white people have was once theirs. That while they had it they prospered exceedingly; but that the white people bought it of them, and learned many things from it; while the Indians lost their credit, offended the great spirit, and suffered exceedingly from the neighboring nations. That the great spirit took pity on them and directed them to this country. That on their way they came to a great river, which they could not pass, when God dried up the waters and they passed over dry shod. They also say that their forefathers were possessed of an extraordinary divine spirit by which they foretold future events, and controlled the common course of nature, and this they transmitted to their offspring, on condition of their obeying the sacred laws. That they did by these means bring down showers of plenty on the beloved people. But that this power, for a long time past, had entirely ceased," -- Pages 110, 111.

"They have a tradition that in the beginning of this continent, the angels or heaven;y inhabitants, as they call them, frequently visited the people and talked with their forefathers, and gave directions how to pray, and how to appease the great being when he was offended," -- Page 115.

"Can any man read this short account of Indian traditions drawn from tribes of various nations, from the west to the east, and from the south to the north, wholly separated from each other, written by authors of the best characters, both for knowledge and integrity, possessing the best means of information, at various and distant times, without any possible communication with each other, and in one instance from ocular and sensible demonstrations; written on the spot in several instances, with the relaters before them; and yet suppose that all this is either the effect of chance, accident, or design, from a love of the marvelous or a premeditated intuition of deceiving, and thereby ruining their own well-established reputations?" -- Page 116.

"Adair lived forty years entirely domesticated with the southern Indians, and was a man of learning and great observation. Just before the Revolutionary War he brought his manuscript to Elizabeth-Town, in New Jersey, to William Livingston, Esq., ( a neighbor of the writer,) to have it examined and corrected, which was prevented by the troubles of a political nature just breaking out." -- Page 117.

Mr. Boudinot next gives the creditable standing of Brainerd, Edwards, Beatty, Bartram, and M'Kenzie as authors cited and reaches the conclusion it is most reasonable the Indians are "the lost tribes of Israel." The chapter concludes with the supposed arrival here by way of Behring Strait.

Chapter five is entitled: "Their general character and established customs and habits."

The names of tribes then known are tabulated alphabetically. No Stockbridge tribe appears. Kirkland's Indian census is thus referred to: "In 1790 he made a census of the whole number of Indian inhabitants then remaining, including in addition those who reside on Grand River, in Canada, and the Stockbridge and Botherton Indians, who had lately joined them." -- Page 183. Another similar reference is found on page 255; they do not, however, indicate a Stockbridge tribe, but refer to Indians who were resident at Stockbridge,

Adair is quoted on color: "He thinks the Indian color to be the effect of climate, art, and manner of living," -- Page 187,

"Robertson, again speaking of the war in New England, between Connecticut and Providence, in their first attempt against the Pequod Indians, says, 'The Indians had secured their town, which was on a rising ground in a swamp, with palisades." -- Page 140. The evidence throughout the chapter support Hebraic descent.

Chapter six is on "Religious rites and ceremonies of the Indians." It presents their worship of the great spirit and religious ceremonies after the Mosaic institution.

Chapter seven, entitled, "Their worship and religious opinions," deals with five feasts,

"The Indians, in general, keep the following religious feasts and festivals: First, their Feast of First-fruits, and after it, on the evening of the same day, one something like the Passover. Second, the Hunter's Feast, like that of Pentecost. Third, the Feast of Harvest and the day of expiation of sin. Fourth, a daily sacrifice. Fifth, a Feast of Love," -- Page 205. All of these appear to be fashioned after those of the Hebrews, if they are not those of the Hebrews continued. Boudinot accepts them as strong evidence.

Chapter eight, "Miscellaneous facts omitted," adds matter and evidence along the chosen line.

Chapter nine is devoted to the recital of Spanish authors in confirmation of what had been otherwise set forth.

Chapter ten presents a high degree of mortality and character, as quite common to Indians before corrupted by the white man.

Chapter eleven, "Separation of the Indian women," of but two pages, presenting another feature of the Mosaic institution.

Chapter twelve, "The conclusion." A retrospect of evidence presented assures Mr. Boudinot the Indiana are the lost Ten Tribes.

The foregoing is written to give an idea to those who may wish it, what this rare work contains, and to show quotations made from pages 106, 110, 111, 115, and 116, as they are, so it can be seen that those in the Voice of Warning, pages 81 and 82, while they are not all exactly verbatim, present the facts about as they are.

Mr. Bridwell in the Arena states that Boudinot said: "That the book which the white people have was once theirs," while Pratt had it, "such a book as." How Pratt got it in that form, we can not say, but it is hardly as serious as Mr. Bridwell would have it.

