THE  MORMONS.

We regret to learn that the fell spirit of persecution towards this religious denomination, which has cast such a reproach upon the people of Missouri, is taking root in our own State. We will not go so far as to call the leaders of the Mormons martyr-mongers, but we believe they are men of sufficient sagacity to profit by any thing in the shape of persecution, and fear but little from it. -- To constitute martyrdom, there must be both persecution and sympathy. And with a humane people, the latter follows the former. -- The Mormons have greatly profited by their persecution in Missouri, and let war be commenced here so that the first person shall be killed, and the cry of martyrdom is heralded throughout the Union to the great profit of the Mormons and the disgrace of our State.

But what is this Mormon religion that the intrinsic excellence of the code of our blessed Savior is insufficient to compete with it without physical force? Are we to glorify a God of infinite mercy and goodness by worshipping him as Moloch who delights in human sacrifices? Will the destruction of a few enlighten the minds of the other Mormons? -- But there is no reasoning with religious persecutors, generally the foulest hypocrites on earth, whose burning zeal for the Lord and Saviour is generally lighted up at the alter of worldly ambition. A minister, who is afraid to encounter the doctrines of Jo. Smith should be made to quit the pulpit; and the man who enlists in a personal crusade against the Mormons, who have a right to preach just what they please, should suffer the proper penalty for larceny, arson, or murder, as the case may be. Let Illinois repeat the bloody tragedies of Missouri and one or two other States follow, and the Mormon religion will not only be throughout our land, but will be very extensively embraced. We hope the friends of civil order in the Bounty Tract will extinguish this smouldering fire of persecution, knowing that a fire merely material can never do away with the intellectual darkness of the Mormons.


Note 1: According to editorial comments accompanying this article's reprint in the Feb. 1, 1841 issue of the Times & Seasons, Editor John Wentworth of the Chicago Democrat spoke out against "the cry of mobbing which was raised... by some of the lower class of community near Woodville, Adams co.," during the first part of 1840.

Note 2: The Editor of the Peoria Register was not quite so kind in his assessment of Wentworth's continuing public apologies for the Latter Day Saints. The May 27, 1842 number of that paper says: "There is but one Col. John Wentworth in Illinois -- he of the Chicago Democrat. We have had some misgivings, from his approbatory notices of the Mormons lately, that he was about to become one..."

ELDER REUBEN MILLER, styling himself "of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," has sent us a pamphlet entitled, "James J. Strang weighed in the balance of truth and found wanting -- his claims as First President of the Melechisedek Priesthood refuted." We shall not interfere in this fight. In the Voree Herald Strang says:

"All the organized branches of the Church, of which we can hear in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, acknowledge President Strang and the true order of the church. In Pennsylvania, we can hear of but one Rigdonite, and one Brighamite organization. All northern and central New York is with us. A large majority of the Saints in the New England States, New Jersey, Illinois and Iowa, are with us and the work is progressing far and wide in the Southern States and in England."


Note 1: Reuben Miller (1811-1882) joined the Mormons in northern Illinois in 1843. In Oct. 1844 he was appointed to be the local LDS bishop in the region of Ottawa, Illinois. In January of 1846 Miller met with James J. Strang, and was impressed by Strang's claims to be Joseph Smith's successor. He served briefly as Strang's senior representative at Nauvoo, but then became disaffected with the Voree Prophet and rejoined the Brighamites in October of 1846. Just before his return to the major Mormon group, Miller published his pamphlet, James J. Strang: Weighed in the Balance... at Burlington, Wisconsin Territory. It was thus the production of an ex-Brighamite, published at his own expense, but generally supportive of "the Twelve." See also Miller's 1847 more "official" anti-Strang pamphlet, Truth Shall Prevail, published under the auspices of the LDS Church.

Note 2: The excerpt from Strang's Voree Gospel Herald was taken from that periodical's issue for September of 1846.

MORMON  TROUBLES --
DEATH  OF  JOSEPH  AND  HYRAM  SMITH.

It is now rendered certain that Joseph and Hyram Smith were killed in the affray at the Carthage jail, and none others, though several were wounded. The circumstances of their death are variously represented, except that both were shot by a mob with their clothes turned wrong side out and with blackened faces. The Governor had left Carthage when all seemed quiet to go to Nauvoo.

---

          From the Quincy Whig, Extra.
                    June 28, 1844.

Dreadful  News!

ATTEMPT AT RESCUE -- KILLING OF JOE SMITH --
IN THE CARTHAGE JAIL.

(read the original report from Quincy Whig)

 

Notes: (forthcoming)

HANCOCK  TROUBLES.

                                                Head Quarters, Nauvoo, Hancock Co.,
                                                Wednesday eve, 10 o'clock, Oct. 28.
Editor Chicago Democrat:

Dear Sir; Knowing the extensive circulation of your valuable paper, and the great anxiety of the public to learn the true state of facts now existing in this county, in relation to the late difficulties, I take the liberty to give you a short sketch, of which you are at liberty to lay such extracts before your readers as you may deem proper.

In compliance with the request of His Excellency, Governor Ford, I left Rock Island on Friday last, for Nauvoo, for the purpose of rendering any assistance in my power in restoring order, enforcing the law and defending the constitutional rights of such citizens, (if any,) as had been deprived of the rights of citizenship and expelled from the county by a ruthless mob. I arrived at the place of destination on Saturday evening, where I expected to meet his excellency with a small force from Springfield, he having taken up the line of march on Tuesday previous. On my arrival, not finding the Governor here, but all in anxious expectation of his arrival, and all persons and parties freely discussing the subject of the difficulties, I thought it a most fortunate opportunity to get a true history if the whole matter (as no one knew the object of my visit) and I acted accordingly. The facts elicited are in substance as follows: When the mob got possession of the city and county the remaining few of the Mormons (with the exception of a committee who were permitted to remain and settle up the affairs of the church, dispose of property, &c.) together with such of the citizens as had rendered themselves obnoxious to the mob faction, were ordered to leave the State immediately, under penalty of death, should they refuse to obey the edict; whereupon, a large number of respectable citizens were forced from their homes and property regardless of law, and a sufficient number of the mob force stationed in Nauvoo to prevent any of the citizens who had been expelled from returning to possess their property and homes. All these facts were officially made known to the Governor. The Governor with his troops arrived at Carthage on Tuesday the 27th. Much disaffection was manifested by the citizens of Hancock at the appearance of the Governor at the head of his troops (or such of them as sanctioned the movements of the mob force) and a determination was manifested that, if the Governor should reinstate any citizens who had been driven out by the mob, they should be suffered to stay no longer than they are protected by an armed force and as soon as the State troops are withdrawn they will force such citizens forthwith to leave the county. On the other hand those who have been expelled from their homes are returning and earnestly claiming the protection of the Governor. His Excellency called a meeting of the citizens at the court house last evening and addressed them in a mild but impressive manner upon the necessity of preserving peace, observing the laws and respecting the rights of their fellow citizens. After the Governor retired from the meeting, a chairman was appointed in the person of Thos. S. Brockman from Bureau county, the commander of the mob forces. Some speeches were made and resolutions passed, but rather in a mild tone. A committee of five were appointed by the meeting consisting, as near as I could learn, of the principal leaders of the mob, to wait on the Governor this morning to express to him the sense of the meeting and their determination to prevent all who had been expelled from returning and remaining in the county. This morning the committee waited on the Governor at his quarters, but his excellency wisely refused to confer with the committee, assuring them he could recognize no such organization. At eleven o'clock, A.M. the Governor took up his line of march for Nauvoo and arrived here at 4 o'clock P. M. and encamped near the river a short distance from the foot of Main Street. Officers and soldiers all in good health and fine spirits and determined to stand by the Governor in carrying out any measures he may see proper to adopt to accomplish the grand object of the campaign.

What the result will be, I am unable to judge, but sincerely hope all difficulty may be settled without any further trouble. One thing however, is certain -- that all the leaders of the mob are guilty of treason. But the fact is, they have it all their own way. It would be absolutely impossible to enforce the law against one of them, or even to get them indicted in this county, as all who opposed them were expelled from the county. So if a prosecution should be commenced against them, they would virtually sit in judgment on their own case, and as there is no law by which the prosecution can change the venue, it is a perfect open and shut case.

You shall hear from me as often as I can give you any important news.
          I am, very respectfully yours,           R. B.

---

                                    Oct. 29, 10 o'clock, A. M.
Much disaffection manifested this morning by the mobocrats. They are threatening to give the Governor a fight. But they can't scare him. The boys will stand by him to the last, although the Governor's force would be less than one half that of the mob. They have five pieces, while the Governor has but two.


Notes: (forthcoming)

BEAVER ISLAND. -- We understand that the North-west Fishing Company is in negotiation with a body of Mormons for the sale of a portion of land on Beaver Island, belonging to that company. The Mormons, it is said, design to build a city there.

Beaver Island is situated in Lake Michigan, about fifty miles south westerly from Mackinao [sic - Mackinaw?]. It is said to possess a good climate. The soil is sandy. The fisheries about it are exceedingly valuable. It is understood that the Mormons desire a location where they will not be troubled by neighbors. -- Rochester American.

---

MORMONS. -- There is a flare up among the Mormons. Bill Smith has fallen out with Strang. He accuses the latter of duplicity. -- Strang promised a great endowment to five or six of the brethren, on condition they would build him a house. When they claimed the promise, he took them into a dark room, having previously rubbed their heads with oil and phosphorous! This was the endowment. -- Bill Smith, however, being something of a natural philosopher, and not much of a natural fool as Strang suspected, rebelled and made light of parson Strang's miracle.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Experiments have been made upon the properties of the water of Salt Lake, Utah, for preserving meat, by Mr. Stansbury and his associates. A large piece of fresh beef was suspended from a cord and immersed in the lake for over 12 hours, when it was found to be tolerably well cured. After this, all the meat they wished to be preserved was packed into barrels without any salt whatever, and the vessels were then filled with lake water. No further care or preparation was necessary, and the meat remained perfectly sweet, although constantly exposed to the atmosphere and sun. They are obliged to mix fresh water with the brine to prevent the meat becoming to salt for present use. --


Notes: (forthcoming)

The  Latter  Day  Saints.

Plano, Kendall Co., Ill., March 20, 1866. 

Editors Chicago Tribune:

In your paper of the 16th inst. there appears to have been an attempt made to give a correct description of the character and doctrines of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and of their President, Joseph Smith, the son of Joseph the Martyr; but on two important points your description is erroneous. Some unimportant errors I shall not notice.

In your article it is represented that "the chief of the Illinois Mormons looks upon the Golden Book only as a supplement to the Bible, while the Utah Mormons worship it as the Bible itself." The Reorganized Church does not call the Book of Mormon the "Golden Book." They hold that the Book of Mormon is as sacred and as divinely inspired as the Bible.

Brigham Young is so far from worshipping the Book of Mormon and the Bible, that he has often taught that these books are as children's clothes, and that they have outgrown them and have no need of them. He and all his polygamist followers disobey all the teachings of the Book of Mormon, of which the following is a specimen:

"Harken to the word of the Lord, for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none." Book of Jacob, ii. vi.

The other error in your article is in saying "while the latter (Utah Mormons) style themselves Latter Day Saints, the former are contented with the title of Mormons." Now the truth is, that we style ourselves "Latter Day Saints," and we hold that when we are called Mormons we are nicknamed.

ISAAC SHEEN.     

Notes: (forthcoming)

The  MORMON  CHURCH.
________

To the Editor of the Detroit Tribune:
Noticing in your yesterday's edition, a paragraph referring to a Mr. Spaulding, the originator of the Mormon Bible, or the Book of Mormon, I have thought a few facts relating to the early history of the "Church of Latter Day Saints" might be interesting to your readers. The paragraph referred to states that Mr. Spaulding, at his leisure, and simply for amusement, wrote the fictitious narrative, which, after having been shown to a "Mr. Redon," was ultimately altered and changed into the book of faith, under which teaching the Mormon Church was founded. The writer of this was present, and attended the celebrated discussion on Mormonism in the city of New York, in 1836 or 1837, between Origen Bachelor and Parley P. Pratt, then one of the Elders of the Mormon Church. In that discussion, which excited much interest, Mr. Bachelor proved the following facts:

First -- That a Mr. Solomon Spaulding, an unsuccessfu; merchant, but a man of refinement and literary abilities, with the view of retrieving his losses in trade, conceived the idea of writing a historical novel, and entitled the same the "Aborigines of America, or the Lost Manuscript Found." It was also shown that Mr. Spaulding had taken much interest in reading and investigating the discoveries made by Stephens and others in Central America, and that the remains of ancient cities there discovered, led him to select the subject of the ancient inhabitants of America as the foundation of his novel.

Secondly -- The fact was established, beyond a doubt, in the minds of all rational hearers, that Mr. Spaulding, being poor, and unable to publish his novel when finished, applied to one Sydney Rigdon (afterwards a prominent elder in the church), who was a friend of Spaulding's and a printer in Pennsylvania, to assist him in the publication of his work. Rigdon examined the manuscript and consented, having discovered in it great literary merit and an interesting theme calculated to make the copyright, in which he was to share, very valuable.

Thirdly -- Just at this period Spaulding died, and Rigdon, who was a friend and acquaintance of Joseph Smith, the juggler, and a "Micawber" who was "waiting for something to turn up," showed it to Smith. Smith being an unscrupulous genius, having read the manuscript, declared it to be the greatest production of the age, and immediately communicated to Rigdon the idea of converting Spaulding's novel into a bible or book of faith for a new church. Both being of an adventurous turn of mind, Rigdon consented, and immediately the two commenced the preparation of the stone plates, which were buried and afterward discovered and disinterred at Mt. Moriah, in the State of New York, by Joseph Smith. Before the discovery of said plates Smith began to claim certain mysterious powers of prophecy, that he had been directed in a vision to Mt. Moriah, where the plates were deposited, and which, when discovered, were to be shed upon the world, a new light, and bring man to a true knowledge of the past and his future destiny.

Fourthly -- That on a certain day appointed, as in his vision directed, Smith, accompanied by certain witnesses, proceeded to Mt. Moriah, and disinterred the plates; but according to his story, just as he was about to raise them from the ground, Satan appeared, and violently hurled Smith from the spot. Undaunted, however, he returned, and brought them to the light. When this was done, the witnesses were astonished at beholding mysterious and unknown characters engraven upon the plates. The mysterious record, Smith declared he had been told in a vision how to reveal to them; that he had been directed to a neighboring brook, where he would find an all-seeing stone, through which, if he looked, the mysterious characters upon the plates would appear as plain and as easily understood as the letters of the alphabet.

This curious stone, having been discovered by Smith, he declared that the book was to be revealed to him by chapters, and that Sidney Rigdon had been designated as his scribe. Smith then, under directions in his vision, retired for stated periods, and when he had committed the first chapter of Spaulding's novel (which had been altered to suit his purpose) to memory, he looked through the stone in the presence of witnesses, and interpreted the first chapter, while Rigdon wrote the same down.

This process was continued until the book of Mormon and the book of Moroni were completed. These facts, by much labor and investigation, Mr. Bachelor established, and he also showed that, when the Mormon Bible appeared and was shown to Mrs. Spaulding, the wife of the author, she immediately recognized in its pages the novel of her husband, which he had submitted to her while composing, and to prove the identity Mr. Bachelor established the fact, in a pamphlet published by him at the time, (and which I cannot now find, though I kept it for many years), that Mrs. Spaulding, in the presence of witnesses, had repeated from memory whole chapters of the Mormon Bible without looking upon its pages.

Mr. Bachelor also referred to the fact that Professor Anthon, of Columbia College, to whom the Mormon plates were submitted for an opinion as to the characters thereon, had declared the same to be composed of Greek, Hebrew, Persian, and other characters, engraved upside down, and so interwoven with each other as to mean nothing, and to convey no intelligible thought, evidently having been so arranged and engraved for the purpose of deception and confusion. To these various facts and charges, poor Parley P. Pratt made a feeble reply, and utterly failed to controvert the proofs produced by Mr. Bachelor; to which facts the witnesses were then nearly all living.


Note: See the original publication of this letter, in the Feb. 1, 1872 issue of the Detroit Tribune, for further information and comments.

MOUNTAIN  MEADOW.
______

The American St. Bartholomew's
Day -- Sept. 17, 1857.
______

"The Destroying Angels of Mormondom, Headed by Bishop Lee,
Utterly Exterminate an Emigrant Party.
______

Realization of Their Epitaph -- "Vengeance is Mine,
I Will Repay, Saith the Lord."
______

After Seventeen Years of Prosperous Immunity,
the Fiend Lee is Called to Account.
______

His Arrest a Few Days Since and Its Attendant Circumstances.
______

He Will Confess the Whole Plot --
Brigham Young Gave the Orders.
______

The Miserable Downfall of a Rotten
"Prophet" Near at Hand.
______

(Special Correspondence of the Inter-Ocean.)

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 14, 1874.    

Early in the spring of 1857 an emigration party was formed in the State of Arkansas, comprising one hundred abd nineteen souls -- from the little infant to the aged, whose purpose it was to found a town or settlement somewhere west of the Rocky Mountains, perhaps in California.

These people were well-to-do in the world, wrre nearly all related to each other, and were well provided with all the comforts of this world, well furnished with horses, carriages, etc., etc., besides being well supplied with money. They traveled across the plains leisurely, stopping by the way every Sunday, and observing faithfully the Sabbath day in religious worship.

Late in the month of August of the same summer they reached the valley of the Sainst and encamped just out of the city of Salt Lake, on the banks of the River Jordan.

Here they remained about two weeks, endeavoring to purchase fresh stock and provisions, to enable them to complete their proposed journey. To their surprise they found it

IMPOSSIBLE TO BUY ANYTHING OF THE MORMONS.

It was said Brigham Young had forbidden his people selling them anything whatever. The reason that has been given for this was, that an apostle by the name of Pratt was shot by an Arkansas man.

When they found that endeavor was useless they concluded to pursue their journey and get out of Utah as quickly as possible. On the 15th day of September they reached a fertile spot, about twenty miles south of Cedar City, known as

THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS,

a spot and a name ever to be remembered for the most atrocious, wicked, barbarous, and savage deed that ever disgraced or blackened the page of American civilization.

Here these good people halted for the night, here they defended themselves successfully for three days and nights, and here they died. The story has been told times without number, and it is only now that a fresh circumstance lends a fresh interest to the tale, that makes a brief recital of the awful details somewhat necessary, and compels me to make allusions to it.

These people, on the morning following their arrival at this seemingly inviting spot, were surprised to find that

THE UTE INDIANS

were forming an attack upon them.

They barricaded a small circle or encampment with their wagons, and being well armed and equipped, were successful in maintaining their ground. Unfortunately, they were some little distance from water, for which they suffered exceedingly.

On the third day, the day of imperishable gloom for that unhallowed ground, they discovered

WHITE MEN AMONG THE INDIANS

which induced them to employ a flag of truce. For this purpose two little girls were dressed in spotless white and were sent to a spring near by. These little innocents were shot dead. Soon afterward a party of white men were seen to approach with a white flag flying in the air, which these poor unfortunates most gladly welcomed.

It was represented by these men that the Indians had authorized them to say that if they would

MARCH OUT AND LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND THEM,

even to their arms, they should not be molested. To this they finally consented; when it was arranged that the children, then the women, then the men, should march out in regular order, two abreast. Behind them were to march the men who professed to be their protectors and succirs. They were all Mormons, and their leader was Major John D. Lee, a Mormon bishop and a sub-Indian agent under the prophet Brigham.

When this procession had marched but a short distance,

THE AWFUL SIGNAL WAS GIVEN,

and the fearful slaughter commenced.

Young women, married women, women about to become mothers, were murdered and most horribly butchered. One young lady, kneeling to the fiend Lee, begged to be spared. He dragged her into the bushes, stripped her naked, committed a most heinous crime, shot her dead, and then cut her throat.

No word can characterize the deed, no pen can describe the horrors of scene after the massacre was completed.

There lay 113 lifeless bodies, maimed and butchered, robbed of the slightest vestment, and left there with staring eyes, faces besmeared with blood, without limbs in many cases, to be removed by the wild carrion of the mountains.

For some time these moldering remains were on the same spot unburied where they fell, until the humanity of a United States Commissioner [sic] had them gathered and buried, and over them he erected a plain wooden cross, upon which was plainly written:

"VENGEANCE IS MINE; I WILL REPAY, SAITH THE LORD."

There have been many theories advanced for this slaughter, and many charges have been made that have seriously implicated Brigham Young as being the instigator, though there is no proof that sustains it. It has been said that George A. Smith, now the first counselor to the Prophet, carried the orders to Lee, and was of course cognizant of the whole transaction.

About three years ago one Kelingen Smith, formerly a Mormon Bishop, made an affidavit that was widely-piblished, that stated among other things that Lee told him

THE ORDERS FOR THE MASSACRE WERE FROM HEADQUARTERS,

and it has been stated that Brigham walked his room all night long, in the greatest anguish of mind, the 17th of September, A. D. 1857.

The writer was told by a man who had been an intimate of Lee's house, that he was a most miserable man; that he could not sleep at night, and that he longed continually to die. Whatever may be the truth, God and the guilty alone know, and in His own good time He will repay. The central figure,

THE FIEND LEE, HAS BEEN ARRESTED,

and the prospect for justice being meted to the guilty brightens.

I copy from the Daily Tribune the particulars of his arrest:

Note 1:

(Special Correspondence of Tribune)

(view original article from Utah paper)

Note: In its edition of Jan. 7, 1875, the Inter-Ocean accused the Chicago Trubune of plagiarizing the above piece on the Mountain Meadows massacre. That allegation was probably without foundation -- the Chicago Tribune item in question offers substantially more details and presents material not found in the rival newspaper.

THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOW  MASSACRE.

Towards the close of the last session of Congress some legislation was effected that greatly aided the Federal Courts in Utah, and enabled the United States Marshal of the Territory to arrest, very recently, the leader of the Mormons in the Mountain Meadow Massacre, and, still later, to arrest the Colonel of the Mormon regiment that committed the atrocious deed. A correspondent of The Tribune, who has just visited the scene of the massacre, furnishes this paper a graphic and thrilling story of the manner in which the terrible tragedy was consummated. Our correspondent gives a complete and authentic history of the terrible slaughter; the latest developments and confessions; the "Mormon causes of provocation;" relates all the circumstances of the military council from which emanated the bloody plot; describes the premature attack; the sending out of the forlorn hope; tells about the Free Masons and Odd Fellows in the train; how the Indians tortured and burned the captives; describes the shooting of 127 defenseless men and women, and the cutting of children's throats; the pinning of an infant to its dead father's body with a knife; the auction sale of the blood-stained spoils; how Brigham Young obtained the cattle belonging to the train; appearance of the ghastly field after eight days' fighting; the piles of dead mutilated by wolves; a child drawing arrows from a dead mother's body; the dashing out of an infant's brains against a wagon-hub; the guilty leaders in the massacre and their antecedents.

The letter, of which the above gives an idea, will be printed in to-morrow's Tribune. It is the first authentic narrative of the most cruel and merciless slaughter of human beings in modern history.


Notes: (forthcoming)

DIABOLISM.
______

The Mountain Meadow
(Utah) Massacre of 1857.
______

First and Only Authentic History
of the Horrible Slaughter.
______

One Hundred and Thirty-five Innocent
Emigrants Ruthlessly Murdered.
______

The Mormons Attempt to Fasten
the Crime Upon the Indians.
______

But Late Developments and Confessions
Fix the Guilt Where It Belongs.
______

The Bloody Plot Emanated from a
Military Council of War.
______

And Was Executed by the Utah Mormon Militia.
______

The Victims Enticed from Their Shelter by a Flag of Truce.
______

And Then Mercilessly Shot Down in Their Tracks.
______

The Women and Children Turned Over to Savages for Ravishment and Torture.
______

Piles of Naked Dead Mutilated by Wolves.
______

The Guilty Leaders of the Massacre, and Where They Are Concealed.
______

"Vengeance Is Mine, I Will Repay, Saith the Lord."
_____

THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE.
_____

Special Correspondence of The Chicago Tribune.

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 1, 1875. -- One cannot gain an intelligent idea of any great event without knowing the causes by which it was produced. Waterloo could never be understood if only the incidents of the battle were narrated.

The causes which led to the Mountain Meadows massacre are interwoven with the fundamental principles of the strange religion of the Mormons. Place yourself in sympathy with these principles, and you can obtain a faint conception of the motives which actuated those whose hands bear the dreadful stain. Plunder, lust, and personal animosity would never have prompted men to commit such a cruel, merciless slaughter, had not the teachings of a fanatical religious belief sanctioned the crime.

The good precepts of the Mormon faith render the people generous, kind, hospitable. The black precepts are all embodied in this one fiendish act.

FACTS, NOT FANCIES.

AT THE OUTSET

let me state that I have no desire to make history. My duty is not to create events, but to record them. Where authorities cannot be cited where I have not the names of authentic men to corroborate statements, I shall always mention the fact. Some of the incidents are probably fictitious; [of such] I shall state that they are only rumors: yet I shall record no rumors which are not believed by those who ought to know the truth.

Seventeen years of mysterious darkness overshadows the crime, and where the truth cannot be separated from the falsehoods, both will be given, and time and the courts of justice will distinguish between them. I have received the following "causes" from the lips of Mormons. From the "first presidency" down to the humblest farmer, I have diligently sought out reasons. While they all attempt to soften the wiry edge of public opinion by mentioning the provocations which brought on the deed, I must bear witness that

THE MORMONS REPUDIATE THE CRIME.

From no one have I obtained a single word of approval, or aught that could be construed into a sanction, of the massacre. For the sincere, earnest Mormons I have learned to entertain the utmost regard. Devout piety, unbounded faith, and liberal charity, are predominant characteristics. For several weeks I have been mingling with all the various ranks and classes, and, in justice to myself, I must emphatically deny that this great crime ought to rest upon the shoulders of the people. No denunciation can be too severe, no curses too deep or bitter, for those who planned and urged on the crime; but do not infer that all this people are guilty. I am under a thousand obligations to my friends in Southern Utah, and wish to state distinctly that the following pages are not intended as a tirade against Mormons or Mormonism, but as an outspoken charge against the murderous thieves and assassins who committed or planned the massacre.

ISRAELITISH INTOLERANCE

characterizesthe Mormon Church from the beginning. The revelations of Joseph Smith made the Mormons the one chosen people of God. "Gentiles" and "Babylonians" are terms which indicate that outsiders have no rights which ought to be respected. As the Israelites, the ancient people of God, dealt with the Egyptians, the Philistines, or the tribes that opposed them, so, if necessary, might the Mormons deal with "outs." This "cause" had much to do with the massacre. A prayerful assemblage were "counseled" to the deed, and prayerful men led on the slaughter. From John D. Lee's conversation I have no doubt the story is true which says "he waved his sword above his head after the massacre, and shouted: 'This day has the name of Israel's God been glorified!'"

AVENGING A PROPHET'S BLOOD.

Joseph Smith is regarded by the Mormons as the Savior is by other Christian denominations. The Mormons believe in Jesus Christ, but not more firmly than in this Latter-Day prophet. Both suffered martyrdom at the hands of infuriated mobs. The murderers of Joseph Smith are regarded with the same intense hatred that would attach to those of our Savior, had He been crucified in this age and day. One part of the great emigrant-train came from the portion of Missouri from which the Mormons had been driven, and at least one person claimed to have been at Illinois when the prophet was killed. It is currently believed that one of the emigrants swung a pistol above his head, and swore that it helped kill "Joe Smith," and was then loaded for "Old Brigham." I have asked Mormons whether their religion would exonerate the man who should kill the desperado that boasted of murdering the prophet, and they bluntly answered "Yes."

AN APOSTLE'S MURDERERS.

A well-known tenet of the Mormon faith is, that husbands may forsake wives, and wives may desert husbands, for religon's sake. To gain admission into the one true Church is worth infinitely more than family ties. At Cedar City a gray-haired man was pointed out to me, with the boastful assertion: "There is a man who left a wife and four children in England, that he might join the Mormons in Utah." The results of this accursed doctrine are prominently connected with the bloody events of the massacre.

Parley P. Pratt was a bright and shining light among the early Mormons. He was one of the "Twelve Apostles," and his influence was powerful and wide spread. He practiced the doctrine he preached, and one of his wives, Eleanor McLean, was the wife of an Arkansas [sic] man. Deserting her husband and children, she eloped to Utah with Apostle Pratt. Pining for her children, she induced Parley P. Pratt to return to Arkansas to obtain them. A true and devoted husband suddenly finds his home destroyed, the joy and light of his life stolen away, his hopes blasted, the future a desolate waste, and heart and brain and nerves crushed by the single blow of another man's hand! Is it strange that blood should be shed, if, while his heart is yet a quivering mass of pain, the seducer again crosses his path?

Yet the Mormons see nothing criminal in Parley P. Pratt's action, and follow, with dire vengeance, the friends of McLean. Pratt was a martyr. His autobiography is selling rapidly through Utah at present. The wife, Eleanor Pratt, died three weeks ago in Salt Lake City, and a young man, who was her son and McLean's, followed with the mourners.

The emigrant train contained several persons who came from McLean's neighborhood. At least one man was believed to have been interested in the killing of Apostle Parley P. Pratt. You see the connection?

INSULT TO PRESIDENT YOUNG.

Among the emigrants' cattle was a pair of old stags which were named "Brigham" and "Heber." In driving through a street or village these poor old stags used to receive a generous share of abuse. Next to Joseph Smith, the Mormons worship Brigham Young and the "First Presidency." One gentleman in Southern Utah interrupted me when I chanced to say "Mr. Young," and reverently suggested: "You mean President Young."

These emigrants publicly insulted President Young and Heber C. Kimball, his first counselor, and this insult is always mentioned by the Mormons as one of the causes of provocation for the massacre. The very groundwork of the Mormon theocracy rests upon unbounded reverence for President Young, their prophet, seer, and revelator. It is charged that the emigrants wove his name into vulgar songs, which were chanted through the streets.

PROFANITY -- POISONING SPRINGS -- CHICKEN-STEALING.

There is or was a Territorial law prohibiting profanity. Some of the emigrants were terribly profane, and upon entering a town invariably inquired: "Where is your damned old Bishop, or President?" Their profanity at last caused the authorities to attempt to arrest them at Cedar City. Resistance was made, and the authorities were compelled to abandon the attempt.

Again, it is told that a teamster, in passing through the streets of Cedar, brought his heavy whiplash down among Widow Evans' chickens and killed two. Remonstrated with, the man swore he would kill the damned Mormons as quickly as their chickens, if they interfered with him much more.

Lee says, that while camped 2 miles beyond the town they tore down and burned 15 rods of fence, and turned their stock upon the standing grain.

It is rumored that at Corn Creek they poisoned a beef, or a spring, or a running stream, and the Indians suffered from the effects. One Indian is said to have died, and the rest were terribly incensed against the emigrants.

A Bishop informs me that Indian runners were sent all over Southern Utah to arouse the tribes to vengeance.

THE GREAT CAUSE,

however, was, that Albert Sidney Johnson's army was entering Utah, and that Mormons were marshaling to oppose him with force and arms. The United States was considered as an enemy, and its subjects were treated as foes. Practically, the Territory was under martial law, and the Nauvoo Legion drilled regularly each week. Here was the richest and most powerful company that ever traveled the Southern route to California. Their wagons, teams, and loose stock, alone, amounted to over $300,000, and they had the costliest apparel and jewelry.

The wildest excitement prevailed, and murders were frequent. Driven from place to place in the East, the Mormons resolved to tight for Utah. The emigrants are accused of having threatened to camp on the southern boundary of Utah, and, when Johnson's army entered at the north, they would return and exterminate the Southern settlements. Before the snow fell, they would hang Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.

BLOOD ATONEMENT

is said to have had its share in urging on the deed. Certain disaffected Mormons joined the train to go to California. When their bodies were found after the massacre it is said they were clothed in their endowment shirts. From these causes, gleaned from the sayings of Mormons, a little idea may be gained of the reasons which actuated the murderers.

The emigrants were charged with having their hands crimsoned with the blood of Joseph Smith and Parley P. Pratt; they were said to be quarrelsome, abusive, profane, chicken-thieves; they threatened war, and poisoned springs; and they grossly insulted leading Mormons, and harbored apostates.

I give all the reasons I ever heard assigned, because, when the provocation is all summed up, there is not sufficient cause to justify the dashing out of a single babe's brains.

THE  OTHER  SIDE.

IN  REBUTTAL,

abundant proof can be furnished to show that the company was orderly, highly respectable, and composed principally of quiet, Sabbath-loving, Christian people. They held religious services each Sunday, and reverenced the teachings of God's Holy Word. Eli B. Kelsey traveled with them from Fort Bridger to Salt Lake City, and he spoke of them in the highest terms. Jacob Hamlin, an honest old Indian interpreter, who has four wives, twenty children, and eighteen grandchildren, said to me of this train: "They seemed like real old-fashioned farmers." A resident of Parowan told me he had visited them often, and became well acquainted with them, and he had never seen a company of better people.

ENTERING  SALT  LAKE,

they found, to their great surprise that nothing could be procured of the Mormons for love or money. Their cash, their cattle, their immense wealth, could not purchase provisions enough to keep them from starving. Trains were always accustomed to obtain a fresh outfit at Salt Lake prior to crossing the deserts intervening between Utah and California. Brigham Young may not have been guilty of the after events, but, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, he is responsible for whatever suffering may have been endured because of an insufficiency of food. He was Governor of Utah, one of the Territories of the United States, and certainly he ought to have permitted citizens of the Union to purchase necessary provisions while passing peaceably through his confines. As it was, they would have died of starvation had they not been massacred, though there was an unusually abundant harvest that year. As a climax to this inhospitable reception they were peremptorily ordered to break camp and move away from Salt Lake City.

THE  SOUTHERN  ROUTE

to California was the only one that could be traveled at that season, as the Sierras would be covered with impassable snow-barriers. Slowly they passed down through the villages that blossomed at the foot of the Wasatch Range, expecting to reach Los Angeles by the San Bernardino route. The corn had ripened, and the wheat had been harvested. Every granary was filled to bursting, and yet money could not purchase food. At American Fork, Battle Creek, Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, Payson, Nephi, and Fillmore, they received the same harsh refusal to their requests for trading or buying. They were ordered away from at least two places where they were halting to rest and refresh their weary cattle. All emigrants who have traveled through Utah to California remember how friendly and hospitable the Mormons usually were to passing trains. The unusual policy pursued toward these people leads to the inevitable conclusion that some very important order had been issued from headquarters. Sure enough we find that

THE  AVENGER

had preceded them in the person of George A. Smith, now Brigham's First Counselor, and the second man in the Theocracy. Riding swiftly, his fleet horse far outstripped the slow-moving emigrant-train. At every settlement he preached to the Mormons, and gave strict orders to sell no food or grain to emigrants, under pain of excommunication. To the earnest, sincere Mormon, death is preferable to being "cut off" from the privileges of his religion. At least three men have told me that George A. Smith gave these orders. The enormity of the crime is apparent when we remember that certain death awaited these poor emigrants in the shape of starvation. Even the Mormon side of the story differs but little. I received it from a zealous defender of the Mormon religion, and give it in the very words of the honest old man. He enjoys the highest confidence of Brigham Young, and gives me full permission to use his name.

THE  MORMON  VERSION.

He traveled with George A. Smith from Santa Clara, which is on the very confines of Utah, and is the spot selected for the massacre. The Apostle had traversed the entire length of the Territory, and retraced his steps only after visiting the very place first selected for the butchery. The man's own words, read in his presence from my note-book, and approved by him, are as follows: "I traveled with George A. Smith through the settlements from Santa Clara. WE stopped and preached at every settlement. George A.'s instructions to the people were that our enemies were going to make us more trouble, and that the people should be careful to save every spoonful of grain and lay it away carefully and safe. They must not sell any to emigrants to feed horses, but should let them have enough for themselves. Their horses can ear grass better than our children. I never heard from George A. an idea that we should molest or mistreat an emigrant."

AT  CORN  CREEK

George A. Smith and his companion met the emigrants, and camped side by side with them. Only a little stream intervened between the train and the camp-fire of the man who carried the fatal instructions. The emigrants even solicited advice from Smith as to where they could find a suitable spot to encamp and recruit their teams previous to crossing the desert. He and his companion referred them to Cane Spring, the identical place where they were attacked!

The Indians at Corn Creek furnished them with thirty bushels of corn! Prior to this no aid or kindness had been received from any quarter, save when some Mormon, braver than his fellows, would clandestinely steal into camp at dead of night, bearing whatever he could in his arms. The Indians befriended them! That, too, at the very spot, Corn Creek, where the emigrants are said to have been poisoned by [sic - ??] the Indians!

ABOUT  THAT  POISONING.

Lee says they poisoned a spring, and that from drinking its waters, or from some other cause, an ox became poisoned and died. The flesh of this ox was given to the Indians, and one or two of them died. The Widow Tomlinson, just this side, also had an ox poisoned, and, in attempting to save the hide and tallow, the poison entered her system and she lost her life. Her son came very near dying also.

The story is doubted by even the Mormons. Relating, or rather reading it from my note-book to the honest old man who camped beside the emigrants, and who ought certainly to have known the truth, he said: "Don't say that I told you that I think it is true, but I don't know. And," continued he, "if you publish that story, folks will disbelieve all you write."

The United States officials, with Deputy United States Marshal Rogers and a competent military surgeon at the headquarters, gave the most thorough examination to the spring alleged to have been poisoned, and this is their report: "It sends out a stream as large as a man's body, and a barrel of arsenic would not poison it."

ON  SHORT  ALLOWANCE.

At Beaver the emigrants met witli the same cold treatment. They were actually compelled to place themselves on short allowance, although traveling through a land flowing with milk and honey. Parowan is a walled town. The train was refused permission to even enter its streets, and was forced to leave the road and pass around the town. The only theory ever advanced for this strange proceeding is that fatal preparations had already been made inside the walls of Parowan. Some say that the militia were even then assembled under Colonel William H. Dame.

THE  WAR  COUNCIL'S PLOT.

PREPARING  FOR  THE  MASSACRE.

From the sworn affidavits of those who participated in the slaughter, it is conclusively established that Brig.-Gen. George A. Smith, Col. William H. Dame, Lieut.-Col. I. C. Haight, and Maj. John D. Lee held a council of war at Parowan. They determined upon the place, the manner, and all the minor details of the massacre. Where the California road crosses the Santa Clara Canyon the crime was to be perpetrated. Shut in between the perpendicular walls of rock, the very wagons were to be piled up as a blockade to prevent the escape of a single soul. To make doubly sure, however, Ira Hatch was sent, with others, beyond the canyon to the "Muddy," to cut off stragglers. Guards were also placed at Buckhorn Springs, nearly 70 miles this side of the Meadows, and at all the springs and watering places near Cedar City and Parowan. These guards would be certain to discover and shoot down any fugitives who might accidentally escape.

THE  UTAH  MILITIA

received a positive military order to report for duty. The very language of this written order was, that they must come "armed and equipped as the law directs, and prepared for field operations." A highly respectable gentleman tells me that he happened to be lying on one side of a high adobe wall while the order was being read to two men on the other side. He did not dare leave for fear of being discovered, and was forced to listen to the conversation. They were directed to be in readiness within one hour, with forty rounds of ammunition. These two men knew the import of their instructions, and sat down and cried like children at the thought of the horrible deed they were compelled to perform. They both said they would rather leave the Territory and desert homes and families than to engage in the bloody work. To refuse to comply with the order, however, was certain death, for the guards stationed at the watering-places rendered escape impossible.

IS  BRIGHAM  YOUNG  IMPLICATED?

Thousands of people are asking this question. Lee answers "No!" This answer he will probably make on the scaffold! Jacob Hamlin states that he happened to be in the Council at Salt Lake when a messenger came in bearing a statement to the effect that the emigrants were threatening and abusive, and asking what should be done. Brigham's answer, sharp, decisive, and immediate, was: "Let them alone; let them pass; we have trouble enough already. When I want martial law proclaimed, I'll let you know."

There is no evidence in existence, so far as is known, to criminate him as being accessory before the fact, unless it is connected with his military position. It was claimed, all the way through, that orders had come from headquarters. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Utah militia, and it hardly seems possible to suppose that the militia would be detailed to do such sanguinary work without some sanction from Salt Lake City.

READY  FOR  THE  SLAUGHTER!

From Cedar City the emigrants proceeded southwest to the Meadows, a distance of about 40 miles. Camping at the Meadows, they were quietly resting their cattle and gaining strength to cross the desert. Suddenly, unexpectedly, at day-break on Monday morning, Sept. 10, 1857, they were attacked by Indians.

At the very first fire seven were killed and fifteen wounded. Thoughtless of danger, totally unprepared, and, in fact, while most of them were yet asleep, they fell hopelessly before the bullets of their unseen foes. Had they possessed less bravery, less determination, the entire party would have been massacred on the spot. With a promptness unparalleled in all the history of Indian warfare, these emigrants wheeled their wagons into an oblong corral, and, with shovels and picks, threw up the earth from the center of the corral against the wagon wheels. In an incredibly short space of time they had an excellent barricade. An eye-witness says that it was done with such remarkable celerity that the plans of the painted assassins were completely frustrated.

THE  ORIGINAL  PLAN

had been, as before stated, to attack them at Santa Clara canyon, but the Indians became too impatient. These "Battle-axes of the Lord" had responded to the call of the Indian Agent, John D. Lee, and the liberal promises they had received caused the premature attack. The large herds and the rich spoils, the blankets, clothing, and trinkets, the guns, pistols, and ammunition, a portion of all of which was to be theirs, induced them to make the attack at Cane Spring. They intended to kill as many as possible at the first fire, and then charge upon the remainder. The charge never was made. There were crack marksmen in the train, and in a few moments there were

THREE  WOUNDED  INDIANS.

The redskins had crept up close to the train, and lay concealed along the banks of the creek, in the little hollows, and behind the low sage-brush. They never dreamed of a repulse. Disconcerted by the prompt, decisive action of the emigrants, they incautiously exposed their bodies. One account says they actually charged upon the guard ; but, at all events, one was lightly wounded in the shoulder, and two were shot in the left thigh. There was not an inch difference in the location of the wounds of the last two. The bones were crushed to splinters, and both Indians died. Prior to their death they were conveyed to the camp near Cedar, and Bishop Higbee anointed their wounds with consecrated oil! It may not be generally known that this oil is blessed and set apart for the healing of the sick. Instead of calling a physician, many of the Mormons, to this day, no matter what may be the nature of the disease, pour on this oil, and attempt to effect a cure by prayer and

THE  LAYING-ON  OF  HANDS.

It is true biblical doctrine, and wondrous cures are effected through the instrumentality of faith. Bishop Higbee went out to the camp after these murderers had been brought from the Meadows, anointed the wounded limbs, went through all the process of "laying on of hands," and fervently prayed that the Lord Jesus would heal them. My informant says: "I stood by and watched his motions and listened to his prayers."

Leaving the emigrants safely intrenched behind their hastily-improvised fortifications, let us return to President Haight at Cedar. He had preached from the pulpit before the train arrived in his town that the people were not to trade with the Gentiles. One man heard that a young gentleman by the name of William A. Aden was with the train. Aden's father, in Tennessee, had once saved the life of this Mormon, and, out of gratitude, he befriended the young man in some way. Soon afterwards a party of Mormons came up to the gate of the disobedient brother and struck him over the head with a club. His skull was cracked, and, although he is still living, his mind is seriously impaired. The murderer of young Aden boasts that the latter was

HIS  FIRST  VICTIM.

Aden and a companion were returning to the settlements, probably to attempt to obtain assistance or food. At all events, they met Bill Stewart and a companion at Pinto Creek, 7 miles this side of the Meadows. Stewart had a revolver, and his companion, a boy, had a shot-gun. The former said he would shoot one, and told the boy he must kill the other. As good as his word, Stewart sent a bullet crashing through Aden's brain, while the horse of his unsuspecting victim was quietly drinking at a little creek. The boy's courage failed, and the other emigrant escaped to the train.

A  HARDENED  VILLAIN.

Years after the murder, Stewart and a Mormon friend were passing the spot, and the former related the circumstance. The friend asked what had been done with the body, and Stewart pointed to a clump of bushes as the place where it had been concealed. "Is it there now?" asked the traveler. "I don't know," coolly responded Stewart; "let's go and see!" Accordingly they went, and the horrified friend tells me that to this day he shudders to think how Stewart went to the spot and brutally kicked about the poor bleached bones, and examined the fragments of clothing and scattered locks of hair.

Aden's gray-haired father advertised for his lost son, and offered a reward of one thousand dollars for information of his whereabouts. Surely 'twas a kind Providence that kept him in ignorance of the fact that the boy's body was food for wolves, and that for years the whitened bones bleached unburied. He has since learned that his son was with the emigrants, but probably he never knew that his boy was the first victim, and that he was killed by a Mormon who still lives in Cedar City. I would not dare publish this horrible tale, but I have it direct and positive from the lips of highly-respectable gentlemen whose oaths are ready to back their assertions.

AN  INDIAN  RUNNER

came into Cedar the first night, and reported the unsuccessful assault. The Mormons immediately started to the Meadows to assist. Haight told a certain man that orders had come from headquarters to massacre every one of them. The man's boy, now grown to middle age, overheard the remark, and is my authority. The same person says he saw eight or ten men start out about 9 o'clock that night. They were armed with shot-guns, Kentucky rifles, flint-locks, and every imaginable firearm, and went under military orders. Maj. John D. Lee had command of the forces which started from Cedar City, and, finding these inadequate, sent back to Cedar and Washington for reinforcements.

Sworn affidavits tell us that when the auxiliaries arrived, the entire command was assembled about half a mile from the intrenchments of the fated emigrants, and were there coolly informed that the whole company was to be killed, and only the little children who were too young to remember any thing, were to be spared.

But the order could not be immediately carried out because of the

DETERMINED  RESISTANCE

of the emigrants. The Meadows are a mile and a half long and a mile wide, but the mountains which form the high rim of the little basin converge at the lower end and form a wild, rugged canyon. Just at the mouth of this canyon is Cane Spring. Some confusion has arisen among authorities by confounding this spring with another "Cane" Spring, 2 1/2 miles south. There was but one attack, and that was made at the Meadow Spring, then called "Cane," because of the peculiar rush, resembling cane-brake, which grew near its waters. My authority is the man who was the owner of the ground then and now.

A mound some 200 feet long by 100 wide rose from the Meadows about 30 rods above the spring, and completely shut out the view. Low hills with deep ravines came down on either side, and completely hemmed in the party. Bullets from every side of this

DEATH-PEN

swept the inclosure, and whistled through the wagon covers. Such cattle as were inside the "corral" were shot down, and the herds outside were stampeded. Yet for seven or eight days they bravely held out, and seemed to be masters of the situation. Water was their great need. A little babbling brook murmured along not forty feet away, and the fine, clear spring was not more than 2 rods off, but yet they suffered indescribably from thirst.

THE  SIEGE.

THE  MORMONS  WERE  PAINTED  AND  DISGUISED

to appear like their savage allies. Not content with the superior advantages which nature had given to their position, they threw up breastworks of stone on the adjacent hillsides. From behind these their rifles could sweep the little grassy plain below without a single portion of their body being exposed. Every attempt to obtain water, either day or night, awakened a score of deadly reports from the arms of the cruel concealed guns. It was supposed at first that none but the men were in danger. A woman, who stepped outside the corral to milk a cow, fell pierced with bullets. Two innocent little girls were sent down to the spring. Hand-in-hand, tremblingly, these dear little rosebuds walked toward the spring. Their tender little bodies were fairly riddled with bullets.

THE  OLD  BREASTWORKS

still remain in places, and no one can visit the spot without being surprised that the emigrants held out so long. Behind the mounds, and just beyond the low foothills and the mound, are level flats concealed from the emigrants' view. Here the Mormons and Indians were pitching horseshoes, and amusing themselves in various ways. The cowards well understood that cruel, pitiless hunger and burning thirst were their powerful allies inside that corral. Wagon-loads of provisions were arriving from Cedar for the besiegers, and each day lessened the scanty stock of the emigrants. Who can picture the torments of mind and body which those poor people suffered? In a bleak, desolate country, hundreds of miles from help, surrounded by painted fiends, and dying of thirst and starvation, how deep must have been the gloom!

THREE  SPIES

had been sent with the train from Cedar. Ostensibly they were apostates going to California, but in reality they were sent to learn the strength of the party, the scarcity of provisions, etc. I heard the names of these men, but did not note them down when my informant gave them, and may be mistaken. I think they were Elliot Wilden or Willets, a man by the name of Reeves, and Bill Stewart. They are well known in Southern Utah as "the three boys." They were unable to accomplish any thing after the siege began, and so escaped to the Indians. They dressed in savage costume, put war-paint on their faces, and throughout the black days of the horrible siege and butchery, they played a bloody part.

A  CRY  OF  DISTRESS.

One thrillingly horrible incident gives a vivid idea of the anguish of the emigrants. It shows that the brave, true hearts of those Arkansas men scorned death and danger if only a little hope could be seen of saving their wives and babies. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday passed. The weary hours of fear and suffering dragged slowly by. The whizzing arrows, the whistling bullets, the cheers and ribald laughter of the coarse, brutal assassins, told how blood-thirsty were the besiegers. Thursday night the emigrants drew up a petition, or an humble

PRAYER  FOR  AID.

It was addressed to any friend of humanity, and stated the exact condition of affairs. It told that on the morning of the 10th the train was attacked by Indians, and that the siege had continued uninterruptedly. There was reason to believe, it stated, that white men were with the Indians, as the latter were well supplied with powder and weapons. In case the paper reached California, it was hoped that assistance would be sent to their rescue. Then followed a list of the emigrants' names, each name was followed by the age, place of nativity, latest residence, position, rank, and occupation of its owner. The number of clergymen, physicians, farmers, carpenters, etc., was given. Among other important particulars, the number of

FREEMASONS  AND  ODD-FELLOWS

was stated, with the rank, and the name and number of the Lodge of which they were members. It was a forlorn hope, this letter, -- a sad despairing cry of distress. It is the only expression that ever came from within that corral, but it gives such a thrilling picture of their torture and mental anguish as nothing else could. Seventeen years have elapsed since that signal of distress was made. Yet it is not too late to answer. There is many a strong heart in the world to-day that will feel its pulses thrill faster when it hears that these men, in their strong death agony, appealed for aid to their brethren of the mystic tie.

The paper, also, contained an itemized list of their property, such as wagons, oxen, horses, etc.

Who should attempt to break through the line, and bear this letter to California? It was a desperate undertaking, but it was the last hope. Volunteers were called for, and three of the bravest men that ever lived stepped forward and offered to attempt to dash through the enemy, and cross the wilderness and desert. Before they started, all knelt in the corral, and the white-haired old Methodist pastor prayed fervently for their safety. In the dead of night they passed the besiegers, but Indian runners were immediately placed on their track.

FLEEING  FOR  THEIR  LIVES.

They traveled until completely exhausted. An Indian chief, named Jackson, boasts of having killed the first, having found him lying on his back asleep, between the Clara and the Rio Virgin. The savage crept stealthily up to the sleeping man, placed the flinty arrow-point just above the collar bone, drew back the bow-string, and sent the shaft down into the sleeper's throat. Springing to his feet, he ran nearly 40 yards before he fell, faint and dying. There is every reason for supposing that he lived long enough to be tortured. In after years my informant was taken by Jackson to the remains. The skull and larger bones were charred and burned, and the smaller ones were wholly reduced to ashes. Whether tortured or not, his body was burned by his fiendish murderers.

THE  LETTER  WAS  FOUND

on a divide, near the murdered man. Jackson discovered it, and gave it to my informant, who kept it safely for months. Happening to show it one day to a man who was a leader in the massacre, he promptly destroyed it. The honest old Mormon, however, is perfectly acquainted with the nature of its contents, and has no sympathy with the tragedy or its perpetrators. In his simple, straightforward style he said: "I believe that, if the Masons and Odd Fellows knew how many of their brethren were in the train, they wouldn't let the accursed murderers go unpunished." He is willing at the proper time to testify to the contents of the letter.

The two other emigrants traveled 40 miles further and came to the Virgin Hills. Here the Indians overtook and surrounded them. The deadly arrows wounded one, and both were captured. The Indians stripped them stark naked, and gave them to understand that they must

RUN  FOR  LIFE!

Both started, but the one was so badly wounded that he could not run. The other bounded away with the swiftness of a deer. The fleetest runners were engaged in the pursuit, and, to use the language of my informer, "He ran right away from them." Even the shower of arrows missed his flying body, save one, which struck his arm, inflicting a severe wound. Meantime, savages had gathered around the fainting form of the man who could not run, and had tied him to a stake. Fagots were soon blazing around his quivering body, and he died amid all the excruciating agony known to savage torture.

HUNTED  TO  THE  DEATH.

The third and last -- naked, wounded, without weapons, food, fire, or drink, without map, compass, or guide 00 made his way across the desert, fifty-four miles! The Vagas Indians, another band of Piutes, discovered him in such a weak, exhausted state, that they pitied him. Yes, these hostile savages pitied the condition of the white man who was fleeing from the cruelty of white men. They gave him a pair of pants and moccasins, and let him have some musquit bread. The musquit is a thorny shrub, one species of which has a pod containing a sort of bean. These beans are ground by the Indians in stone mortars, and from them is made an inferior kind of bread. He was able to travel eighteen miles farther to what is known as Cottonwood. Here he met two young gentlemen from California, Henry T. Young and Can Young. They gave him a horse and some clothing, and bade him godspeed to California. He started off, but soon came riding back and overtook them. He was so weary and feverish, and his arm pained so dreadfully, that he feared that he could not make the trip. He wanted to return with them to Salt Lake, and would run the risk of being known. They had gone but a little way when they met the Indians tracking him.

THE  CRUEL  BLOOD-HOUNDS

seemed bound that not one of the doomed emigrants should live to tell the tale. Instantly recognizing him, the Indians would have fired at once, but for the efforts of the Young brothers. These gentlemen drew down their rifles, and kept the Indians at bay. Hardly had they traveled 2 miles before they met more Indians and Ira Hatch, the interpreter. Ira told the Young boys that they were "all right," but that the man must die. No sooner had he said the word than the Indians discharged a shower of arrows at the poor fellow. Pierced by a score of the sharp headed arrows, he fell from his horse. The Young brothers had all they could do to preserve their own lives. The last they saw of the fugitive, he was crawling away on his hands and knees, and an old Indian was stabbing at his throat with a butcher's knife. It seems that one of the savages put an end to the torture by striking the man on the head with a stone, crushing his skull. Thus perished the forlorn hope of the emigrants.

FALSE  SIGNALS.

The besiegers found it impossible to take the train by storm or by fair means. Evidently the poor victims had resolved to perish fighting rather than deliver up their wives and daughters into the hands of brutal villains. But lo! an emigrant train is seen coming down the meadows bearing a white flag! Ah! what tumultuous hopes crowded the breasts of that famishing, perishing people. It is said they cried for joy, and danced and embraced each other, and gladly rushed out to meet their supposed friends. They were armed friends, too, as soon turned out, for they were no less than John D. Lee and the officers of the Utah Militia. How sweet it must have been, after those terrible days and nights, to have seen the

STARS  AND  STRIPES,

and to know that the militia of a Territory of the United States was come to their rescue! Brigham Young, the great Governor of Utah, Commander-in-Chief of the military forces, [was supposed to have sent them to deliver them], and how perfectly safe it was to accept shelter under his protecting arm! The "Indians" were awed by the very presence of the Mormons, and had ceased firing. Surely the painted savages were perfectly controlled by their white superiors! How kindly and tenderly these officers talked. Lee is said to have wept like a child as he sympathized with their sufferings! How providential it was that such tender-hearted Christian gentlemen should have learned of their dreadful situation, and have come to their aid! A man so eloquent! so smooth-tongued! as was good Mr. Lee! A man who was himself Indian Agent, and for whom the Indians had the most marked respect! A Major, too, in the militia!

LAY  DOWN  THEIR  ARMS?

Certainly they would. If protection could so easily be guaranteed by these philanthropic gentlemen and their regiment, what reason for letting their wives and little ones die of starvation?

Lee was too politic to make many promises at first. He must consult with the "Indians." Having just arrived, he had not an opportunity of learning their terms or intentions!

Accordingly he went back and pretended to hold a council. Was there ever such base perfidy? Were white men -- prayerful, God-fearing white men -- ever guilty of such unprincipled treachery? Well might such a dastardly coward hide in a chicken-coop when the officers came to arrest him. Again he came, bearing once more that white flag, that pure

SYMBOL  OF  PEACE  AND  TRUTH!

An angel from heaven would not have been a more blessed sight to those tired, anxious, tearful eyes.

They laid down their trusty rifles that had been their strong defense. Taking off their belts, they delivered up their good revolvers and faithful bowie-knives.

John D. Lee is as smooth a talker as I ever heard. While I listened to him last week in Beaver jail, I kept constantly thinking of how he talked those emigrants out of the intrenchments from which powder and ball could not dislodge them. Only fifteen had been killed in eight days. The corral was a bulwark of safety, but the honeyed words of a white man won their hearts.

A  GUARD  OF  SOLDIERS,

well armed, were drawn up to escort them in safety. The men marched on first, then the women, and lastly the children. Did nothing whisper to those brave hearts the horrible fate in store for them and their dear ones? Was there no pang of regret at stepping out of that strong fortification? Certainly not. Here was the American flag, the dear old flag, and, rallying beneath its folds, they felt that the strong arms of the Union enfolded them.

And now,

GOD  HELP  THEM!

As I write the events of the massacre I almost shriek with terror. It is too terrible to believe or talk about; but seventeen years of silence and peace is quite as much as those scoundrels deserve, and I shall write every incident. I shall write each one without divesting it of a single horror that it received as it came direct from the lips of eye-witnesses.

THE  HORRIBLE  MASSACRE.

SUDDENLY,  AT  A  GIVEN  SIGNAL,

the troops halted, and down the line passed the fatal order, "Fire!"

It was given by John D. Lee, and was repeated by the under-officers. The poor, pitiful emigrants gave one

AGONIZING  SHRIEK,

and fell bleeding to the earth. The Indians lay ambushed near the spot, and joined in the slaughter when they saw the white men begin. Sworn statements of participators say the militia fired volley after volley at the defenseless, unarmed men who had intrusted their lives to the militia's keeping. It is the most heartless, cold-blooded deed that ever disgraced the pages of history. The cowardly assassins could not have performed one single act that would have added to the blackness of their perfidy. They feigned friendship and sympathy, and induced these brave men to lay aside every weapon, and then shot them down like dogs! The venerable, gray-headed clergyman, the sturdy farmers, the stalwart young men and the beardless youth, all were cut down, one by one, and above their dead bodies waved the Stars and Stripes!

BUT  THIS  WAS  NOT  ALL!

The women were not all killed just yet! Many fell by their husbands and fathers and brothers; but others were not permitted to die yet. It was by deliberate, predetermined forethought that the women were separated from their husbands' sides as they left the corral. Men who had proved themselves fiends had yet to prove themselves brutes. And they did so!

O, God! had not the weary, terror-stricken women and maidens suffered enough to have merited at least a speedy death? It seems not. Their pure bosoms could not quiver 'neath the plunge of the cold steel blade, nor their white throats crimson before the keen knife's edge, until they had suffered the torments of a thousand deaths at the hands of their brutal captors.

Yet this was done in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and the cruel, heartless beasts are living peacefully in the midst of the American nation.

There were two or three

SICK  WOMEN,

who were unable to walk out from the corral. They were driven up to the scene of the massacre, shot, stripped of their clothing, and their bodies thrown from the wagon with the others.

Some of the younger men refused to join in the dreadful work. Jim Pearce was shot by his own father for protecting a girl who was crouching at his feet! The bullet cut a deep gash in his face, and the furrowed scar is there to-day.

Lee is said to have shot a girl who was clinging to his son. A score of heart-rending rumors are afloat about the deeds of that hour, but there is no proof adduced, and as yet, nothing can be proven. One rumor, however, comes from a girl who lived in Lee's own family for years. She told Mr. Beadle, the author of several valuable works, that one young woman drew a dagger to defend herself against John D. Lee, and he killed her on the spot.

A  HORRIBLE  STORY

is believed by several people in Southern Utah with whom I conversed. I give it for what it is worth: A young mother saw her husband fall dead. He lay with his face upward and the purple life-blood crimsoned his pallid cheeks. She sprang to his side just as a great brutal ruffian attempted to seize her. Laying her tiny babe on her husband's breast she drew a small dirk-knife, and like a tigress at bay confronted the vile wretch. He recoiled in terror, but at the next instant a man stepped up behind the brave woman and drove a knife through her body. Without a struggle she fell dead across her husband's feet. Picking up the dirk she had dropped, the fiend deliberately pinned the little babe's body to its father's, and laughed to watch its convulsive death struggles.

There, it is all over! The brawny muscled men lie stark and cold, and their sweet, saintly wives have finally passed beyond the reach of their tormentors.

BUT  THE  CHILDREN!

The orders were to kill all except those who were too young to remember. Bill Stewart and Joel White were "set apart" to kill all the rest. My informant was first told the following by an Indian who witnessed the transaction, and afterward heard it from white men. The old Indian cried while telling it. My informant has testified to the fact that the statement is just as he received it:

"The little boys and girls were too frightened, too horror-stricken, to do aught but fall at the feet of their butchers and beg for mercy. Many a sweet little girl knelt before Bill Stewart, clasped his knees with her tiny white arms, and with tears and tender pleadings besought him not to take her life. Catching them by the hair of the head, he would hurl them to the ground, place his foot upon their little bodies, and cut their throats!"

THE  FIELD  OF  DEATH.

THE  AWFUL  SCENE.

A man who saw the field eight days after the massacre related to me the following: Men, women, and children were strewn here and there over the ground, or were thrown into piles. Some were stabbed, others shot, and still others had their throats cut. The ghastly wounds showed very plainly, for there was not a single rag of clothing left on man, woman, or child, except that a torn stocking clung to the ankle of one poor fellow. The wolves and ravens had lacerated every one of the corpses except one. There was one 127 in all, and each bore the marks of wolves' teeth except just one. It was the body of a handsome, well-formed lady, with beautiful face, and long flowing hair. A single bullet had pierced her side, and stilled the beatings of her heart. It seemed as if the gaunt, merciless wolves had deemed her too noble and queen-like for their fangs to mar.

THE  HEAPS  OF  SLAIN.

Most of the bodies had been thrown into three piles, distant from each other about 2 1/2 rods. Old and young, matron and maid, white-haired men and tiny suckling babes, boys and girls, all were thrown indiscriminately together.

One young woman lay in the sage-brush in a hollow or sag 175 yards southwest from the main body. She was badly mutilated by the wild beasts, but it was plainly to be seen that her head had been half cut off!

There were

NO  SCALP  MARKS.

Indians would certainly have taken scalps or burned bodies if savage revenge had been the only thought. The closest examination was made, and not the slightest traces of the scalping-knife could be discerned.

Two months afterward, a single Mormon -- all honor to the man! -- gathered up the bones and placed them in the very hollow the emigrants had dug inside the corral. He acted upon his own responsibility, and went alone and unaided. He did the very best he could, but the task was horribly disagreeable, and the covering of earth which he placed over the bodies was necessarily light. The ravenous wild beasts soon dug up the bones, and they became scattered all over the ground. The kind-hearted old Mormon deserves none the less credit, and all good men will pray God to bless him for doing what he could for the bones of the murdered party.

There has been much doubt as to the number of the slain. This man tells me that just 127 skulls were found. This does not include Aden's, nor the three killed on the desert. The total number of the emigrants massacred, so far as is known, is 131. Two children are said to have been murdered afterward, making 133.

THE  BLOODY  GARMENTS.

A boy who lived in Cedar City tells me that every night during the battle, and for a short time after the slaughter, wagons and men were hurrying through the streets at all hours of the darkness. Supplies and reinforcements were constantly being sent out to the Meadows. A distillery had been established at Cedar, and its owner was with the militia. It is said he furnished large quantities of liquor to the soldiers. He was exceedingly enthusiastic over the bloody work.

The garments of the mangled dead were partly divided among the Indians, and a part was brought to the Cedar City tithing office. This boy -- seventeen years have made him a man -- tells me that he slept in the tithing office, with two other boys, on the night the gory spoils were brought into town.

A  HAUNTED  TITHING  OFFICE.

Klingon Smith had come in during the early part of the night, and had lain down in an adjacent room without seeing the boys. Early in the evening, several blood-stained garments had been thrown on the floor and piled in the cellar. At some time in the night the wagons arrived with the remainder of the plundered goods. There were large quantities of it. The cellar was partly filled, besides the huge stack of articles in the main office. Bedding, clothing, pans, cooking utensils, chains, yokes, and, in fact, everything that could be taken from a body of wealthy emigrants, were stored in God's holy Tithing Office! This edifice is sacredly dedicated to the Lord, and to the produce and gifts which are donated by his holy people. After such unhallowed use had been made of the building, it is hardly strange that even unsuperstitious people should have deemed the house haunted. After the murderers had gone away, suddenly the room and cellar resounded with groans, cries, sobs, shrieks, and death-screams. This boy says that he and his comrades will testify that such was the case. Klingon Smith heard the ghostly din, and, after listening for a time, he dashed wildly from the house, out into the night. He locked the door after him, and the boys were prisoners. Shut in with gory spoils, they would have gone stark mad ere morning but that the house was unfinished, and a portion of the roof had not been nailed down. They managed to clamber up and escape. "Do you still believe that supernatural groans and cries were heard that night in the tithing office?" I asked. "No," replied he. "I don't believe -- I know there were!"

Two months afterward the spoils were sold at

PUBLIC  AUCTION.

Bishop John M. Higbee acted as auctioneer. Prior to the sale the people had been urged to give up all the articles that had fallen into their hands! The insatiate greed of the leaders is shown by the fact that sermons were preached on the enormity of the crime of Ananias and Sapphira in withholding a part of their goods from the Lord. Just what the Lord wanted with Mountain Meadows spoils did not appear!

Every article that could be obtained was disposed of to the highest bidder, -- bake-ovens, frying-pans, pails, saws, chisels, augers, axes, log-chains, ox-bows, bedding, etc., etc.

"I saw John D. Lee selling oxen at private sale."

THE  BIDDING  RAN  HIGH.

The payment was to be made in wheat after harvest, and the bidding was accordingly very high. Every article brought nearly or quite its value. I saw a gentleman who bought some carpenter's tools. They were of excellent metal, and he has always regretted that he did not bid on more of them; because, first, he needed the tools, and, secondly, the articles were never paid for. A few people did pay cash down for whatever they bought, and the money went to the tithing office. Before the harvesting was done, Gen. A. S. Johnston had entered Utah, the wildest excitement prevailed, Salt Lake City had been deserted, people had flocked from all parts of the Territory to the southern settlements, and payment for the goods of the murdered emigrants was never demanded.

OBLITERATING  TRACKS.

As Bishop Higbee stood auctioneering the spoils, he was careful to erase or destroy all traces of names. It was quite evident that the friends of the deceased should not be permitted to trace them to Cedar City. Many fine books were sold, and if the fly-leaves contained names or writing, they were carefully torn out or the writing erased.

All accounts of the sale were kept in a certain book, which is said to have been burned the next year. Probably nothing remains to-day but the testimony of witnesses to show how rich, how immense, was the plundered property of the people who were massacred.

Much was never offered for sale. It was distributed among the perpetrators.

QUARRELING  OVER  SPOILS.

It may have been a plan of the Almighty to bring the circumstances to light, but certain it is there was much quarreling, bitterness, and heart-burnings over the division of the property. Haight and Lee quarreled. The Indians complain to this day that they were badly treated. The people were greatly dissatisfied over their portion, claiming that the leaders Lee, Haight, Dame, and Higbee took the lion's share.

Some of the participants were partially rewarded. A man who had but one cow before suddenly had four or five, and one who had a poor wagon previous to the massacre was discovered to have an excellent new one.

---

A  DAMAGING  STORY.

BRIGHAM  AND  THE  CATTLE.
_____

Alexander G. Ingram drove a herd of Mountain Meadow stock to Salt Lake City, with instructions to pay debts of Lee, Haight, Higbee, and Dume. These gentlemen gave him the instructions. After paying the debts, he was to sell the balance of the herd, providing he could obtain a certain specified price there for. He failed to obtain the price, and, in such an event, had been told to give the cattle to the Church. Driving the stock to the Tithing Office, he told Bishop Hunter exactly how matters stood. The Bishop did not like to receive the cattle without Brigham's counsel. Accordingly, the Governor of Utah was sent for, and came to see the cattle. He was told that they came from the emigrant train that was massacred at the Mountain Meadows. He was informed that Lee, Haight, Higbee, and Dame, had sent them, and the instructions given by these gentlemen were repeated.

Brigham Young refused to receive the stock, but ordered them to be turned out into the street. In Utah, estrays are promptly taken up, and in due time are sold, the proceeds going to the Perpetual Emigration Fund. It is possible he did not understand from the beginning, just how the money was to come into his hands, but if so, people are dadly in error. My authority is an intimate friend of Ingram, and I received the story from the latter.

BRIGHAM'S  OPINION  OF  THE  MASSACRE.

Brigham's wife (one-nineteenth of her) told a gentleman whom I met in Beaver that she was present when the news of the massacre arrived at Brigham's office. The messenger, who had come to inquire what to do with the emigrants, had not reached Cedar when another herald dashed into Salt Lake bearing the simple line:

"THE  DEED'S  DONE."

The Prophet burst into tears, and exclaimed: "My God! This will be a blot on the Mormon name forever!"

Jacob Hamlin says he heard President Young and George A. Smith offer to assist Gov. Cummings to ferret out the murderers and bring them to justice. Cummings refused, on the ground that President Buchanan had issued an amnesty proclamation pardoning all the past offenses of the Mormons!

CONCEALING  A  WHOLESALE  MURDER.

The last thought of the dying emigrants must have been, Our Dear Ones at home will never know how we perished! For miles and miles their road had passed through a wild, desolate region inhabited by none but Mormons and Indians! Cold, gray mountains encircled the Meadows, and seemed to be trying to shut out the very sunlight. Perhaps it seems a trivial matter, but there is little doubt but that possessed an additional pang, because of the almost absolute certainty that their murdered bodies would never be recognized, and home-friends would never know the truth. As I stood on the gloomy, God-forsaken spot, I felt that, of all the places I had ever seen, this was the most dreadful, lonely, cheerless place in which to meet death.

Long before they reached Cedar, the participants planned to conceal the crime. For an entire year only the faintest, vaguest rumors floated about, and those obtained no credence.

LEE  TELLS  THE  CRIME.

John D. Lee was the first to disclose the horrible news. It seems to have gnawed so hard at the old man's heart that he could not conceal it longer. He traveled up through the Territory and told, everywhere, that the Indians had massacred a train! The world believed the tale, and no hearts shuddered with more intense horror than those of the Mormon people. A marked peculiarity of this strange people is, that they seldom ask questions. The Mormons deserve to be as celebrated for their secretiveness as the Yankees are for their inquisitiveness. A Mormon can travel through the whole of southern Utah and never be asked his name, occupation, or destination. They strictly mind their own business; for this reason news travels slowly.

HOW  THE  TRUTH  WAS  TOLD.

At last it was whispered that white men helped the Indians. No one believed it at first. The terrible rumors began to multiply rapidly. The secret which is shared by scores of people cannot be kept a secret long if it involves such horrible bloodshed. A large train passed through to California soon after the massacre, and learned some things. Friends in the States became worried over the mysterious silence of their loved ones, and advertised. Aden's father was one of these. Trains from Arkansas and Missouri asked what had suddenly become of their old friends and neighbors. A party of young Mormons first brought the news to California. They heard the story in southern Utah, and gave it very correctly. Next came the confession of Spencer, a Mormon school teacher, who became quite a monomaniac on the subject. He talked constantly of the part he had enacted in the frightful tragedy.

CONFESSIONS  BECAME  FREQUENT.

J. M. Young, another participant, told the entire history of the deed. About this time the Deseret News devoted an editorial to the subject of the massacre, and bitterly denied Mormon complicity. The statement of the old Mormon chieftain, Kanosh, was next made public. The white Mormons had dealt unfairly with this red brother in dividing the spoils, and he gave full particulars of the affair. I am under obligations to Mr. J. H. Beadle for the information in this paragraph.

RESTING  AT  LAST.

We know little about death, yet our ideas of the

      "Sweet rest in heaven"

are certainly not connected with bleaching bones which the gaunt wolves gnaw nightly. Mayhap the daisies and violets will never grow above our graves, and, perchance, no sorrowing tears will ever fall on the sod above our heads; yet we all hope for peaceful, quiet resting-places. These poor emigrants were denied even this slight boon. Their bodies were given as a prey to the beasts of the field and the vultures of the air; and the rain and snow, the storm and sleet, bleached and whitened the bones when the wolves had finished. In August, 1858, Government sent Brig. Gen. Carleton to bury the bones, and ordered Dr. Forney, the Indian Agent, who superseded Brigham, to collect the surviving children. Two companies of dragoons camped on the spot nine or ten days.

GHASTLY  RELICS.

They found bones scattered for 200 yards. The skulls bore no marks of scalping-knives, and whole heads of women's hair were found, tied just as when the owners were murdered. For convenience, the women who crossed the plains often bound up their hair with shoe-strings or strong cords, and many bunches were found thus tied together.

Old wagon-boxes, broken and splintered pieces of boards, and fragments of clothing, shivered arrows, and flinty barbs that had lain buried in human flesh until liberated by cruel wolf-fangs. Many of the bones had been partially concealed in the dust and mud along the creek.

---

GATHERING  THE  CHILDREN.

SQUADS  OF  MEN

were sent 30 miles to get the little ones from the Mormon families in which they were placed. Seventeen were found -- fifteen girls and two boys. Their ages varied from 4 to 13 years. Most of them had received names from the Mormons, and knew no others. The very smallest was a pretty little creature called Lizzie. A chance bullet had cut off squarely both bones of the forearm, and when the wound healed, the wrist and hand dangled loosely, held only by the sinews and flesh. Susan, Lizzie's sister, had been taken 20 miles from her little relative, and the two had never been permitted to see each other; yet there was a mutual recognition when they met.

FORCIBLE  RESISTANCE.

was offered by one family when the soldiers came for a little girl. Serg. Murray was leading the squad of dragoons, and, drawing a revolver, he compelled them to place the girl on the horse in front of him, and triumphantly rode into camp. Some of the little folks were comfortably situated, well clad, and quite happy; others were barefooted, almost naked, and half dead from abuse and ill-treatment. My authority is a white-haired man who was with the expedition.

They heard of two girls and one boy who could not be obtained. Mormons generally were very reluctant about giving information. Three of the wagons belonging to the emigrants were found in the possession of farmers near the Meadows.

TESTIMONY  OF  THE  CHILDREN.

It was a great mistake to suppose children would not remember. Impress such a scene of horror upon a child's mind, and time would have little power to erase the memory of the deed. One girl was nearly 13 years old. Her testimony was clear and unwavering, and firmly established facts that had before been doubted. Two boys, named John Calvin and Myron Tackett, aged respectively 9 and 7, were brought to Salt Lake City, and placed under the charge of a most estimable lady until arrangements could be made for sending them to Arkansas. John would often tell how he

PICKED  ARROWS  FROM  HIS  MOTHER'S  BODY

as fast as the Indians would shoot them into her flesh. He saw his grandfather, grandmother, aunt, father, and mother murdered. Clenching his little fist, he would burst into a little passionate speech like this: "When I get to be a man I'll go to the President of the United States and ask for a regiment of soldiers to go and find John D. Lee! But I don't want to have any one kill Lee! I want to shoot him myself, for he killed my father. He shot my father in the back, but I would shoot him in the face."

Many of the children saw Mormon women wearing their mother's dresses. Haight's wives and Lee's wives were often seen in Cedar City wearing silks and satins that came from the Mountain Meadow women. Jewelry and ornamental articles found their way through almost all the southern settlements. John says that Lee drove his father's gray horses for a few days, and then a Bishop obtained possession of them. Mrs. Worley went to the States with these children, and most of them were placed in the care of friends or relatives. Seventeen years have elapsed, but some of these children would be valuable witnesses should the murderers be brought to trial.

---

INVESTIGATIONS.

CRADLEBAUGH'S  INVESTIGATION

amounted to very little. Mormon Grand Juries would not indict, and the accused fled from the officers who attempted to arrest them.

Philip K. Smith, an apostate Bishop, fled to Pioche, and made a full and complete affidavit of the events of the massacre. He was present, and engaged in the bloody work. Two others went, like Smith, to a justice of the peace, and made lengthy affidavits of the particulars.

When the facts became notoriously public, Lee and Haight were cut off from the Church. Brigham Young, on his Southern trips, used always to associate with these worthies, however, and a Southern Bishop says Haight has since been restored. Lee rode through the streets of Kauarra last April in the President's carriage, sat beside Brigham in the pulpit, and was Brigham's host at Harmony. Lee tells me, that, although "cut off," he considers himself as much of a Mormon as ever.

SKULKING  COWARDS.

From Beaver and Cedar a general stampede has been made since the sitting of the Grand Jury in the Second District. Haight and Higbee are in the neighborhood of Kanab, below St. George. Bill Stewart is in the same locality. McFarlane, the Cedar City Postmaster, has not dared to make an appearance at home, except on one evening, when he came from the south in the stage just after dark. He was closely muffled and disguised, and left in half an hour. He is said to have been very active during the massacre.

WITNESSES  ABUNDANT.

Proof will be conclusive against Lee and others. If men swear to a very small portion of the truth, it will be sufficient to convict. Several men have already made statements that have never been given to the public, and which are reserved for the time of trial. Lee will never turn State's evidence unless he can be converted from the Mormon religion. So long as his faith remains unshaken, he will never implicate his superiors in the Church. He does not deny his own guilt, and says that his life cannot be shortened more than a few years at worst.

George Adair, in the streets of Cedar, often used to boast that he had taken babies by the heels and dashed out their brains against the wagon-wheels. In his drunken revels he would laugh and attempt to imitate the pitiful, crushing sound of skull-bones as they struck the iron bands of the wagon-hubs. Geirge Adair loves and is secreted by the Mormons of Southern Utah.

THE  MONUMENT.

is a heap of large stones gathered from the neighboring hill-sides. It is an irregular pile, 20 feet long and 7 feet wide. It is highest in the middle, and slopes, like the roof of a house, to each side. It is only 3 or 4 feet high, and hears no cross or inscription. The first monument and cross were totally destroyed, and, when rebuilt by the United States soldiers, the cross was again demolished.

Perhaps the perpetrators disliked the inscription, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Poor fools! The sentiment is to-day stamped upon thousands of American hearts, and, while vandals destroy the poor wooden cross above the murdered emigrants, they only succeed in impressing the word "Vengeance" more deeply upon the hearts. May God speed the triumph of justice!  A. M. P. O.

---

THE  MOUNTAIN-MEADOW  MASSACRE.

We print elsewhere the first authentic narrative of the awful Mountain Meadow massacre which has ever been made public. Seventeen years have elapsed since this Mormon atrocity was perpetuated, and in this time the very fact of the massacre has almost faded out of recollection. To many the narrative will be as fresh as if the events had happened yesterday, while those who still remember the terrible deed will be shocked to learn that it was planned and instigated by Mormon whites, and executed by Mormon whites and Mormon Indians acting in concert. The recent arrest of J. D. Lee, the leader in the massacre, who is now in jail awaiting trial for murder, gives a current interest to the fearful story, which is substantially as follows: In 1857, some miners, who went to Califirnia in '49 and had prospered, returned to their homes in Arkansas to take their families to the new El Dorado. They disppsed of their homesteads, and made up a train of 146 men, women, and children, and started upon the return. When they arrived at Salt Lake City they were told by the Mormons that it was too late in the season for them to cross the Sierra Nevadas by the old emigrant route, and were advised to take the Southern Utah route. They did so, and on the morning of Sept. 10, while encamped on the desolate Mountain Meadows, near Cave [sic - Cane?] Spring, they were surprised by an attack of Indians, who killed seven and wounded fifteen of them at the first fire. They rallied, however, threw up barricades with their wagons, and repulsed their assailants. The news of the repulse was brought to Cedar City by a courier, and John D. Lee, the Indian Agent [sic - Farmer?], at the head of a large force of Mormon militia, started to the relief of his Indian allies, with instructions that the whole party must be massacred. By this time the emigrants had so securely intrenched themselves that they successfully resisted the Mormons for seven or eight days, during which time, however, they were cut off from subsistence, while the Mormons were supplied from Salt Lake and Cedar City. During the siege, fifteen of them were killed. Couriers, whom they sent out with appeals to white men for relief, they believing that their besiegers were Indians, were intercepted and put to death with the most cruel tortures. At last, upon the verge of starvation, they were induced by Lee to come out of their intrenchments and hold a parley. The men came out in a body without arms, and at a given signal every one was shot by Lee's troops, those who were wounded being given over to the Indians to be killed by torture. The women were first ravished and then slaughtered. All of the children, except those who were supposed to be too young to remember the horrible scene, were butchered, and in this butchery the white and red fiends vied with each other in diabolical methods of cruelty. Of the 146 members of the train, only thirteen little children survived, and these were scattered far and wide among Mormon families. After the massacre the bodies of the victims were left unburied, and, when the butchers had retired, the wolves feasted upon the dead. The train was rich in money, live-stock, and all the effects which, in those early days, comprised the outfit of the emigrants making the long overland journey. The spoils were collected, sent to Salt Lake, and sold at auction by Bishop Higbee, and purchased by the Saints. For a whole year the Mormons kept their secret, and only a rumor that there had been trouble of some kind found its way to the States. The guilty Lee, however, could not carry the secret long. Remorse preyed upon him, and he sought to ease his conscience by confessing the details of the massacre, which he laid at the doors of the Indians. There were others, however, who were afflicted in a similar manner and told the truth, among them some of the Indians, who were incensed because the spoils had not been divided equally. The Mormon butchers also made a mistake in supposing children could not remember, and some of them corroborated the confessions in all their details. The aggregate of the testimony brought out every fact of the massacre in the clearest light, and established the guilt of Lee and his fellow-butchers beyond the shadow of a doubt. The miserable old man now lies in jail awaiting trial, and justice will be avenged. A rude heap of stones erected upon the desolate Mountain Meadow, continually mutilated by Mormon hatred even to the present day, is the only monumental souvenir left to tell the story of the massacre; but the horrible story has now been made public, and must hasten the downfall of the system under whose auspices it was planned and consummated, and in this fact lies some slight compensation for the bloody deeds of that fatal September. The testimony points with unerring certainty to the fact that this massacre was planned by leading men of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, in order to avenge the death of Joseph Smith, "the Prophet," and Elder Parley P. Pratt; that Brigham Young, although mot a particeps criminis, must have been aware of the facts, and has retained the leaders of the massacre in places of friendship and trust ever since, although he has gone through an empty form of cutting them off from the Church; that a large part of the proceeds arising from the sale of the emigrants' effects was [conveyed] into the treasury of the Church; and that the orders of the Church authorities forbade any Mormon, under severe penalties, either to give or sell them food before the massacre was agreed upon, they knowing full well that, under such circumstances, the victims would meet death by starvation. In cool deliberation, fiendish malice, and cruel execution, there is but one massacre in modern history to compare with it, and that is the Nena Sahib's massacre of the English troops at Cawnpore. The two cases are almost parallel. They happened in the same year, 1857. Men, women, and children were butchered alike, and the victims in each case fell into the hands of the butchers by the same species of treachery. By another singular coincidence, both leaders, John D. Lee and Nena Sahib, were arrested last November. The world will be happily rid of both.


Note 1: Extensive excerpts from the above text were reprinted in the Jan. 10, 1875 Arkansas Gazette; in C. P. Lyford's 1886 The Mormon Problem; and in John W. Clampitt's 1888 Echoes from the Rocky Mountains; with some shorter bits paraphrased in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's 1895 article, "Children of The Massacre." The identity of the writer "A. M. P. O." was not disclosed by the Tribune, but he was undoubtedly Charles Fayette McGlashan (1847-1931), who was in Utah working as an investigative reporter for the Sacramento Record-Union during 1874-75. By some undisclosed means, Mr. McGlashan was granted unprecedented access to primary sources, including interviews with Jacob Hamblin and other, previously closed-mouthed "old-timers." For some textual overlap with the Chicago Tribune article, see the Mountain Meadows massacre material in McGlashan's posthumous 1986 book From the Desk of C. F. McGlashan, as well as the accounts given a series of articles published in the Record-Union in 1874-76 (clippings on file in the C. F. McGlashan Papers in the Bancroft Library: box 3, folder 115, Scrapbook).

Note 2: The day after the above article appeared in the Tribune, its Democratic rival in Chicago, the Inter-Ocean, complained that the A. M. P. O. account was substantially plagiarized from a Salt Lake City source, previously published in the Inter-Ocean of Nov. 21st. While this complaint may have had some slight validity, the Tribune's article contains a great deal of primary historical details not included in the report printed by the Inter-Ocean. In her critique of the A. M. P. O. narrative, Juanita Brooks terms the content "a combination of well-established facts and a vivid imagination." Brooks appears to have been unaware of McGlashan's investigative reporting and offers no clue as to whether the A. M. P. O. account had any connection with the much shorter, less informative piece published by the Inter-Ocean.