Mr. Bridwell next refers to the quotation on page 106 of Boudinot, and explodes the narrative of the "aged Indian of the Stockbridge tribe." But this had been done, in a letter nine years ago, from Middleton, Ohio, June 2, 1894, to the HERALD, by the writer. The story, of the "aged Indian of the Stockbridge tribe," does not occur in Boudinot's "Star in the West;" neither is it to be found elsewhere that I know of; but on page 223, "View of the Hebrews," Doctor West of Stockbridge, gave the following information: "An old Indian informed him that his fathers in this country had not long since had a book which they had for long time preserved. But having lost the knowledge of reading it, they concluded it would be of no further use to them; and they buried it with an Indian chief."

Parley Pratt introduces the quotation used, thus: "Mr. Boudinot in his able work, remarks concerning their language," "concerning their language." The forty-seven words or first sentence of which Mr. Bridwell says: "The first half of it consisting of forty-seven words, is entirely right." Albeit he did not see the twenty-ninth word, "attention," as Pratt has it, is "Observation" in Boudinot. These forty-seven words are "concerning their language" the rest on traditions. Put quotation marks there and call the balance of Pratt's comment, as it is tradition, now he branches out and probably drew from his general information, and got matters mixed. This may explain it. If Pratt's first publication is to be had, it may be found to be so. Anyway, Mr. Bridwell was not the first to discover the error and call attention to it.

The changes that appear in the punctuation are of a character that imply change from earlier method.

The changes in phraseology, while to be regretted, do not to an unbiased mind change the material facts. It is likely too, that access to the first edition would reduce the irregularities.

Ethan Smith in "View of the Hebrews," page 93, quoting Boudinot on language, from 106 of "A Star of the West," leaves out six words, not indicating it in any way whatever and adding "it."

Haines in his book, "The American Indian," page 101, adds an "a" to "language," an "s" to "idiom," omits the six words Smith did, without indicating it, inserts "have" for "has" and like Smith closes at a comma, making it a period. But all the main facts remain.

                            R. ETZENHOUSER.

Note: This article marks the introduction of the "Ethan Smith theory" into the study of Mormon origins, at least insofar as any notice of it by the Saints is concerned. This was almost half a century before Fawn M. Brodie popularized the theory. For a very early mention of Ethan Smith in connection with the origin of the Book of Mormon, see the Apr. 18, 1887 issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. For a source linking Ethan Smith to the Book of Mormon that is contemporary with Etzenhouser's article, see I. Woodbridge Riley's 1903 book The Founder of Mormonism.

THE  SPALDING  THEORY  AGAIN.

THE  MORMON  BIBLE.

A subscriber sends a leaf from a paper published in 1881, containing a history of the Book of Mormon. We published the same thing when it appeared about that date, and afterwards republished it. It is undoubtedly the true history of the Mormon Bible.

The facts briefly stated, are these: In 1812, Reverend Solomon Spalding, a retired minister, and a man of scientific and literary culture after investigating certain prehistoric mounds in Northern Ohio and finding human skeletons of unusual size, wrote a book, a romance, in which he dealt with the early peopling of America, and connected its prehistoric inhabitants with the lost tribes of Israel. This book was for a long time in the hands of a Pittsburg printer who, however, declined to publish it. In the employ of this printer was Sidney Rigdon, since famous as a Mormon elder. Years afterwards Joseph Smith published the book, alleging that he had found it on gold plates in a mound to which he was divinely directed. The book was recognized by persons who had read Mr. Spalding's manuscript. Quite a number testified to the identity of this book. Mr. Spalding's wife and daughter testified to it -- the manuscript being still in their possession. They had heard Mr. Spalding read it aloud. They further testified that at a later date certain persons claiming to have been identified with the Mormon Church, but anxious to learn the truth in regard to the manuscript, asked the privilege of comparing it with Smith's Mormon Bible, and that they allowed them to take it, and had never been able to recover it.

All this was set forth in Scribner's Magazine about a quarter of a century ago, and has never been answered. No one who read it could doubt that the original of the Mormon Bible was the manuscript of a novel prepared by Reverend Solomon Spalding, a copy of which came into the hands of Joseph Smith, who palmed it on the public as a divine revelation -- Herald and Presbyter, August 5, 1903.

It seems strange that after all which has been presented to show the falsity of the Spalding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon, such articles as the above will appear in papers like the above quoted. We presume it is simply because the editors refuse to examine the evidence in the case. Desiring to believe the Book of Mormon a fraud and a base deception, they rest content in their examination when they have once read the Spalding theory, no matter how flimsy the fabric of the "yarn." For years we have been presenting facts to the public which completely disprove the Spalding theory, yet for some reason the story still lives.