Note 3: All article clippings from the Chicago Tribune of this period are courtesy of Erin Jennings.

Our "Independent" Republican morning cotemporary of this city yesterday devoted a page and a half to recounting the Mountain Meadow massacre in Utah, as is supposed, by a band of Mormons, secenteen years ago. This account the Tribune has heralded for a day or two, and a double-leaded editorial was employed to tell the world that this was the first history of the affair ever made public. Two months ago the Inter Ocean published, from its special correspondent at Salt Lake, a long and complete account of this affair, together with a history of the arrest of Lee, one of the chief perpetrators of the crime. This letter gave a most graphic account of what had been until then an unexplained mystery. From all appearances, the article in yesterday's Tribune is made up from that in the Inter Ocean, the facts stated being substantially the same, the story being padded out by the writer to increase its measurement without adding to its value. So much for this boasted enterprise....

Upward of one hundred persons were butchered in Vicksburg a month ago, and the Tribune devoted a quarter of a column to it. About the same number were massacred in Utah seventeen years ago, and our cotempirary is so horrified that it minutely recites every shocking incident and boils over into a column of editorial on the subject. We do not object to this lamentation over the unhappy massacre seventeen years ago, and sincerely trust that the wretches who instigated and carried it out may be brought to condign punishment; but while weeping so excessively over the stranger whose bones are bleached with time, it might not be out of place to drop a tear for the citizen whose body lies unburied and whose present death most naturally suggests sorrow. As a mourner for the death of its remote ancestors, the Tribune is a success; but its friends may not hope to find its grief particularly poignant when it is called upon to announce their demise. Mark Twain's intense sorrow at the tomb of Adam firnishes a parallel to the first instance; but we find no precedent for the last.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMONISM  AND  THE  MOUNTAIN-MEADOW  MASSACRE.
_____

To the Editor of The Chicago Trubune:

Pioche, Nev., Feb. 10 -- I desire to say that your recently-published report of the Mountain Meadows massacre is, so far as I can judge from a residence of four years within 60 miles of the locality, and numerous conversations with eye-witnesses, strictly accurate. And it is the first full and authentic account that has been printed of that bloody business, which, to the shame of our people and Government, has been permitted to go so long unpunished. The views of your correspondent as to the cause of the outrage I also believe correct. Any person who has seen what acts religious fervor and fanaticism will lead many to commit, can understand in part, but not to its full degree, the complete control the peculiar religion of the Mormons has upon its converts. They believe in the infallibility of their "President, Seer, and Revelator." No monarch on earth has such influence with his subjects. I believe many of the "Saints" would consider it a gracious privilege to bathe his feet, and dry them with their hair. One old lady, of 80 and upwards, remarked of him, in my hearing, a short time since, "Poor man! poor man! will they (meaning the "Gentiles") never get through persecuting him?" A lady-acquaintance, but just come to the country, remarked to a Mormon wife, in one of the settlements, that she saw all that was to be seen in Salt Lake City but Brigham Young, and she regretted that she was obloged to come away without seeing him. The reply was, "Oh! I wish you could have seen him. You couldn't help loving him; he has such a heavenly look." Is it a wonder their Church is so flourishing, when the love for its head is so great? Understanding the relationship of the chief and subordinates, can any man of fair reasoning believe that the "Saints" bur=tchered a party of emigrants without his knowledge and direction? Surely not. One of the Prophet's wives said to an acquaintance of mine, a reliable man, that she did not see why so much fuss should be made about the killing of a few people, when the Lord destroyed immense numbers to advance the cause of religion.

What more dangerous element in society can there be than such ignorant fanaticism, that permits a man to cut another's throat "to the flory of God"? We admire the free nature of our Government, and its constitutional clause which says that every man shall be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience; but much doubt if it was the intention of the framers of that blessed document to protect a sect who believed in and practiced the "blood atonement." There are some knotty questions in our Constitution which day will have to be made more definite and clear before outrages in the name of the law will cease. The Mormon question must be "tackled" sooner or later, and its objectionable features, or such parts as are outrageous to the general sense of right, removed by the strong hand of law; else it will continue a shame to the American people, and fruitful of crime and misery.   A. T. M.


Notes: (forthcoming)

The  Mantle  of  Brigham  Young.

Salt Lake City, Utah, May 3d, 1875.  

... Rev. Solomon Spaulding, a classic scholar, in the year 1809, wrote a romantic and fabled history of the "ten lost tribes of Israel." The book was completed in 1813, but never published, having been stolen from the publishers.

... Sidney Rigdon feigned for a brief period after Smith's death, when he was superseded by Brigham Young, then fourth in power, and finally expelled [from] the church and "delivered over to the buffetings of Satan." Rigdon now lives at his old home, in Alleghany county New York. Rigdon was the inventor of the Mormon scheme, and, by right, the mantle of his co-conspirator should have fallen on him. Cowdery, who transcribed the tablets, was also expelled for being too ambitious, and retired in virtuous indignation to his former home, near Kirtland. William Smith, the only surviving brother of Joseph, made an effort to assume the Mormon toga, and his religious head was cut off. Joseph Smith, the oldest of four legitimate sons of the prophet, claimed to succeed his father as head of the church, and he met the same fate. Young Joseph was, at last accounts, living near Nauvoo, with his mother, and still claims his inheritance. He is not a polygamist and denies the genuineness of that "revelation" to his father. In view of Brigham Young's exterme age, 74, and failing health, his successor to the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is looked forward to with much interest -- several factions claiming the same by divine inheritance, and in this probable contention, let us hope that the fabric of the "Mormon Empire," based on fraud and superstition, and founded by scheming impostors, may crumble to atoms, and thus be the means of its own downfall.


Note: The exact date and full content of the above article remain undetermined. The excerpts were taken from reprints published in the Salt Lake Messenger of May, 1875, the Saints Herald of July 15, 1875, and the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel of May 17, 1875.

People and Things.

... A San Francisco paper says the "Josephite" branch of the Mormon Church announce the recent death of Elder Charles Wesley Wandell, at Sydney, New South Wales. This Elder was extensively known some years ago on the Pacific coast, both as a missionary and writer in the interest of Brigham Young's Mormonism. Wandell appears to have been a conscientious disciple, for when he saw the bones of the victims of the Mountain Meadows massacre bleaching on the prairie, his heart sickened against Brigham Young, and he gradually traveled away from him into what is conventionally termed "apostacy." He was a man of good education and plucky as a writer. After he left Brigham's church he addressed to him twenty "open letters," which were published in the Corrine (Utah) Reporter, reviewing the Prophet's life, and charging home upon him the responsibility of that dreadful crime -- the massacre of over 120 Gentile emigrants. The Saints in Southern Utah made Wandell's residence among them very uncomfortable, and he went over the boundary line into southern Nevada, where he was well and favorably known. It was through his labors that Bishop Klingnon Smith was induced to make the confession of his part in the Mountain Meadows massacre, which subsequently led to the apprehension of John D. Lee and Bishop Dame, and to the indictment of about twenty leading Mormons. Wandell claimed to be in possession of evidence to convict Brigham Young and his two councilors of ordering that massacre, and only awaited an opportunity before a court to produce that evidence. Whether he has left that evidence in such shape as to be of service in the trial of Lee next month is unknown. He was to have been called upon in the trial, but he is now beyond the reach of earthly tribunals, and Brigham, Smith, and Wells will no doubt rejoice in his departure.


Note: See also the New York Herald of May 17, 1877 and "Charles W. Wandell's 'Argus letters'"

The Mountain Meadow Massacre --
Lee’s Account of the Horrible Affair...
______

THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  MASSACRE.

(Special Telegram to the Inter-Ocean.)

THE  GOLDEN  TABLES
______

On Which Were Inscribed the Records
of the Tribe of Nephi.
______

Written in "Improved Egyptian"
and Translated by Joseph Smith.
______

How He Came to Find Them and the Mighty
Goggles by Which They Were Translated.
______

And How He Was Pitched Down Hill for
Daring to Think He Had Struck a Bonanza.
______

An Interview with David Whitmer,
Who Helped to Make the Translation.
______

The First Conflict of Arms, and the
Pusillanimous Conduct of Gov. Ford.
______

And Who Now Holds the Original
Manuscripts of the Book of Mormon.
______

Gen. Doniphan Relates Some Reminiscences
of the Prophet's Career in Missouri.
______

Showing How He Was One Delivered Out of the
Hands of His Enemies by the Aid of Filthy Lucre.
______

While everybody knows that Joseph Smith was the founder of the Church of Christ, or, as it is more commonly called, Mormonism, comparatively few know anything more than this of Smith and his greed. To bring out some of the salient points in the life of this wonderful man, to give the true record of the finding of the golden tablets, and the translation of their "reformed Egyptian" hieroglyphics into the book of Mormon, by means of the Urim and Thummim, and to show wherein the Church of Christ of Latter-Day saints differs from the original Church of Christ, as instituted by Joseph Smith, the prophet, are, in brief, the objects of this article.

JOSEPH SMITH WAS BORN

Dec. 23, 1805, at Sharon, Windsor county, Vert., very much as ordinary mortals are brought into the world. There were no "fiery shapes" or "burning crescents" to mark the advent of this, the greatest prophet since the days of Mohammed. His parents belonged to the sub-stratum of society, or what was known as the mud-still element in ante bellum days. In 1815 they moved to a point near Palmyra, Wayne county, New York, and 10 years later crossed the line and settled in the adjoining county of Ontario. Joseph was an illiterate and wayward, but at the same an original youth. Early in life he manifested a strong tendency toward the mysterious, and managed to earn shillings as a water-witch, using the forked hazel stick to designate the exact place where the credulous could sink wells with a certainty of finding an ample supply of water. So. at least, say those who disbelieve in his religion. It was about the year 1827 that Joseph inaugurated, or was the instrument of inaugurating, one of the most novel and successful religious schemes that has startled the world for many centuries, -- one that has attracted the attention of, and made converts from, the old world as well as the new, and has been and is to-day a formidable element in the religious and political affairs of the republic.

THE BASIS OF THE WHOLE FABRIC

was the finding, or the purported finding, by Smith, of certain sacred records which 14 centuries before had been buried by the last remnant of one of the lost tribes of Israel. How Joseph Smith was led to the discovery, and how he utilized it, was told to a TIMES reporter by David Whitmer, of Missouri, who witnessed much of that whereof he speaks, and who today has in his possession the original documents on which the church was founded. His story runs somewhat thus:

One night Joseph Smith awoke from deep sleep to find his humble room ablaze with glorious effulgence. In the midst of this supernatural radiance stood an angelic figure robed in white, who, in seraphic tones, said to him that in a stone casket buried near the summit of the hill Cumorah were the priceless and sacred records of the Nephites, one of the lost tribes. Presently the light and the strange messenger disappeared, and all was dark. Joseph slept, and a second time he awoke to see the same mysterious light and presence, and to hear the same weird directions. He slept again, and a third time the angelic visitant and heavenly light appeared as before. In the morning Joseph arose pale and haggard, meditating upon the events of the night, and his parents, observing his strange appearance, questioned him closely but received only evasive answers. As soon as he could escape observation, he strolled out and away from the house and sought the hill Cumorah, an oval prominence with a base half a mile in diameter, situated near Manchester. He found the exact spot designated by the white-robed visitor, and at once commenced digging in the rock-ribbed soil. At the depth of two and a half or three feet his faith was rewarded by the discovery of

A SQUARE STONE CASKET.

Overpowered by the discovery he rested for a few moments, and then visions of worldly emolument flitted through his overwrought brain. He had been singled out as the discoverer of this secret of the infinite! Should he neglect this golden opportunity to amass a fortune? No! He would take a trusty few into his confidence, the better to accomplish his mercenary purpose, and untold wealth and fame would be guaranteed to all. While these worldly thoughts occupied Joseph's mind, the angel of the Lord again suddenly stood before him, told him that he had approached this sacred spot in irreverent mood, that the secrets of the casket could never be his until he sought them in the proper spirit, and then hurled him unceremoneously to the plain below. Joseph arose chagrined, and resolutely ascended the hill, when he was again hurled back with words of awful warning. A third attempt, with like result, sufficed to convince him that he was battling against the Lord, and he desisted and repaired to his father's house, leaving the casket intact. After long weeks of prayerful purification he again visited the hill Cumorah and reverently unearthed the casket. With an unpoetical crowbar he removed the cover, when were revealed to his astonished sight a number of golden plates, and a singular stone. The plates were each about 6x10 inches in size and were held together by a brazen ring [passing] through a hole near the top, so that the entire package could be opened like a book. On these plates were mystic characters that no man could decipher. A learned philologist in New York city was consulted but confessed his utter ignorance of the language embodied in the symbols. But a stone had been found with the plates, shaped like a pair of ordinary spectacles, though much larger, and at least half an inch in thickness, and perfectly opaque save to the prophetic vision of Joseph Smith. On the tabular plates were engraven the records of the lost tribe of Nephites, and the stone was

THE URIM AND THUMMIM.

by which the seers of old had deciphered the mysteries of the universe.

Joseph Smith, recognizing the necessity of having confidants and assistants that he might utilize the great gift, shared the secret with a few young men in the neighborhood, among whom were Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris. David Whitmer, living 22 miles away, came to town on business, overheard some conversation with reference to the discovery, became interested, formed Joseph's acquaintance, was shown the plates, as well as some practical tests of the Urim and Thummim, and was overwhelmed with conviction, and became an active disciple and confidant. In 1828 Smith commenced the translation of the inscriptions upon the plates but the excitement in the vicinity of his father's residence was such that he was compelled to leave the country. He took refuge at Harmony, Pennsylvania, whither Cowdery soon followed him, stopping over night en route at the house of David Whitmer's father, when the two young men conversed long and earnestly upon the new revelations. In the spring of 1829, even Harmony became too hot for Joseph, and he sent to New York for succor. David Whitmer started out in a wagon, drove 160 miles to Harmony, took Smith and Cowdery as passengers and conveyed them thence to his father's house, where they remained in retirement until September, completing the translation. During all these months David had free access to their room and was

AN EYE-WITNESS TO THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE.

The plates were not before Joseph while he translated, but seem to have been removed by the custodian angel. The method pursued was commonplace but nevertheless effective. Having placed the Urim and Thummim in his hat, Joseph placed the hat over his face, and with prophetic eyes read the invisible symbols syllable by syllable and word by word, while Cowdery or Harris acted as recorder. "So illiterate was Joseph at that time," said Mr. Whitmer, "that he didn't even know that Jerusalem was a walled city, and he was utterly unable to pronounce many of the names which the magic power of the Urim and Thummim revealed, and therefore spelled them out in syllables, and the more erudite scribe put them together. The stone was the same used by the Jaredites at Babel. I have frequently placed it to my eyes but could see nothing through it. I have seen Joseph, however, place it to his eyes and instantly read signs 160 miles distant and tell exactly what was transpiring there. When I went to Harmony after him he told me the name of every hotel at which I had stopped on the road, read the signs, and described various scenes without having ever received any information from me." The unbelievers frequently attempted to confound the faithful few by asking them if they supposed

"THAT FOOL BOY"

could write anything, or that God would select such a wretch as a medium of communicating His will. The ready answer was that God was not very particular as to the instruments used to accomplish certain desired ends, and that devils as well as angels had their places in His economy.

In 1830 the Book of Mormon was first published, and on the 6th of April of that year the Church of Christ was organized at Manchester. Before alluding farther to the progress of the church it may be well to inquire what this famous Book of Mormon is or pretends to be. It is composed of the first and second books of Nephi, the Book Nephi which was the son of Helaman, the books of Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, Mormon, and Ether, the Words of Mormon, and the Book of Moroni, the son of Mormon. According to the record, 600 years before Christ a Jewish family left Jerusalem warned by God that

DESTRUCTION AND CAPTIVITY WERE AT HAND,

and traveled eastward to the sea. There the patriarch died and Nephi, his son succeeded to the patriarchy and priesthood. By direction of the Lord he built a boat, set sail, and eventually landed in Central America. His followers increased rapidly and at length a schism arose and Laman and his followers refused to obey Nephi and were cut off, cursed and condemned "to be a brutish and savage people, having dark skins, compelled to dig in the ground for roots and hunt their meat in forests like beasts of prey." It was foretold that in time a remnant should have the curse removed, and become "a fair and delightsome people," who should blossom as the rose. These, known as the Lamanites, were the Indians. Meanwhile the Nephites multiplied, spread over North and South America, and built the great cities the ruins of which have astonished the world of to-day. They had numerous kings and prophets, with long names, and frequently went out to war against the Lamanites, and fought terrible battles. There were schisms amongst the Nephites, and many deserted and joined the Lamanites. After many bloody battles the Nephites were gradually driven east beyond the Mississippi, and on the shores of Lake Erie they made a stand, and fought till "the whole land was covered with dead bodies," About A. D. 400 they made a final stand at the Hill Cumorah, in New York, where 20,000 were killed, and all the living captured, save Mormon and his son, Moroni. Mormon here collected the records of the kings and priests of the Nephites, added a book of his own, and gave the volume to his son, who finished it and

BURIED IT IN THE STONE CASKET,

upon the hill, assured of God that it would be unearthed in 14 centuries from that date. And sure enough, along came Joseph Smith, the prophet, led by divine agencies, and found the casket containing the sacred records, and the Urim and Thummim by which the "reformed Egyptian" hieroglyphics might be deciphered, and translated them in the presence of David Whitmer, and David Whitmer has the original and only translation, and THE TIMES has from his own lips this truthful account of the same.

Appended to the original edition of the Book of Mormon, published in 1830, is

THE TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES,

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

IN THE SPIRIT LAND,

the truth of the faith espoused and adhered to in this; Harris has recently joined him, "gone to meet Oliver Cowdery," as Brother Childs would say, and Whitmer is still lingering on the shores of time to tell of the class to which he belonged.

DAVID WHITMER

was born near Harrisburg, Pa., and when he was but four years old his parents removed to New York, settling at a point midway between the northern extremities of Lakes Cayuga and Seneca, two miles from Waterloo, two miles from Seneca river, four miles from Seneca Falls, seven miles from Geneva, and 22 miles from Palmyra. He is now 70 years of age, but as hale and hearty as most men at 60. In person he is above medium height, stoutly built through not corpulent, his shoulders inclining to stoop as if from so long supporting his massive head rather than from the weight of years, his frank, manly, and benevolent face closely shaven, and his whole exterior betokening him to be one of nature's gentlemen. The rudiments of education he learned in school and a life-time of thought and research have served to expand and store his mind with vast funds of information. The Times reporter found him at his pleasant two-story white frame residence near the centre of the town of Richmond, Mo., and in company with Hon. J. T. Child, editor of The Conservator, was admitted, introduced and received a cordial greeting. When the object of the call was made known, Mr. Whitmer smilingly and meditatively remarked that it was true he had in his possession the original records, and was conversant with the history of the Church of Christ from the beginning, but was under obligations to hold both history and records sacred until such time as the interests of truth and true religion might demand their aid to combat error. Presently he became quite animated, arose to his feet and with great earnestness and good nature spoke for half an hour on the harmony between the bible and the original Book of Mormon, showing how the finding of the plates had been predicted, referring to the innumerable evidence, in the shape of ruins of great cities existing on this continent, of its former occupation by a highly civilized race, reverently declared his solemn conviction of the authenticating of the records in his possession and closed by

DENOUNCING THE LATTER DAY SAINTS OF UTAH

as an abomination in the sight of the Lord. While he believed implicitly in the original book, he protested against the Book of Covenants, which was simply a compilation of the special revelations that Smith and his successors had pretended to have received. Joe Smith, he said, was generally opposed to these revelations, but was frequently importuned by individuals to reveal their duty, and oftimes he was virtually compelled to yield, and in this way the original purity of the faith was tarnished by human invention, and the accepted records of to-day lumbered with a mass of worse than useless rubbish. Should Brigham Young, or any of his infatuated satellites, ever dare to declare any of their interpolations to be from the original tablets, or proclaim that their pernicious doctrines or practices were authorized by the true version, then he, David Whitmer, would bring forth the records and confound them. Until that time he alone would be the custodian of the sacred documents.

When

THE QUESTION OF POLYGAMY

was broached, and it was asked if the original Book of Mormon justified the practice, Mr. Whitmer most emphatically replied: "No! It's is even much more antagonistic to both polygamy and concubinage than is the bible. Joe Smith never to my knowledge advocated it, though I have heard that he virtually sanctioned it as Nauvoo. However, as I cut loose from him in 1837 I can't speak intelligently of what transpired thereafter." David Whitmer believes in the bible as implicitly as any devotee alive; and he believes in the Book of Mormon as much as he does the bible. The one is but a supplement to the other, according to his idea, and neither would be complete were the other lacking. And no man can look at David Whitmer's face for a half-hour, while he charily and modestly speaks of what he has seen, and then boldly and earnestly confesses the faith that is in him, and say that he is a bigot or an enthusiast. While he shrinks from unnecessary public promulgation of creed, and keenly feels that the Brighamites and Danites and numerous other ites have disgraced it, yet he would not hesitate in emergency, to

STAKE  HIS  HONOR  AND  EVEN  HIS  LIFE

upon its reliability. His is the stern faith of the puritans, modified by half a century of benevolent thought and quiet observation. He might have been a martyr had he locked sense and shrewdness to escape the death sentence that was pronounced against him by the high priests of the church he had helped to build. As it is, he is perhaps the only living witness of the wondrous revelation made to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.

David Whitmer was married in Seneca county, New York, in 1830, and was for a number of years an elder in the Church of Christ. To-day he is the proprietor of a livery stable in Richmond, Mo., owns some real estate, has a handsome balance in the bank, is universally respected by all who know him, and surrounded by children and grandchildren, is pleasantly gliding toward the gates of sunset, confident that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was also the God of Nephi, whose faithful disciple he has been and is. He does not believe that all believing in the Book of Mormon or all adherents to any other faith will be found among the elect, but that the truly good of every faith will be gathered in fulfillment of prophecy. Neither does he believe that the Book of Mormon is the only record of the lost tribes hidden in the earth, but on the contrary, that the caves hold other records that will not come forth till all is peace and the lion shall eat straw with the lamb. Three times he has been at the Hill Cumorah and seen the casket that contained the tablets and seerstone. Eventually the casket has been washed down to the foot of the hill, but it was to be seen when he last visited the historic place. He declares that he has never been a Mormon, as the term is commonly interpreted, but is a firm believer in the book, in the faith of Christ, and the fulfillment of the prophecies in due time. Some of them have

ALREADY  BEEN  FULFILLED;

for instance, that which declares that the saints shall be driven from city to city, and also the prediction that the twelve apostles shall lead them to the devil.

In 1837 David and his brother John, then living in far west, Missouri, were warned that they must make a confession of their apostacy or be killed, as the leaders of the church were conspiring against them. They determined to accept neither horn of the dilemma and arranged for flight. At an appointed time John emerged from the back door of his house, gave the preconcerted signal by raising his hat, and hastily mounted horses in waiting they rode away. John, as clerk of the church, had its records, and Oliver Cowdery bore off the original translation, and eventually transferred it to the keeping of David. Since that memorable day both John and David Whitmer have kept aloof from the so-called Latter-Day Saints, although firm as ever in the faith as taught by the Book of Mormon. John is a man of fine education, and abundantly able to defend his faith from assaults from any quarter.

THE  THEORY  COMMONLY  ACCEPTED  BY  SCEPTICS

of the origin of the Book of Mormon differs materially from the account given by David Whitmer. They claim that it is a skillful perversion of a mass of manuscript written in 1812 by Reverend Solomon Spaulding, an invalid minister, which was called by him "Manuscript Found." At one time he had commenced negotiations for its publication by a Pittsburgh firm, in whose employ was Sidney Rigdon, but it never found its way into print, and eventually the manuscript was lost. It is said that those who had read Spaulding's production recognized in the Book of Mormon all its essential features, and their theory was that Sidney Rigdon, the young printer, had stolen the Spaulding manuscript, and he and Joe Smith and Cowdery had doctored it judiciously and worked it up into a grand salvation scheme, covering its origin with an air of mystery. Certain it is that Rigdon was one of the earliest and able converts, and has done as much to propagate the faith as any follower of Joseph Smith.

The first hegira of the Mormons was from New York to Kirtland, O., where they built a temple and flourished for many years. In 1831 Joe Smith received a revelation to the effect that Missouri was the land of Zion, and thither large numbers of the faithful removed, settling in Jackson county, in which Kansas City is located. Here also they acquired large tracts of land and flourished for two years, but jealousies sprung up between them and the Gentile settlers, which in 1833 culminated in open war, when the Gentiles rose en masse and drove them northward across the Missouri river into Clay county. The causes for this uprising were numerous, but doubtless the principal lay in the fact that the Mormons were coming from the free states, were supposed to be abolitionists. David Whitmer asserts that there is not a single instance on record of slave property having been interfered with by the Mormons, or of a slave having been admitted to the church without the consent of his or her owner. When the Mormons fled from Jackson county they left everything behind them, and found themselves destitute and among strangers. Among the citizens of Liberty, the county seat of Clay county, was a young lawyer named

A. W.  DONIPHAN

then almost unknown to fame; but who has since distinguished himself as a soldier and statesman. He, in common with many others, sympathized with the fugitives, and endeavored to provide them with food and shelter. Nevertheless, coming as they did in the midst of winter, into a sparsely-settled county, their sufferings were great. Between the leading citizens of Clay county and the Mormon leaders there was an understanding that the latter should not regard the county as a section of Zion wherein they were to locate permanently, but should hold themselves in readiness to remove when the citizens might deem it best. For three years they remained and conducted themselves as law-abiding citizens. Meanwhile, Jackson county had not forgotten the unpleasantness, and delegations were sent over to urge the people of Clay to imitate Jackson county's example and drive the invaders from their soil. In 1835 young Doniphan was a representative to the general assembly, and succeeded with the advice and consent of the Mormon leaders in having a bill passed setting aside the county of Caldwell as a sort of Mormon reservation. The same year the faithful bade a friendly adieu to Clay county and settled in Caldwell, founding the historic town of Far West which soon became prosperous and populous. At this time Joe Smith was a banker at Kirtland, but in 1837 his bank suspended payment and Joe made good time to Far West where he again assumed the leadership of his flock. In their hegira to Caldwell county the saints were not accurate as to county boundaries, evidently thinking that the whole state was theirs by right and would be by title at no far distant day, and many of them located in Daviess county, adjoining Caldwell on the north. This was, as subsequent events proved,

A  FATAL  ERROR,

and was the cause of their final expulsion from the state. In 1838 there was an exciting political contest, and as the Mormon vote was cast solid it virtually decided the election. There were individual rows and fights at the polls which were the signals for a general outbreak and open war. The Mormons entrenched themselves at Far West, and boldly defied the civil authorities. As a last resort, Gov. Boggs ordered out the militia of that district, commanded by Maj. Gen. D. R. Atchison, whose instructions were either to drive the Mormons from the state of exterminate them. Gen. Atchison collected several companies and marched toward the seat of war, being joined en route by Brig. Gen. A. W. Doniphan, who had also collected several companies. Before the column reached Far West, Gov. Boggs, suspecting that Gen. Atchison had been on too friendly terms with the Morons to vigorously carry out his instructions, ordered him to transfer his command to Gen. Doniphan and retire from the field. Gen. Doniphan, at the head of a thousand or twelve hundred men, advanced to within a short distance of Far West, and encamped for he night on a small creek rejoicing in the name of [Goose?]. Next morning, accompanied only by a staff officer, he rode toward the Mormon fortifications. A guard halted them and refused to let them pass. Gen. Doniphan informed him that he should pass at all hazards, and warned him against any further attempt to stop him, lest it should precipitate a bloody battle. The amateur soldier, more accustomed to arguments than bullets, was presently convinced, and the general rode directly up to the breastworks. Calling Joe Smith out, he showed him the governor's order, and added: "I am too much a lawyer and too little a soldier to obey that order literally, but I will compel you to lay down your arms and then the governor can deal with you according to law." Smith knew Gen. Doniphan well enough to know that he would do as he promised, and therefore asked permission to consult with his associates, promising to notify him at 3 o'clock that afternoon of their decision. Permission was granted, and at 3 o'clock Gen. Doniphan was on hand to receive the answer, but Joe was not ready, and begged to be given until evening to make up his mind. The general gave him till sundown to consider, and then, with two companies, again rode up to the fortifications, and called for Smith and his confederates to come out. Forming his troops in a hollow square, he invited Smith and his leading advisers within the inclosure, and as soon as they entered

THE  GAP  WAS  CLOSED  BEHIND  THEM.

They vigorously protested, asserting that they had come out under a flag of truce, and were entitled to the immunities accorded by all civilized nations under similar circumstances. Gen. Doniphan told them their protests would be of no avail. He had determined to take them to his camp, keep them overnight as his guests and deliver them safely at their fortifications the next morning. Seeing that the general had deliberately resolved upon his course, they reluctantly concluded to make the best of it and accompany him without further objections. In camp they were treated as guests rather than prisoners, and according to promise, were duly returned in the morning. Gen. Doniphan took this precaution because he did not recognize that the Mormons had any rights as belligerents, "but," said he, "my chief object was to avoid a surprise. My troops were all raw militia, and a night attack, even by a small force, might have thrown them into the wildest confusion. I didn't propose to be made the butt of ridicule by placing myself in a condition to be outwitted and routed by Joe Smith, and knowing that his men would never dare to molest my camp as long as he was in my possession, I resolved upon the course pursued, and I am satisfied to-day that I acted wisely."

During the next day the Mormons

LAID  DOWN  THEIR  ARMS,

and Gen. Doniphan reported accordingly to the civil authorities. He did not consider his work done, however, but maintained his camp, guarded the Mormons, and held his force in readiness to assist the authorities in serving processes. Judge King, of Ray county, issued warrants for the arrest of Joe Smith, and a number of his most prominent accomplices on various charges, and they were accordingly arrested and taken to Gallatin, Daviess county, for trial. After a few days five of them obtained a change of venue to the Boone county circuit, and were ordered thence under guard. They were Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Baldwin, Lyman Wight, whom Gen. Doniphan pronounces a military man and honorable, and Amasa Lyman. Knowing that the Caldwell county militia were intensely hostile to the Mormon leaders, and were liable to wreck summary vengeance upon them en route, Gen. Doniphan, as attorney for Smith, caused the guards who were to escort them to Columbia, Boone county, to be selected from the Clay county militia, who were generally well disposed toward them. This done, he called on Joe Smith, at Gallatin, and informed him what precautions he had taken. Contrary to his expectation Joe Smith cursed him for his interference, and asked him for God's sake and his sake to send his Clay county friends home and let the Caldwell guards escort him through. "General," said he, "you may be, and are a good lawyer, but you don;t understand human nature as I do. I have made it a study from boyhood, and it is the secret of my success. I am in for this thing, and by God I am going to get out of it

WITHOUT  DISGRACE,  DEAD  OR  ALIVE!

I would sooner die in my tracks than that the world should have it to say that Joe Smith, the prophet, the founder of the Church of Christ, was ignominiously convicted of crime and rotted in a common jail. Now your Clay county militia are generally honest, well-to-do citizens, who would spurn a bribe, and would, kindly, as they thought, guard me safely to Columbia and deliver me to the authorities. On the other hand, the Caldwell county militia is mostly composed of ignorant and poor men who have never had a hundred dollars in their lives. With such men money is all-powerful. I have money, and by God I intend to use it."

Finding that Smith was determined, and recognizing the force of his reasoning, Gen. Doniphan determined to let him manage his own case, especially as he was not relying upon the sinuosities of the law for success. The result was that Smith and his four companions soon afterward set out for Columbia in charge of Sheriff Morgan, of Gallatin, and four guards, three of whom, the sequel shows, were exactly the class Joe Smith had declared to Gen. Doniphan he desired to have as an escort. The fourth man was Wilson McKinney. He was not of the original draft, but having relatives in Columbia and business there which demanded his immediate presence, he solicited and obtained reluctant permission to make one of the party. McKinney was an honest man, of good family, and therefore the exact [man] that Smith wished to have nothing to do with. However, he managed to ignore McKinney altogether in his financial arrangements, and to accomplish his escape without his knowledge or consent. And, according to McKinney, for whose reliability Gen. Doniphan and many leading citizens of Richmond vouch, this is the way the [wily] prophet did it: They had marched quietly along two or three days, and neared the Mississippi. At night they went into camp as usual, the guards were divided into watches, and in due time all slept save those who were on duty. McKinney was to have been called to stand his watch at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. Being exhausted by long marches and nightly guard duty, he slept soundly, and awoke to see the brilliant rays of the sun streaming down into his face from an elevation above the horizon that could not have been attained in less than two hours. Springing up and glancing hastily around, he found the sheriff and his brother guards quietly disposing of their breakfast and chatting pleasantly on minor topics. The prisoners were

NOWHERE  TO  BE  SEEN

He asked where they were, and was coolly informed that they had escaped during the night. The truth for the first time flashed upon him, and he prudently concluded to say no more about the matter until he was out of the clutches of his mercenary companions. Meanwhile the escaped prisoners proceeded to the Mississippi, crossed into Illinois, whither they were soon followed by large numbers of disheartened fugitives who had practically lost faith in the revelation to Joe Smith, that declared Missouri to be the land of Zion, and began the brilliant era in this state which was marked by the founding and rapid rise of the templed city of Nauvoo, and culminated in the shooting of Joe Smith at Carthage, and the subsequent sacking of the city and expulsion of the saints. These events are of so recent date , and transpired in such immediate proximity that it is not worth while to allude to them further or trace the pilgrims in their wearisome march from the Mississippi to the fastness of the Rocky mountains, where

THE  GREAT  CITY  OF  SALT  LAKE

arose as if called from the sands of the desert by a stroke of the enchanter's wand, and for many years enjoyed such unbounded prosperity that it would seem to have been the especial pet of Providence. History holds these events, The Times has published the records as they were made, and The Times, unlike history, does not repeat itself.

It is interesting to know just how much Joe Smith

HAD  TO  PAY  SHERIFF  MORGAN

and his three confederates to effect the escape of himself and his four companions. The Times is informed by seemingly good authority, that the exact amount was $1,100, and its information was derived from Gen. Doniphan. Several months after Joe and his friends had placed the Mississippi between them and their Missouri persecutors, Gen. Doniphan was in Gallatin on legal business. There was also in the same town a sharp, energetic, and reliable man named Ripley, a Mormon, to whom had been delegated by the bishops of the church full power to dispose of all property belonging to the Mormons which they had left behind them in their flight. In other words, he was their financial agent, with almost unlimited power to act. One day Gen. Doniphan met Ripley on the street, and knowing him quite well, invited him to accompany him to his room at the hotel. The invitation was accepted, and after some familiar conversation on various topics the general told him he had always had a curiosity to know how much it had cost Joe Smith to buy himself and friends out of limbo. Ripley replied that the exact sum was $1,100; that on the eve of Joe's departure from Gallatin, and at Joe's solicitation, he had given him $900 in money and permission to draw on him for more in case of emergency; that Joe bargained with the sheriff and guards for $1,1000, paid $700 down, reserving $200 for traveling expenses in their flight to Illinois, and gave Morgan an order on him (Ripley) for the remaining $400, which was duly [presented by Morgan [---- ---- --] [taken up] [--- ---- ----- -----] indorsed upon it, [when] Gen. Doniphan [----- ------ ----ed] some incredulity, [stating] that he could hardly [believe] that the sheriff would boldly [------ ---- ----] such [unquestionable evidence of his] guilt as his indorsement of the order would be, Ripley remarked that he had the document still in his possession and would dispel all doubt by submitting it to the general's inspection. Accordingly that evening he called again, and brought the original order, with Morgan's indorsement just as he had stated. The order was written in pencil, but Gen. Doniphan had for years been familiar with Joe's writing, and at once recognized it as genuine, as well as the sheriff's indorsement. History has stated that Smith and his party were, by order of the authorities, carelessly guarded, so that they might escape and flee from the state if they were so inclined, as the authorities had concluded that they had an elephant on their hands. The statement of Gen. Doniphan utterly disproves this theory. Joe Smith cheated the authorities by bribing his guards with Mormon gold, just as he had stated that he would from the beginning. The success of his prediction shows, if other evidence were lacking, that he was a shrewd and daring adventurer, quick to plan and bold to execute, lacking but education to have made him, from a temporal stand-point, the peer of the foremost man of his time. He was of the stuff of which heroes are made.


Note: The above related account, concerning the interactions between Joseph Smith, Jr. and Alexander W. Doniphan, appears to conflate the events of two separate incidents that occurred in Caldwell county. The result is a report which cannot be relied upon, in every instance, to provide accurate information.

A SWINDLING  SAINT.
______

An "Inter-Ocean" Correspondent Tells the
Story of the Origin of Mormonism.
______

How the Precious Tables Are Said to
Have Been Found, Translated and Printed.
______

A Spurious Prophet Founds a Scandalous Religion --
Rise and Spread of the Sect -- A Curious Story.
______

     From Our Own Reporter.

PALMYRA, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1875.      

Recent events transpiring within the circle of Mormonism serve to bring the attention of the public to the circumstances that led to the inception and subsequent growth of a religion as strangely successful as it is spurious. Every one knows the history of the creed after the appearance of its followers as an acknowledged sect; but of its origin few are conversant.

In the year 1819, when Palmyra was a small and obscure village, it numbered, not strangely, among its inhabitants a family of Smiths. The head and father of the family, Joseph by name, was a sort of Yankee Rip Van Winkle. Lazy and uncultivated, he was a dreamer and supercredulous. His scanty store of book knowledge was gathered from the then dime novels, "The Life of Captain Kyd," and kindred works, which supplemented a smattering of the Scriptures, gained by his connection with various churches, for he was as fickle as quicksand in matters pertaining to religious belief. He was a great babbler, prone to the marvelous, and a dabbler in petty litigations. So far, the family of the prophet was not of sterling stock.

BUT THERE WAS A WOMAN IN THE CASE,

a potent power. Prosaic and common as is the name, Mrs. Smith, as the mother of a revelation and founder of a belief, will go down in history in the company of Helen of Troy, Joan of Arc, and our common and much slandered mother Eve. Ignorant and weak as was the elder Smith, he found a balance weight in the person of his wife. Mrs. Smith was a person of strong, uncultured intellect, and possessor of that tact and mental ingenuity sometimes found when least expected. Those who knew her say that to her influence can be traced the germ that sprouted in her offspring. The incipient hint that an unfledged prophet was in the family came from her, and many of the primary moves in the establishment of the new faith were framed by a pattern dictated by her sharp wits. The father had one favorite speculation: that of buried money -- vast fortunes hidden with incantations and only to be exhumed with exorcising. This passion he indulged, and many were the pits dug by him in the search for the concealed treasures. Perhaps to this may be traced his only employment, that of well-digging.

Believers in the faith see in this profession an allegory practically expressed of a searcher after truth in the locality where that virtue is proverbally placed. Be this as it may, in the year above mentioned the elder Smith found in a well pit that he was excavating a small stone following in general outline the shape of a child's foot. The material was vitreous and smooth and in the eyes of the finder it seemed a talismen whose power was as great as it was unknown. Associated with the Smith family, and one of their few intimate friends, was one Oliver Cowdery, a quondam schoolmaster, who was identified with the whole matter, and it is to his able seconding of the plans of Mr. Smith that

THE SCHEME GREW TO PERFECTION.

Soon after finding the stone, Joseph senior developed strange powers, and he took upon himself the calling of a clairvoyant. Through his mediumship the location of much buried wealth was revealed and fortunes were told. Hidden treasures were as numerous beneath the hillsides as were the blackberries above them. Many a party of infatuated addlepates, following the lead of the seer, roamed over the fields and through the woods at most unreasonable hours. One of the requisites for the incantation that always proceeded the digging was the sacrifice of a lamb, and it has been said that after the animal had been slaughtered the body, by some mysterious power, found its way to the house of the Smiths, where its sacred character was made subservient to its eligibility as mutton. But in time the novelty of money digging wore off, for the treasure trove never became palpable to the sight and touch of the seekers. Solemn silence was one of the conditions, and it always happened that when the sought-for prize was all but in the seeker's grasp an unlucky word would whisk it back to oblivion again. So the business languished and folowers grew few. Then came the first givings out that a prophet was to spring from the humble household of the saints; and when matters were maturing for denouement the hints came from the mother of the expected saint that such and such ones -- always fixing upon those who had both money and credulity -- were to be instruments in some good work of new revelation. Alvah [sic] Smith, the oldest son, was originally designated, by family consultations and solemn and mysterious hints, as the forthcoming prophet. But Alvah had a carnal appetite -- or maybe it was a prophetic foreshadowing of the revelation that came to Colonel Sellers -- he eat [sic] too plentifully of green turnips, sickened, and died.

THUS THE WORLD LOST A PROPHET,

and the millions there was in it found their way to Brigham Young through another channel. The mantle of the prophet, which Mr. Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Joseph Smith had worn, fell upon the next eldest [sic] som, Joseph Smith, Jr.

And a most unpromising recipient of such a trust was this same Jpseph Smith. He was lounging, idle, not to say vicious, and possessed of even less intellect than his father. He used to come into the village of Palmyra with little jags of wood; sometimes patronizing a corner grocery too freely, sometimes finding an odd job to do. But Joseph had a little ambition, and his mother's natural brightness shone in him feebly at times, and his father's credulity had not lost in its transmission. The primitive design of the prophet-making coterie was without doubt money-making, blended with which, perhaps, was a desire for notoriety to be gained by fraud and false pretenses. The idea of being founders of a new sect was the idea and work of others.

About four miles to the south of the village a precipitous hill just like a bold promentory into the verdure-covered valley. This is

THE SINAI OF MORMONISM.

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and behold, an angel descended and showed unto him the hidden plates engraved by Mormon, the son of Nephi. But the Smith had no money, and without it angelic aid was useless. The projectors of the humbug selected as a victim to obviate this difficulty one Martin Harris. Harris was a farmer, the owner of a good farm and an honest, worthy citizen, but especially given to religious enthusiasm and new creeds, the more extravagant the better. Upon him Joseph Smith began to work, telling him of the great revelation, and that it had also been revealed that he, Harris, was the chosen instrument to aid in the great work. Harris heard and believed. He assumed a grave and unearthly deportment, and there made solemn annunciations of the great event about to transpire.

THEN CAME THE DISCOVERY OF THE GOLDEN BIBLE.

It was at night, and Joseph, led by the angel. went to the hill and began his work. As is usual in such cases the work was accompanied with a fine display of celestial pyrotechnics, and, as Smith said, an army of 10,000 devils held back by the guardian angel "bowler dreadful." This was in 1827, and the work of translation began directly after the discovery. On top of the box containing the plates was found a pair of spectacles, the urim and thummim, the stone or glass [which] was opaque to all but the prophet. These belonged to Mormon, the engraver of the plates, and without them the plates could not be read. The Bible itself was made of metallic leaves, bound together by three rings. Harris may have had some doubts of the authenticity of the plates, for it seems that he procured from Smith a fac-simile of some of them, which he took to Dr. Mitchell and Professor Anthon, the linguist. These gentlemen, after examining them, gave as their positive decision that the signs engraved on the plates were entirely incoherent and not members of any language. Smith, however, quieted Harris' apprehensions, and

THE WORK OF TRANSCRIPTION

went on. It was said that Smith sat behind a curtain and read the contents of the plates to Cowdery, who sat outside and acted as amanuensis, a revelation having given Smith the knowledge that none but the prophet could look upon the sacred book and live. When the manuscript was nearly completed Harris' wife, who was a rank heretic and infidel respecting the whole thing, with sacrilegious hands seized upon about a hundred of the manuscript pages and secreted them. It was then decided by Smith and Cowdery that they would not transcribe them again but would let it crop out, as the evil spirit would get up a story that the second translation did not agree with the first, a very ingenious method of guarding against the possibility that Mrs. Harris had preserved the pages.

ANOTHER LITTLE INCIDENT

shows the cunning of Smith in getting out of tight places. Stephen H.Harding, afterward, by a strange coincidence, Territorial Governor of Utah, was at the time of the discovery a resident of Palmyra, and about 18 years of age. One day he went to Smith and told him that he was tired of life and that he wanted to look at the plates and pass away in the death-dealing glory that surrounded them. This Smith refused to allow, but said he would show him the plates as they lay in the chest wrapped up in their covering. The two went into the garret of the Smith house and Joseph reverently lifted the lid of an old chest and pointed to a small square package bound in canvas. Harding looked on for a moment, and then, with a quick movement, snatched the covering off, revealing a common brick tile. The prophet, not a whit lost, said: "I suspected a trick and consequently prepared for it."

TWO YEARS AFTER THE FINDING OF THE PLATES

the book was ready for the press, and the publishing was given to the Wayne Sentinel, the cost, $3,000, being assumed by Harris, who mortgaged his farm for that amount. When the copy was given to the printer the grammatical construction was so faulty, and the punctuation so grossly wrong, that the publisher refused to do the work and issue it under his imprint unless the order that was given him with the copy -- not to change it in a single particular -- was changed. Smith accordingly had a revelation, which informed him that the compositor and proof-reader might work out their sweet will regarding it.

At this point a new name appears, Samuel [sic - Sidney?] Rigdon, of Mentor, Ohio, who unworthily bore the title of a Baptist elder. To him and Parley P. Pratt must be ascribed the application of the Bible to a new religion and the foundation for [a] new sect. Designing, ambitious and dishonest, under the assumed semblance of sanctity, he was just the man for the uses of the Smith family. Under the auspices of Rigdon, the Mormon arose and

PROPHECIES FELL THICK AND FAST

from the lips of Joseph. Mrs. Smith assumed all the airs and importance of the mother of a prophet, and that particular family of the Smiths were singled out and lifted above all the legion of their namesakes. The bold and clumsy cheat found here and there an enthusiast, a monomaniac, or a knave, in and about its primitive locality to keep it on the start, and soon, like another scheme of imposture, that once ruling nation is now tottering to its fall; it had its hegira to Kirtland, then to Nauvoo, then to a short resting place on the Missouri, and, last of all, to the Great Salt Lake.

One little incident, relating to one of the early Mormon missionaries, and I will close. Among the early converts to Mormonism was one Calvin Stoddard, a resident pf Palmyra. He, like many others of the new faith, was not over-strong mentally, and was prone to believe in the supernatural. To his house a couple of young men, noted in the village for their waggish pranks, went one night. A thunder storm was growling in the west and the light that flitted from window to window showed that some one was up and doing, preparing for the expected storm. At last 12 o'clock and the storm came, and just after a terrible roar of thunder three slow and solemn knocks smote the door. Stoddard was awake, and leaping from his bed heard on bended knees the message: "Calvin -- Stoddard -- the -- angel -- of -- the -- Lord -- commands -- that -- before -- another -- going -- down -- of -- the -- sun -- thou -- shalt -- go -- forth -- among -- the -- people -- and -- preach -- the -- gospel -- of -- Nephi -- or -- thy -- wife -- shall -- be -- a -- widow -- thy -- children -- orphans -- and -- thy -- ashes -- scattered -- to -- the -- four -- winds."

The next morning there was a new missionary in the church of Mormon.   M.A.


Notes: (forthcoming)

DEATH  OF  GEORGE A. SMITH.
______

Its Results on the Future of the Church -- The Succession.

The Salt Lake Tribune thus announces the death of George A. Smith, one of the few "old original" Mormons:

Brigham's first counselor, George A. Smith, expored yesterday morning at 8:40 o'clock, after a protracted illness of many months. In answer to a question by his physician, a few minutes before he died, as to how he felt, he said he had passed a very bad night. He had, however, dressed himself and gone into his parlor, where he died sitting in his chair. He was aware that his present was in all probability his fatal illness, though he did not expect death at the time it came. It is said that he has always had a mortal dread of being buried alive, and his constant request has been that his body might be kept long enough after his demise to establish the certainty of his death. The funeral will take place from the New Tabernacle on Sunday next.

The death of George A. Smith leaves an elevated position in the Mormon hierarchy vacant. The deceased has been the first counselor to his master Brigham nearly seven years, having received the appointment at the October conference, in 1868. We have always regarded the deceased ecclesiast as a plain, dull man, who, under more favorable surroundings, would have made a quiet and useful citizen. We have no wish to speak ill of the dead, but cannot see the justice of passing from condemnation to eulogy because a man's breath happens to leave him. George A. Smith was most probably a devout Saint, but this does not justify his participation in acts which any self-respecting man would turn from in disgust. It was shown by testimony at the Lee trial that this man rode through the Territory in advance of the doomed [Fancer] imigrants, forbidding all intercourse with them; and although the fact was not clearly brought out, the impression remained upon the mind of the hearer that his visit to the southern settlements influenced the councils at Cedar City, Parowan, and Fort Harmony to decree the destruction of the train.

With Brigham Young, he has been chiefly instrumental in forcing Enoch upon the unwilling Saints -- the most barefaced and hearless fraud of the nineteenth century. Some of his utterances in the Tabernacle have been to the last degree offensive, as profaning human nature and showing a vindictiveness toward the race as none but a crazy sealot could entertain.

Personally he was well spoken of. He was simple in his tastes, hospitable in his manner of living, and possessed none of that insatiate greed which deforms the character of his prophet-master.

As a public teacher he was simply ridiculous, and would have been tolerated nowhere outside of the Mormon Church. Densely ignorant, without grace or natural parts, his addresses were of the most dreary character imaginable. But he preached sound doctrine -- the infallibilty of the priesthood, unquestioning obedience, and all the cardinal points of Mormon faith. He has gone to his reward, and we are not conscious that the world has sustained any perceptible loss.

By his death the field is cleared for the promotion of Brigham's son to the throne of his father, and the intermediate step will be his promotion to the dignity of First Counsellor in the church. There are three candidates to fill the vacancy caused by Smith's death, on whom the eyes of the people are turned -- Brigham Young, Jr., George Q. Cannon, and John Taylor. These several claimants to the new position let us examine. Taylor's promotion to the Presidency of the Twelve Apostles, and the displacement of Hyde, bears a startling significance as a precedent established by Brigham in overriding in what has hitherto been considered by the church as fixed principles and it means that, if Brigham has the courage, he intends to put forth the claim of his son Brig to the Presidency of the church in opposition to all other candidates. But if, after feeling of the apostolic pulse during the time intervening between this and the October conference he shall discover a strong opposition to his son's appointment, he will advance Taylor to the position. Cannon looms a whole head and shoulders above all other candidates as the choice of the Mormon people, and of they had the matter in their own hands his chances would amount almost to a certainty. But Brigham will effectually urge against him the fact that his elevation in the church would be damaging to the Mormon cause in Congress.


Notes: (forthcoming)

JOHN  DOYLE  LEE.
______

An Interesting Interview with the Mountain Meadows Murderer.
______

His Connection with the Affair as Stated by Himself.
______

Something Concerning His Early Life and Former
Position in the Mormon Church.
______

(Special Correspondence of the Inter-Ocean.)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 1, 1875.    

About four miles in a southwesterly direction from the center of this city, on an elevated plateau, stands the Utah Penitentiary, I visited there on Monday for the purpose of seeing

JOHN D. LEE

of Mountain Meadows fame. As I entered I found him engaged in playing a game of cribbage with a young man, Field, who was detected in stealing from the mails in the Corinne postoffice. I entroduced myself, and was soon on very friendly terms.

Mr. Lee is a much better looking man than his photographs make him out, and is a much younger man in appearance than his years call for. He is short in stature, formly and very stoutly knit together, and is possessed of an oron constitution. His face does not indicate the brutal instincts that must belong to his character of the reports of him are true. He has rather a fine mouth with quite thin lips, and his nose is far from being coarse. His forehead is low, and while his perceptive faculties are quite prominent, his reasoning faculties are poorly defined, and his moral quite deficient. He has seen considerable of opineer life, has been Brigham's secretary, has been on all the committees that located the southern cities of the Territory, and in fact and in conversation is considerably above the average man.

John Doyle Lee was born in Kaskaskia, Randolph County, in the State of Illinois, and will be 64 years of age the 6th day of this month. His mother was a native of Nashville Tenn., and was of Irish parentage. His father was an own cousin of General Robert E. Lee, and came from Virginia. He embraced Mormonism June 17, 1838, and up to three years ago, when he was cut off from the church in consequence of his connection with this unfortunate affair, he had always lived up to his religion, and has ever obeyed orders and council without a question and without a murmur.

MR. LEE HAS HAD EIGHTEEN WIVES

and was married and living with eight when he lived in Nauvoo, though they claimed polygamy was not practiced until 1853. Of these eighteen wives six are now dead. He is the father of sixty-four children, fifty-four of whom are now living as near as he can tell. The youngest child will be 3 years old in November, though the same woman has had a child since this who is now under the daisies.

After the passage of the act of Congress in 1862 in relation to polygamy, he called all his wives together and informed them of the law of Congress prohibiting polygamy, and told them he must separate from all but one, and in doing this he made an equal division of his property and deeded the same to them. All but three accepted the situation and took their property, but three referred to would not go, and have hung to him ever since, and he cannot throw them off. Lee's third wife is now Daniel H. Wells' fourth wife.

Before speaking of Lee's position in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsa, it will, perhaps, be better understood if I should give the order of the household in its organization. The first officer is the President, prophet, seer, and revelator, which office is now filled by Brigham Young. With thos office there are two counselors, one of whom was Geo. A. Smith, who died this morning, and the other Daniel H. Wells. This is known as the first Presidency. Next in order come the twelve apostles, who hold equal authority in church matters with the Presidents, though in matters of appeal the Presidency stands ahead. Next in order comes what is known as the Order of Seventies. This order consists of seven Presidents, each having control or presiding over a quroum of seventy, though I believe there have so far been formed but sixty-seven quorums. Out of this order of seventies the High Council of the church is formed, and all the above combined make up what is known as the Melchisedec Priesthood. Beyond all this comes the Aaronic Priesthood, and is composed of a senior bishop and two councilors, with what is known as the President of the Stake of Zion. It must be remembered that Jackson County, Mo., is

THE ZION OF THE MORMONS

and the other important settlements are stakes, Salt Lake City being one of them. Next in order are the Bishops, who are numerous. Next the priests of the lesser priesthood. Next teachers, and next deacons. Of course there are many other officers of lesser rank, ending no one knows where.

Lee has been a high priest in the Melchisdec Order, which gives him a church rank equal with a bishop, and in the absence of a bishop he can act in his place, and has so acted many times. He has also been a high counselor, and been ordained a priest and a member of the Seventies. In the Mormon militia Lee has been a major, but at the time of the massacre he had been superseded by an officer in the Nauvoo League [sic - Legion?].

Upon the matter of the massacre itself he is exceedingly reticent. He is naturally talkative, but his counsel have, no doubt, ordered him to say nothing in view of his making a full confession or being accepted as State's evidence.

He said, however, that it occured some time between the 6th and 18th days of September, 1857, and that the fighting and negotiations were going on for about six days. According to his statement, the Indians commenced the fighting, and he went to the meadows on the second day of it with a little Indian boy about 12 years old, who was an interpreter. He first stopped at the springs, which were about a half mile distant from the emigrants, and saw and conversed with the Indians. He learned from them that they had a fight the night before, which resulted in one Indian being killed, and two chiefs had legs broken from shot wounds. Sixty head of cattle had been killed up to this time by the Indians, and all the horses and mules, except six, had been killed also, and all were lying on the ground near the emigrants. He learned afterward that six of the emigrants were killed in this first fight and several wounded. He remained with the Indians that night, and the next morning started for some southern settlement. When ten miles away he met four white men, and they all ventured to the Indian camp. They then persuaded the Indians to wait till orders could be sent to Parpwan and Cedar City, which they promised to do. A messenger was also sent to Salt Lake City.

At Cedar City Isaac C. Haight, was the presiding bishop [sic], with Higby and P. K. Smith as counselors. Higby and Smith returned with the messenger, besides a small company of the Nauvoo League Militia, who, with the other white men present, numbered about forty men all told. That night they held a consultation, when Higby showed his orders to Lee, and which Lee read, and which he refused to disclose. He could not say whether [Dame's] name was signed to the order or not. It was at this consultation that

THE MASSACRE WAS DECIDED UPON,

but Lee bitterly opposed it, and wept like a child when it availed nothing.

In questioning mare particularly about Dame having given the orders, he said, the next day after the massacre, when Higby and Dame were on the ground, and in some dispute, Higby said to Dame, "You gave me orders to do it."

In regard to the flag of truce Lee said a man named Beckman went toward the emigrants with a white flag, when a man from the emigrants came out and met him, and these two men decided the surrender, and that the emigrants marched out of their camp in the manner already so often described. Lee said it was his determination to save the children, and for this purpose he got two wagons, and went into camp, and got the children and some valuables, and when he came out he cut across the valley toward the mountains, and all that he heard of the massacre was the report of the guns, and that he saw nothing whatever of it. And this, he claims, is all the connection he ever had with it. That the massacre could have been prevented he admits, and though he claims he has been cut off from the church and that Brigham has abandoned him, he exonerates Brigham from any blame in the matter, so far as he knows anything about it/ The messenger that was sent to Brigham returned to reach Beaver to learn that the thing was over.

I have given in substance all that I could obtain from Lee's own lips. In summing up, however, he said, as nearly as I can report it, that for fifteen years -- up to three years ago -- he was

LIKE A WILD ROE

upon the mountain, skulking and dodging the officers of justice, that he had been hissed and hooted at as a murderer, and that he had suffered in mind all that it was possible for a man to suffer, and that he had prayed to God from day to day that the earth might open and swallow him.

I ventured to ask him why he suffered so much if he was innocent, and he said because he was so misrepresented.

Of course Mr. Lee will make out as clear a case as he can for himself, but I have heard, from good authority, that when he came out of the emigrants camp with the children in the wagon the women followed, and when the nassacre commenced he was in plain sight of it all, and the only two unmarried women in the party, one 13 and the other 16 years old, he married [sic - raped?] himself, and the Indians the rest. One of these women he shot, and the other he beat to death with his own gun-stock, and stamped her brains out with his feet. I have given the story as fully as I could, condensed as it must be, for a daily paper like the Inter-Ocean.

His confession will be published no doubt in full. The testimony in his late trial is already before the public.


Note: John D. Lee's private journal entry for Monday, Aug. 30. 1875, in part reads: "[Mr. Goodspeed,] the former gent interviewed some 3 hours on various tophics, though principally confined to My associations in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter days Saints. He said that he wants to get up an artic[l]e containing facts, that he could recommend to that Paper. Many of the questions asked, I refused to answer at the presant." However, two pages in the journal are missing, just prior to this part of Lee's record, so it is possible that some of what he communicated to "Mr. Goodspeed" and to the readers of the Inter-Ocean, has been removed from his journal.

A  MORMON  SAINT

DEATH  OF  MARTIN  HARRIS.

There is in the Cincinnati Commercial an obituary notice of one of the alleged authors of the Mormon Bible, which was evidently written by one who had never heard of the nil nisi bonum percept. It is copied below:

Martin Harris, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has just departed life at Clarkson, Utah, at the advanced age of 92 years. Mr. harris first appeared in print in the year 1830, at which time, in company with Oliver Coudery and David Whitmer, he subscribed to the solemn affidavit which appears on the title-page of the Mormon Bible.

Joseph Smith, the Palmyra impostor, having noticed Harris' relish for religious wonders, and his capacity for receiving and retaining all the bosh that folly and knavery could furnish, took it into his head to use Harris in the matter of getting up a new religion. Harris had seen the devil in a dug-way near Palmyra, and his contact with that distinguished personage had so improved his swallowing apparatus that Joe Smith's angels, revelations, golden Bible, sword of Laban, etc., went down in a single gulp. He had been something of a Friend, then a Wesleyan, then a Baptist, afterward a Presbyterian, and, if not halted by the Mormon fraud, he would, in all probability, have gone the round through all existing sectaries. Having advanced $50 and accepted the position of a scribe to Joseph, he found himself fully committed to the "fullness of the Gospel," and earnestly proclaimed whatever foolishness or blasphemy Joe might put into him. Mrs. Harris, knowing her husband's credulity and Smith's trickery, did all she could to stop the expenditure of money; but Smith not only plied Harris with "revelations," but explained the certainty of making a spec out of the publication of the manuscripts. An edition of 5,000 would cost, say, $3,000. Joseph had a revelation that the books would sell for $1.25 each, and he went on to assure his victim that there was a chance to clear $3,250. Mrs. Harris objected. Harris explained the gain to be derived from the investment. She railed at his folly, and, egtting hold of the manuscript, burned "the more history part" of Lehi. Harris quarreled with and beat her; they separated, and Smith got his Golden Bible printed at the expense of Harris. Any other knave than Joe Smith would have been backed out by the burning of Lehi by Mrs. Harris, but, as Joe told Ingersoll, "he had the fools into it, and he proposed to put it through." So with promises of advancement to Harris, he had a "revelation" that his father (old man Smith) should help sell the Bibles. But the old man was arrested with a basket full of Bibles, and to pay costs he had "to cut" on the Lord's price ($1.25) and sell the lot for 80 cents apiece! This interfered with "prior revelations" given in favor of Harris, and troubles increasing, Smith, Harris, Coudery, and the Whitmers cleared out for Kirtland, O. Here the "Twelve Apostles" were appointed, -- Harris being left out; but as he still had some money, a little honesty, and increased capacity for credulous business, Smith smoothed him with new promises and daily revelations. In 1833, the Mormons in Jackson County, Mo., having excited the wrath of the Jacksonians by their immoralities and fanatical insolence, were ordered out of the State. On learning this, Joe Smith, Harris, and perhaps 200 others, started for Missouri to "redeme Zion." On the way they ran into the cholera; and, notwithstanding Harris was saved in articulo mortis by Divine interposition, twenty of the Saints turned their toes to the lines, in spite of Joseph's "laying on of hands." In Missouri Bishop Partridge succeeded in getting old Harris to advance $1,200 more to purchase land on which to establish Zion -- Zion never to be removed! Too many birds of a feather having got together, Joseph found his hands full in trying to settle the difficulties which beset the Church without and within. Many of the Saints were whipped, jailed, and shot for bad conduct, and some of the chiefest among the Apostles turned against the Prophet. Cowdery and Whitmer, two of the witnesses, were "cut off" for lying, theiving, counterfeiting, etc.; and the brethren mooted it openly that Joseph was bad -- real bad. Some of the sisters said so, and Coudery believed it. Coudery with Whitmer were turned over to Satan. Poor Harris, who had helped Joseph to get up the Mormon business, lost $3,000 in the Bible investment, and had recently lent the Lord $1,200 to fix the foundations of Zion, did not escape the troubles which excessive piety had brought upon the brethren. In company with Parish, who had been charged with swindling, Harris was kicked out of the camp of Israel. His earnestness and ignorance had served Joseph to their fullest extent; his money was gone, and he was named among the "negroes with white skins," and the Prophet posted him publicly as a "lackey," one so far beneath contempt that to notice him would be a sacrifice too great for a gentleman like himself (Smith) to make! Packing his valise, he cut sticks for Kirtland, where he lived unto 1870, when he went to Utah and ended a miserable life, raving in his last delirium over the Book of Mormon -- witnesses, facts, and fictions of the most deplorable fraud recorded in history. Never was credulity or avarice more useful in a bad way or knavery more successful than in the lives of Joe Smith and Martin Harris.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  PROPHET'S  DEATH
______

A Hitherto Unpublished Account of the
Killing of Joe Smith, the Mormon.
______

During the Troubles Which Grew Out of the
Settlement of the Saints at Carthage, Ill.
______

And Which Is Brought Together from a Mass of
Rare and Valuable Manuscripts.
______

Smith's Remarkable Career, Which Has
Had No Equal in the World.
______

Difficulties Attending the Development and
Building Up of the Church -- The Feeling of Hatred
Engendered by People of Low Character.
______

The First Conflict of Arms, and the
Pusillanimous Conduct of Gov. Ford.
______

The Night Attack of a Mob on the Jail, and
Death of Joseph and His Brother Hyrum.
______

Grief at the Funeral -- The Midnight Mystery in the Skies.
______

The Mock Burial -- A Funeral Cortege, and Great Mourning
Over Two Big Sand-Bags.
______

Some three months since The Times published a history of the Mormon church, from its inception, in New York, to the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri, and their subsequent settlement in Illinois. As the particulars of the discovery of the golden tablets in the hill Cumorah, the translation of their hieroglyphics into the book of Mormon by means of the Urim and Thummin, the propagation of the faith, and the graphic details of the Missouri war, resulting in the capture and ultimate escape of Joseph Smith, the prophet, by bribing his guards, were obtained from the only parties now living who are competent to give reliable information regarding these interesting events, the article attracted much attention, and was of historic value. Another and a more tragic chapter in the eventful life of this strange man remains to be written, and The Times is in possession of the facts that enable it to complete the task.

Half a century ago there lived in New York, in the vicinity of Palmyra where Joseph Smith first became known to fame, a young man named B. W. Richmond, who afterward studied medicine and acquired the title of doctor. He formed Joseph's acquaintance there, and was familiar with the denomination attending his self-announcement as a prophet. In later years he saw him in Ohio, and observed his course with interest. Still later he met him in Nauvoo, and was an accidental witness of scenes incident to, and consequent upon, his tragic death at the hands of an Illinois mob. Ten years afterward, partly in compliance with a request of the prophet, made just prior to his assassination, he wrote a full account of the affair, intending to publish it in book form. Various causes combined to delay the publication, and in 1864, twenty years after the occurrence of the events which he had committed to writing, Dr. Richmond died, leaving the manuscript in the hands of his widow, Mrs. Lucinda Richmond, now residing in McGregor, Iowa, by whom it has been carefully treasured until the present time. This manuscript is not only as interesting as a novel and as thrilling as any tragedy, but it is a reliable chronicle of one of the most singular and startling events in the history of the nation, and contains a large amount of information never before given to the public.

Dr. Richmond was not a believer in Mormonism, and would as soon have chosen the devil for his spiritual guide as Joseph Smith, and yet his humanity led him into sympathy with him in many of his acts, and his acquaintance and facilities enabled him to judge him from a standpoint entirely different from that occupied by other historians. His prejudices may have led him into errors, and innocent parties may rest under undeserved censure or imputations, but of this the reader must judge for himself. The Times purposes setting forth, in brief, the most striking features of this exciting narrative, quoting the exact language of the writer only when it serves to make the description more forcible.

TO A PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATTER,

a knowledge of the character of the prophet, as well as of the situation at Nauvoo in 1844, is essential.

That the common masses that composed the Mormon church regarded Smith as a prophet, there is little doubt. The leaders and wise heads could not have looked upon his inspiration as very deep, but they knew full well that their machinery -- the mode of their manifesting the belief they held -- was well calculated to succeed. That Smith could have regarded himself as inspired, in the usual sense of the term, is more than doubtful; that success had implanted in his mind -- which was intuitive rather than logical -- the belief that he was born for some great end, is certain; that his death, in its way and manner, has done much to stamp him as a martyr among his friends is equally true.

The causes which led to the assassination of the Smiths were various. The Mormons, after their expulsion from Missouri, were looked upon by the people of Illinois as an outraged and persecuted people, and were received with open arms to such shelter as they could afford them without inquiry as to what the consequences might be of receiving into their midst a people who differed from them in religious belief. The sagacious Mormon leaders had adroitly selected a site for a city in Hancock county on the Mississippi river, and from the sad wreck of their Missouri expulsion had commenced, with almost incredible energy, the construction of all sorts of buildings, from the stately brick edifice to the humble slab hut -- anything that would give shelter to their suffering people. The site bore the name of Commerce, and lay in a horseshoe bend of the Mississippi, that noble stream making almost a circuit around the cape. From the point two miles back the land was low, and then rose into a bluff of considerable height, extending from river to river. The central and most prominent point of the bluff was selected as a site for the temple, where it would command a view of almost every house in the city.

Those who could purchased farms of the old settlers in the vicinity in all directions, and the city and colony increased with such rapidity that in a few months the older residents found, instead of a few persecuted strangers, thousands of persons in their midst who professed a new religion, and whose avarice had been increased by outrage, poverty, and disappointment. They now became anxious to sell, at fair prices, and the Saints were as anxious to buy at as low prices as possible. This competition in interest resulted in perpetual personal quarrels. The farmers endeavored to prevent supplies of food from reaching the city, and the Saints reciprocated by endeavoring to control the grain market in that region, and to force the farmers to sell at the lowest price.

THE MASSES OF THE MORMONS

in and about Nauvoo -- the name of the new city -- were sober and industrious; but there were some who, oppressed by want or actuated by innate cussedness, stole grain, horses, and cattle from the people in the surrounding country. This led to frequent lawsuits, but seldom to convictions or punishment. Combined with this was another fact which bore more heavily on the Mormons than their own arts. Horse thieves from all parts of the country flocked thither, and plied their profession on the credit of the Saints. In numerous instances cattle were shot by the political and religious enemies of the Saints, and the slaughter was charged to their account.

Meanwhile, newly converted Saints flocked in from all quarters, and at the end of the first year of the settlement they had done much to repair their losses in Missouri. The legislature incorporated the city, the people were organized into a military force called the Nauvoo legion, and Joe Smith was not only prophet of the Lord and preacher to the Saints, but brigadier general and commander of the legion. He now felt his position more secure than formerly, and the leaders adopted every measure, political or pecuniary, that would be likely to give them control of their destiny. With a design to draw from the legislature such acts as would benefit them in their isolated position, they soon began to make their votes felt in the local and state elections, and W. W. Phelps, one of [their chiefs] [soon] became a local judge in the courts of the county. They voted en masse with one or the other party, and twice turned the state election in favor of the democracy by casting a solid vote in favor of its gubernatorial candidate. This enraged the opposition, and, under the circumstances, it was easy to effect the hatred of the opposing religious sects. This was done the more effectually as some of the imprudent Saints claimed that they were not only going to possess Hancock county, but God was, in their opinion, going to assign to them domination over the whole earth, and the Gentiles must lick their dust. Their leader was regarded as endowed with the Holy Ghost, and his sword was given [him] that he might extend and defend his dominions. No other sect could draw such crowds to its solemn feasts and baptismal gatherings, and the hatred of other denominations was kindled to a flame. Several papers advocated the necessity of driving the Mormons in a body beyond the Rocky mountains, and the feeling became so great that candidates for the presidency were interrogated as to their view.

SMITH EVEN PERPETUATED THE FOLLY

of addressing a letter to Henry Clay (written by Phelps), demanding his policy providing he should be elected. The Sage of Ashland replied in vague and guarded terms, as no answer seemed unsafe, as the Mormons were supposed to hold the balance of power in the state, and thus a fictitious political consequence attached to their vote. The letter was unsatisfactory, and Joe Smith was at once proclaimed a candidate for the presidency, with Sidney Rigdon on the ticket for vice-president. That Joe Smith, who claimed to be anointed with heavenly wisdom, and therefore might have inquired of the Lord by Urim and Thummim -- the prophetic stones found at the hill Cumorah -- and received answer by a "thus saith the Lord," should seek information like ordinary mortals through the medium of correspondence, seemed to indicate not only a lack of courtesy, but a want of confidence in the inspiration with which he claimed to be endowed. He replied to Clay in a caustic and bitter letter -- also written but Phelps -- which was widely published in the democratic papers, and besides raising a general laugh at its ridiculousness, served to irritate a powerful party against the whole sect.

ANOTHER CAUSE OF HATRED,

was the circulation of a large number of the worthless bills of the old Kirtland bank, an institution established in Ohio some ten year previous, by Joseph Smith, and which, having failed to receive a charter, went to pieces. Some speculator or enemy put quantities of them in circulation around Nauvoo, and their worthless character raised a hue and cry against the honesty of the Saints. Smith warned the people, in a notice in The Nauvoo Neighbor, against receiving the bills, as they were worthless, and claimed that they had never been circulated by him, but had been stolen from the vault by a mob that broke into the bank.

To the above-mentioned causes may also be added the apostasy, from the Saints, of Gen. John C. Bennett. This strange compound of folly and depravity had passed through a checkered business career in the east, and was at one time in Erie, Pa. carrying on the manufacture and sale of "compound tomato pills," which he claimed to be highly efficacious in removing "humors of the blood" and "obstruction of the liver," and the rival of calomel generally. Not finding his pill business sufficiently lucrative, through various revolutions the doctor found himself among the Mormons, in Nauvoo. Having considerable knowledge of mankind, and a good deal more of "the way a thing was to be done," he soon rendered himself very useful to the prophet by bringing to bear on the legislature influences that resulted in the incorporation of the city and the organization of the legion. In return, he was made mayor of the city, major general of the legion, and quartermaster general of the state. Joe Smith received repeated "revelations" concerning Bennett and the assistance he was rendering the church, the Lord always adding, by way of prudent precaution against backsliding, "If my servant John continues faithful," then, "thus saith the Lord."

RUMORS HAVING GONE ABROAD

to the discredit of the church, that Joe Smith taught stealing as a duty, on Nov. 9, 1841, the prophet personally appeared before Mayor Bennett and made oath that "he never, directly or indirectly, encouraged the purloining of property, or taught the doctrine of stealing, and that all such unlawful acts and vile practices will receive his unqualified disapproval." The singular document is signed, "Joseph Smith, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

As the Lord, who inspired the prophet, evidently supposed His "servant John" did not remain faithful, but went on in a most woeful apostacy, and a furious quarrel ensued that deepened the current of existing hatred toward the Saints. At the same time there dwelt among the Saints, and much of the time at Nauvoo, six or eight persons who were determined to bring to an end the career of that singular man, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. There were two brothers named Higbee, from Cincinnati, worthless and reckless fellows; two brothers named Foster, Englishman by birth, who had come among the Saints and grown rich by speculation, and two other brothers named Wilson and William Law, Canadian refugees who had engaged in the revolutionary movement under McKenzie, and on the failure of that enterprise had fled to the States, and floated around in the west with the mere wreck of a large fortune which they had left in Canada. Wm. Law had made himself so popular with the Saints that at a conference held to provide against the possibility of the church being left without a prophet, he had been set apart, with several others, to succeed in the leadership, provided Joseph or Hyrum should die, or be assassinated, which they constantly feared. While still in the confidence of the church, he was, it is claimed, plotting for the abduction and assassination of Joseph. During time of a great scarcity he had charge of a flouring mill, and ran the prices of bread up to oppressive figures. Against this speculation on the necessities of the poor, Joseph interposed, so far as his position would allow, and this only added to the current of ill-will already setting in strongly between them. joined to these six men was another of more desperate make than any of them, named Jackson. He had led a wandering life, and at last came to Nauvoo, and for a time demeaned himself so as to gain the confidence of many, and to be on intimate terms with the prophet, Joe Smith was not a suspicious man, but took a stranger for what he professed to be, although he had

BEEN BETRAYED AGAIN AND AGAIN

by almost every leading man in the church, who had, at one time and another, sought to use him and the church for their own private ends. Jackson was at length suspected of counterfeiting, and had laid his plans to obtain dies with which to manufacture notes of several popular banks. Meanwhile he had made proposals of marriage to the daughter of Hyrum Smith, and had been rejected and informed by her father that he was a wicked, unprincipled man, whom his daughter should never marry. Miss Smith was a lovely and accomplished girl, intellectual and well educated, and eventually married a respectable young merchant in the city. This, and his rebuff, enraged the ferocious vagabond so much that he threatened to abduct her and swore vengeance against her father. Jackson was a very tall, dark-skinned, black-eyed man, a dare-devil at heart and a bankrupt in character, and scrupled at no means to compass the destruction of both father and daughter.

With all these men the prophet came to be on bad terms, and the result was that they purchased a press and started an anti-Mormon paper called The Expositor, the first number of which contained a violent assault on Joe, calculated to excite mob violence against him and the city of the Saints. The city council was convened in view of the danger, and, after consulting legal authority, declared the paper a nuisance. Accordingly the mayor issued an order for its abatement. To have arrested the publishers for libel would not have averted the danger of a mob, and to have arrested them at all would have been likely to provoke violence. The sitting of the council was long and trying, and the debates and statements of persons under oath showed clearly the painful apprehensions of all concerned. The horrors of Missouri were fresh in memory. The Fosters and their accomplices had been expelled from the church, and one of them had been proven guilty of abuse to females and reprimanded by Smith. The evidence that the whole six had been engaged in bogus money-making was deemed conclusive. William Law had seduced an orphan girl and had been exposed. William Law had offered Jackson $500.

TO KILL THE PROPHET,

and Jackson had been proved a murderer before the city council, and had threatened the lives of the Smiths. In compliance with the order of the mayor, Mr. Green, city marshal, with about a dozen men, went to the office of The Expositor, removed the press, pied the type in the street, destroyed the issue of the paper and a number of objectionable handbills, without noise or confusion, and returned the order to the mayor, with an endorsement setting forth their acts. A full account of the affair was given to the public through the column of The Nauvoo Neighbor, the Mormon paper.

Dr. Richmond, in his narrative, says: "I have all these papers before me, and no one can fail to perceive that they believed that course to be the only one that could save the city from bloodshed and murder. They did what they believed to be legal, under their charter, and claimed the right to be tried within their city limits, repudiating the jurisdiction of the courts of the county."

The Higbees, Laws, and Fosters fled into the country and published the outrage to the world, grossly exaggerated, alleging that a mob of a thousand men had assembled, with yells and threats of death to all who hindered them, and had demolished the press, destroyed the building, and burned other property in the city belonging to the Fosters. On the other hand, at an investigation subsequently held, Dr. J. R. Wakefield, of New York, testified that the march to the office of the newspaper was "as orderly and solemn as the Dead March in 'Saul,'" that no violence was used toward anyone, and nothing but press was disturbed.

While the discussion was going on concerning the destruction of the press, each party had sent a messenger to Gov. Ford with a statement of the case. Smith, a justice of the peace at Carthage, the county seat of Hancock county, had issued warrants for the arrest of the press-destroyers on a charge of riot. Some of them escaped through a writ of habeas corpus obtained from the municipal court of Nauvoo, and subsequently refused to be arrested for the same offense. The Warsaw Signal, of June 19, 1844, contained a mobocratic appeal to arms, declaring that Nauvoo had been declared under martial law by the prophet; that every able-bodied man in Warsaw was under arms; that an insulted and injured people were determined to redress their wrongs; that troops were promised from Missouri and Iowa, and 300 men were ready in Rushville; that the delegates sent to the governor had not yet returned, and if they failed to secure his interference, a day would be set forthwith for a general rally as a posse, to assist the officers of justice; that muskets had been received from Quincy, and men and arms were promised from St. Louis; that they were too weak in Hancock county to effect their object, and calling on everybody to come to their aid. "You will be doing your God and your country a service in aiding us rid earth of a most heaven-daring wretch," said incendiary sheet. Thus it will be seen the war was virtually declared, and death to the Mormons proclaimed before Governor Ford arrived at Carthage, on June 21. On learning of the military preparations, Joe Smith ordered the legion under arms, and in a speech declared the city under martial law. On this declaration was subsequently based,

THE CHARGE OF HIGH TREASON,

on which he was arrested. In the same speech Joe declared that God had set up His standard on the earth, and the power of the earth would bow before it. Nevertheless, the moment the governor arrived at Carthage, the Mormon troops disbanded and matters were left to take their own course. The governor at first issued a proclamation declaring that both sides should be fairly heard. Afterward he issued another, directed to the mayor and council of Nauvoo, in which he argued the case at length and decided every point against the Saints. He declared that they had violated the constitution in interfering with the freedom of the press, in seizing property unlawfully, in usurping the power of a court in deciding that the press was a nuisance, etc.

After disbanding his troops, Joe fled to Iowa, where he remained until he received the governor's letter, and then returned. Both Joe and Hyrum were afraid of assassination, as their lives had frequently been threatened, and appealed to the governor for a guard, but their request was denied. Accordingly they started for Carthage alone, to surrender themselves. When about four miles out, they met Capt. Dunn, with an order for the state arms in the possession of the Saints and faced about and returned with him to the city. It was at this juncture that Dr. Richmond reached the city. He says: "I was traveling in the west, and reached Nauvoo, June 24, and, with friends, went to the Nauvoo house, kept by Joseph Smith. As I entered the hall I saw a large, well-dressed individual seated on a trunk at the further end of the hall, quietly smoking a cigar, who was pointed out to me as Joseph Smith. He was over six feet tall, of heavy build, with broad shoulders, light hair and complexion, light blue eyes, long nose, a retreating forehead, large brain, and short neck. It was the first time I had ever seen him, and the impression was a mingled one. He was easy in his manners and seemed sure of an acquittal if he could get a fair hearing. Presently he mounted a beautiful chestnut horse, and with his brother and others rode up Main street to Masonic hall, where the state arms were delivered up. Hyrum Smith was even taller than the prophet, slim built, with light hair and blue eyes, and impressed me as being a quiet, well-disposed man. He was talking with a friend and said he knew they were in danger, but they were in the hands of a just God and He would do all things right. He seemed deeply impressed with the right of their position, and declared his belief that the leaders of the movement fully intended to destroy their lives. The prophet was quietly talking while the arms were being thrown into the wagon. He told Capt. Dunn that 'his boys would do nothing wrong; they were good boys,' and as he turned his horse towards Carthage he waved his hand to his friends and said: 'You are good boys; farewell, if I never see you again!'"

It was midnight when the Smiths reached Carthage and

SURRENDERED TO THE AUTHORITIES.

A thousand men had responded to the calls for troops, and were encamped in the vicinity of the court-house. Mr. Wood, Smith's counsel, who had proceeded him to Carthage, endeavored to impress Gov. Ford with the danger of the prisoners, and was assured and reassured that they would be protected. On the morning after their arrival the press of people at the hotel was so great, so anxious were the masses to see the Smiths, that Gov. Ford and Gen. Deming conducted them before the McDonough county troops and introduced them as the Gens. Smith. The Carthage Grays took umbrage at this, regarding it as disrespectful to themselves, and expressed this disapprobation by hissing Gen. Deming, for which offense he immediately ordered them to ground their arms. They refused to obey, and at the command of their captain fixed bayonets and loaded with ball cartridges. The governor interposed and coolly asked if they would obey him. They responded, "Yes," whereupon he countermanded the general's order and thus averted the immediate danger. About an acre of ground, in the open space in the centre of the town, was covered with ordinary camp-meeting tents, and into these the soldiers were crammed pell-mell, without order or discipline. Some were playing cards, and others drinking, or boiling potatoes in small iron pots, or roasting bits of bacon impaled on sharp sticks, or baking corn-cakes. Many were pretty drunk, and let out without reserve what was going on in the camp. "Death to the prophet!" was the watchword. And here the doctor may be allowed to pursue the thread of the narrative. He says: "I mingled freely with these men, to learn their intentions, and found a fixed and settled purpose among them

TO KILL THE SMITHS.

The guard at the door where the trial was proceeding assured me that if the governor did not hang Joe, more than a hundred had sworn never to go home till he was shot. I had accompanied William Marks to Carthage, and returned with him to Nauvoo. This man came from Oak Hill, near Portage, Allegheny county, Pa., and was a wealthy farmer and a man of strict integrity. He found the Saints under the full impression that theirs was a new and glorious dispensation under the head of a prophet anointed by God. I was teaching near his residence, in 1833, when this new sect made its advent into the neighborhood. Five or six priests remained in the vicinity all winter, and drew many respectable persons into the church. The spirit of the strange sect entered my school, and it was a constant subject of discussion among the scholars, at recess. There were wild scenes of hubbub, 'talking in tongues,' giving revelations and interpretations, with prophesying and visions. Every man, woman and child entered into this dispute and their nightly meetings were crowded with the curious. It is true that the most unlearned were often seized with the 'gift of tongues,' and uttered with great vehemence a jargon of words resembling a language, which was reeled off into English by a young lady named Sawyer, who was gifted with interpretation. The leaders often showed great bodily and mental excitement, and seemed fully imbued with a serious, half-wild religious spirit. They often made efforts at healing, and claimed one notable instance in the place. An old lady by the name of Simmons, living without comforts or decent food, in an old log house, was removed for healing to Wm. Marks' residence. A good bed, comfortable room, cheerful fire, and good nurses were assigned the poor bed-ridden invalid. She was a nervous and susceptible female, with pale skin, and large black eyes that glared with the intense fire of nervous excitability. Around the bed of this strange object were ranged the priests gifted with healing, some with hands on her bed, others clasping her hands in theirs, or reverently laying them on various parts of her person, and uttering earnest prayers, and raising their solemn eyes to heaven with reverent look. Three or four times a day they poured out this heavenly unction upon the emaciated body of the old lady. To this they added a nourishing diet, including plenty of hen's meat. Mr. Marks had a large, fine, red young rooster which

THEY SLEW IN THE NAME OF THE LORD,

and the invalid was nourished most tenderly with the broth. Hope beamed into her soul, and, as her care and food became better, her faith increased and added to the earnest prayers of the faithful, and to the amazement of everybody the old lady, who had not walked for months, was on her feet in two weeks, and shouted and praised God for her recovery. My friend Marks and myself could never agree whether the benedictions of the priests or the nursing and the flesh and broth of the slain chanticleer had most to do with the remarkable recovery of this most helpless case of neglect and debility. This and similar recoveries were chanted among the multitude as the work of faith, with an earnestness that bordered on fury, backed up with the commission of Christ to His apostles to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, and rebuke evil spirits. Most of the women in the neighborhood began to fear that the Lord was among the Saints, and to escape the fearful penalties denounced against unbelievers, hastened to join them. The healing of Mrs. Simmons was no farce or trick of the actors; they believed they had worked a miracle, aided by God, to confound the faithless and stubborn. Among the persons who joined them in this region were many of good minds and well educated."