Twenty-five years ago it was "set forth in Scribner's Magazine," says the Herald and Presbyter, "and has never been answered." On the contrary, it has been answered time after time. It is not at all unlikely that it has been answered in Scribner's. We venture the guess that should an answer be sent to Scribner's it would be refused space. The editors of the Herald and Presbyter are content to repeatedly present to their readers the old, worn-out, weak theory, and it is not likely that Scribner's would care to present to its readers the real truths in the matter any more than do the editors of the Presbyter.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Editorial

IS  THE  EARTH  HOLLOW?

There has come to our desk a copy of The Phantom of the Poles (Walter S. Rockey Company, Publishers, New York), a book of about two hundred and eighty pages, written by William Reed, who advances the theory, and brings forth numerous arguments to sustain it, that the earth is hollow, that the poles, or places where the poles are supposed to be, are openings into the interior of the earth, the opening at the north pole being about a thousand miles in diameter, and that at the south pole fifteen hundred miles, giving his reasons in a clear and convincing way for these conclusions.

Mr. Reed says:

I claim that the earth is not only hollow, but that all, or nearly all, of the explorers have spent much of their time past the turning point, and have had a look into the interior of the earth...

All school children are taught, in their first lessons in geography, that the earth is nearly round, but that it is flattened at the poles. No very clear reason is assigned for the flattening. Mr. Reed's theory explains it, as the openings to the earth's interior would necessarily give it the appearance of being flattened. A sphere can not be made round, and have a hole in it. Among the evidences presented by Mr. Reed to sustain his theory, are:

1. The action of the compass. He says:

If the earth be hollow, what is expected of the compass? Any one knowing anything about a compass knows that as soon as a ship begins to turn, the needle will tip up as far as it can... Greely proved that when the needle was suspended... at 90 degrees [north] it would be erect. That is just what would be expected if they were nearly at the turning, or farthest point north. On the explanation that the earth is hollow, the needle worked just as it should have...

2. The appearance of the aurora borealis, which he claims arises from one of three causes, active volcanoes in the interior of the earth, great forest or prairie fires in the interior, or the reflection and re-reflection of the sun as it shines into the opening at one pole and is reflected out the other...


Globe showing a section of the Earth's interior.

3. The fact that explorers so often found rock, gravel, sand, and coal on the ice. No possible way for it to get there except by volcanic force. No volcanoes on the outside of the earth from which they could come, hence they must come from the interior...

4. The great amount of volcanic dust composed of carbon and iron, which Nansen found so annoying... Where could the dust come from except from the interior of the earth?...

5. Another evidence was the open water found at the farthest point north in the Arctic regions, and the farthest point south [sic] in the Antarctic. After passing a certain point, the explorers found the climate getting milder as they neared the poles, and vegetable and animal life more abundant...

6. Musk ox and great flocks of birds abound in arctic regions in the summer months. Where do they go in winter? Not south. They must go into the interior of the earth...

7. The warm winds come from the north in winter, and the cold ones from the south. Where do the warm winds come from, if not from the interior of the earth?

8. Driftwood. Trees and other pieces of wood were found and used for fire... Reed concludes that it must have come from the interior of the earth....

9. Evidences of previous human occupancy was discovered far north. Abandoned slate houses... The huts seemed to have been occupied about two years. Whence did they come, and where did they go? The interior of the earth, possibly.

10. Colored snow covering vast areas, sometimes red, green, or yellow, and sometimes black. The black was found to be caused by carbon and iron. The red, green, and yellow were found to be caused by vegetable matter, which was believed to be the pollen of plants. Where did these plants grow? It would require millions of acres of flowers to so color such vast quantities of snow. Did it come from vast fields inside the earth?...

We have but briefly sketched the evidences advanced by Mr. Reed in support of his theory. His explanation of the formation of icebergs and tidal waves are also made to support his views. And taking into consideration the fact that no place has been found on earth where icebergs can form, or, so far as is known, where they have ever formed, there is room for his theory that they are formed at the mouths of great rivers coming from the interior of the earth, which have not yet been discovered. Glaciers are formed by falling snow which accumulates through the centuries and forms by its weight a great ice river. But at the foot of the glacier the snow or ice passes away in water, not in icebergs.

While Mr. Reed's theory is only a theory as yet, it is one that is entirely within the range of possibilities. and one which doubtless lies within the power of man to demonstrate.

Some may question the propriety of taking up space for a theory. To this we say that we do not urge it as a part of the gospel, till proved true. The gospel of course embraces all truth. And if this theory proves to be a true one, a consideration of its possibilities will prepare us for its acceptance. And so far as actual demonstration is concerned, we have as much ground for believing that the earth