After speaking at some length of his friend Marks' services, in which he incidentally states that he at one time saved the twelve from being assassinated by Rigdon, who had resolved to make way for his prophetship by disposing of Brigham Young and the other members of the council of twelve, the doctor returns to the narrative:

"When myself and Mr. Marks reached Carthage, the Smiths were undergoing examination in Hamilton's tavern, the mob spirit being so violent that they dare not go to the court-room, where so much scope was offered to those who were resolved to slay them at all hazards. Mr. Marks here introduced me to Gov. Ford, the prophet and his brethren, and several other persons present in a small bedroom. The trial was proceeding in a small sitting-room in the back part of the house, on the second floor. I conversed half an hour with Joseph Smith, and told him plainly his danger, which seemed in no way to disturb him. He remarked that he was surrounded by so many enemies that he knew not whom to trust, and insisted that his people were greatly misrepresented. He appeared straightforward in the expression of his feelings and opinions, and evinced much acquaintance with the world, together with a complete knowledge of the fickleness of human nature. As I parted with him he presented his hand and said; 'Stranger, if I fall by the hand of assassins, tell the world the truth about my boys' -- a name by which he called his friends. I assured him that I would -- if I told the world anything. By request, I had an interview with Gov. Ford, who asked me whether the danger was real or only the work of excitement. I assured him of the fullest conviction on my part, that there were numerous persons among the crowd who never intended to leave Carthage till the Smiths were dead.

THE GOVERNOR WAS A MAN OF SMALL STATURE,

with dark eyes and complexion. He appeared like a man weary of human nature and of life, and to me more than betrayed the dear that he could not, if he would, protect his prisoners. After the conduct of the military in the morning, he thought little could be told as to what they would do before another morning. Myself and friend returned to Nauvoo that night, and, after a tedious ride over the prairie, had called for water at a log hut standing in the centre of a large field. It was very dark, and we had hardly entered the dwelling when we heard the clatter of horses' feet, and in a few moments the house was surrounded by armed men. They proved to be a company of militia under Capt. Singleton, going to Nauvoo to keep the peace. Such a visit was not only ridiculous but insulting, since for ten days the city had presented the appearance of a deserted place, and women and children were almost the only inhabitants, and they were in hourly fear of death by violence. Mr. Marks took the soldiers to good quarters, provided them with supper, and in the morning they paraded the street. The majority were ragged vagabonds who had rushed together to see the sights. The figure of one of these gentlemen I shall never forget. He rode a lank gray nag, was seated on a saddle without stirrups, and his long martial figure made him conspicuous in the company. He wore a suit of linen begrimed with dirt, a straw hat without a brim, and an old sword, long and rusty, dangled at his side. His boots were toeless, so that his feet protruded; his pants were bagging, and his coat was a roundabout of new linen. His visage, long and lean as his uniform, and his big, clear blue eyes and thin lips made him a figure of most striking appearance. He cast about him suspicious glances, as though he feared at every turn that some stray bullet might send him to fairer climes. He evidently regarded the city of the prophet as a solemn place, and felt in his inmost soul that he would not willingly die for his country. At every turn of the captain's troop this long, seedy grenadier hove in sight."

As soon as the Smiths were in the hands of the authorities, H. F. Higbee concluded he would gratify a long-cherished desire, and accordingly returned to Nauvoo with the avowed

INTENTION  OF  ASSASSINATING  O. P.  ROCKWELL,

of Gov. Boggs and Missouri memory. He found his intended victim at midday, walking in the street and coolly drew a revolver and attempted to shoot him. Rockwell was unarmed, but being as fearless and agile as a savage, he knocked the deadly weapon from his assailant's hand, seized him by the hair, dashed him violently to the ground, and placed his foot forcibly in his face and stomach. Higbee begged for life, and Rockwell at length released him and assisted in conveying him to the house of Robinson, the postmaster, where his wounds were dressed and a bed furnished him till next day. He was drunk when he made his assault. The next morning found him sober and with a badly scarred face, and a revolver and a dirk lying by his side. Rockwell, who had been greatly feared in Missouri, was a very small man, slim and pale, with a keen black eye, and very winning address.

On the afternoon of June 27, Gov. Ford came to Nauvoo with an escort of 60 men or more, and addressed the citizens from a small wooden platform standing near the prophet's house. His address gave everything into the hands of the mob, and, in fact, encouraged, by its timidity, the spirit of rebellion against the laws. He concluded by warning the [people] that if they molested anyone their city would be fired, and their wives and children put to the sword.

The wives of Joseph and Hyrum set on foot a petition praying that the governor would protect the defenceless women and children in the city from mob violence. It was signed by large numbers of women, and was received by the governor with respect, and even with emotion. Joseph's wife presented it in person, accompanying it with a brief history of their troubles, and a statement of their painful apprehensions. This lady is described as large and well built with dark hair, light hazel eyes, and a finely molded head, much superior to her husband's. She was the daughter of a Baptist clergyman [sic] living on the Susquehanna, was naturally intelligent, and in her strange and eventful career had learned much of human nature.

BEFORE THE GOVERNOR LEFT CARTHAGE

the Smiths were held to trial for riot, and under the impression of securing greater safety, did not ask for bail, but consented to be lodged in jail. On the morning before commitment they were arrested on a charge of high treason, on which, however, no examination was had, and no one supposed them guilty. The troops incessantly demanded to be taken to Nauvoo, but the governor declined to grant their request, on the grounds that their mutinous spirit would surely lead to an attack on the city. He therefore disbanded them at Carthage. The Smiths were escorted to jail by the Carthage Grays, their most bitter enemies, whose captain had the day before ordered them to fix bayonets and load with ball cartridges to sustain themselves in their mutinous action in hissing Gen. Deming. This captain was also the justice of the peace before whom they had been arraigned. A lawyer by the name of Skinner was lieutenant of the company. He had formerly been the counsel of the Smiths, but had quarrels with them, and now loudly demanded their expulsion from the county. To such men Gov. Ford committed the Smiths for safe keeping, disbanding a few hours before he left, within a few rods of the jail a thousand or more men whom he dare not take with him to Nauvoo for fear they would burn the city.

About the hour the governor was addressing the Mormons at Nauvoo -- 6 o'clock P. M. -- some 200 armed men, disguised with red, black and blue paint, surrounded the Carthage jail, which was guarded by half a dozen of the Grays, the rest being half a mile distant. The guards fired their guns at the mob, but as they were loaded only with wads, nobody was hurt. Quickly disarming these valiant sentinels, the mob rushed up the stairs leading to the second floor, where the prisoners were confined. The door to their room had not even a latch, and Hyrum Smith, on seeing the appearance of the blood-thirsty crew, sprang to it, closed and held it. Instantly a volley of balls went crashing through the thin protection into the room, one of them striking Hyrum under the eye and near the nose, and entering the brain. He reeled backward, exclaiming

"O GOD, I AM A DEAD MAN,"

and at this instant another ball entered under the chin and plunged upward into the brain. He fell backward at full length and was dead. While he was falling a ball struck his knee, passed through the leg, and out at the thigh. Another struck his right side, shattered the crystal of his watch, and entered his body. Some friend had given Joe Smith a revolver, and when his brother fell, the mob having pushed the door held by himself, Dr. Richards and Taylor, partially open, he [passed] the muzzle into the opening and fired three shots into the crows, a fourth cap missing fire. They were then forced back from the door and retreated across the room, Smith and Taylor making for a window. Taylor put one foot out and received four balls in it, fell back into the room and crept under a bed. As Joseph's head protruded from the window, two balls from the outside mob pierced his head, one near the throat, and the other lower down and passing through the lungs. He was also fired upon from the rear by those inside, one ball entering his back and another his thigh. He reeled forward, the blood spurting from his wounds at every heart-stroke, plunged from the window among the mob outside, and

WAS DEAD WHEN HE STRUCK THE GROUND.

Now that the deed was done no further violence was offered to his person.

Dr. Richards had the lobe of his ear carried away by a ball that also left a scar over the jugular vein an inch in length. He drew Taylor from under the bed and hid him in the dungeon, saying, "Brother Taylor, I want you to live; they will not find you here." Richards was Smith's private secretary, and Taylor was editor of the Nauvoo Neighbor.

The tragedy was ended and the perpetrators were out of reach before the guard arrived at the jail. The bodies of the victims were at first laid in a lower room of the jail building, and as soon as possible were removed to Hamilton's tavern.

Gov. Ford, with his troops, when three miles from Nauvoo, met the messenger who had been despatched to that city with the news, arrested him and took him back to Carthage, fearing that the Mormons would arise and avenge the blood of their leaders before he could place himself at a safe distance. At Carthage he found all parties in the utmost consternation. The inhabitants were hastily packing up and fleeing for life. Old men. women and children, with cart and wagon loads of furniture and bedding, and droves of cattle, hogs and mules, fled in the greatest confusion from the blood-stained town. Dr. Richards, Taylor, Hamilton, and a Mr. Southwick were the only living persons left in the town during the night, and they kept watch by the dead bodies. On the next day, the corpses, wet with blood, were put into boxes of rough oak boards, covered with prairie hay and an Indian horse-blanket, and thus were carried to Nauvoo. Meanwhile, Gov. Ford had indorsed an order to the Nauvoo legion to defend their city till help could be sent them, and had sent a letter to Mrs. Emma Smith, by Dr. Richards, advising quiet and patience, and in 20 minutes thereafter was hurrying over the prairie towards Quincy, confidently expecting that the morrow's sun would find only heaps of stones and ashes to mark the place where Carthage had been. Three days later he was receiving and making fashionable calls in Quincy.

Intelligence of

THE DEATH OF SMITH

reached Nauvoo early in the morning after the assassination, and fell with terrible effect upon the entire community. The prophet of God had been slain by the ungodly. Their feelings were akin to those of the early apostles when they learned that Jesus had been crucified. While preparations were being made to receive the bodies, Dr. Richmond repaired to the tavern of the prophet to witness the scene with his family. His own words will best describe the heart-rending details. He says:

"When I entered the mansion I found the wife of Joseph seated in a chair in the centre of a small room, weeping and wailing bitterly, in a loud and unrestrained voice, her face covered with her hands. Rev. Mr. Green came in, and as the bitter cries of the weeping woman reached his ears, he burst forth in tones of manly grief, and, trembling in every nerve, approached Mrs. Smith and exclaimed: 'Oh, Sister Emma, God bless you!' Then clasping her hand in his hands, he uttered a long and fervent prayer for her peace, protection and resignation. The first words the poor woman uttered were: 'Why, oh God, am I thus afflicted? Why am I a widow and my children orphans? Thou knowest I have always trusted in Thy law.' Mr. Green rejoined to her that this affliction would be to her a crown of life. She answered quickly:

MY HUSBAND WAS MY CROWN;

for him and my children I have suffered the loss of all things; and why, Oh God, am I thus deserted, and my bosom torn with this ten-fold anguish?' I passed into the next room, and the aged mother of Joseph and Hyrum came up to me with a gaze of wild despair, and clasping me with both hands she asked me why they had shot her dear children. Her eyes were dry, and her anguish seemed too deep for tears. She paced the room, turned around, went to the window, and then to the door of the room where Joseph's wife was still weeping, and Mr. Green still praying.

"In another room the children of Joseph were huddled together, the eldest, an adopted daughter, I think, being about 18. Two young boys were lying on the floor, and other two were kneeling over them, mingling their grief in one wild scream of childish despair.

"At the home of Hyrum, a little way off, the scene was not less heart rending. His wife had gathered her family of four children into the sitting room, and the youngest about four years old sat on her lap. The poor and disabled that fed at the table of her husband, had come in and formed a group of about twenty about the room. They were all sobbing and weeping, each expressing his grief in his own peculiar way. Mrs. Smith seemed stupefied with horror at the deed.

"While the scenes were being enacted in the city, the bodies were on the way from Carthage. To preserve peace and prepare the citizens to endure the ordeal with resignation, a general assembly was called at 10 o'clock A. M. which was addressed by W. W. Phelps, and by Col. Buckmaster, of Alton, aide-de-camp to Gov. Ford.

NO ONE THOUGHT OF REVENGE;

all seemed overpowered with grief. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the bodies arrived in charge of the marshal, Samuel H. Smith, the only [sic] surviving brother of the murdered men, and followed by Dr. Richards, and Mr. Hamilton, of Carthage. They were received near the temple grounds, by Gen. Joseph Smith's staff, the major general and staff, the brigadier general and staff, and other commanders of the legion, the city council, and a vast concourse of citizens. The officials formed around the bodies, the masses silently opening to give them way, and as the mournful procession moved on the women broke out in lamentations at the sight of the two rude boxes in the wagon, covered by the Indian blanket. The weeping was communicated to the crowd, and spread along the vast waves of humanity extending from the temple to the residence of the prophet. The groans and sobs, and shrieks grew deeper and louder till the sound resembled the roar of a mighty tempest, or the slow, deep, roar of the distant tornado. When the bodies arrived at the mansion of Mrs. Emma Smith, the people numbering eight or ten thousand, mostly Mormons, and in close sympathy with the deceased, pressed about the house and the loud wails of the mourners outside, and of the family within, were truly terrible. Means to divert the multitude were finally in requisition, to aid in making way for the removal of the bodies into the house. Judge Phelps, Dr. Richards and Messrs. Woods and Reed -- the two latter having been the Smiths' counsel, -- moved to different places and began addressing them. Mr. Woods, who was from Fort Madison, and a lawyer of high standing, was very severe in his condemnation of the whole affair, and censured Gov. Ford in particular for the careless and giddy part he had acted in not protecting the prisoners.

"The bodies were carried into the dining room, and about a dozen resolute men who could stand the scent of blood were selected to lay them out. This occupied an hour or more, and they were then arranged near the west windows of the room, and their families were brought in to take a first look at the dead husbands, children and fathers. As the door opened the prophet's wife entered with two attendants. She advanced a few steps towards the body of Hyrum, swooned, and fell to the floor. Her friends raised her up and gave her water, but she fainted again, and was carried out insensible.

SIX TIMES SHE ATTEMPTED TO SEE THE BODIES,

and six times she was removed in the arms of her two attendants. Hyrum's wife next entered the room with her four children, supported by no one, she having resolved to brave the scene with her poor orphans. She trembled at every step, and nearly fell, but reached her husband's body, kneeled down by him, clasped her arms around his head, turned his pale face upon her heaving bosom, and then a gushing, plaintive wail burst forth from her lips: 'O! Hyrum, Hyrum! Have they shot you, my dear Hyrum? are you dead, my dear Hyrum!' She drew him closer and closer to her bosom, kissed her pale lips and face, put her hands on his brow and brushed back his hair. Her grief seemed to consume her, and she lost all power of utterance. Her two daughters and two young children clung, some around her neck and some to her body, falling prostrate upon the corpse, and shrieking in the wildness of their wordless grief. In about ten minutes Mrs. Emma Smith, wife of the prophet, came again into the room, between two attendants, in a half swooning state. She came toward the body of Hyrum, and knowing that the sensation of feeling a cold, dead body exerted a calming effect on the human nerves, I took her hand and laid it on Hyrum's brow and in a moment, her strength returned. She murmured something in a low tone that I did not hear; her eyes opened, and she said to her friends: 'Now I can see him; I am strong now.' She walked alone to her husband's bed, kneeling down, clasped him around his face, and sank upon his body. Suddenly her grief found vent; and sighs and groans and words and lamentations filled the room. 'Joseph, Joseph,' she said, 'are you dead? Have the assassins shot you?' Her children four in number gathered around their weeping mother and the dead body of a murdered father, and grief that words cannot embody seemed to overwhelm the whole group. She continued to speak in low tones, but none of the words were audible save those which I have recorded.

WHILE THE TWO WIVES WERE BEWAILING

their loss, and prostrate on the floor with their eight children, I noticed a lady standing at the head of Joseph Smith's body, her face covered, and her whole frame convulsed with weeping. She was the widow of William Morgan, of Masonic memory, and twenty years before had stood over the body of her husband, found at the mouth of Oak Orchard creek, on Lake Ontario. She was now the wife of a Mr. Harris, whom she married in Batavia, and who was a saint in the Mormon church, and a high Mason. She is a short person, with light hair and very bright blue eyes, and a pleasant countenance. I had called on her a few days previous to this occasion, and while conversing with her, put my hand on a gilt-edged volume lying on the stand. It was 'Stearns on Masonry,' and contained the likeness of William Morgan. She said she had taken it out, and thought if the mob did come, and she was obliged to flee, or jump into the Mississippi, she would take it with her.

THE MULTITUDE DISPERSED

about dark, and next day was set apart for the people to come and see the bodies of the two brothers. They commenced assembling at an early hour, and the city, the river, and the surrounding country swarmed with men and women during the whole day. The scene around the bodies of the dead men was too horrible to witness. Hyrum was shot in the brain, and bled none, but by noon his body was so swollen -- the neck and face forming one bloated mass -- that no one could recognize it. Joseph's blood continued to pour out of his wounds, which had been filled with cotton; the muscles relaxed and the gory fluid trickled down on the floor and formed in puddles across the room. Tar, vinegar and sugar were kept burning on the stove to enable persons to stay in the apartment. In order to see the bodies, thousand passed in at one door and out at another, tracking their feet in the prophet's blood. The fumes of the tar and the stench of death were terrible, and still from morning till night they came and went and in the house for the live-long day the lament of sorrow was heard. The day was clear; the sun stole down on the western sky and set in a cloudless field of blue, glancing his rays on the thronging mass of nearly 20,000 persons, that now began to move off in every direction. The rooms were then cleared and the bodies put in coffins and concealed in a small closet opening from the dining hall. Two bags of sand had been prepared, and also two rough outside coffins into which the other were apparently to be put, but instead of that these outside boxes received the bags of sand and were sealed up. W. W. Phelps had called the populace away to read to them the sixth chapter of Revelations. The prophet, on the day before his death, while in jail at Carthage, had sent word to his followers to read that chapter for it was about to be fulfilled. From this, and many other acts in the man's life, it appears that he regarded himself as the appointed instruments, in God's hand to represent some new and singular event in the history of men. The multitude, after the reading, returned to the residence of Joseph Smith and received

WHAT THEY SUPPOSED TO BE THE BODIES OF THE TWO MEN,

but in reality the two bags of sand. The families of the Smiths had resolved on burying the bodies secretly, and concealing the fact from all persons but twelve chosen friends and the families of the murdered men. The coffins containing the bodies remained secreted in the small closet, while the boxes and bags of sand were carried in a solemn procession to the city cemetery, followed by a vast concourse who chanted and wept around the graves of the leaders whom they really supposed they were burying.

When the Mormons began to rear their gorgeous temple, two tombs of hewn stone were built on the west side of the edifice, one for Joseph Smith and the other for Sidney Rigdon. These vaults were both completed, but the friends dared not trust the bodies there for fear they would be violently removed by enemies. The task of conducting

THE ACTUAL BURIAL

Was conducted by William Marks. "I was at the time," says the doctor, "staying with this man as a guest and old friend, and became possessed of the facts now stated through him. I made an earnest appeal through him, to be permitted to aid in carrying the bodies, at midnight, to their final resting place, but as I was a total stranger to all but him, they refused, on the ground that it would be a breach of the regulations, to which they had agreed to adhere." Two graves had been prepared for their reception, and midnight was the appointed hour to remove the bodies. At 12 o'clock precisely the bodies were brought from the closet into the dining room. The orders were about to be given, when the labors of all were arrested by a clap of thunder that shook the very heavens and made the earth quake and tremble The placid face of the Mississippi was covered for a time with ripples, as though a light, sighing night-wind had passed over the stream, breathing out a last requiem to the souls of the departed. The day had been intensely hot; the sun set in glowing splendor down behind the broad prairie; the night was calm and warm; the stars glimmered in the blue dome of heaven, and no signs of a storm appeared. At about 10 o'clock a cloud black and jagged, rose on the western horizon, rode slowly up the vault of night, till it hung directly in mid air over the City of the Saints. Precisely at 12 o'clock, while the men were removing the bodies from the closet, and had the coffins in their hands,

THIS CRUSHING, FRIGHTFUL PEAL

broke in the zenith fearful enough to stir the dead in their shrouds. The bodies were deposited on the floor in singular haste. The company became pale with terror, appalled by the strange fear which death, darkness, and thunder create. A candle glimmered on the table, and revealed the faces of these sorrow and terror stricken men to each other. Popular superstition has always connected the movements in nature with the death of singular and great men, and the doctor confesses that this strange feeling came over him strongly at the time. He was standing in the open street watching for the procession to pass out by a back way. Two lighter peals quickly followed the grand explosion, the cloud retired toward the horizon, and in an hour no signs of it were to be seen.

It was half an hour before the friends could rally courage enough to remove the bodies. They were alone with the dead, with enemies all around them, and nature seemed in commotion, hoarsely muttering among the clouds of heaven. During this parley they resolved on a new place of deposit for the bodies. The reasons for this were thus given by Mr. Marks: He had been for ten years very intimately acquainted with the prophet, and regarded him as a most singular and eccentric man. Smith fully believed that he was to found a church that would live forever, and at times showed strange freaks of personal behavior during the spring, Marks and Joseph had been spending the day in a secluded part of the city grounds, and had visited a singular cave which they had discovered and explored. When they emerged, they sat down on some stones near the mouth of the cave. Smith dropped his head and seemed lost in a reverie for a time. At length both rose and walked in silence for a short distance, when Smith suddenly turned around and threw his cane at the mouth of the cave, at the same time asking Marks if he knew what the cave was intended for. Marks replied that he did not, and Smith rejoined: 'I do know and you will also. It is connected with my history. They then walked on, and incident had passed from memory till the occurrence of the thunder -clap, when Marks said the scene returned to him with such force that he resolved at once to hide the bodies in that cave. These facts were made known to the company and that cave did become a part of the prophet's history, as the bodies were carried thither through the shades of night and deposited.

IT WAS ON THE NIGHT

of June 29 that the sepulcher in the cave was made, and only on July 1, Phelps, Richards, and Taylor [sending?] the following remarkable circular to 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:'

Deeply impressed for the welfare of all, while mourning the great loss of President Joseph Smith, our prophet and seer, we have considered that the occasion demanded of us a word of consolation. As has been the case in all ages, these saints have fallen martyrs for the truth's sake, and their escape from a wicked world, in blood to bliss, only strengthens our faith and confirms our religion as pure and holy. We, therefore, as servants of the Most High God, having the bible, the book of Mormon, and the book of doctrine and covenants, together with thousands of witnesses for Jesus Christ, would beseech the Latter-Day Saints in Nauvoo, and everywhere, to hold fast to the faith that has been delivered to them in the latter days, abiding in the perfect law of the gospel. Be peaceable, quiet citizens, doing the works of righteousness, and as soon as the twelve, and other authorities, can assemble, or a majority of them, the onward course to the great gathering of Israel, and the final consummation of the dispensation of the fullness of times, will be poured out, so that the murder of Abel, the assassination of hundreds, the righteous blood of all the holy prophets from Abel to Joseph, sprinkled with the best blood of the Son of God, as the crimson sign of remission, only carried conviction to the [business?] and bosoms of all flesh, that the cause is just and will continue; and blessed are they who hold out faithful to the end; while apostates, consenting to the shedding of blood, have no forgiveness in the world nor in the world to come. Union is peace, brethren, and eternal life is the greatest gift of God. Rejoice, then, that you are found worthy to live and die for God. Men may kill the body, but they cannot hurt the soul, and wisdom shall be justified of her children; amen!

ANOTHER SPECIMEN

of the peculiar literature of the time is an indigent and yet pathetic poem, written by Eliza R. Snow, a young lady who formerly resided in Auburn O., and which evinces considerable genius and great earnestness of character, but the address above given, will suffice to give a sufficiently definite idea of the spirit that actuated the Mormons in these trying times. Their leaders had been killed; they were menaced by enemies; the governor had sent a delegation from Quincy to ascertain whether they were for peace or war; they had declared for peace, and the governor had issued an address stating that they had done all that their enemies could demand; Missouri was still fresh in their memory; two days after the interment of the murdered prophet a large meeting at Quincy had voted for their expulsion from the state; and yet in the face of all this they shouted for Zion in the name of God. Whether fools or fanatics, or both, or neither, their actions stamp them as a class deeply in earnest.

As was anticipated, they were expelled from Nauvoo, deprived of their land, their city, and their temple, but with an energy that never flagged they ranged themselves under

THE BANNER OF BRIGHAM YOUNG,

who, according to the historian, had escaped the knife by receiving timely warning, and marched 2,000 miles into the wilderness of the west, amid hostile Indians, and still more hostile wants.

Joseph Smith's religious system was system was not entirely original with him, but the work of many minds, and embraces most of the propagating ides of all other systems. It has the Jewish idea of one temple that is made holy to God, and which at the bottom is a property idea, making it "our house," built by "our hands," and dedicated to "our God." This a powerful centripetal to hold together any church. It has the Christian and Jewish priesthoods combined, and every man is a priest. It has the ordinances and ceremonies with some additions, of the Christian church, of which it is a sect. To these is added the Mohammedan idea of the sword, which they seek to make as imposing as possible, and hence the "legion," "cohorts," etc. They propagate their faith the [pulpit]; hold their followers by the temple, ordinances, and ceremonies; enforce their decrees by solemn prophecies, and over all gleams the sword as an emblem of dominion.

A WELL-AUTHENTICATED ANECDOTE

of Joseph Smith proves that he was a disciple of muscular as well as revealed religion. On a certain occasion, one of his old enemies, a Baptist clergyman, from New York, called on him, and began to rally him about his peculiar religion. Smith bore the fellow's impudence with considerable composure till it became insufferable, when that quality known among prophets as "righteous indignation" began to show itself. He ordered the intruder from his house, and finally from his yard, just outside of which there was an abrupt descent of ten feet or more. The clergyman leaned against the fence, and deeming himself safe, redoubled his abuse. Presently much drew up his big, bony fist, and by a well directed blow, sent him reeling down the precipice into a heap of sand. He sprang to his feet in utter amazement at so unexpected a revelation and started for his horse which he had left hitched near by. A man who happened to be riding by at the moment was accosted as "constable" by Smith, and ordered to seize the fellow for an assault, when the frightened clergyman leaped into his buggy, and, standing bold upright, applied the whip vigorously to his steed, and made a most unorderly exit from the prophet's city. The "constable" gave chase to insure his departure and polish the fun.

JOSEPH SMITH'S CAREER

was measured by sixteen years and yet he had organized a powerful church, built cities and temples, and carried on war, been a presidential candidate, and at his death was an extensive merchant, a hotel-keeper, had nearly 1,000 acres of land under cultivation, was major-general of the legion, mayor of Nauvoo, first president of the church, prophet of the Lord, and preacher to the saints. A fanatic might have done all of these, but a fool never could have compassed one of them.


Note 1: This article was reprinted in the Nov. 27, 1875 issue of the Deseret News.

Note 2: How much confidence should be placed in the account of B. W. Richmond, as paraphrased by the Chicago Times journalist, remains uncertain. Here and there a few factual errors can be detected, but the story sounds as if it were written by an honest eye-witness to most of the events described. The episode about William Marks, Joseph Smith and the cave at Nauvoo does not sound factual at all, but it may have been what Dr. Richmond received in the way of an explanation from Elder Marks. The alluded to plot by Sidney Rigdon to murder "The Twelve" at the time of their return to Nauvoo, following Smith's assassination, can only be characterized as "bizarre;" it does not have any ring of truth to it, and the modern reader can only wonder whether Dr. Richmond's original manuscript ever contained such a story. Both the quotes taken from Richmond and the paraphrases from his manuscript are so pro-Mormon as to render the writers' sources (if not also their motives) somewhat suspect. Still, even considering the blatantly one-sided viewpoint evident in the article, it does not read like something a Mormon ghost-writer (posing as a Gentile journalist) might concoct to mislead the reading public.

Note 3: The lack of any reference in the 1875 article to polygamy or to the post-1844 fate of Joseph Smith's family in Illinois seems a bit strange. Either Dr. Richmond did not maintain an active interest in the Latter Day Saints after 1844 or the Times writer purposely avoided addressing those subjects.

Death of Joe Smith's Successor.

Pittsburg Gazette

OUR  CURIOSITY  SHOP.

STERLING, Ill., June 5, 1877.      

1. Who was Joseph Smith, and did he write the "Book of Mormon," and did he claim to be a prophet? 2. Are there now living any of the original witnesses to the so-called translation of the "plates of gold," and, if so, who, and where do they reside? Were they men of character and standing? 3. What is the difference between the Salt Lake Mormons and those residing about Plano, Ill? Do the latter practice polygamy?   J.K.W.  G.H.B.

Answer. -- Joseph Smith was born at Sharon, Vt., and removed while a child to Palmyra, N.Y. where he grew up almost without education, leading an idle and rather disreputable life, and about 1828, when 23 years of age, began to put forth claims as to being the restorer of a new faith. He claimed that an angel, Moroni, appeared to him and announced that God had a work for him to accomplish, and that buried in the earth a few miles distant were gold plates containing the record of the early inhabitants of America and their fate, and that with this record would be found a kind of spectacles, through which alone they could be read. He also claimed to be inspired with prophecy. 2. We think not. Smith professed to dictate the English translation of these plates or records to Oliver Cowdery, who acted as an amanusensis, but the plates disappeared as fast as translated. To the Book of Mormon was prefixed a certificate, signed by Cowdery and two others, to the import that they had handled the plates. But, at a subsequent date the three fell out with Smith and declared the whole matter to be a hoax [sic]. There is now no doubt but that the so-called Book of Mormon was a kind of historical romance written by the Rev. Samuel [sic - Solomon?] Spaulding, which he intended to publish under the name of "The Manuscript Found" but which fell into the hands of one Rigdon, a printer [sic], who copied it, as upon the death of Spaulding, the original manuscript was found in the possession of his widow. Rigdon, in the meantime, set himself up as the founder of a new religion. He became acquainted with Smith, and the two devised the plan of making Spaulding's romance the bible for the new sect, as a pecuniary venture. A man named Harris, one of the signers of the certificate mentioned above, advanced the money for the publication of the work, and failing to get back what he had advanced, disclosed the hoax as to the plates.


Note: Questions 3 and 4 were left unanswered in this very unsatisfactory response to the reader's inquiries -- see issue of June 23rd below.

T H E   M O R M O N S.
______

A LETTER FROM
JOSEPH  SMITH,
THE LINEAL HEAD OF THE MORMON CHURCH.

To The Editor of the Inter Ocean.:

In your reply to an enquirer from Sterling, Ill., in your issue of June 16, you failed to answer queries 3 and 4 entirely, and are misinformed in respect to your answer to the second query.

Will you give this letter an insertion?

David Whitmer, one of the witnesses to the certificate prefixed to the book of Mormon, referred to by you, is still living, and resides at Richmond, Mo. Neither he nor Oliver Cowdery nor Martin Harris ever denied the statements made by them in that certificate. Both of the latter died in the faith of the divinity of that book, and the former has repeatedly of late re-stated his unshaken confidence in its truth.

The difference between the Salt Lake Mormons and the believers in the mission of Joseph Smith, the prophet, now residing in and about Plano, Ill., is about as follows:

Those at Salt Lake believe and practice polygamy; those at Plano neither teach nor practice it, but denounce it as evil. Those believe that Salt Lake is Zion, the gathering place of the elect; these do not. Those believe in "blood atonement," These do not. Those believe, if reported correctly, that Adam is the God to whom they will account; or as expressed by their leading man, the "only God with whom they have to do:" these do not, but believe in God the Father, Christ the Son; and in Adam only as a man. Those believe in and follow Brigham Young as their leader; these do not.

These are some of the minor points of difference which grow out of, and are supplementary to, those named above, and which perhaps you would not wish to give space to, that you will discover by examining the "Memorial to Congress" which I enclose with this letter.

In reply to the last query, Do the latter practice polygamy?" we authorize you to say, No.

Sidney Rigdon always denied any knowledge of the Spaulding romance, and in May, 1839, wrote a letter denying it, which letter was extensively published at the time. It was republished in the Latter-Day Saints Herald in its issue of Feb. 15, a copy of which was sent you.

In behalf of the Latter-Day Saints at Plano, Ill.

               Respectfully,
                                        JOSEPH SMITH.

Note: This item also appeared in the Weekly Inter Ocean of the same week.

...The practice of poligamy owes its origin among the Mormons to Brigham Young. Himself of a gross, sensual nature, he sought gratification for his lust which would appear sacred, at least to his followers. When the 'revelation' permitting the faithful to have a plurality of wives was given, there was a partial revolt, but as poligamy was a privilege, not a requirement, and was recommended as a means of rapidly increasing their numbers, the saints finally accepted it, and gradually the practice became almost universal among the Mormons in Utah, although a few of the followers of the first prophet, Joseph Smith, still rejected it as heresy... With the death of the prophet who ordained it, poligamy will doubtless begin to die out.


Note: The full text and title of the above clipping remain undetermined.

AN  INTERESTING  SKETCH

OF JOE SMITH  AND  THE  NAUVOO SETTLEMENT.

To the Editor of the Tribune.

Chicago, Sept. 6. -- The death of Brigham Young marks the end of the second period of the history of the Mormon Church, as the death of Prophet Joe Smith was the end of the first period. Recent events in the history of this Church render a retrospective view of the life of the organization of interest.

The founders of this Church were Sidney Rigdon, a man of considerable talent and presumably wide information, and Joseph Smith, "the martyr," whom Rigdon employed at first to propagate the faith, but who afterward became the great high priest of the organization. The birth of the Mormon religion will perhaps forever remain an enigma in the history of the world's civilization. It is not material to trace the lineage and life of Rigdon, although he remained with the Church through its troublesome career for twenty years. Joe Smith was born in Sharon, Vt., in 1805, and was removed at 10 years of age to Palmyra, N. Y. In youth he led an idle, vagabond life, roaming the woods, dreaming of buried treasures, employing his brain in endeavors to find them by the medium of divining rods, twisting forked sticks, and looking through enchanted stones. His father was a "water witch," and little Joe was taught to follow in his footsteps, and the promgacy of his after life may be in a great measure attributed to the superstitious notions, which were to have been a fit subject to engage the attention of such a man as Rigdon, who encouraged him to believe in his early vagaries, and wrought his mind into that enthusiastic temper which prepared him for the reception of Rigdon's plans. These plans were, it would seem, to originate a new religion for the Western World. Rigdon, it is said, was an infidel, but he knew something of the history of the Christian religion, and the project which he disclosed to Smith indicates that he had read other history than that of the Church, and had become imbued with the impression that he had as good a right to invent a religion and establish a church as had Jesus Christ, Mahomet, or any prophet.

A Presbyterian clergyman, named Spaulding, in Ohio, is credited with having written a religious romance, which sunsequent to the death of the author fell into the hands of Rigdon, who used it as the basis for the construction of a great religious edifice. It has been asserted by some that Smith procured the book written by Mr. Spaulding and from it evolved the plans for the new Church. There is ample evidence, however, for believing that Rigdon drew Smith's attention to the subject of their future labors. Smith was taken into his confidence and a story was fabricated, which outlined a religion of no mean proportions, but of course resting on fraud. The subsequent history of this religion and its development are far from being what the founders intended, and many additions have from time to time been made, which have so transformed the whole as to render it quite another thing than the conception of the authors. They named their religion "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." It was agreed between Rigdon and Smith that the following story should be the corner-stone of their edifice: That golden plates had been found buried in the earth in the neighborhood of Palmyra, containing a record on them in unknown characters, which, when deciphered by the power of inspiration, gave the history of the ten lost tribes of Israel in their meanderings through Asia into America, where they had settled and flourished, and where, in due time, Christ came and preached His Gospel to them, appointed His twelve Apostles, and was crucified here [sic!] nearly in the same manner in which He was crucified in Jerusalem. There was further "a history of the American Christians for a few hundred years, until the wickedness of the people called down the judgment of God upon them, which resulted in their extermination."

It described the wars of the several nations distributed over this continent from the Isthmus of Darien to the icy regions pf the north, and great importance was paid to the terrible battle of Cumorah, between the Lamanites, "who knew not God," and the Nephites, who were the chosen people. Hundreds of thousands were alaughtered, and the Nephites were almost destroyed by the armies of Satan. A few of this tribe escaped, and among the number were Mormon and his son Moroni. God directed Mormon to write a history of all these solemn events on golden plates, and bury them in the earth for the coming nations to discover. This story is the abridgement of the clergyman's romantic tale. But Joe Smith was cunning and entered into Rigdon's scheme with all the enthusiasm of his nature.

He was about 18 years of age, as he afterward related to the astonished and ignorant people who flocked to hear his story, when God revealed the location of this buried record to him. It is the old story of supernatural visitation, and many people were ready to believe the statements he made. He was also, as all other prophets and seers have been, the sport of lies and slanders, and vain attempts were made to rob him of his plates. He removed to Pennsylvania, and through the inspiration of angels, whom he called Urim and Thummim, proceeded to translate the hieroglyphics. The fraud was well pannned, and one writer seriously observes that the "story may yet, unhappily, make the foundation of a new religion which shall roll back upon the world the barbarism of eighteen centuries passed away. Whilst there are fools and knaves there is no telling what may be accomplished by such a religion."

Smith seems to have had no difficulty in obtaining followers from the outset, and he procured many certificates from citizens of his neighborhood that they had really seen the plates and engravings. The anecdote is told that the early followers were anxious to see the plates. He insisted that they could not be seen by the carnal eye, but must be spiritually discerned; that the power to see them depended upon faith; and was the gift of God, to be obtained by fasting, praying, and mortification of the flesh and exercises of the spirit. Once the lid of the box in which he said he kept the plates was opened, the believers peeped in, but, failing to discover anything in the empty casket, they said, "Brother Joseph, we do not see the plates." He answered them, "O ye of little faith, how long will God bear with this wicked and perverse generation? Down on your knees, brethren, every one of you, and pray God for the forgiveness of your sins, and for a holy and living faith which cometh down from Heaven." The plates were a myth, but the religion of the Book of Mormon, which purports to be a translation of the plates is not. It pretended to reveal the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as He delivered it to His people in America. It was to be brought forth by the power of God, and carried to the Gentiles, of whom many were to receive it, and after this the seed of Israel were to be brought into the fold also. It was stated that pristine Christianity was to be restored; the gift of prophecy; the gift of tongues; and the performance of miraculous cures by laying on of hands. The believers in the new doctrine of the prophet, in the course of five or six years, had increased in numbers sufficient to constitute a colony.

In 1833 this Church appears in the theatre of the world standing alone for the firts time. During that year they emigrated from New York to Missouri, and settled upon the site of the present City of Independence. They soon became obnoxious to the inhabitants on account of the absurd claims which they set up to title from God Almighty in all of the land near and far about their settlement, and as their Prophet's reputation had suffered severely from the day he laid claims to the supernatural discovery of the plates, so the reputation of his followers was questioned wherever they went. Some of them, after enduring the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" on the frontier for a time, returned to the East, and an establishment of the Church was erected near Cleveland, O. Here the Prophet located his headquarters, as he did not relish the tar and feathers, ducking and bastinado, of the Missourians. The first general assembly of the Mormon Church was held at the Ohio rendezvous, called Kirtland. This was in the year 1826, at which time it was reported that intelligence from missionaries sent to England, Scotland, and the isles of the sea, indicated a great increase in the numbers of the followers of the Prophet. Here Smith established a savings bank, which subsequently failed for a large amount, in much the same manner as the State Savings Institution failed under the management of D. D. Spencer, and, like Spencer, Smith fled to save his life. The Prophet was President of the bank, and after its failure his residence in that locality became very irksome and dangerous, and he accordingly, with a large body of Saints, departed for Missouri, where, in the northwestern corner of the State, they built the City of "Far West." In a few years the old quarrels between the Saints and the Gentiles became irreconcilable. The Mormon leaders declared they would no longer submit to the Government of the State of Missouri. Sidney Rigdon convened the community in mass meeting and preached before the Prophet. The State of Missouri assembled under arms and made the further residence of the faithful very uncomfortable. The City of Far West was beseiged and captured after the shedding of blood on both sides.

In 1839 and 1840 the whole body of Missouri Mormons took up the line of march eastward and located in Illinois, where they were received as sufferers in the cause of religion. It is stated that several counties vied with each other in tendering hospitality, and in their endeavors to get these strangers to settle among the people of those counties. A site was finally selected on the Mississippi River, which was decided upon as the location of a great city surrounding a temple for the worship [sic] of the Prophet Smith. The city and temple were built, and the former at one time numbered more than 15,000 souls. The City of Nauvoo was chartered by the Legislature of 1840.

That charter is one of the most remarkable grants of power ever made in the United States, and should always stand as a monument to reckless legislation and to the eternal dishonor of the body which passed it.

The Mormons had always been an important factor in the elections, and had in Wisconsin [sic - Missouri?] voted with the Democratic party as a unit. They had, however, been driven out of the State by a Democratic Administration, and when they appealed to President Van Buren he refused to grant them relief for constitutional reasons. Under these circumstances the Whigs of Illinois found the Mormons an easy prey on their arrival in this State, and they continued to vote with the Whigs in all the elections of 1840 and 1841, until the Legislature of the latter year lost the vote to the Democrats.

A man named Bennett, who is described by that volatile Democrat and caustic historian Ford as "probably the greatest scamp of the Western country," as an agent of the Mormon Church, solicited a charter for the city of Nauvoo. He was a desterous lobbyist, and succeeded in flattering both political parties with promises of the Mormon vote. The result was the passage of the charter by both Houses. The following summary of that remarkable instrument will be read with interest at this day. It provided for a Mayor, four Aldermen, and Nine Councilmen, who were empowered to pass all ordinances necessary for the peace, benefit, good order, regulation, concenience, or cleanliness of the city, and for the protection of property from firm, which were not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States or This State. This gave the city power to erect a government perfectly independent of State laws.

A Mayor's Court was established having exclusive jurisdiction of all cases arising under the city ordinances, subject to to the Municipal Court. The Mayor was constituted Chief Justice, with four Associate Justices,and the Municipal Court could issue writs of habeas corpus in all cases arising under the city ordinances. This cahrter incorporated the Nauvoo militia into an indepenent military body, which was called the Nauvoo Legion, and was armed and equopped by the State, but was not subject to the general Militia law of the State. A special court-martial for the Legion was established. The Legion was at the disposal of the Mayor in executing the laws and ordinances of the city. Subsequentially a large establishment called the Nauvoo House was chartered or incorporated, in which the Prophet and his heirs were to have a suite of rooms forever. In short, the Legislature had actually erected a separate military-church palatinate within the borders of the State of Illinois. In reading the history of the rise of the Government of Nauvoo, one is reminded of the ancient feudal Governments which practiced autonomy, at the same time acknowledging allegiance to a superior Prince. The City Government of Nauvoo was organized, and Joe Smith was elected Mayor. He presided in the Common Council. He executed the laws made by it. He was the ex-officio Judge of the Mayor's Court, Chief Justice of the Municipal Coourt, and interpreter of all the laws. He organized the Nauvoo Legion, which was divided into divisions, brigades, cohorts, regiments, battalions, and companies, in order to furnish his friends with offices of distinction, and he reserved for himself the position of Lieutenant-General. The Government was in every branch exclusively Mormon.

The City of Nauvoo, containing between 15,000 and 16,000 inhabitants, covered about six square miles of territory, and upon the brow of the hill overlooking the main portion of the city, as well as a sweep of the Mississippi River for miles, stood the great nondescript temple of preculiar architecture and vast proportions. The place has long been desolate, and fails to reveal its past interesting history.

Smith was pround of his city, and the people were fanatically proud of him, for he erected Zion's shelter about and above them, and the temple was their shrine. He owned in fee absolute all property of a permanent character within the corporate limits of the city, and no one could sell real estate or buy it without his consent.

When in the zenith of his power the Prophet erected numerous institutions within the Church which do not semm to have been designated by him or Rigdon at the outset of their career, and he made great changes in the conformation of the Church, many of which he justified to the brethren on the ground that he had been advised by the Almighty to institute them. He established a new and select order of the priesthood, the members of which were to be priests and Kings, spiritual and temporal. He traced his descent by an unbroken chain chain from Joseph and Jacob, and the Government of the United States he caused to be openly denounced. He predicted that it was about to pass away, and that the government of God was about to take its place, to be administered by the Prophet and the Apostles.

The theory that the Prophet might and shouls have for his wives any number of owmen was promulgated in the early days of the Church, in imitation of Solomon and the patriarchs, but it was not until Smith had gained the summit of his power that he enlarged this provilege so as to embrace the priesthood and elders, who were permitted also to have spiritual wives.

The Prophet now became a tyrant, and as a consequence the entiree Church became very obnixious in the eyes of the people of the entire State, which was not very thickly populated, but nevertheless felt the effect of Smith's government in every quarter.

The history of the Church up to this time exhibits the ability of Smith as an organizer, but there is everywhere the absence of that genius which is necessary to invent a new religion. Rigdon and Smith were from the first forced to return to the Bible as the basis of their religion, and Brigham Young as President of the Church has repeatedly defined the origin of the Church in the Christian Bible.

Smith was a man full six feet in height, strongly built, and had the form and muscle of an athlete. He was of lively disposition, "dressed like s dandy, drank like a sailor, swore like a pirate," and could pray like a priest. Present gratification was more to him than the remote consequences of his plans. At one time there were grave fears that Joe Smith's government of Nauvoo would overthrow the constituted powers of this State, and the villainy of the Legislature of 1840 would culminate in a disasterous war and the subversion of liberty.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts by the State authorities to subdue the terrible hatred which had gradually grown up between the Mormons and anti-Mormons, the Governor, in 1844, determined to march an armed body into Nauvoo and disarm the Mormons, hoping thereby to avert the impending conflict, but, before this could be accomplished, serious difficulties were interposed, and under solemn proimise made by the Governor, of protection from bodily harm, Joe Smith, his brother Hiram. and the other authorities of Nauvoo, surrendered themselves into the hands of the Constable of Carthage to answer to a charge of riot. All were discharged except the Smiths. Against Joe and Hiram a complaint for treason was lodged, and they were remanded to jail in Carthage, where they were treacherously murdered by a mob.

This event, which occurred on the 27th of June, 1844, closed the first period of the Mormon Church. It has been so often described as to be familiar history. Rigdon, who succeeded [sic - attempted to succeed?] to the affairs of the little Kingdom, was unable to sustain the power which Smith had created. War broke out, Nauvoo was besieged by artillery and infantry, and fell after a vigorous defense. During the winter of 1845 and 1846 they made the most gigantic preparations for moving out of the State, and by the middle of May, 1846, some 16,000 Mormons had crossed the Mississippi River, intending to cross the plains and settle in California or Oregon. They were, however, guided to Utah by the new Prophet Brigham Young, who was at the time of Smith's death one of the Apostles of the Church.

P. L. S.      

Notes: (forthcoming)

JOSEPH  SMITH,  THE  MORMON.
__________

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  SAMUEL D. GREEN.
__________

EDITOR CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE: -- Noticing some allusions to my knowledge of Joseph Smith in your columns, I thought I would extract from the written history of my life some facts of the early life and character of Joseph Smith and the commencement of Mormonism. During the time I resided and kept tavern in the large brick house in the north part of Pembroke, Genesee county, New York (twenty-eight miles east of Buffalo and thirteen miles west of Batavia, on the great thoroughfare from Albany to Buffalo), came Joseph Smith to my house, I think, from Vermont. I took him to be about 18 or 19 years old, but he might have been a little older. He seemed to be thoroughly acquainted with the route from Canandaigua to Buffalo. He did not come to take up land on the Holland purchase, which was fast settling at that time, but he seemed to be a tramp. He carried with him three small black stones, with which, placed in the crown of his hat, and his hat placed before his eyes, he pretended to tell the fortunes of individuals; where lost or stolen property could be found; where early settlers had deposited their money. He would tell the girls what kind of a husband they would have, etc. He was very jovial, very cunning, loved to drink juleps, and would often tell fortunes for a drink. It was about the time that the surveying of the route of the canal from Lake Erie to Albany was completed. This project and enterprise of De Witt Clinton had been begun. It was fully in my mind from the facts that transpired at the time. Judge Clark, who resided at Buffalo, was at my house. He laughed at the foolish project of De Witt Clinton, running the State of New York in debt by his folly. The canal, he said, would never be completed. The Judge was on his way to Canandaigua bank for money. As the work on the canal had begun, many came from Connecticut and New England to take up articles for land on the Holland purchase. Many of these men went to work on the land. Another novel cirsumstance occurring at the time made Joe Smith's business quite profitable and popular, and was greatly annoying to me. A man by the name of Huntington, if I remember right, from Norwich, Conn., who brought girls and young women from Connecticut free of expense, to visit their friends and relatives, with the promise that if they did not get married or choose to stay he would take them back for nothing. He brought them to my house, and as I had horses an carriages suitable for the new roads, and knew where all the settlements were made, I was employed to carry them to their places of destination. He brought up three loads, and whether any were returned I never knew, nor did I know whether this man had any contract or bargain. All I knew was, they came to my hpuse, and I took them to the places of destination. Before starting, Joseph Smith would tell their fortunes, and I was greatly annpyed by him and the foolishness of the women, as well as their credulity. Smith would tell some things true and wonderful, like Spiritualism.

But the crowning of his reputation is yet to be told. Judge Clark, mentioned above, went to Canandaigua and got money from the bank. He wore, as was the fashion at that time, a large overcoat with pockets in each side, where a large pocket-book and handkerchief found a deposit. Judge Clark, when he got to my house, found his pocket-book and money missing, and he was extremely troubled about it. Some one said, "Why don't you ask Joe Smith to look into his stones and tell you where you lost it and where it can be found?" And so much was said, the Judge says, "Well, Smith, look into your stones and tell me where it is and whether I shall find it." Smith knew well the road from Canandaigua to Buffalo, and as soon as the cunning scamp looked into his stones, says, "I can see it. Didn't you ride down into the Honeyough to water your horse?" (a living spring of running water, a steep bank down to it, and muddy, between Bloomfield and Genesee river). The Judge thought a moment, and said, "Yes, I believe I did." Smith says in a moment, "I see it You stooped over to let your horse's head down, and your pocket-book fell out of your pocket and fell into the creek, and it floated down the stream, and I can see it lodged against a limb fallen into the creek." The Judge went back to the Honeyough and down the creek, but no pocket-book was to be seen. He returned to the place where he rode into the creek, which was a muddy place, and upon the bank, he saw the object of his search. It seemed, as his horse plunged out of the mud, the pocket-book was thrown out upon the bank. The Judge returned much elated, and although what Smith said and saw was not true, only the shrewd thought to ask the Judge about watering his horse in the Honeyough, knowing, no doubt, it was a steep, muddy place. But it raised Smith's reputation. He was famous, not only for his wonderful knowledge of lost property, but he seemed to know where the early settlers did deposit their money so the Indians would not find it. He got angered at a man who had built a foundation to erect a mill. He saw money deposited by an early settler, who sat down by this river and deposited his money in the earth just where the miller was erecting his abutments. Some of Smith's believers went and dug for the money and one of the walls fell. The diggers were disappointed, and helped rebuild it. This is the only act of mischief I ever heard of him, and of this I never searched the truth. It was a report, and whether true or not, I have no knowledge.

I moved from the brick house to the west part of Pembroke, and Smith went west to Alexander and Buffalo. I moved to Batavia in 1822; opened the Park tavern, and kept it a while. Then opened it as a school and boarding house for Rev. Calvin Colton's wife, as teacher. Subsequently the school was closed and I opened the house again as a tavern.

In 1827 I hired the Russell house, in the central part of the village of Batavia, and old stand, and a much larger house. All at once came Joseph Smith, with James [sic - Jacob?] Cockrane and James [sic - George?] Harris. Cockrane and Smith boarded with me; Harris lived in Batavia. The history of James Cockrane, as I learned it, was that he was a preacher down somewhere in Maine, who held the doctrine that men and women, when converted, became innocent as Adam and Eve before the fall, and had no shame -- went naked. He was taken up and lodged in jail for his blasphemy and crime, tried and sentenced to State prison for ten years. In 1826 his crime was out, and he came west to Batavia and found Joe Smith a fit companion. Cockrane wanted to preach in the court house and was permitted. I went to hear him, and a flow of words thick and fast, like hail upon a shingled roof, was about all I could hear, not a word spoken intelligently. He and Smith were very intimate.

There was living in Bethany, a Rev. M. Spaulding, a Presbyterian minister, whose mind was unbalanced. He had written some chronicles on the ruins of Central America and some Bible truths mixed up together. Some early history of the character of the inhabitants, connected with bigamy, etc. Joe Smith and Cockrane got some knowledge and borrowed it, and from the help of Spaulding's manuscript they made the Mormon Bible. Rev. Mr. Spaulding called and sent for it a great many times, and his wife came for it, but Smith would not let them have it. Smith told Spaulding, and I heard him, that they had made a Mormon Bible of it, and the Lord had taken it into the wilderness. And he, Joe Smith, prophesied where it was deposited in Palmyra woods about twelve miles east of Rochester, New York. James Harris was appointed to go and get it. He went and pretended he found it beside a log, just where Smith said it was. This, together with Freemasonry in Morgan's book, which Smith and Cockrane studied, and Smith's observations on the kidnapping of Morgan, made him quite popular. Mormonism was introduced and quite a number fell in with it. Smith went to Victor and in a schoolhouse opened his doctrine. At the close of his speech he fell flat on the floor, and claimed that God had met him, who did Paul at Damascus, and had converted him to the true doctrine of Mormonism. Some said Smith was drunk and fell down, but Smith held to the fact that Mormonism was approved of the Almighty, and the true state of society, as of old, was returning to bless and confirm the true doctrine of a multitude of wives and no absolute distinction of families.

The last month of 1829 I moved from Batavia to Boston, and about this time, or soon after, Smith and his followers moved to Nauvoo, and there he was killed.

This is the true history of Joe Smith and the beginning of Mormonism, and the people who subsequently settled at Salt Lake, and till recently were governed by Brigham Young. After Mr. Spaulding died, his wife came east to Munson, Massachusetts, while I lived there, to visit her friends or relatives, Dr. McKingsbury's family, my near neighbor. Mrs. Spaulding said her husband never got his manuscript from Smith.

On the 2d inst., December, 1877, an elderly lady called at my house. She was raised in Cunnebunk, Maine, and when about 15 years old she knew James Cockrane and many of his followers, and confirms the statement I have made of his doctrine and followers.


Note 1: The above text was taken from the files of the National Christian Association's Christian Cynosure, 1868-1984, preserved in the Special Collections of Wheaton College. See the Christian Cynosure of July 25, 1878 for a follow-up article. The Erie Canal was completed during the last week of October, 1825. Mr. Greene's recollection of Joseph Smith, Jr. passing through Pembroke twp., Geneseee Co., N. Y. must date to a time well prior to the canal's completion. Smith turned nineteen in February of 1824, and so an 1822-24 time period for his reported westerly wanderings are perhaps the years Greene had in mind. The nearby Orleans Advocate noticed an instance of some money-diggers using a seer-stone in a hat, near the end of 1825, but this event probably occurred two years or more after Mr. Greene's reported encounter with young Smith and his "three small black stones."

Note 2: The Dec. 13, 1899 issue of the RLDS Saints' Herald, contains these interesting remarks: "Rev. Samuel D. Green wrote an article entitled, "Joseph Smith the Mormon. (see Christian Cynosure, December 20, 1877.) When letters were written to him correcting his false statements, he replied: "Smith borrowed Spalding's manuscript, Spalding sent for it, Smith refused to give it back. Smith told Spalding, and I heard him, that he had made a Mormon Bible of it. I saw Mr. Spalding as late as 1827, and I have a letter from William Jenkins, that he saw Spalding in 1829."... Spalding died in 1816, yet one of the reverend gentlemen talked with him in 1827, the other in 1829.... Surely it is a Spalding romance." This information became the basis for a lengthier set of comments on the subject, offered by RLDS Elder J. S. Roth, in the June 25, 1908 issue of the Independence, Mo. Zion's Ensign. The 1877 Samuel D. Green assertions that most bothered the RLDS writers were: "There was living in Bethany, a Rev. M. Spaulding. * * * He had written some chronicles on the ruins of Central America and some Bible truths mixed up together. Some early history of the character of the inhabitants, connected with bigamy, etc. Joe Smith and Cochrane got some knowledge and borrowed it, and from the help of Spaulding's manuscript they made the Mormon Bible... After Mr. Spaulding died, his wife came east to Munson, Massachusetts, while I lived there, to visit her friends or relatives, Dr. McKingsbury's family, my near neighbor." The "Mr. Spalding," who "as late as 1827" was living near Batavia, New York (in either Bethany or Bennington twp.) was obviously Dr. Solomon Spalding (1797-1862), a cousin of the Spalding who wrote the Oberlin manuscript, etc., (see notes accompanying the Zion's Ensign article of Mar. 24, 1894 which constituted the very first RLDS report on the matter). The "Dr. McKingsbury" recalled by Mr. Green was Dr. Oliver W. McKinstry, who lived in Monson, Massachusetts, not far from Mr. Green, in later years. Dr. McKinstry's wife was the foster daughter of Solomon Spalding (1761-1816) and, thus, a shirt-tail relative of the Dr. Solomon Spalding (1797-1862) who resided near Batavia when Samuel D. Greene was there (during the infamous William Morgan affair).

Note 3: See also the marriage notice for "Doct. Solomon Spalding" in the Rochester Daily Advertiser of April 7, 1832. The "Dr. Spalding" there mentioned, as being married at Bennington twp., Genesee (now Wyoming) County, New York on March 25, 1832, was the author (editor?) of the unpublished religious novel, "Romance of Celes." The manuscript of that "celestial story" is now on file in the Library of Congress and is cataloged under the name of the better known Solomon Spalding of Ashford (1761-1816). The latter Solomon was a cousin, one generation removed, from Dr. Solomon Spalding (1797-1862), later of of Lorain Co., Ohio, who married Arvilla Ann Harris in 1832.

Note 4: Dr. Spalding's "Romance of Celes" (written in the hand of Arvilla Ann, before their 1832 marriage) is largely based upon the plurality of worlds notion championed by the Rev. Thomas Dick during the 1830s. The "Romance of Celes" may have been based upon an earlier literary work by Dr. Spalding's cousin, Solomon Spalding of Ashford. The story contains numerous thematic and phraseology parallels to both the Oberlin Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon.

Note 5: It may be more than a coincidence that Dr. Spalding, while he lived in western New York, was a member of the same Masonic lodge as was Oliver Cowdery's friend and subsequent business partner, (Edwin) Alanson Cooley. Another member of the "Olive Branch" lodge of Freemasons living in the Batavia-LeRoy-Attica area was William Morgan, the famous "anti-Masonic martyr." Oliver Cowdery reportedly once served as a scribe for Morgan (who is said to have written a fictional history of ancient America in the time of the Welsh explorer-prince, Madoc). William Morgan's wife, in 1838, became the first or second plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr. See notes appended to articles in the Dec. 30, 1837 issue of the Niagara Democrat, for more on the Spalding-Cooley-Cowdery connection.

Note 6: Given Samuel D. Greene's erroneous recollection of Dr. Oliver McKinstry (by calling him "Dr. McKingsbury"), it becomes difficult to know where to trust his other memories. There was a "Rev. James Cochran" living in Batavia between 1825 and 1830 and he was likely the same "James Cochran" whom Henry Brown (a Batavia attorney) mentioned in connection with the 1827 funeral held at Batavia, for a man then supposed to have been the drowned William Morgan: "... a funeral oration pronounced by one James Cochran, who, Mr. Brown says, 'sometimes when sober, and sometimes when otherwise, preached in the vicinity, and was then assistant editor to Colonel Miller.'" (See Mr. Brown's 1829 book A narrative of the anti-masonick excitement... for the exact quotation). Did Samuel D. Greene confused Batavia's "James Cochran" with Maine's Prophe Jacob Cochran, or did Jacob Cochran (Cochrane/Cockrane) travel incognito, calling himself "James" during a mid-1820s visit to western New York? Has Greene confused the names "Cowdery" and "Cockrane? or "George W. Harris," "James Harris," and "Martin Harris?" Was George W. Harris (who later "shared" his wife, Lucinda Morgan Harris, with Joseph Smith, Jr.) a disciple of Jacob Cochran? Was the Masonic author, Rob Morris, correct when he identified Lucinda's first husband (William Morgan) as having been "a half way convert of Joe Smith"? Did Joseph Smith's cousin, Oliver Cowdery, reside with his brother Warren near Batavia during the infamous "Morgan Affair?" Did Oliver truly act as a part-time scribe for William Morgan? Did Oliver go from working at the Orleans Co. Newport Patriot to David C. Miller's Republican Advocate in adjacent Genesee Co., in 1825? Did Cowdery assist Morgan and Miller in the preparation of Morgan's 1826 book Illustrations of Masonry? Did a young Joseph Smith travel west, during the early 1820s, in search of a seer-stone, "on the South side of Lake Erie, not far from the New York and Pennsylvania line"? None of these queries are well answered in Mr. Greene's account -- it raises more questions than it answers.

"MANUSCRIPT  FOUND"

"Now it Came to Pass" that Jo Smith
Didn't Write the Book of Mormon.
_______

It Was a Historical Romance Written by
Solomon Spalding, of Conneaut, O.
_______

Who Attempted to Show that the American Indians
Were Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel
_______

Special Correspondence of the Tribune.

Cleveland, O., Dec. 23. -- The recent death of the head of the Mormon Church, and the prophecies indulged in, in regard to the probable future of that great delusion, invest all the facts of its mysterious origin with a new interest. The general public, of course, understand that the whole system is a gross and palpable humbug; that the origin of the Book of Mormon is deeply enshrouded in fraud and deceit, but only the antiquarian, or one who has paid special attention to the subject, is aware of the facts in regard to the authorship and first introduction of this silly book.

I had always taken much interest in the subject. It had seemed such a wonder that right in the middle of the enlightened nineteenth century, and in the enlightened United States, and illiterare and superstitious man could assume the divine afflatus, write a book and deceive the multitude. But the facts were undisputed, and the only thing to do was to accept them and account for them on reasonable grounds.

Some twenty miles east of this city, on the lake shore, is the Town of Kirtland. This was the first stake of the Church. Here the Prophet and his apostles built a temple, which is standing in good repair to-day, and established a bank for the issue of irredeemable paper money. Here affairs moved on in fine style until the bank became bankrupt and the people of the surrounding country, who had been robbed and defrauded, became enraged, and rising en masse, the Prophet deemed it politic to see a vision which told him that he had made a mistake in locating his Church, and that Missouri was the promised land.

This whole section of Lake County is, therefore, rich in memories of the early days of the Church. Old beldames and aged men still draw consolation from the senseless pages of the Book of Mormon, believe in Jo Smith, and insist that they constantly receive revelations in regard to the most trivial affairs of every day life. They reject poligamy, and the dwellers in Salt Lake City are called apostates. The old temple is occasionally used by them, and they hold several shades of belief, thus showing the peculiar disposition of the human mind to form sects.

All this by way of preface. In the year 1840, Mr. E. D. Howe, then living in Lake County, and having had the best of opportunities for observing the workings of the Chrurch of Latter-Day Saints, wrote a book called "History of Mormonism," which only received very small circulation, and copies of which are now exceedingly scarce. This writer propounded the theory that Solomon Spalding was the author of the historical portion of the Mormon Bible, that Sidney Rigdon interlarded the religious portions, and proceeded with undisputable documentary evidence to substantiate his position. Hearing that a distant relative of the author of the book still resided in Lake County, after paying a recent visit to the temple in Kirtland, I repaired to this gentleman's house, and proceeded to make inquiries in regard to Mr. Howe and his work.

"Can you tell me," said I, "whether the late E. D. Howe left any papers behind him; and if so where they may be found?"

"He did not leave many," said the relative, "and some of those he did leave have been destroyed."

"Where can those left be found?"

"They are in my possession."

"Would you have any objection to showing them?"

"None."

A tin box containing a considerable number of old private letters, a few old deeds, and some scraps of manuscript was brought out, and I was given permission to go through it.

I spent a long time [in] looking over these old documents, and although several of the letters referred in one way or another to the "History of Mormonism," still there was nothing of especial consequence discovered until the bottom of the box was nearly reached, when two letters carefully tied together, written in the old-fashioned way, upon large sheets, and doubled with the writing upon the inside, so that the sheet served both as letter and envelope, and held together by wafers, were found. Upon reading these through I found them to be the original copies of two of the letters contained in the "History of Mormonism," The first one bore no date. It was from a brother of Solomon Spalding, and read as follows:

Dear Sir: You ask for some facts in regard to my brother, I take the first opportunity to comply with your request. Solomon was born in Connecticut in 1761. He graduated at Dartmouth, and, after trying one or two of the professions, went into mercantile pursuits, and, failing in this, removed to Conneaut, Ashtabula County, O., in 1809. At this place I visited him in 1812. He then told me that he had been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled the "Manuscript Found," of which he read to me many passages. It was an historical romance of the first settlers of America, endeavoring to show that the American Indians are the descendants of the Jews, or the lost tribes. It gave a detailed account of their journey from Jerusalem by land and sea, till they arrived in America, under the command of Nephi and Lehi. They afterwards had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denominated Nephites and the other Lamanites. Cruel and bloody wars ensued, in which great multitudes were slain. They buried their dead in large heaps, which caused the mounds so common in this country. Their arts, sciences and civilization were brought into view, in order to account for all the curious antiquities, found in various parts of North and South America. I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and was greatly surprised to find nearly the same historical matter, names, etc., as they were in my brother's writings. I well remember that he wrote in the old style, and commenced about every sentence with "and it came to pass," or "now it came to pass," the same as in the Book of Mormon, and, according to the best of my recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother Solomon wrote, with the exception of the religious matter. By what means it has fallen into the hands of Joseph Smith, Jr., I am unable to determine.   JOHN SPALDING.

The second letter was dated at Conneaut, and reads as follows:

I left the State of New York late in the year 1810, and arrived at this place, about the 1st of January following. Soon after my arrival I formed a co-partnership with Solomon Spalding, for the purpose of rebuilding a forge which he had commenced a year or two before. He very frequently read to me from a manuscript which he was writing, which he entitled the "Manuscript Found," and which he represented as being found in this town. I spent many hours in hearing him read said writing, and became well acquainted with its contents. He wished me to assist him in getting his production printed, alleging that a book of that kind would meet with a rapid sale. I designed doing so, but, the forge not meeting our anticipations, we failed in business, and I declined having anything to do with the publication of the book. This book represented the American Indians as the descendants of the lost tribes, gave an account of their leaving Jerusalem, their contentions and wars, which were many and great. One time, when he was reading to me the tragic account of Laban, I pointed out to him what I considered an inconsistency, which he promised to correct, but, by referring to the Book of Mormon, I find to my surprise that it stands there just as he read it to me then. Some months ago I borrowed the Golden Bible, put it into my pocket, carried it home, and thought no more of it. About a week after, my wife found the book in my coat-pocket, as it hung up, and commenced reading it aloud as I lay upon the bed. She had not read twenty minutes till I was astonished to find the same passages in it that Spalding had read to me more, than twenty years before from his "Manuscript Found." Since that I have more fully examined the Golden Bible, and have no hesitation in saying that the historical part is principally if not wholly taken from the "Manuscript Found." I well recollect telling Mr. Spalding, that the so frequent use of the words "dnd it came to pass," "Now it came to pass," etc., rendered it ridiculous. Spalding left here in 1812, and I furnished him the means to carry him to Pittsburg, where he said he would get the book printed, and pay me. But I never heard anything more of him or his writings until I saw them in the Book of Mormon.

HENRY LAKE.    

After taking a copy of thes eletters, and having a long conversation with the gentleman, I left much stronger in the belief that Spalding was the author of the bulk of this curious book than I had ever been before. Since that time I have made a careful study of the way in which the manuscript in all probability passed from Spalding's hands into those of Rigdon and Jo Smith, and in another letter will lay the result of my researches before the readers of The Tribune.   GARY.


Note 1: While the Tribune correspondent (Mr. Gary?) may have been perfectly accurate in providing the above account of a visit with a "distant relative of the author... in Lake County," the reader can only wonder why such a relative would provide the visitor with the impression that Mr. Eber D. Howe (who lived until 1885) had already passed away. Probably, at the very time the correspondent was in "Lake County," visiting with the "distant relative," Mr. Howe was also in the same county, readying for the press his own little booklet, Autobiography and Recollections of a Pioneer Printer, which was printed at Painesville in 1878.

Note 2: The texts of the letter transcriptions provided above do not substantially disagree with the versions which Mr. Howe presented to his readers in 1834 (and again in 1840, in a limited reprinting of his book), except in the fact that John Spalding's previously published statement is about 10% longer. Probably the 1877 transcript represents a condensation of John's statement, and primarily so in its first several sentences. On the other hand, if the 1877 transcript is an accurate one, it is possible that E. D. Howe added the additional 10% inserted matter from some other source (perhaps from a subsequent John Spalding letter). Also, if the 1877 transcript of John's statement is an accurate and full one, it would appear that John Spalding first submitted his testimony in the form of a letter -- probably originally addressed to D. P. Hurlbut. If this were the case, past critics' speculation regarding Hurlbut's probable influence in the wording of John's 1833 statement might be somehwat meliorated by the deduction that Hurlbut was not personally present when John wrote out his letter-statement.

Note 3: See also the Mormon editorial response to this 1877 letter, as published in the Salt Lake City Deseret News of Jan. 16, 1878. That article reprints a notice from a late December, 1877 issue of the Cleveland Herald, which says: "The 'late E. D. Howe' still lives in Lake county, and as the readers of the Herald have seen within a few days, is quite a lively corpse..."

(Letter from J. W. Moss on Solomon Spalding
under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON.
________

Newton, Iowa, July 18, '78.    

In the Cynosure of last June 6th, is a correspondence from J. W. Moss, of W. Virginia. We do not wish to impeach his character, doubt his veracity or impugn his motives, but we do desire to see error exposed, and the diamond truth shine forth preeminent on all vital questions.

Solomon Spaulding, on old, worn-out Presbyterian clergyman, lived in Ohio in 1810 and 1811 and wrote a kind of a "romance" for mere diversion, In 1812 said Spaulding moved to Pittsburgh, Pa., and lived there about two years. It is claimed that the "romance" was given into the hands of a Mr. Patterson, who was conducting a printing establishment in that city; but Mr. P. in 1834 or later, declared that he had "no recollection of any such manuscript being brought there." The Rev, gentleman moved to Amity, Washington Co., Pa., and deceased in 1816, at which time the manuscript fell into the hands of his widow, who carefully preserved the same until 1834. That year an artful syncophant named E. D. Howe and a revengeful wretch who had been disfellowshipped and ostracised from the assemblies of the saints for unchristianly conduct, obtained the manuscript of the widow. They proffered to publish it and give her one-half of the emoluments, but subsequently informed her that it would not subserve their use or bear publication.

From these manoeuvers were fabricated the clumsy fable that S. Rigdon stole the manuscript and afterward became associated with Joseph Smith in founding a new religion. At the time the "romance" was in Pittsburgh Rigdon was a tender lad serving on his father's farm about 200 [sic! - 20?] miles away. He never saw the city till ten years after. While residing there he was associated with Mr. Patterson in the printing business for a short time and then became a pastor of a Baptist church. Mr. Rigdon never knew about Joseph Smith till the Book of Mormon was translated and the church was organized. Organization affected on April 6, 1830. At that time he was preaching for the Christian church in Mentor, Ohio. The fall after the church was organized, P. P. Pratt, a traveling elder, presented said Rigdon was a complete volume of the Book of Mormon, and he soon became obedient to the faith. The Book of Mormon condemns in a caustic and positive manner "secret signs," "oaths," "words," "covenants," and "combinations," as you may learn by reading the 2d chapter of Helaman and elsewhere in the volume as well as the revelations through J. Smith the seer.

The Latter Day Saints discouraged secret works of darkness or secret societies, the use of tobacco and fat meat in hot weather, but have not made these things a test of fellowship as yet.

The divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon can be substantiated beyond successful contradiction from the Bible, as well as from internal and external or antiquarian evidences. See Catherwood and Stephen's travels, Squier and Davis on the Mound Builders, published by the Smithsonian Institution, J. D. Baldwin's Ancient America, together with numerous statements from surveyors, travelers and ministers, published in all the leading journals through the earth. Biblical texts we give, but space will not permit of comment: Gen. 11:4-8; 48:15-19; 49:22-26. Deut. 33:13-17. I Chron. 5:1, 2. Num. 32:37, 38. John 10:16. Acts 17:26-28. Hosea 8:11, 12; 11:10. Ezekiel 37:16-20. Psalms 85:11, 12. See truth that springs out of the earth. Psalms 119:142, 151 and John 17:17. Isaiah 45:8; Isaiah 29th chapter. Matthew 24:14. Galatians 1:8, 9. Rev. 14:6, 7; 18:4, 5. Dan. 3:34, 44; 7:27. Isaiah 16:19. Every question has two sides and we should be willing to prove all things. With a strong desire for the well being and happiness of frail humanity I bring this abridged sketch to a close.

Morris T. Short.      

Note. -- The above is the history of the Spaulding book from a Mormon stand point. Most of our readers will recollect the letter from Samuel D. Greene in the issue of December 20th, giving a history of Jo. Smith, while stopping at his hotel in Batavia, New York, and the origin of the Book of Mormon. Greene saw this Mr. Spaulding as late as 1827, knew that he lent his manuscript to Smith and called for its return several times in vain, and heard Smith tell him it was disposed of. The writer of the above would do well to study Mr. Greene's letter as it is altogether reliable and its author is yet living in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It is gratifying to know that the considerable body of the Mormons who have not followed after the follies of Brigham Young are opposed to the lodge.


Note 1: Relative to the above mentioned "Mr. Green's letter," the RLDS Zions' Ensign published the following clarification from Green, in its issue for March 24, 1894: "Chelsea, Mass., May 12th, 1879. -- Mr. I. N. White -- Dear Sir: -- I send you the Christian Cynosure of the 20th of December 1877. If you had taken the Cynosure, one of the best, open, candid, Christian papers published, you would long ago know all the questions you asked me.... I saw Mr. Spaulding as late as 1827 and I have a letter from Wm. Jenkins (now dead) that he saw Spaulding in Attica in 1829, and he wanted to preach there. Another needful you will get from the Cynosure.... Samuel D. Green. -- P. S. -- Send for the 'Broken Seal' to Ezra H. Cook & Co., Chicago, Illinois."
Note 2: The "Spaulding in Attica" that Samuel D. Green here refers to was Dr. Solomon Spalding (1797-1862), a cousin of the Spalding who wrote the Oberlin manuscript, etc.

ASHTABULA  COUNTY.
_______

What It Is Noted for -- One of Its Prominent Sons,
the author of "A Fool's Errand."
Special Correspondence of the Tribune.

Cleveland, O., June 4. -- The man who in these days has not read "A Fool's Errand" is like the man who was found some time ago that never heard of "Pinafore." But, while practically everybody has read the book, very few read much about the talented author who has made such a wonderful hit in the world of fiction. like many other remarkable people, Judge Tourjee was a native of Ashtabula County, Ohio -- the home of the Wades, of Giddings, and the Howellses, Anna and W. D., and the former home of Spaulding, the real author of the Book of Mormon. Ashtabula County is the extreme northeastern county of the State. It is very large in area, and includes a great variety of soil, -- that along the lakeshore being of a warm and sandy nature, while that farther south and in the interior of the county is exremely vlayer, and cold and sterile. Three things is Ashtabula Ciunty noted for -- viz: Its school system, ist Abolution proclicities before the War, and its stalwart Republican majorities since the War... To be sure, Ashtabula County has no colleges; but the academies at Geneva, Jefferson, New Lyme, Conneaut, Rock Creek, Austinburg, Andover, Orwell, Kingsville, and several other points, sever to feed the great Eastern and Western universities, and to make thinkers in and of themselves. The bar at Jefferson has always been remarkable for its ability since the days when A. G. Riddle and R. P. Ranney studied in the office of Giddings & Wade. The college professors, ministers, and politicians are numbered by the score...


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  MORMON  BIBLE.
_______

WHO WROTE IT AND HOW JO SMITH GOT IT.
The Interior.

[1.] There is a lost leaf in the history of the Mormon Bible, as a paper read by Mrs. Eaton at the ladies' meeting in Buffalo indicates. Years ago I read a short history of the origin of Mormonism. The paper read by Mrs. Dr. Eaton is in substance harmonious with that. Mrs. Smith believed that one of her sons would prove a prodigy and achieve some wonderful work. The son of this sapient prophecy was not Joseph, but another, and sad to say, he died of a surfeit of raw turnips, and Joseph assumed his place and played the role in thsi strange and wicked drama that has made so much sin, crime, and misery. Scattered over the State of Ohio there are certain mounds of large size, the works of some extinct race. Some of them have been opened , and contained the rude implements of the aboriginal people. As stated in the paper, the Rev. Mr. Spaulding regarded them as the remains of an extinct race. He wrote a foctitious, or a fanciful history, somewhat modeled after the Jewish history. He used Scripture names. His style was Scriptural. This was read to his children [sic - child?] and friends at home, and they admired it as a romance. The Mormon books followed the story of Mr. Spaulding with servile closeness. Mr. Spaulding's books claimed to be a translation from metal plates found in the earth-mounds, and Smith's books do precisely the same. The original book was written about 1812. There is not a reasonable doubt that the so-called Mormon Bible is a close copy of the romance which the author called "Manuscript Found."

2. How did Smith and his confreres gain possession of the manuscript, or secure a copy, to which they added some articles to suit their purposes? Mrs. McKinstry, the only daughter of Mr. Spaulding, states in a letter published in Scribner's Monthly, August, 1880, and the truth of which she affirms under path, that they moved to Pittsburg while she was very young, but that she remembers every circumstance of this removal. Her father had a friend there named Patterson, and she visited Mr. Patterson's library, and heard her father talk with him about books. Mr. Patterson was a printer, and Mr. Spaulding took the manuscript to him, but he declined printing it, and returned it to him. Sidney Rigdon was at this time a young man and in Mr. Patterson's office, and while the manuscript was lying there, had ample opportunity to copy it. This is probable, as Rigdon was afterwards a prominent Mormon preacher and adviser of Smith. Mr. Spaulding died at Amity, Pa., in 1816, and after his death the widow and daughter went to the brother of the widow, William H. Sabin, at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga County, N. Y. The "Manuscript Found" lay exposed in an unlocked trunk in Mr. Sabin's house a number of years, and Smith could easily have possessed himself of a copy, for it is understood that he was a teamster, driver, or servant of Mr. Sabin. Whether Smith copied the original, or secured it from Rigdon is unknown, but probably the latter. Some time after this Mrs. Spaulding went to Pomfret, Conn., but left her daughter at Onondaga Valley, and also the furniture and the old trunk with the manuscripts. In 1820 she married Mr. Davison, of Hartwick, near Cooperstown, N. Y. The name of the place, post-office, and the school is Hartwick Seminary. In 1828, or early in 1829, Mrs. Spaulding moved to Monson, Mass., and lived there with her daughter till her death, in 1844.

3. What became of the original "Manuscript Found"? After Mrs. Spaulding became Mrs. Davison, and resided at Hartwick Seminary, she sent for effects, among them the trunk "with the parchments." The old trunk she placed in the care of Mr. Jerome Clarke, who was trustee and the Treasurer of Hartwick Seminary. About 1834 a man named Hurlburt visited Mrs. Spaulding at Monson, Mass., and stated that he had been sent by a committee to procure the "Manuscript Found," written by her husband, so as to compare it with the Mormon Bible.

He also produced a letter from her brother, Mr. Sabin, of Onondago Valley, requesting her to loan this manuscript to Hurlbut, as he, Mr. Sabin, was desirous to uproot this Mormon fraud. Hurlbut represented that he had been a convert to Mormonism, but had given it up, and through the "Manuscript Found" wished to expose its wickedness. Mrs. Spaulding had no confidence in Hirlburt, or "mistrusted his motives," but respecting her brother's wishes and opinions, reluctantly consented to his request, and on his repeated promise to return the manuscript to her, she gave him a letter to Mr. Clarke to open the trunk and deliver it up to him. Her daughter affirms that they heard afterwards that he received it from Mr. Clarke. In 1838 Hurlbut was interrogated for the "Manuscript Found," but made no response, and has never returned it, and never answered letters concerning it.

4. It is barely possible that Mr. Clarke's children may have some recollection of their father delivering the manuscript to Hurlburt. His only living daughter, residing in Rochester, has been interrogated, and she recollects hearing the family speak of the trunk and bureau in after years, wondering when they would be sent for, but was too young to rememberanything of the visit for the manuscript. In 1862 the bureau was still there and probably the trunk; and as the son who inherited the homestead sold out in 1868, it is probable that the trunk was sold with other accumulations and is in the neighborhood now. Whether any of the other manuscripts can be found is questionable, but as the person who is writing the history of the "Mormon Fraud" knows the address of Mr. Clarke's sons, we hope they will be interrogated. And, further, we hope that the historian will visit Hartwick, and by inquiry find whether there is any further proof or not. This may seem like searching for a needle in a haystack, but it will exhaust this aim. And as for Hurlburt, we hope, if still living, that he will be prosecuted for the return of the "Manuscript Found" according as he promised. If the history of this fraud can be completed and circulated in Mormon communities, the faith of the more intelligent will be shaken. As for the leaders and those who deceive the people, the strong arm of the Nation alone will suffice. And as for the extracting of the roots and transmitted evils of the system, nothing but the Gospel and the grace of God can achieve this.


Note: In the published version of her May 27th, 1881 lecture, given before auditors at the Buffalo, N. Y. Union Home Missionary Meeting, Mrs. Eaton does not relate the assertion that "In 1838 Hurlbut was interrogated for the 'Manuscript Found.'" There is no other known account of D. P. Hurlbut having been thus "interrogated" during 1838 -- at which time he was evidently living near Toledo, Ohio.

JOSEPH  SMITH.

A  NEW  CHAPTER  OF  HIS  HISTORY.

In an article on the "Mormon Bible," in the Interior, A. McMaster gives a chapter in the history of Joseph Smith which has not before been published:

After leaving Palmyra, N. Y., having already obtained what he called a "seer stone," he came to South Bainbridge (now Afton), Chenango County, and there remained for one or two years, at least for portion of the time. He is described by those who there knew him as a long, slim; green gawky, too lazy to work, and too stupid to deceive anyone.

He began by searching for "Kidd's money." He became intimate with a well-to-do farmer by the name of Stowell. He would sit for half a day at a time gazing at the famous stone, sometimes held in his hand, sometimes in hiS hat. Stowell was not a man of much learning or mind, but a good member of the Presbyterian Church and a man of some property. Smith induced him to undertake to find "Kidd's money," which was supposed then to be buried all over Eastern New York. Soon, however, the object of search was turned to something more important. Smith soon had dupes and followers, who believed in his divine communications through the wonderful "stone." He began to dig for the "golden plates," that contained the mystical characters of the new Bible, which, by means of the "seer stone," he would be able to translate. He had quite a following. Many pits were dug on Stowell's farm, and in the vicinity. He extended his operations. to the towns of Colesville and Windsor, in Broome County, and I think also to the town of Hartwick, Otsego County.

THE  "GOLDEN  BIBLE"

that he professed to be in search of, he claimed to be under enchantment, now one thing, and now another, preventing those who were digging from obtaining it. Often the pits were dug in the night, and all but firm believers in Smith were kept at a distance. Those in search for the great treasure were not allowed to speak or cough or sneeze, which, when very near the box that contained tbe golden leaves, some one was sure to do, and away would go hopes. At one time they were so near the box that the spade of one of the devoted band struck the lid, and it gave back a hollow sound. For this harsh blow of the spade the box took its flight away through the ground. "There it goes," said Smith, "hear it rumble as it sinks and flies away." He induced the men that supported and followed him, and dug where he bade them, to sacrifice a bitch dog to remove the enchantment. He even professed to cast out devils; and a house was recently standing across the Susquehanna River, opposite the small village of Nineveh, where this miracle was performed.

The man on whom it was performed testified in court that Smith cast a devil out of him. He said he knew that

A  DEVIL  WENT  OUT  OF  HIM

by Joe Smith's power, for he saw it jump out of the window. "It was," said he, "as large, and looked like a yellow dog." Things went on in this Way till many people were influenced, and not a little excitement was raised. It was at first laughed about, but finally the better class of people thought that Smith had done enough and had better be driven out of the neighborhood. Peter G. Bridgman, a young man then just about to enter tbe Methodist ministry, entered a complaint before a magistrate against Smith for deceiving the people. He was arrested and tried. Stowell appeared as a witness for the defendant. He thought to clear his friend by testifying to all the facts in the case, and laid before the court the fraud, deception, and chicanery of Smith. Never did lawyers, court, constables, and the ususal crowd that gathers around a country tavern and lawsuit, have a greater scene of merriment than that afternoon. It was related to the writer by one who was there as beyond all description. Smith was found guilty.

But the object of the trial being to compel him to leave the neighborhood, it was arranged that the officer in charge should give him a chance to escape. His counsel having whisperered this in his ear, he embraced the opportunity given, and with the best strides his long legs could make he betook himself across the fields to the woods, all

THE  CROWD  ROARING  WITH  LAUGHTER

to see the great prophet run. This ended his work in Chenango County. He went into Pennsylvania, and afterward returned to Broome County, New York, where he was again arrested and came near being treated to a coat of tar and feathers. While there he was in possession of "Manuscript Found," or some part of it. This was in the year 1826 or 1827, and before he had met Sidney Rigdon. He professed finally to have received his Bible from the angels, communicated to him while in the tops of trees, for the purpose of receiving it. He read it repeatedly to many in that section; and often in the family of Reuben Bridgman, one of whose sons followed him west, having put money into Smith's hands which he was never able afterward to recover. That he had seen Spaulding's manuscript before his work in Chenango County was finished, is evident from the fact; that the words Nephi and Mormon were well known then.

Mrs. Bridgman remarked to the writer of this, when asked

WHAT  WAS  IN  SMITH'S  BIBLE,

that it was mere nonsense, that principally it related what I and Nephi [sic - "I, Nephi?"] and Mormon had done. This was at least three years before the book Mormon was published. After he was driven from New York he passed a winter near Great Bend, Pa., where he was married, and where he and Rigdon prepared the plates spoken of in the article in Scribner's Magazine for August, 1880. It would be well for anyone writing a history of the "Great Frauds" to visit that section. Some one may still be living who can give facts and dates, and be able to supply the "lost leaf" of the history of this abominable deception. The Rev. Peter Bridgman, who, when living could have given all desirable information, is dead. He died at Courtland, N. Y., several years ago. His widow was living not long since, and has his papers upon this subject. The historian may find in them just what he needs.


Note 1: The author of the above report was most likely the Rev. Ariel McMaster (1832-1903) who was the nephew of the Rev. Peter G. Bridgeman and the son of Cyrus McMaster (who is mentioned in the LDS History of the Church, (I:97) as an enemy of Joseph Smith at S. Bainbridge, NY). Rev. Ariel McMaster was a traveling preacher/teacher who lived primarily in Otsego, Delaware and Tioga counties of New York. In his early years he was a professor at Solomon Spalding's old school, the Cherry Valley Academy. In 1974 the Rev. Wesley Walters identified Rev. Bridgeman as "the nephew of Josiah Stowell and his wife Miriam Bridgman." This Stowell family connection helps account for the fact that Rev. Bridgeman was the person who brought "disorderly person" charges of against Joseph Smith, Jr., at South Bainbridge, NY in 1826. In the same 1974 publication, Rev. Walters identified one of the witnesses in that 1826 legal proceeding as probably having been "David McMaster." This appears to be a better choice for the unnamed "McMaster" in the court record, than Ariel's father, Cyrus McMaster. Had Ariel's father been a participant in the events of 1826, it is reasonable to assume that he would have passed down to his son more detailed information than appears in Ariel's 1881 Chicago Interior article.

Note 2: Ariel McMaster (born in 1832) obviously could not have been an eye-witness to Joseph Smith's 1826 examination before Justice Neeley. For that reason, McMaster's description of Smith's running away from the justice court must be viewed with some skepticism. Probably there was a tradition in the McMaster and Bridgeman families of Smith having been "found guilty" and having been given "a chance to escape" sentencing at South Bainbridge in 1826. The actual circumstances of Smith's exit from the scene may have been somewhat different. McMaster says that at that time Joseph Smith "ended his work in Chenango County" and that Smith "went into Pennsylvania." It is more likely that the young man returned to the Palmyra area in the spring of 1826, but journeys as far west as the Pennsylvania panhandle and neighboring Ohio cannot be ruled out. McMaster's assertion, that Smith "afterward returned to Broome County, New York, where he was again arrested and came near being treated to a coat of tar and feathers.... in the year 1826 or 1827," is not supported by any reliable evidence. Possibly McMaster was confused about the date of Smith being "again arrested" in "Broome County," and should have written the year "1830."

Note 3: McMaster's allegation concerning Solomon Spalding's "Manuscript Found" having been in Smith's possession at an early date is not supported by any additional testimony from the Colesville area. If the "Reuben Bridgman" here mentioned was the father of Peter G. Bridgeman, then the son who "followed" Smith "west" would have been another of Ariel McMaster's uncles. McMaster is unclear in his chronology, but the simplest reading of his report seems to indicate that Joseph Smith left Chenango County, New York immediately after his examination before Justice Neeley, but returned to the area soon after, then being "in possession of Spalding's 'Manuscript Found.'" This alleged occurrence was "before he had met Sidney Rigdon" (to the public's knowledge, anyway) and before Smith "professed finally to have received his Bibie from the angels," -- all of which dating appears to fall into the summer of 1826, or shortly thereafter. Compare this account with the 1844 recollection of John Reed, who stated that Smith, in about the year 1826, "After living in that [Colesville/Bainbridge] neighborhood about three years... told his particular friends that he had had a revelation from God to go to the west about eighty miles, to his father's, in which neighborhood he should find hid in the earth, an old history written on golden plates... Joseph Knight, one of the fathers of your church, a worthy man, and my intimate friend, went with him."

JOE  SMITH, THE  PROPHET.
_____

The  Pastor  of  the  Mormon  Church  in  Chicago  Comes  to  the
Defense  of  his  Memory.
_____

The  Various  Traditions  and  Romances  That  Are  Told
About  His  Early  Life.
_____

The  Origin  and  Authorship  of  the  Book  of  Mormon --
Thurlow  Weed's  Testimony.
_____

To the Editor of the Inter Ocean. CHICAGO, July 24. -- In the Inter Ocean of Saturday, July 16, appears an article with the heading, "Joseph Smith -- A New Chapter of His History." I ask for a little space in your columns, Mr. Editor, for a few comments on the same. In the first place, this "new chapter" has appeared, with slight modifications, in various publications written against the Mormons, issued at different periods for the past forty-five years. It would take too much of your space to refute the various false statements made in the article referred to as fully as we could by evidence in our possession, but several of the most glaring misrepresentations demand at least a passing notice. First, in regard to Smith's personal appearance and laziness. Mr. A.McMaster, in the Interior (Which the Inter Ocean copies), says: "He is described by those who knew him to be a long, slim, green, gawky, too lazy to work and too stupid to deceive any one."

I will quote from Thurlow Weed: "Meantime I had discovered that Smith was a shrewd, scheming fellow, who passed his time at taverns and stores in Palmyra, without business, and apparently without visible means of support. He seemed about 30 years of age, was compactly built, about 5 feet 8 inches in height, had regular features, and would impress one favorably in conversation.

THURLOW  WEED'S  STATEMENT,

made April 12, 1880, in New York, and published in Scribner's Monthly, August, 1880, in the article referred to by Mr. McMasters. Verily these two witnesses against Smith do not agree. Although "too lazy to work," he is found digging "many pits" on Stowell's farm, and "extended his operations to the towns of Colesville and Windsor" and elsewhere. In Scribner's Monthly, Mrs. Dickinson, in trying to make it appear that Smith had opportunity of securing a copy of the Spaulding Romance, says he was employed as a teamster or servant by Mr. Sabine, Onondaga Valley, N. Y., and that he copied it there. Mrs. McKinstry, in Scribner's, says the manuscript was "about an inch thick, closely written,"and as Mrs. Dickinson says Smith's book followed Mr. Spaulding's story, "with almost servile closeness," and Mrs. McKinstry says that the "Mormon Bible had been taken from it, or was the same with slight alterations," it would appear that Smith could not have been so lazy, or so illiterate as some would have it appear, if besides his teamstering he could copy a manuscript that makes over five hundred pages of an ordinary sized book of fine type, and he was only engaged part of the year of 1825 there; quite a good deal of work for a young man 20 years old (for he was born in 1805) to do, who was "too lazy to work."

But he was "too stupid to deceive any one."

Yet he succeeded in making over one hundred thousand people believe that he translated

THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON

by inspiration of heaven, instead of plagiarizing the Spaulding Romance, and not as the editor of the Southwestern Christian Advocate falsely stated in a camp meeting recently, that the ignorant, unlearned, and superstitious alone accepted Mormonism, for I can produce men of as fine education, of as strong mental powers, and of as keen judgment, as as morally honest as this editor or any of his colleagues in the ministry, and plenty of them, too, who believe in genuine Mormonism.

In regard to "money digging," an authentic history of the Smith family shows that Mr. Stoal (or Stowell) sent for Smith to dig for supposed buried treasures, and that he worked for wages in so doing; and further that he endeavored to dissuade Stoal from the apparently foolish idea. But Smith was not the only man who has hunted for supposed hidden treasures, and wherein does the crime appear? Mr. McMasters offers no evidence, no proof, except his own word, and he was not an eye-witness of the scenes connected with getting the "Golden Bible."

We deny the truthfulness of these statements, and when living witnesses testify to them, or sworn statements are produced, we will meet them, and cross-examine them a little.His first assertion being proven false, and so inconsistent within itself and with subsequent assertions, deprives all that follows of any claim to our credence.

THE  STORY  OF  CASTING  OUT  DEVILS

need not be so ridiculous in the face of the declaration made by the Lord Jesus Christ, that among the "signs" which should follow the believer (Mark xvi, 19-21) was this: "And they shall cast out devils." McMasters, I suppose, does not claim this power, not being a "believer." I suppose the sacrifice of a "bitch dog" is referred to. A bitch dog belongs to the same class as a mare horse. I suppose, however, the "bitch dog" heretofore (but this is a "new leaf") has been called a "black sheep." See Tucker's work.

Dr. John Stafford, of Rochester, N. Y., lately interviewed, said in answer to the question: "Well, Doctor, you know pretty well whether that story is true that Tucker tells. What do you think of it?" "I don't think it is true. I would have heard more about it if true. I lived a mile from Smith's; am 76 years old. They were peaceable among themselves." N. B. -- It was his father from whom Smith got the "black sheep," so Tucker says, to sacrifice, but the "new leaf" changes it into a "bitch dog."

There is about as much truth in the story of Smith's arrest and trial, referred as there, as the one just noticed. He was arrested frequently by his enemies, and finally murdered by them. The object of the trial, it is said, was to compel him to leave the neighborhood, and it "was arranged that the officer in charge should give him a chance to escape," which opportunity, our author says he accepted. After casting out the devil, in the shape of

A  LARGE  YELLOW  DOG

the writer says: "Things went on this way till many people were influenced," and that, too by this Smith, who was "too stupid to deceive any one." And finally for casting out a devil, as the man who was the subject of the miracle testified in court, was done; he is finally arrested at the instigation of a Methodist preacher named Bridgman, who probably was envious because he could not cast out devils; and finally he is allowed to escape by the connivance of the officer in charge. If the charge of deceiving the people warranted an arrest, it also justified conviction and punishment. If a devil was cast out of a man according to his own testimony in court, Joseph should have received honor of the people for a meritorious deed. In the Bible accounts of this sort of superhuman work considerable credit is given the performers; but we have turned over a "new leaf."

Smith was arrested but for different grounds than that named; the accusations were not sustained, and he was released. He was again arrested, we are told, and "came near being treated to a coat of tar and feathers." Yes; so near that he was tarred and feathered, and one fellow named Ryders fell on him, scratching his face and body like an infuriated demon, crying, "Gee, gee, this is the way the Holy Ghost falls on people." It was Joseph's preaching of the apostolic practice of the Holy Spirit being given through laying on of the hands of the ministry that this blasphemous wretch referred to.

Paul and others "came near being treated" to bonds and imprisonment for the same crime that Smith did, namely preaching what pharisaical priests and elders could not endure, and because

IT  WAS  "SOUND  DOCTRINE."

While in Broome County, N. Y., we are told he was in possession of the "Manuscript Found," or some part of it. Mrs. Davison, Spaulding's widow and Mrs. McKinstry, his daughter, declare that said document was in their hands, and "preserved carefully," from 1816 till 1834. So Smith did not have it in "1826 or 1827." See Scribner's Monthly, August, 1880, referred to by the writer of the article before us.) Smith never professed to have "received his Bible from the angels, communicated to him while in the top of trees for the purpose of receiving." His earliest and unvarying testimony has been that he obtained the record from a hill, now called "Mormon" or "Bible Hill," near Manchester, Ontario County, N. Y., called so by the neighbors on account of this claim of Smith.

SMITH'S  BIBLE.

Mrs. Bridgman, when asked what was in Smith's Bible, said "that it was mere nonsense; that principally it related what I, and Nephi, and Mormon had done. This was at least three years before the book of Mormon was published." The "I" here must, of course, mean Joseph Smith. Now, that name is not found in the book anywhere except on the title page; and this old lady read Smith's Bible in 1827, in Chenango County, N.Y. This was the time he had Spaulding's "Manuscript Found," as we are told. Mrs. Dickinson, in Scribner's, says "Smith followed Spaulding's story with almost servile closeness."

Mrs. McKinstry says it was the same thing, only slightly altered. Spaulding was a "learned man," "a scholar," "graduate of Dartmouth College," etc., but his writing was "mere nonsense." Thurlow Weed says what Smith brought to him, which was the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, and he says it was "incomprehensible jargon." What a fine comment on Spaulding's writing, copied with "slight alterations by Joseph Smith." And the "I." who done so and so with Nephi and Mormon, must have been Mr. Spaulding, and, perhaps, that is where the slight alteration comes in, Joseph instead of Solomon Spaulding. If Mrs. Bridgman or the writer had ever read the Book of Mormon they would find that the whole account of what "Nephi and Mormon had done" (and there were two of name of Nephi mentioned), occupy but 192 pages out of 545, while "I" is not found doing anything. Why does every soul who has yet pretended to tell what the Spaulding story contains always speak of Nephi and Mormon, and remember those names so well, but forget about Alma, one of the principal figures in the case, whose history covers alone 175 pages? Why don't somebody remember Alma, Mosiah, Helaman, Ether, and other chief actors in the Book of Mormon. No, but as every one tells, what truly is only what he has heard, and not known, it is "Nephi and Mormon."

LATTER DAY  SAINT  ELDERS,

in preaching on the subject, always make Nephi prominent as the one who began the history and Mormon who made an abridgement of the history, he living a thousand years after Nephi. These names thus have become known, and everybody that ever saw or heard Spaulding read his romance always clearly remember Nephi and Mormon being mentioned in his writings. The final falsehood is found in the statement that in Great Bend, Pa., Joseph Smith married, and "where he and Rigdon prepared the plates spoken of in the article of Scribner's Magazine for August, 1880."

I will here give a conversation that passed between Dr. John Stafford, of Rochester, N. Y., who lived close by the Smiths at the very time mentioned. He was asked, "Was Rigdon ever around there before the Book of Mormon was published?" "No; not as we could ever find out. Sidney Rigdon was never there, that Hurlbut, or Howe, or Tucker could ever find out.""Well, you have been looking out for the facts a long time, have you not, Doctor?" "Yes; I have been thinking and hearing about it for the last fifteen years, and lived right among all their old neighbors there most of the time." "And no one has been able to trace the acquaintance of Rigdon and Smith until after the Book of Mormon was published, and Rigdon proselyted by Pratt, in Ohio?" "Not that I know of." Rigdon was

A  PREACHER  IN  GOOD  STANDING

in the "Disciple Church" in Kirtland, Ohio, and was converted in the fall of 1830 to the faith of the Mormons, as they [were] called, and the Book of Mormon was published early in the spring of that year.

This fact cannot be disproved. The "new leaf in the history of Joseph Smith," beside not being new, but a rearrangement of old and oft-told tales, false and silly, is so glaringly inconsistent in itself and contradicts the testimony of previous writers who have tried to overthrow Mormonism. Settle this case by producing the Spaulding Romance, which must be among Spaulding's friends, unless they have destroyed it to keep it from falling into the hands of the "Mormons" -- for they are very anxious to get it published. Mrs. McKinstry swears that it was in Mr. Jerome Clark's possession at Hartwicks, N. Y.; that Mr. Hurlburt got it of him by order of Mrs. Davison (Spaulding's widow). He says Mr. E. D. Howe, of Painesville, Ohio, got it from him. Mr. Howe says that which he got was not the "Manuscript Found." He does not say that he ever saw that document, therefore he probably judged that what he had was not it, because it did not read as he had heard that the "M.F" did. Now if Mr. Hurlburt did receive the genuine paper, then it must be demanded at Mr. Howe's hands. But if Mr. Clarke palmed off something else on Mr. Hurlburt, then the document in question must be looked for among Spaulding's effects, left in Mr. Clarke's care. Now, let them produce the manuscript, and let it be compared by an impartial committee with the Book of Mormon, or let those who had it last confess that they have destroyed it to prevent such a comparison, and thus keep alive the falsehood that the Book of Mormon is a plagiarism on the Spaulding Romance. And as to how much Mrs. Bridgman's testimony is worth as to Smith's Bible containing "mere nonsense," the book is printed without alteration, from the first edition, at Plano, Kendall County, Ill., and can be read by all who wish to know what is in it.     T. W. SMITH,
Pastor of the Mormon Church, Chicago.


Note 1: Thomas Wood Smith (1838-1894) was made an Apostle in the RLDS Church in 1873. He subsequently served as a congregational pastor and church-building missionary in several different cities. He occasionally involved himself in RLDS efforts to counter the Spalding-Rigdon authorship explanation for the Book of Mormon. His 1881 letter to the Chicago Inter-Ocean is unusual, in that he there also tried to refute elements of the 1826 examination of Joseph Smith, Jr. before Justice Neeley, at South Bainbridge, New York. Since Oliver Cowdery had previously mentioned this legal proceeding, Apostle Smith was compelled to admit "Smith was arrested," but then went on to say that the 1826 arrest was "for different grounds than that named" by Rev. Ariel McMaster. All of this constituted a rare engagement with that early history by an RLDS leader, and Apostle Smith was obviously unprepared to deal with the facts of the case. He hopelessly interwove events from Smith's two 1830 trials with the events of 1826, and even interjected the tarring and feathering episode from the later Kirtland period. The modern reader can only suppose that the Reorganized LDS of the 1880s were largely ignorant of Joseph Smith's early history, and unwilling to seriously investigate that history.

Note 2: Apostle Smith attempts to refute the possibility of Joseph Smith having possession of text from Spalding's "Manuscript Found," as early as "1826 or 1827," based upon the 1880 testimony of Matilda McKinstry. At the same time, he suppresses her statement: "while we had no personal knowledge that the Mormon Bible was taken from the 'Manuscript Found,' there were many evidences to us that it was," along with Mrs. Dickinson's partial explanation: "The question remains: how did Smith become possessed of the 'Manuscript Found?' Rigdon, who was in Patterson's office while the manuscript was lying there, had ample opportunity of copying it, and as he was afterward a prominent Mormon preacher and adviser of Smith, this is not improbable." Given this reporting in the 1880 Scribners, it is evident that Apostle Smith's arguments for the impossibility of Joseph Smith's 1820s acquaintance with Spalding's writings are empty rhetoric. In fact, Joseph's own mother recalled that the young man related information on the ancient Americans years before the Book of Mormon was published. With her reporting in mind, it does not appear impossible that Joseph was taking about "Nephi and Mormon" in "1826 or 1827," while residing in the Colesville/Bainbridge area.

THE  LAST  MAN
_______

ONE  OF  THE  MEN  WHO  ATTESTED  TO  THE
TRUTH  OF  THE  "BOOK OF MORMON,"
DAVID WHITMER  ONLY  IS  LEFT
_______

IN THE SUNSET OF HIS LIFE HE BASES HIS HOPES OF HEAVEN ON THE
RECORDS OF THE LOST TRIBE. AND SOLEMNLY REITERATES ALL
THAT HE HAS EVER SAID REGARDING THEM.

In the beautiful shire town of Richmond, Ray county, Mo., there has resided for well nigh half a century, David Whitmer, known to the world as one of the three witnesses that testified to the validity and reality of the golden plates from which it has been asserted that Joseph Smith translated the "Book of Mormon," the original manuscript of which Mr. Whitmer has in possession, which shows by finger marks and where it has been cut into "takes" -- a printer's term -- that it has passed through the hands of the type setters. As a citizen of his town he stands deservedly high, having filled the office of mayor and councilman, is a good scholar, and thoroughly posted in biblical lore. During the past two years he has been slowly declining, and is now confined to his home, carefully attended to by his wife, children and grandchildren. Born in the state of New York, from Revolutionary ancestors, he brought with him to the West his habits of thrift and hospitality. To the stranger or the unfortunate his home and purse have ever been open, and his name is a synonym of probity and integrity. Knowing that he was approaching the full term allotted for man's stay on earth and that the readers of the Times would like to hear what he had to say concerning the origin of the "Book of Mormon," I called at his residence -- a plain and unpretentious frame building -- was ushered into his chamber by his granddaughter and found the old patriot reclining on his bed. Upon being told the object of my visit he promptly responded to my questions, and after an hour's interview I gleaned the following valuable information from him -- he speaking freely and unreservedly -- in regard to the origin and rise of the Mormon Church, as well as to the authenticity of the "Book of Mormon."

THE  PLATES

from which the book was translated, supposed to be of gold, were found the latter part of the year 1827 or 1828, prior to an acquaintance on Mr. Whitmer's part with Joseph Smith, and he was loth to believe in their actuality, notwithstanding the community in which he lived (Ontario county, New York,) was alive with excitement in regard to Smith's finding a great treasure, and they informed him that they knew that Smith had the plates, as they had seen the place he had taken them from, on the Hill Cumorah, about two miles from Palmyra, New York.

It was not until June 1829, that he met the future prophet, who visited his father's house, and while there he completed the translation of the "Book of Mormon," and thus he became conversant with its history, having witnessed Smith dictate to Oliver Cowdery the translation of the characters that were inscribed on the plates, said by Mr. Anthon, an Egyptian scholar, to resemble the characters of that ancient people. Christian Whitmer, his brother, occasionally assisted Cowdery in writing, as did Mrs. Joseph Smith, who was a Miss Hale before she was married.

In regard to finding the plates, he was told by Smith, that they were in a stone casket, and the place where it was deposited, in the hill [Cumorah], was pointed out to him by a celestial personage, clad in a dazzling white robe and he was informed by it that it was the history of the Nephites, a nation that had passed away, whose founders belonged to the days of the tower of Babel. The plates, which Mr. Whitmer saw, were in the shape of a tablet, fastened with three rings, about one-third of which appeared to be loose, in plates, the other solid, but with perceptible marks where the plates appeared to be sealed, and the guide that pointed it out to Smith very impressively reminded him that the loose plates alone were to be used; the sealed portion was

NOT  TO  BE  TAMPERED  WITH.

After the plates had been translated, which process required about six months, the same heavenly visitant appeared and reclaimed the gold tablets of the ancient people informing Smith, that he would replace them with other records of the lost tribes that had been brought with them during their wanderings in Asia, which would be forthcoming when the world was ready to receive them. At that time Mr. Whitmer saw the tablet, gazed with awe upon the celestial messenger, heard him speak and say: "Blessed is the Lord and he that keeps his commandments;" and then, as he held the plates and turned them over with his hands, so that they could be plainly visible, a voice that seemed to fill all space, musical as the sighing of a wind through the forest, was heard saying, "What you see is true; testify to the same," and Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, standing there, felt, as the white garments of the angel faded from their vision and the heavenly voice still rang in their ears, that it was no delusion -- that it was a fact; and they so recorded it. In a day or two after the same spirit appeared to Martin Harris, while he was in company with Smith, and told him also to bear witness to its truth, which he did, as can be seen in the book. Harris described the visitant to Whitmer, who recognized it as the same as he and Cowdery had seen.

The tablets or plates were translated by Smith, who used a small oval or kidney-shaped stone, called Urim and Thummim, that seemed endowed with the marvelous power of converting the characters on the plates, when used by Smith, into English, who would then dictate to Cowdery what to write. Frequently one character would make two lines of manuscript, while others made but a word or two words. Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts, as did Harris and Cowdery, that while Smith was dictating the translation he had

NO  MANUSCRIPT,  NOTES  OR
OTHER  MEANS  OF  KNOWLEDGE

save the seer-stone and the characters as shown on the plates, he being present and cognizant how it was done.

In regard to the statement that Sidney Rigdon had purloined the work of one Spaulding, a Presbyterian preacher, who had written a romance entitled "The Manuscript Found," Mr. Whitmer says there is no foundation for such an assertion. The "Book of Mormon," was translated in the summer of 1829, and printed that winter in Palmyra, N. Y. and was in circulation before Sidney Rigdon knew anything concerning the Church of Christ, as it was known then. His attention was especially brought to it by the appearance at his church, near Kirtland, O., in the fall of 1830, of Parley Pratt and Oliver Cowdery, he being at [that] time a Reformed or Christian preacher, they having been sent west by the Church in New York during the summer as evangelists, and they carried the printed book, the first time he knew such a thing was in existence. Upon being appealed to by Pratt and Cowdery for the use of his church he informed them that as he was endeavoring to establish the rules and get back into the ancient usages of Christianity, and desired all the light he could get that was of benefit to his fellow-men, he would do so, and would like to hear them. Then they gave him a copy of the book that it had been asserted he was the progenitor of. The result of the meeting was that 101 persons were received into the Church at Kirtland; that Rigdon and Partridge, two influential preachers, were sent as delegates to New York to see Joseph Smith, and they were so much impressed with his history of the book and his connection therewith that they became firm believers, and started back home as evangelists, preaching the new religion. In a short time thereafter, Smith, Whitmer, and others, learning of the beautiful country in Ohio, moved west, and the church increased rapidly, and would have so continued had it not strayed from the true path, to preach only Christ and Him crucified, as it had begun. Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts that he has heard Rigdon, in the pulpit and in private conversations, declare that the Spaulding story, that he had used a book called "The Manuscript Found" for the purpose of preparing the "Book of Mormon," was as false as were many other charges that were then being made against the infant church, and he assures me that the story is as untruthful as it is ridiculous.

In his youth Joseph Smith was quite illiterate, knew nothing of grammar composition, but obtained quite a good education after he came west; was a man of great magnetism, made friends easily, was liberal and noble in his impulses, tall, finely formed, and full of animal life, but sprung from the most humble circumstances. The first good suit of clothes he had ever worn was presented to him by Christian Whitmer, brother of David.

As evidence of their belief in the divine origin of the book, Martin Harris, one of the witnesses, mortgaged his farm for $1500 for the purpose of having it printed, and the sale of the book soon reimbursed him for the outlay. Now millions of copies are being published and sent to the furthermost ends of the earth. A few years since, I was present at an interview between Mr. Whitmer and Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, who had been sent from Utah to Richmond to secure the original manuscript, and after a careful examination Elder Pratt pronounced it the writing of Oliver Cowdery, and informed those present that it was the original manuscript from which the "Book of Mormon" had been printed, and in a conversation with the writer he assured me the archives of the Church at Salt Lake were incomplete without it; that they would pay Father Whitmer, as he termed him, any reasonable price for it, but that Whitmer would not part with it under any circumstances, regarding it as a sacred trust. Mr. Whitmer also has a number of other records of the early church, ere it had, as he says, "broke loose from the teachings of Christ and acknowledged nothing as divine save as it was taught from the Bible and the 'Book of Mormon'"

Mr. Whitmer's beliefs have

UNDERGONE  NO  CHANGE

since his early manhood; he [has] refused to affiliate with any of the various branches that have sprung up through false teachings, and rests his hopes of the future "in the teachings of Christ, the apostles, and the prophets, and the morals and principles inculcated in the scriptures; that the 'Book of Mormon' is but the testimony of another nation concerning the truth and divinity of Christ and the bible, and that is his rock, his gospel, and his salvation." Seeing with him is believing. He is now as firm in the faith of the divinity of the book that he saw translated as he was when the glory of the celestial visitant almost blinded him with gleam of its glowing presence, fresh from the godhead; and the voice, majestic, ringing out from earth to the mighty dome of space, still lingers in his ears like a chime of silver bells.

Having been misrepresented by the various branches of the church, and denounced by others, ge published, with the indorsement of a number of the leading citizens of his town, so that the world might know how he viewed the conduct of the olygamists of Utah:

A PROCLAMATION

Unto all Nations, Kindreds, Tongues and People, unto whom these presents shall come: It having been represented by one John Murphy, of Polo, Caldwell county, Missouri, that I, in a conversation with him last summer, denied my testimony as one of the Three Witnesses of the "Book of Mormon."

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

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

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

And that no one may be deceived or misled by this statement, I wish here to state that I do not endorse polygamy or spiritual wifeism. It is a great evil, shocking to the moral sense, and the more so because practiced in the name of religion. It is of men and not of God, and is especially forbidden in the "Book of Mormon" itself.

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

As to the high priesthood, Jesus Christ himself was the last great high priest, this, too, after the order of Melchisedec, as I understand the holy scriptures.

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

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

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

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

And all the honor to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen!
                      DAVID WHITMER, Sr. Richmond, Mo., March 19th, 1881.

Note: The article was reprinted in a slightly edited format in the Nov. 18, 1881 Richmond Conservator. See also the Lamoni Saints' Herald for Nov. 15, 1881.

SIDNEY  RIGDON.
_______

The Man Who Wanted to Succeed Joseph Smith --
His Utter Failure as a Personator of Angels.

Salt Lake Tribune: During the time when the early mormon saints were prospecting Ohio for proselytes, several Elders and preachers, among the number Sidney Rigdon, unfurled their banner at the little Town of Belleville, Richland County. There they were for a time very successful in a "protracted effort," having struck a rich lead of ignorance and credulity in the neighborhoods surrounding the village.

The Town of Bellville stands on the banks of the Clear Fork of the Mohican River, and in this stream were baptized all the converts made during the Mormon raid. Finding many of the people gullible and gaping for miracles, the leader of the Mormon band boldly announced that on a certain Sunday, when several converts were to be baptized, an "angel of the Lord" would make his appearance. This "wonder" was loudly proclaimed -- was told in Gath and published in Askelon. While some persons were sufficiently credulous to believe in the promised angel, the majority either did not sawllow him or took him with a large pinch of salt. A few young men living in the town secretly resolved to lie in wait for the "angel of the Lord" and investigate him in case of his appearing as announced.

On our side of the Mohican River was level bottom land, and on the other a bluff bank about thirty feet in height, crowned with a thicket of brier, hazel, and thorn bushes. At those times when these was to be a washing of the "unwashed," the flock was herded on the brushy bluff. The brow of this bluff therefore would be a place in which the "angel" could appear without fear of suffering the contaminating touch of the vulgar herd. To this conclusion came the young young "doubting Thomases" of the town, and they laid their plans in accordance therewith.

The day arrived and with it an unusually large concourse of people, doubtless the result of the angel dodge. the candidates for baptism were ranged in a row upon the shore and the exercises began. During the singing of the hymn there suddenly went up from the proselytes shouts of, "The angel! The angel!"

"Behold, the angel of the Lord appears!" cried the officiating priests -- "Glory to God, the angel of the Lord!"

There he was, sure enough.

The "angel of the Lord" was arrayed in white, and as he promenaded the verge of the bluff he opened and folded a pair of snowy wings in a leisurely and comfortable way, as we have ssen done by a butterfly seated on a clover blossom.

"Glory to God! He has come! He has come! Glory! glory! the angel of the Lord!" shouted the believers.

Thus encouraged, the angel pranced foward to the end of the bluff and, spreading his wings to their greatest extent, seemed to be about to bless the multitude. Suddenly, however, his angelship darted from solid earth forth into thin air. Though some cried: "He comes! He comes!" the flight was a short one. Down tumbled the "angel of the Lord" into a hole of of blue water at the foot of the bluff.

The people stood astonished. How an angel fresh from Heaven could have so miscalculated his powers of flight they could not comprehend. The Mormon priests and Elders, however, were all activity. They waded and swam out across the stream and dragged ashore the floundering "angel of the Lord," in whom a few at least, were not at all astonished to discover, when he was stripped of his celestial raiment, the redoubtable Sidney Rigdon.

This mischance cooked the Mormon goose at Belleville. Rigdon's goose would also have been "done to death" had it not been for the timely assistance of his friends. Swathed as he was in white muslin to the tips of his fingers, he was utterly helpless in the water, and was at his last gasp when hauled ashore. Unseen by those below, the bad boys of Belleville had crept from their place of concealment in the brush and bounced the pretended angel over the bluff.

Poor Rigdon! he suffered much in the Mormon cause -- he was once tarred and feathered at Kirtland -- yet his claims to consideration were worse than ignored by the "peculiar people." After the killing of Joe Smith, at Nauvoo, Ill., Rigdon was not only "cut off" but was solemnly "delivered to the devil" to be "buffeted in the flesh for a thousand years."


Note 1: The date of the original appearance of this article in the Salt Lake Tribune remains undertermined. A cursory examination of that papers issues for March, 1885 does not show any such news item. Given the obvious fanciful nature of the account (for example, Mormon angels do not sport wings), it seems probable that it was written without any historical basis. Numerous similar reports appeared in newspapers since the 1830s -- see the firsthand recollections of the Disciple Elder, J. J. Moss, for their probable genesis.

Note 2: The Ohio Mansfield News, for July 18, 1903, contains this account of Sidney Rigdon near Belleville: "The early settlers of the Newville country came, mostly, along the old Wyandot trial, following up the Mohican and its Clearfork to Newville.... The decade between 1825 and 1835 was a preaching period at Newville, such as no other town in the county ever passed through.... The most prominent among these preachers were the Rigdons — Sydney and Thomas — both gifted men and orators of great power. Sydney Rigdon, it has been claimed, was one of the most charming and convincing speakers of that olden time when there were orators in the land. For several years he was a minister of the Disciples, as was also his brother Thomas. Later Sydney became a Mormon elder, and took a number of converts from the southern part of this county with him to Nauvoo..."

NEW  LIGHT  ON  MORMONISM.

Mrs. E. E. Dickinson, the author of "New Light on Mormonism," has a special fitness for her task. A grand-neice of that Solomon Spaulding who may be called the unconscious originator of the faith of the Latter-Day Saints, she is the first of his family to show clearly his real connection with the Book of Mormon.

Solomon Spaulding, a retired clergyman, lived in the early years of this century near what is now Conneaut, O. His interest in the curious earth-mounds in his vicinity led him to write a fictitious history of their unknown builders. He depicted them as a band of wandering Jews who had come to America in its prehistoric days; and he represemted that he had found their story written on gold tablets in these mounds. To this romance he gave the title, "Manuscript Found." Among the names pf his invention in it were Nephi, Lamen, and the very word Mormon itself. When, twenty years after his death, the new religion of Mormonism reached the region where he had lived, the former friends and neighbors of Solomon Spaulding recognized at once the striking resemblance of the Book of Mormon in form and matter to "Manuscript Found," which he had been in the habit of reading aloud to them. One cannot here trace the manner in which the manuscript, or a copy of it, came into the hands of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. It is enough to say that the whole account is of absorbing interest. IN addition to the strange story of "Manuscript Found," Mrs. Dickinson details the full history of Mormonism and its leaders -- the whole reading like some strange medieval romance. The closing chapters of the book give the substance of the thirteen or fourteen articles of the Mormon faith, a clear analysis of its peculiar beliefs, while its hierarchical organization, churchly polity, and mode of worship are carefully considered. Of great value for reference is the literal copy of the Edmunds bill and the ammendment of 1884, as well as a description of the trial and sentence under it of Rudger Clawson, the son of a prominent Mormon official.

According to Mrs. Dickinson, "Mormonism is a combination of military rule and Jesuitical penetration and perserverance." (Funk & Wagnalls.)


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON.
_________

One of the Romances of Fraud -- Spaulding's Manuscript Found --
An Old Story Well Related.
_________

London Standard: The report that the "Book of Mormon" has actually been found will be received with general and justifiable incredulity. This so-called "faith" has long been affirmed to be little better than an illiterate travesty of a novel written by one Solomon Spaulding. Hitherto, however, the assertion has rested solely on the testimony of people who read the romance fifty years ago, and none of whom are now living. The book was never published, and the manuscript, which seems to have passed from hand to hand among Spaulding's acquaintances, was generally believed to have been destroyed by the "Latter-Day Saints" for purposes not difficult to divine.

If the report that the manuscript has at last come to light proves well founded, all surmises on the matter are likely to be set at rest, though, of course, the Mormons will not be backward in asserting the document to be a forgery, just as they declare Solomon Spaulding to have been what, in the vernacular of Utah, is expressively termed "a fraud." They will continue to repeat the wondrous tale of how Joseph Smith, the prophet, received from "an angel" the golden plates on which was written, in a language described as "reformed Egyptian" (whatever that may be), the revelation on which he founded a new "religion." The basis of this rambling narrative is sufficiently absurd, resting as it does on the assumption that the North American Indians are the descendants of certain bad Hebrews who migrated at some unknown period to what is now the United States. They did not improve in their new home, and finally, in the year 384 A. D., a descisive conflict took place at the "Hill Cumorah," in Western New York, in which the "Nephites," or Christians -- who seem to have obtained a direct revelation of their faith -- were nearly annihilated.

Unbelief henceforth became supreme. But shortly before this the Prophet Mormon had written an abridgment of all their prophecies and histories on certain plates, which he hid in the earth, where they remained until Smith found them, by the aid of the advice tendered him by "an angel." Heaven, no doubt, sometimes selects peculiar instrumentalities. But even the Palmyra people were justifiably incredulous upon hearing that this Joe Smith (of extremely doubtful antecedents) claimed to be the latest of these messengers. They were still more critical when Smith's own father and his two brothers appeared among the authorities for his statements, since these relations of his had long been suspected of sheep-stealing and other nefarious practices.... Then came a fresh revelation in the shape of the assertion, which was made by scores of people, that the whole story (the Biblical passages interpolated alone excepted) was a mere parody of a novel written by Solomon SApaulding, a local preacher and blacksmith, who had died some nineteen years before. Spaulding was not an intellectual man. But he seems to have been imaginative and to have been impressed with the craze, more current then than now, that the Indians were the direct descendants of "the lost tribes."

An earthen mound near Conneaut fired his fancy, and, being ignorant of the accepted theories regarding the mound-builders, he whiled away the days of a long illness by writing a novel, which, by all accounts, was a rather dull affair. This was in 1812. In 1816 Spaulding died, but before that date various people had read the manuscript, and the book remained in the hands of his widow, who seems to have regarded it as a work of genius. Before Smith was heard of as a "Prophet," Mrs. Spaulding had tried to get the book published: and with this object in view it lay for some time in the office of a printer, where a man named Sidney Rigdon was employed as a compositor. Rigdon had before this been presenting a crude sort of Mormonism; and in 1829, becoming acquainted with Smith, the two joined for the purpose of promulgating the new creed. A sacred volume was, however, necessary; and it is believed that Spaulding's novel, which Rigdon had copied and kept by him, was utilized for this purpose.

The "Book of Mormon" is a curious medley of decent grammar mixed with ungrammatical passages that bear the appearance of having been interpolated by another hand. The theory is, therefore, that the illiterate pieces are the work of Smith, while the basis of the book is the work of Spaulding, who was a man of some education. But it has always been as difficult to confirm this assumption by a sight of Spaulding's novel as it has been to confirm Smith's story by an examination of the golden plates. The "Manuscript Found," as the remance was entitled, was said to have been lent in 1834 to a Mr. Hulbert, who, when "interviewed" in 1881, denied the statement. He admitted having borrowed a manuscript from the widow. But, finding that it was not the in question, he said he returned it through a friend, and it was burnt before it reached its proper destination.

This version of the story was not, however, generally credited. There were obvious discrepencies in it: and in a curious correspondence on the subject, published four years ago, it was plainly insinuated that Hulbert got the real manuscript, but took care that a document of so much value to the Mormons was placed beyond the reach of hostile critics. The affidavits of people who heard Spaulding read the manuscript, or who read part of it themselves, are conclusive as to its identity with the "Book of Mormon." On the other hand, the "Saints" consider the whole story a scandalous fabrication, while some "Gentiles" are not disinclined to pronounce Spaulding's novel and Joe Smith's golden plates to be mere inventions.

It will be well, therefore, not to depend too implicitly on the circumstantial account of the "discovery" of the Spaulding manuscript. So many "interests" are bound up with this notorious document that it is more than probable that the new story is not more authentic than the old one. A Mr. Rice, who had for thirty years been a newspaper editor in Ohio, took up residence about four years ago in the Sandwich Islands. Only recently, in examining a box of papers which had not been disturbed for a long time, he came across a parcel labled in his own handwriting "Ms. Story, Conneaut." On opening it the manuscript proved to be the long-lost writings of Solomon Spaulding! The owner is unable to imagine how it came into his possession, except that, living as he did not far from Conneaut, the residence of Spaulding, "the novel" may have been put into his hands for perusal, or perhaps for publication, and forgotten in the turmoil of other affairs.

The Spaulding manuscript is described as not written in sham hebraistic phraseology, like the "Book of Mormon," but in ordinary English. It contains no quotations from the Bible, which shows that the extracts from Osaiah and other sacred books which are in the Mormon scriptures, were, as was always believed, interpolated by Smith. Both books invent a number of uncouth names for the characters. Both record desperate wars, and both narrate a voyage across the Atlantic, and describe an ancient settlement of Jews [sic] in America. There is, of course, even admitting that the account given is correct, a probibility that the manuscript is itself a forgery, devised to back up the Spaulding story.

Honolulu is a long way from the centre of civilization. One would like to see the "copy" to compare it with unquestionable specimens of Spaulding's writing, and to examine the paper on which it is written in order to satisfy oneself that it is of the date claimed. Should it be found to be written on paper manafactured later than 1812, and, above all, posterior to 1816, when the putative author died, then without a doubt it is a gross fabrication. And these points are all so obviously important that, unless the "Hon. L. L. Rice, late of Oberlin, O.," does not desire to be classed with the [Psalmanazars] and Macphersons, to say nothing of the Spauldings and Smiths, he should without loss of time submit his "find" to the scrutiny of experts.


Notes: (forthcoming)

DAVID  WHITMER  ON  HIS  DEATH-BED.
_________

Richmond, Mo., Dec. 15 -- (Special Correspondence.) David Whitmer, one of the founders of the Mormon Church, and a resident of this quaint and interesting village of Richmond, Ray county, Missouri, for almost a half century, lies at the point of death. At the family homestead are gathered the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the dying patriarch, and beside his death-bed is the devoted woman who linked her life and fortune with his more than forty years ago. When your correspondent called at the house to-day, and was summoned into the bedchamber where Father Whitmer was calmly awaiting the final summons, a smile lighted up the old man's countenance as he half rose and feebly pressed the visitor's hand, and then, as if overcome by the effort, his head sunk back on the pillows. When told of the visitor's mission, and that he had journeyed from Chicago to prepare an historical sketch of one who had played so important a part in translating the Mormon Bible and proselyting for the Mormon Church, the request for information was met with a cheerful response. Fearing however, that the task would be too great, the family deputed a member of the household to relate the history in the presence of Father Whitmer, the narration being closely followed by him and subjected to frequent corrections and interpolations.

David Whitmer was born in Pennsylvania, January 6th, 1805. The photograph, from which the above likeness was engraved, was taken four years ago, and as compared with a photograph taken in 1872, shows that he aged rapidly during the last few years. The accompanying autograph was written to-day, while the dying man lay propped up on his pillows. "I is probably the last time this hand will ever grasp a pen," he remarked, as he made the final stroke. While David was yet an infant his father, who served his country through the Revolutionary War, removed with his family to Western New York, and settled on a farm in Ontario County, near Watkins Glen. The father, who was a hard-working, God-fearing man, was a strict Presbyterian, and brought his children up with rigid sectarian discipline. Besides a daughter, who married Oliver Cowdery, the village schoolmaster, there were four sons -- Jacob, John, David and Christian -- who helped their father till his farm until they had arrived at the age of manhood. During the early part of June, 1829, Oliver Cowdery incidentally learned that a young man named Joseph Smith had found a valuable golden treasure in the northern part of the county, and imparted the information to David. They decided to investigate the rumor, and Cowdery traveled to the home of Smith for that purpose. On the road he found the community teeming with excitement over the alleged treasure, and heard several persons threatened to kill the finder unless he divided his wealth with them. When asked how they knew such a treasure had been found, several asserted that they had seen the receptacle from which it was taken by Smith. Cowdery assured then that there was more to the vague rumors than he had at first believed, pushed on to the home of Smith, who was living on his father's farm near Manchester. At first he found Smith to be uncommunicative, but was finally permitted to view the treasure, and was greatly impressed by the sight. In fact, his wonderment was so great that he at once wrote to David without delay. David did so and was equally mystified.

The treasure consisted of a number of golden plates, about eight inches long and seven inches wide, about as thick as ordinary sheeting, and bound together in the form of a volume by three gold rings. A large portion of the volume was securely sealed, but on the loose pages were engraved hieroglyphics expressive of some language at that time unknown to any of the persons mentioned. Together with the golden tablets were a pair of spectacles, set in silver bows.

Mr. Whitmer then described Smith's story of the vision in which the location of the plates was revealed, with the history of the Nephites, Moroni's labor, and Smith's finding of the tablets, with which every one is familiar.

TRANSLATING  THE  PLATES.

Whitmer and Cowdery were greatly impressed by the recital of this strange story, and were conducted to the hill, where they personally viewed the receptacle in which Moroni, at the beginning of the fifth century, had concealed the history of his fathers. Smith also said that he had been commanded to at once begin the translation of the work in the presence of three witnesses. In accordance with this command, Smith, Cowdery and Whitmer proceeded to the latter's home, accompanied by Smith's wife, and bearing with them the precious plates and spectacles. The house of senior Whitmer was a primitive and poorly designed structure, but it was deemed the most secure for carrying out the sacred trust on account of the threats that had been made against Smith by his mercenary neighbors. In order to give privacy to the proceeding, a blanket, which served as a portiere, was stretched across the family living room to shelter the translators and the plates from the eyes of any who might call at the house while the work was in progress. This, Mr. Whitmer says, was the only use made of the blanket, and it was not for the purpose of concealing the plates or the translator from the eyes of the amanuenses. In fact, Smith was at no time hidden from his collaborators, and the translation was performed in the presence of not only the persons mentioned, but of the entire Whitmer household and several of Smith's relatives besides.

The work of translating the tablets consumed about eight months, Smith acting as the seer, and Oliver Cowdery, Smith's wife and Christian Whitmer, brother of David, performing the duties of amanuenses, in whose handwriting the original manuscript now is. Each time before resuming the work all present would kneel in prayer and invoke the Divine blessing on the proceeding. After prayer, Smith would sit on one side of a table, and the amanuenses, in turn, as they became tired, on the other. Those present and not actively engaged in the work, seated themselves around the room, and then the work began. After affixing the magical spectacles' to his eyes, Smith would take the plates and translate the characters one at a time. The graven characters would appear in succession to the seer, and directly under the character, when viewed through the glasses, would be the translation in English. Sometimes the character would be a single word, and frequently an entire sentence. In translating the characters, Smith, who was illiterate and but little versed in Biblical lore, was ofttimes compelled to spell the words out, not knowing the correct pronunciation, and Mr. Whitmer recalls the fact that at that time Smith did not even know that Jerusalem was a walled city. Cowdery, however, being a school teacher, rendered invaluable aid in pronouncing hard words and giving them their proper definition.

MORE  MIRACULOUS  DEVELOPMENTS.

A miracle is related by Mr. Whitmer as occuring while the translation was in progress. It seems that Smith, who was puffed up with his great importance as a confidential secretary to the Lord, displeased the Master by entering into some carnal confab in relation to the work. For this offense he was punished by having the celestial visitant, who first commissioned him to inaugurate the work, suddenly appear and carry off the plates and spectacles. In this connection it might also be mentioned that Martin Harris, one of the witnesses to the translation, a farmer in the same county and a man of simple mind and taste, was sent by Smith with a copy of the characters to Prof. Charles Anthon, a professor of languages in Columbia College and author of several well-known works, who pronounced the language inscribed on the plates Reformed Egyptian.

About this time Harris, inspired by curiosity and elation, took sixteen of the golden tablets home to show his wife, who is alleged to have stolen them from a bureau drawer and peddled them among her friends. For this offense Harris was severely reprimanded by the Lord, through Smith, but the angel afterwards recovered the plates and restored them. Smith's offense of telling the secrets of the work among his neighbors was less readily condoned, and for a long time the work was suspended, the angel being in possession of the plates and spectacles. Finally, when Smith had fully repented of his rash conduct, he was forgiven. The plates, however, were not returned, but instead Smith was given by the angel a Urim and Thummim of another pattern, it being shaped in oval or kidney form. This seer's stone he was instructed to place in his hat, and on covering his face with the hat the character and translation would appear on the stone.

This worked just as satisfactorily as the old method, but at no time thereafter was the backsliding Joseph intrusted with the precious plates. However, the entire portion of the golden volume, which the angel said might be translated, was reduced by the nimble amanuenses to readable manuscript. The other installment was withheld until the Lord could discover what effect the first had on the Gentiles. That He was not pleased with the result is manifested by the fact that the sealed portion has not yet been delivered to the world.

THE  ANGEL  IN  THE  PASTURE.

After the translation was completed Smith informed Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris that the Lord had instructed him that the time was at hand when they should testify to all nations, tongues and peoples concerning this work. These four Apostles of the Lord, as they were designated, accordingly assembled in a pasture, cleared of underbrush, at a point equally distant between two public highways. About the noonday hour they were seated on a log waiting for the promised manifestations, having previously knelt in prayer. All at once there appeared a dazzling shaft of light, beside which the light of the sun appeared dim. Through the cleft in the sky, which seemed to lead way up to the pearly gates beyond, appeared an angel disguised as a man, bearing the semblance of a table. The angel descended to the earth, landing nearly at their feet. On this table were the plates of gold from which they had just translated the Book of Mormon, and the plates of brass on which were transcribed the commandments written by Moses and which had been taken from Jerusalem by Nephi six hundred years before Christ and afterwards transported to America. The four Apostles were then commanded to go forth among men and preach religion as set down in the Book of Mormon.

After this wonderful manifestation Martin Harris mortgaged his farm for $1,500 in order to obtain funds for printing the Book of Mormon, and all four set about founding a church, which was called the Church of Christ, as commanded in the Book of Mormon. The four Apostles began preaching, and were so successful in securing converts to the new religion that a church was organized April 6th, 1830. The Book of Mormon was also given to the world that year. Concerning the converts, Mr. Whitmer says that among the first adherents to embrace the new faith were many of the most intellectual and refined men and women in that locality, and the ranks were not recruited from the ignorant and sensuous classes like the Mormons of Utah. The year following the organization of the church the disciples moved to Ohio, where they had been most successful in proselyting, and a temple was erected in Kirtland. It was at this place that Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young joined the church, and it was here that the first dissention occurred.

Concerning Sidney Rigdon, who was said to have stolen the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which, it was alleged, had been written by a Presbyterian preacher named Solomon Spaulding, and originally intended as a romance, Mr. Whitmer asserts that nothing could have been more improbable, as neither Smith, himself, or the other disciples ever knew Rigdon until they moved to Ohio.

HE  KEPT  THE  RECORDS.

The original manuscript from which the Book of Mormon was printed is still in Mr. Whitmer's possession and most of it is in the handwriting of his brother Christian and his brother-in-law, Oliver Cowdery. Mr. Whitmer also has an exhaustive history of the church, which was compiled by his brother, and an accurate copy of several plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. These records he has preserved against all temptations and in the face of death. Several years ago a delegation of Mormons came to Richmond from Salt Lake and made every overture to Mr. Whitmer in a vain attempt to gain possession of the records, but he stood aloof and declined every offer. A prominent business man of the place, at that time engaged in banking, informed your correspondent that he knows of his own knowledge that the Mormon Church would have willingly paid Mr. Whitmer $100,000 for the documents, and that the delegation returned home thoroughly convinced that Mr. Whitmer was proof against all financial temptation so far as concerned his records.

It was while the church was flourishing at Kirtland that the name was changed from Church of Christ to Latter Day Saints. Mr. Whitmer, who always adhered to the teachings of Mormon, left Kirtland and journeyed into the wilds of Missouri in company with one other elder, preaching the truth as he believed it to be, and exhorting men and women to Christ. Many new converts were secured, and he assisted in establishing the settlement of Jackson county, Missouri. It was here that the Ohio Mormons found refuge when driven away from Kirtland after Smith and Rigdon had been tarred and feathered for fraudulent banking. For a while the church flourished in Jackson county, with headquarters at Independence, but when the trouble occurred between the Mormons and Missourians the former were driven from the county into Caldwell county, where they founded a settlement and named it Far West. David Whitmer, stripped of his earthly possessions, was warned to flee for his life, and, accompanied by his family, his brothers and their families, and Oliver Cowdery, he journeyed to Ray county, where he settled at Richmond in 1838. At that time he had nothing left but a single horse and wagon and his precious records. It was then that the Danites were organized, and it is said that their formation was for the purpose of killing the Whitmers and Cowdery, they having been commanded and openly refused to obey the so-called leaders, right or wrong. The Whitmers and Cowdery then renounced the church, as conducted, but during the years they have lived in Ray county they have continued to teach the precepts according to the original Church of Christ.

THE  LORD'S  ANOINTED.

David Whitmer engaged in teaming at his new home, and in the campaign when the militia was ordered to drive the Mormons from the State at the point of a bayonet, he drive one of the military baggage-wagons to Far West. During the melee that followed he was handed a musket by the soldiery and ordered to shoot Joseph Smith, but threw the musket down declaring he "would not harm the Lord's anointed." After that memorable event, in which Smith was taken prisoner, David returned to Richmond, and has always asserted that Joseph Smith was called and commanded by God to translate the "Book of Mormon," and that Smith, as he knew him, was righteous, God-fearing man. Mr. Whitmer to-day clings to the religious belief of his early manhood and has never sanctioned polygamy, which he considers one of the greatest abominations of the earth. The Book of Mormon as originally translated he asserts to be without a moral blemish, and says it is eminently fit for the library of the most exacting moral philosophers. It expressly forbids polygamy, and Mr. Whitmer claims that if the population of Salt Lake would live in accordance with the strict teachings of the book it would exert a greater influence in crushing out what he terms the "viper polygamy" than any other known agency. Concerning his work in the Church of Christ he looks upon his commission to apostleship as concurrent to having had a direct message from heaven through an angel of the Lord, and even now, at the threshold of death, he "stands by that pure republic, established by Christ on earth and given to the world in its original idiom, the Book of Mormon." Through the mediumship of Joseph Smith he says he received many messages from heaven which convinced him of his divine calling. The text of these messages he refuses to relate, claiming that the promises of the Lord to his apostles should be secretly locked in the breast and not blatantly betrayed to carnal minds, but, he says, they were miraculous in their fulfillment and have stood the test of his reasoning through a long life of fact and experience.

A  GOOD  CITIZEN.

As a citizen of Richmond he stands deservedly high, having filled the office of Mayor and Councilman. Upright in his dealings with men and just towards all, he has progressed generally with the county until he and his children and their children have secured good business standing and are regarded among the best citizens of Ray County.

Of those who took part in the original translation, Joseph Smith was shot by a mob in 1844, Oliver Cowdery died in this county thirty years ago, leaving a wife and daughter, both of whom are yet living and reside in Silver City, Mo. John Whitmer, a prosperous farmer, died at Far West in 1878, leaving children and grandchildren. Jacob Whitmer passed away many years ago, and his son, John C., a white-haired elder of the Church of Christ, continues to preach the religion of his father in and about Richmond.

David Whitmer has two children, a son and daughter. The son, David J., is without issue. The daughter, Mrs. Julius Schweich, resides here and is the mother of two children, both of whom have children. George, the eldest of Mrs. Schweich's children, is a shrewd business man and is associated with his uncle, David J. Whitmer, in the livery business. His sister, Josie, is the wife of J. R. Van Cleve, private secretary to the Collector of Customs at Chicago. -- Richmond, Mo., Dec. 15th.


Note 1: This illustrated article was widely reprinted in the popular press, often in shortened form, as in the NY Olean Democrat of Jan. 7, 1886. The above text was taken from a reprint of the Tribune report, which appeared in the RLDS Saints' Herald of Jan. 2, 1886. See also the Salt Lake City Deseret Evening News of Dec. 24, 1885 and the Liverpool Millennial Star vol. 48 no. 3, (Jan. 18, 1886) for partial reprints.

Note 2: The Dec. 15, 1885 David Whitmer interview, conducted by Chicago Tribune reporter Francis J. Leland, appears to be full of inconsistencies and errors, when compared to earlier published Whitmer interviews. For example, in the article printed in the Kansas City Journal of June 5, 1881, David Whitmer reportedly said: "but when [I was] only four years of age my parents removed to the state of New York, settling... two miles from Waterloo, seven miles from Geneva, and twenty-seven miles from Palmyra." This verified location for the Peter Whitmer, Sr. farm is a considerable distance north of Watkins Glen (the county seat of Schuyler Co., NY). The various oddities and descrepancies found in the Dec. 15, 1885 report probably arose from the fact that the dying David Whitmer gave very little of the interview information himself, but relied upon "a member of the household to relate the history."

Note 3: The June 5, 1881 interview provides a similar, though somewhat different, version of David Whitmer's first introduction to "Mormonism." In that report he places the memorable events "in the year 1828" when he "made a business trip to Palmyra, N. Y., and while there stopped with one Oliver Cowdery." The implication in Whitmer's recollection is that he already knew Oliver Cowdery well enough to "stop" and visit with the man -- or, even more likely, in early 19th century idiom -- "stopped over" to spend the night at Cowdery's residence. In either case, Whitmer's seeming 1828 familiarity with Cowdery may be explained by the mentioning of Cowdery's name in the Dec. 15, 1885 David Whitmer interview, where he is correctly identified as David's future brother-in-law, and as "the village schoolmaster." Again, the implication here provided is that David and his sister knew Oliver Cowdery at an early date, because he had been a "schoolmaster" in their "village," or perhaps in some other village in the Waterloo-Fayette area of Seneca Co., NY. The publication of an unclaimed letters notification, in the Lyons Advertiser of Oct. 17, 1827, in which a letter for "Oliver Cowdery" is listed, shows that some correspondent expected Oliver to be picking up his mail in that place (Arcadia and/or Lyons townships of Wayne Co., where Oliver's father and brother lived). The close proximity of the Waterloo-Fayette area and the Arcadia-Lyons area, is a further indication that Oliver Cowdery could have lived close enough to the Whitmers, c. 1826-27, for David and his siblings to have known Oliver as "the village schoolmaster." See also Mr. Yost's 1899 recollections for further confirmation that Oliver was a school teacher in the area during that time.

THE  SPAULDING  ROMANCE.

THE LOST MANUSCRIPT OF SOLOMON SPAULDING
-- A CURIOUS LITERARY DISCOVERY AND ITS
CONNECTION WITH THE MORMON BIBLE.

So much has been written in reference to the "Book of Mormon" and its connection with the literary effusion of Solomon Spaulding, written and lost in the year 1814, that the recent discovery of the so-called "Manuscript Found" has again put before the skeptics the wherewithal to verify the truth of its identity with the Mormon Testament. The writer finds himself, through the courtesy of a reverend correspondent at the Sandwich Islands, enabled to give an outline of this new-found manuscript, including a copy of the first few pages.

This famous lost work of Spaulding owes its notoriety to being the supposed original document which the Mormon Bible was in part derived. A great many accounts have been written about it, in different books discussing Mormonism, as being without doubt the source from which the companions of Joseph Smith derived much of the alleged contents of the golden plates. Our knowledge of its contents, however, has hitherto been confined to what has been obtained from the memory of a number of persons who read it at the time that Spaulding completed it, none of whom are now living. The manuscript itself disappeared when it left the hands of its author in 1814 to go to the printers, a firm by the name of Patterson & Lambdin, at Pittsburg.

By the favor of the correspondent, now in Honolulu, it is my privilege to say that the long-lost and noted document has lately been discovered in the hands of Mr. L. L. Rice, a Honolulu resident, who removed from Oberlin, O., there about five years ago. Not long ago it occurred to the venerable gentleman to make an examination of a box of old papers which had accumulated during a period of twenty-five or thirty years of his life as a newspaper editor and publisher in Cleveland and other places in northeastern Ohio. Among those musty and dust-laden papers there was a small package wrapped in strong buff paper, tied with a piece of stout twine and plainly marked on the outside in pencil, in Mr. Rice's own hand; "Manuscript Story. Conneaut."

The exterior of the package seemed somewhat familiar to its owner, but yet he could not definitely fix on his mind the events in connection with his possession of it, and he did not remember having inspected its contents. He lost no time now in making an examination of it, calling in subsequently the writer's informant and another friend. The examination disclosed an old manuscript book of some two hundred closely written pages, carefully sewn in book form, about 7 by 6 . It was brown and dusty with age. The first twenty pages show the effects of much handling, and are somewhat gnawed and damaged by insects, but no great injury to the writing has been done. A few extra outside leaves remain attached to the back of the book, on one of which in a rough hand is inscribed:

"Writings of Solomon Spaulding, Proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller and others.

"The testimonials of the above gentlemen are now in my possession.   D. P. Hurlbut."

Mr. Rice was wholly unable to account for how or when this manuscript came into his possession. He says that he has no knowledge of the persons whose names are mentioned above. Some forty of fifty years ago Mr. Rice was editor of The Painesville Telegraph, about thirty miles from Conneaut, the residence of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, then deceased. He conjectures that it must have been placed in his hands at that period for perusal and subsequently for publication. He personally knew Samuel [sic] Rigdon, one of Smith's right-hand men and later a Mormon apostle, their first location being at Kirtland, in the same county in which he lived.

Unlike the Mormon Bible, Spaulding's manuscript as found is not sham Hebraistic, but in ordinary English. It contains no quotations from the Bible, unlike the other, which transfers large portions of Isaiah and other books. Both devise a number of uncouth names for their characters; both record a series of desperate wars;,both narrate a voyage across the Atlantic in ancient times, and a settlement in North America. But whether this manuscript is the original is yet to be proved, although there have been witnesses who have stated that Spaulding told them that he had altered his first plan of writing by going further back with dates and writing in the old scriptural style in order that it might appear more ancient. But a closer comparison of the two nooks should be carefully made before accepting the manuscript as the original work of Spaulding. Below will be found a copy verbatim from Mr. Rice's find. The asterisks indicate where it is illegible or obliterated: * * *

"INTRODUCTION.                       

"Near the west bank of the Conneaught River there are the remains of an ancient fort. As I was walking and forming various conjectures respecting the character, situation, and number of those people who far exceeded the present Indians in works of art and imagination I hapned to tread on a flat stone. This was at a small distance from the fort, & it lay on the top of a small mound of Earth exactly horizontal. The face of it had a singular appearance. I discovered a number of characters which appeared to me to be letters -- but so much effaced by the ravages of time, that I could not read the inscription. With the assistance of a leaver I raised the stone -- But you may easily conjecture my astonishment when I discovered that its ends & sides rested on stones, & that it was designed as a cover to an artificial cave. I found *  *  * examining that its sides were lined with *  *  * built in a connical form with *  *  * down -- & that it was about {page 2} eight feet deep. Determined to investigate *  *  * design of this extraordinary work of antiquity -- I prepared myself with necessary requisites for that purpose and decended to the Bottom of the Cave. Observing one side to be perpendicular nearly three feet from the bottom, I began to inspect that part with accuracy. Here I noticed a big flat stone fixed in the form of a doar. I immediately tore it down & so, a cavity within the wall presented itself -- it being about three feet in diameter from side to side & about two feet high. Within this cavity I found an earthen Box with a cover which shut it perfectly tite. The Box was two feet in length -- one & half in breadth one & three inches in diameter. My mind filled with awful sensations which crowded fast upon me would hardly permit my hands to remove this venerable deposit, but curiosity soon gained the assendancy, & the box was taken & raised to open *  *  * When I had removed the cover I  *  *  * that it contained twenty-eig *  *  * of parchment. & that when *  *  * {page 3} appeared to be manuscrip written in eligant hand with Roman Letters, and in the Latin Language.

"They were written on a variety of Subjects. But the Roll which principally attracted my attention contained a history of the author's life & that part of America which extends along the great Lakes and the waters of the Mississippy.

"Extracts of the most interesting & important matters contained in this Roll I take the liberty to publish ---

"{p. 4} To publish a translation of every particular circumstance mentioned by our author would produce a volume too expensive for the general class of readers. But should this attempt to throw off the veil which has secluded our view from the transactions of nations who for ages have been extinct, meet the approbation of the public, I shall then be happy to gratify the more inquisitive and learned part of my readers by a more minute publication. Apprehensive that skeptical illiberal or superstitious minds may cen *  * re this performance with great acrimo *  *  * I have only to remark that they will b *  *  * ved of a great fund of entertainment *  *  * {p. 5} of a contrary disposition will obtain. My compassion will be excited more than my resentment and there the contest will end.

"Now, Gentle Reader, the Translator who wishes well to thy present and thy future existence entreats thee to peruse this volume with a clear head, a pure heart, and a candid mind. If thou shalt then find that thy head and thy heart are both improved it will afford him more satisfaction than the approbation of ten thousand who have received no benefit.

"CHAPT. I.                
AN EPITOME OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE & OF HIS                
ARRIVAL IN AMERICA.               

"As it is possible that in some future age this part of the Earth will be inhabited by Europeans & a history of its present inhabitants would be a valuable acquisition, I pro *  *  * to write one & deposit it in a box secured *  *  * so that the ravages of time will have no effect upon it that you may know the Author I will give a succinct account of his life and of the cause of his arival -- which I have extracted from a manuscript which will be deposited with this history.

"The family name I sustain is Fabius, being descended from the illustrious general of that name. -- I was born at Rome & received my education under the tuition of a very Learned Master. -- At the time that Constantine had arived at that city & had overcome his enemies, & was firmly seated on the throne of the Roman Empire, I was introduced to him as a young Gentleman of genius & learning, and as being worthy of the favourable notice of his imperial majesty -- He gave me the appointment of one of his secretaries, & such were the gracious intimations which he frequently gave me of his high approbation of my conduct that I was happy in my station.

"One day he says to me -- Fabius you must go to Brittain & carry an import *  *  * to the General of our army there *  *  * {p. 7} sail in a vessel & return when she returns. Preparation was made instantly and we sailed. The vessel laden with provisions for the army -- cloathing, knives and other impliments for their use had now arrived near the coasts of Britain when a tremendous storm arose and drove us into the midst of the boundless Ocean. Soon the whole crew became lost & bewildered."

The foregoing will suffice as a verbatim sample of the book as taken from the manuscript found by Mr. Rice.

The party reach America and settle there, removing after two years to the Ohio region. Long accounts of the inhabitants and their wars are given, which I have not closely examined. The book having achieved such note, it would not seem out of order to make further and more direct inquiries into this manuscript, and which Mr. Rice would seemingly approve of. Whatever may be the result, its supposed connection with the "Book of Mormon" will furnish at least a valuable piece of literary history.
                            Prof. Samuel S. Partello.


Note 1: No copy of the above article has yet been located for transcription. The text offered here comes from reprints published in the Jan. 29, 1886 issue of the New York Tribune and in the Lamoni, Iowa Saints Herald of Feb. 13, 1886

Note 2: Although Partello does not name his "reverend correspondent" who was then "in Honolulu" and "called in" by Lewis L. Rice to examine his documentary find, the possible choice of persons appears to narrow down to either the Rev. Charles M. Hyde or the Rev. Sereno E. Bishop, both of Honolulu. If Mr. Partello truly had any source, he was most likely the Rev. Bishop. See Bishop's article in the NYC Independent of Sept. 10. 1885. Then again, there is nothing in Partello article on the Hawaii Spalding manuscript that he could not have gleaned from other newspaper accounts then widely in circulation. Who Partello was and what his motives were is ascribing other writers' past reports to himself remains a mystery. In late February, 1886, Dr. William H. Whitsitt received a letter from Charles Hodges of Galveston, Texas, an agent for the Associated Press, in which the Hodges claimed that Samuel S. Partello plagiarized Whitsitt's Oct. 1, 1885 NY Independent article. Hodges evidently noticed the Partello "news release" in a Feb. 3, 1886 issue of the New York Daily News. Whitsitt may have first heard about this purported plagiarism of his material from the son of Eber D. Howe. Whitsitt's conversation. See his "A Case of Plagiarism," which evidently appeared in an 1886 issue of the Daily News, and was from there reprinted in the Dec. 25, 1886 issue of the Saints' Herald.

Note 3: The New York Tribune reprint was read by James A. Briggs, an old-time former resident of the Kirtland area, who had once served as D. P. Hurlbut's attorney. Briggs responded to the Partello report in a letter published in the Tribune on Jan. 31, 1886. G. Fredrick Wright, of Oberlin College, also saw the "news release" and quickly published a letter in the Oberlin Review of Feb. 20, 1886, objecting to Professor Partello's "published claims. Wright's announcement was reprinted in the Literary World of Apr. 3, 1886.

Note 5: Samuel S. Partello was perhaps a medical doctor and teacher living in the Chicago area in the 1880s. One source identifies "Dr. Samuel S. Partello" as being a "surgeon with the Red Cross" and another source calls him a "well known traveler and lecturer." The 1880 Census report for Passaic, NJ show a printer named Samuel S. Partello, born c. 1855, in Washington, D. C., and the Syracuse Evening Herald of Feb. 4, 1900 makes a passing reference to a Samuel S. Partello. who died in 1917.

Note 6: Perhaps the primary value of Partello's article is that D. P. Hurlbut's old attorney, James A. Briggs was stimulated by the report and subsequently wrote several different 1886 "letters to the editor" on the subject of Book of Mormon origins (on Jan. 29, Mar. 11, Oct. 2, etc.). Thus he publicized his involvement with Mr. Hurlbut and Hurlbut's documentary finds, as reportedly displayed in Ohio during the winter of 1833-34. Briggs eventually helped influence Lewis L. Rice to adjust his prior thinking about the writings of Solomon Spalding (from at first dismissing the Spalding authorship claims, to later taking those claims much more seriously).

SIDNEY  RIGDON.
______

His Connection with the Spalding Manuscript
and Book of Mormon.

Other engagements prevented my hearing President Fairchild's lecture last evening upon the Book of Mormon and its relation to the Spalding manuscript. It has been the popular belief among the older citizens of the Reserve, and especially among those who had personal observation and contact with early Mormonism, that the Book of Mormon was compiled or rewritten or at least made up in part from the Spaulding document, and yet there was no direct or positive evidence to prove it. From some facts and incidents connected with the career of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon when they were in Geauga and Portage counties preaching their alleged new gospel, I came to the conclusion some years ago that the Book of Mormon was the work of Sidney Rigdon, with perhaps some chanegs or additions by Smith or others. So far as I know these facts and circumstances have never been published. The truth or falsity of the Spalding matter in no way affects them, and they came to me in a way that leaves no doubt on my mind that the Book of Mormon, or a large part thereof, was written by Rigdon within two miles of the spot where I am now writing.

George Wilber, one of the early pioneers of Geauga County, taught school in the winter following the alliance of Smith and Rigdon, in a log school-house a mile south of the centre of Bainbridge. Rigdon lived in a log house about 200 yards from the school-house, and young Wilber, who has heard Rigdon preach before his alliance with Smith, often called on him during the noon hour of recess and sometimes in the evening.

Rigdon had acquired the reputation of being something of a biblical scholar among the pioneers, and was also a very persuasive and eloquent preacher. Some of the keen-sighted people, however, had lost confidence in him. They discovered that he had a strong religious ambition that was not tempered by Christian grace and humility. For a year or more before the advent of Smith they saw that Rigdon was bent on devising some new dogma; in short, to start a new church or sect that he could call his own or whose leadership he could share with only a few.

It may be proper to state that George Wilber was at that time a young man of high character and good education, and for more than forty years no one in Geauga or Portage had a better reputation for truth and moderation. He was the father of Prof. C. D. Wilber now of Nebraska, who was a room-mate of Gen. Garfield at Williams College. He died about four years ago at Aurora, Ill.

Wilber's statement, moreover, of the work and conduct of Rigdon that winter was corroborated by some of the neighbors in the school district.

Rigdon did not preach that winter, but was almost constantly engaged upon a manuscript that he was writing or revising. Wilber noticed that towards the close of the term there was much more of it than there was the first time he saw it. Rigdon had before that time been free and communicative, especially upon religious topics; he now appeared reserved and at times reticent. Whenever any reference about his manuscript he seemed disposed to parry inquiry by some general explanation that he was making notes or preparing some papers to throw light upon some portions of the Gospel.

The following spring Smith appeared and he and Rigdon went off together and were gone some months. IT was reported that they had gone to Pittsburg, but whether true or not no one could say. It was generally believed, however, that Smith at least visited Western New York before either returned to Ohio. Soon after their return the Book of Mormon was announced. Smith was mysterious and silent, assuming familiarity with the supernatural. It was difficult to measure or discover his powers or qualities, because of his silence and professions as a prophet. Those who were not awed by the glamour of mystery became convinced of one thing -- that he was a man of little or no education, while Rigdon was a fine orator, a fair writer, and among the men of that day a good scholar. Rigdon believed that his own attainments would put him at the head of the new church. It did not take long, however, to see that he had failed to measure properly those masterly powers of his companion in acting the part of the prophet. In a few months he saw that he must take a subordinate part, and from that time onward his zeal flagged. He drifted along, though still a leader, until the death of Smith, when he found that Brigham Young, a natural leader of the class of men who composed their followers, held the reins of power with a strong hand. Rigdon became disgusted and disheartened. He soon left them forever, and died some years ago in Pennsylvania.

Ten years ago this winter I spent two weeks in Salt Lake City. Elder Orson Pratt had been for many years the historian [sic - theologian?] of the Mormon Church. As my father had been acquainted with him in his younger days, I called upon him and made myself known. He was then an old man of about 80 years. During our conversation I inquired of him why it was that his people crossed what was called the Great Desert and settled at Salt Lake. He replied that they had Fremont's narrative, and that he carried a copy during their journey over the plaisn and mountains.

In the history of the Mormon Church it is stated that Pratt was with the advance guard, and on their arrival at Salt Lake Pratt made observations, and found the latitude and longitude. Soon after the interview I examined a copy of Fremont's narrative, and found the latitude and longitude given. Now, Pratt was not scholar enough to take an observation of that kind, so he must have announced their locality from the information given by Fremont. It is due to Elder Pratt to say that I do not believe he wrote this statement. He was more of a custodian of Mormon records than a historian, and probably permitted the statement to be made.

The Book of Mormon contains many internal evidences that Sidney Rigdon was the author of at least a good portion of it.

How many others had a hand in it, or what other manuscripts, if any, assisted in the work, it would be difficult now to determine.

C. E. HENRY.      

GEAUGA LAKE, O., March 9.


Note 1: The above letter was reprinted from the March 14th issue of the Cleveland Leader; from there it was reprinted into various other papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Apr. 11th issue of the Salt Lake Tribune. Charles E. Henry (also called "Captain Henry" or "Marshal Henry" in other pieces of Chicago Tribune reporting) was a notable Ohio figure and an occasional correspondent of the Cleveland Leader, then living near the Geauga Lake train station in the southwest corner of Bainbridge township, Geauga Co., Ohio -- about twenty miles from Cleveland. His full name was Charles Eugene Henry (1835-1906) and the father he speaks of (as having known Orson Pratt) was John Henry of Bainbridge (1796-1869). C. E. Henry's paternal aunt, Mrs. Dencey Adeline Thompson Henry (1805-1887), also passed along personal recollections concerning Sidney Rigdon's stay at Bainbridge -- see the letter of her son, Orrin P. Henry, Jr., as summarized in the Portland, Oregon New Northwest of Sept. 9, 1880.

Note 2: Oberlin College President James H. Fairchild lectured in Cleveland on the Spalding claims for Book of Mormon authorship in January, 1886, on Mar. 23, 1886, and again on Mar. 25th. It is not currently known where he might have lectured on that subject, the day before Mr. Henry wrote his letter, but probably it was at Cleveland, and his lecture was evidently noticed in a March, 1886 issue of the Cleveland Leader.

Note 3: Mr. Henry unfortunately provides no date for his allegations regarding Sidney Rigdon's being "almost constantly engaged upon a manuscript that he was writing or revising" at Bainbridge, Ohio. Nor does Henry supply dates for George Wilber's recollections of the first and second appearances of Joseph Smith, Jr. upon the Western Reserve of Ohio. Rigdon moved from his home in Bainbridge early in 1827 and relocated his family at Mentor. Thus, if George Wilber conversed with Sidney Rigdon during a winter school term in Bainbridge, it must have either been in the first weeks of 1826, or else at just prior to Rigdon's leaving that place, early the next year. Since Rigdon's writing of the "manuscript" recalled by Wilber occured during a "winter" when "Rigdon did not preach," the only logical time period for the clergyman's secretive activity would have been during the winter of 1825-26, four years before Sidney Rigdon had any documented contact with Joseph Smith, Jr. By the time he thus met Smith (during the last days of 1830), the Book of Mormon had already been circulating in Ohio for several weeks. Although it is not impossible that Smith paid an unrecorded visit to Rigdon's home in Ohio as early as 1826, there is no historical evidence of such a meeting between the two men.

Note 4: George Wilber and Dencey Adeline Thompson were not the only persons who recalled that Sidney Rigdon's attention being greatly occupied with a mysterious manuscript, while he lived at Bainbridge -- see also the 1879 statement of Rigdon's neice (on his wife's side of the family), Mrs. Amarilla (or Amorilla) Brooks Dunlap. Of course, testimony to the effect that Rigdon did much private writing while living at Bainbridge, is of very limited importance, unless it can be accompanied by an eye-witness description of exactly what it was that he was writing. For this reason, the less substantial recollections of Harvey Baldwin and Deacon Clapp are but footnotes to a larger set of historical events.

Note 5: Mr. Henry's article reprint in the Chicago Tribune came to the attention of the RLDS elder, M. T. Short, who offered a rebuttal in the Sept. 1886 issue of the Okland, CA Expositor. Short's reply added no new information to the topic, however.

THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON,
________

ADDITIONAL  LIGHT  ON  THE  QUESTION,
WHO  WROTE  IT?

Competent Testimony from a Leading Citizen of Brooklyn, N.Y.,
that the Rev. Sidney Rigdon "Got Up" the Mormon Bible --
Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" the Basis of Its Historical Portion --
Rigdon and Joe Smith -- Interesting Connecting Links.

Editor of the New York Watchman: In the year 1833-'34 I was one of a self-appointed committee that met in the home of Mr. W. Corning, Mentor, O., for the purpose of investigating the origin of the Book of Mormon. Dr. D. P. Hurlburt had been in New York and Massachusetts looking up testimony; we had the manuscript of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding before us, that we compared with the Mormon Bible, and we had no doubt that from Spaulding's writings the Rev. Sidney Rigdon got up the Mormon Bible. I am convinced of it now. Here are some of the reasons:

The "Manuscript Found," written by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding in Conneaut, Ashtabula County, O., in 1809-'12 was the basis of the historical portions of the Mormon Bible, if any credibility is to be given to positive human testimony. Now what is this testimony? John Spaulding, a brother of Solomon, of Conneaut, says:

I visited my brother, and he told me he had been writing a book; it was entitled "Manuscript Found," of which he had read to me many pages. It was a historical romance, endeavoring to show that the American Indians are the descendants of the Jews, or the Lost tribes. It detailed their journey from Jerusalem by land and sea till they arrived in America, under the command of Nephi and Lehi... I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and, to my great surprise, I find nearly the same historical matter, names, etc., as they were in my brother's writings... He commenced about every sentence with "and it came to pass" or "now it came to pass," the same as in the Book of Mormon, and, according to the best of my recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother Solomon wrote, with the exception of the religious part."

Mrs. Martha Spaulding, wife of John Spaulding, says: "I have read the Book of Mormon, which has brought to my recollection the writings of Solomon Spaulding, and I have no manner of doubt that the historical part of it is the same that I read and heard read more than twenty years ago. The old obsolete style, and the phrases of 'and it came to pass,' &c. are the same."

Henry Lake, the partner of Spaulding, from Conneaut in September, 1833: "He, Spaulding, frequently read [to] me from a manuscript which he was writing, which he entitled "Manuscript Found,"... I spent many hours in hearing him read said writings, and became well acquainted with its contents... One time when he reading to me the tragic account of Laban, I pointed out to him what I considered an inconsistency, which he promised to correct; but by referring to the Book of Mormon, I find to my surprise that it stands just as he read it to me then... I have no hesitation in saying that the historical part of the Golden Bible is principally if not wholly taken from the "Manuscript Found." In the story of Laban in the first book of Nephi, where Nephi says, "They did speak many hard words unto us their younger brothers, and they did smite us even with a rod," whereupon an angel appears and says: "Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod?" Consistency would require that the number, whether plural or singular, should in both cases be the same. The oversight is in itself a trifle, but its occurrence in both the Spaulding Manuscript and the Book of Mormon is an unanswerable proof of identity."

John N. Miller in 1833 says:

"In the year 1811 I was in the employ of Henry Lake and Solomon Spaulding at Conneaut, engaged in rebuilding a forge. While there I boarded in the family of said Spaulding several months. I was soon introduced to the manuscript of Spaulding and perused it as often as I had leisure. He had written two or three books or pamphlets on different subjects, but that which more particularly drew my attention was one which he called the 'Manuscript Found,'... I have recently examined the Book of Mormon, and find in it the writings of Solomon Spaulding from beginning to end, but mixed up with Scripture and other religious matter... Many of the passages of the Mormon Book are verbatim from Spaulding, and others in part. The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni... are brought to my recollection by the Golden Bible.

Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith and Nahum A. Ward [sic] of Conneaut testify in the same manner and to the same things as being in the "Manuscript" as in the Mormon Bible. Some eight or ten other persons of irreproachable character testify as to the identity of the "Manuscript Found," as they had read it and heard it read, with the Mormon Bible. And their testimony has never been impeached or denied.

I have believed since the spring of 1834 that Rigdon got up the Mormon Bible out of the "Manuscript Found," and there are many persons who have testified to Rigdon's connection with the manuscript. They have testified to the intimate acquaintance of Rigdon with Lambdin of Pittsburg, the partner of Patterson, printer, with whom Spaulding left his manuscript. The Rev. John Winter, D. D., says in 1822-'23, upon one occasion he was in Rigdon's study, when he (R.) took from his desk a large manuscript, and said in substance: "A Presbyterian minister, Spaulding, whose health had failed, brought this to the printer to see if it would pay to publish it. It is a romance of the Bible."

Mary W. Sevine [sic] a daughter of Dr. Winter, writes: "I have frequently heard my father speak of Rigdon having Spaulding's manuscript, and that he got it from the printers to read as a curiosity; as such he showed it to father; and at that time Rigdon had no intention of using it as he afterwards did; for father always said Rigdon helped Smith in his scheme by revising and making the Mormon Bible out of the Rev. Spaulding's manuscript." The Rev. J. A. Bonsall of Rochester, Pa., a stepson of Dr. Winter, says he "repeatedly heard Dr. Winter say that Rigdon had shown him the Spaulding manuscript romance... which manuscript he had received from the printers."

Mrs. Amos Dunlap of Warren, O., writes: "When I was quite a child I visited in Mr. Rigdon's family. He married my aunt. During my visit he went into his bedroom and came out with a certain manuscript, seated himself by the fire, and commenced reading it. His wife came into the room and exclaimed "What! you studying that thing again? I mean to burn that paper." "No! indeed, you will not. This will be a great thing someday."

Mr. Z. Rudolph, father of Mrs. Gen. Garfield, knew Sidney Rigdon very well, and says: "During the winter previous to the appearance of the Book of Mormon Rigdon was in the habit of spending weeks away from his home, going no one knew where... When the Book of Mormon appeared Rigdon joined in the advocacy of the new religion, and suspicion was at once aroused that he was not ignorant of the authorship of the Book of Mormon."

The Rev. Adamson Bentley, a very intimate friend of Rigdon, their wives were sisters, writing to the Rev. W. Scott, another friend of Rigdon of many years, says that "Rigdon told me there was a book coming out, the manuscript of which had been found engraved on gold plates, as much as two years before the Mormon book made its appearance." The Rev. Alexander Campbell, one of the strong and learned men of his time, known all over the land, confirms the truth of the conversation between "Father Bentley," as he was well known on the 'Western Reserve,' and Sidney Rigdon. These witnesses prove that Rigdon had the "Manuscript Found" of Solomon Spaulding, without any doubt. Now as to Rigdon's acquaintance with Joe Smith, "the Prophet."

Mrs. D. Horace Eaton of Palmyra, N.Y, in a sketch on the "Origin of Mormonism," says: "Early in the summer of 1827 a 'mysterious stranger' seeks admittance to Joe Smith's cabin. The conference of the two is most private. This person, whose coming immediately preceded a new departure in the faith, was Sidney Rigdon, of Mentor, O." Mrs. Eaton is confirmed in her statement by P. Tucker, Esq., of Palmyra. Rigdon was the first Mormon preacher in Palmyra. Joseph Smith of Lamoni, Ia., has sent me a copy of the "manuscript" found by Mr. L. L. Rice of Honolulu and published by the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints. This is not a copy of the "Manuscript Found" of Solomon Spaulding. Mr. Joseph Smith of Lamoni assumes too much when he says: "This newly-found 'missing-link' completes the chain of evidence that the 'Manuscript Found' never was and never could be made the occasion, cause, or germ of the 'Book of Mormon.'" The "manuscript" published at Lamoni is another one of Spauldlng's, and has no more to do with the authorship of the Book of Mormon than it has with the authorship of that most wonderful of all poems, the Book of Job, or the authorship of Junius' Letters. It proves nothing. At the meeting at Mr. W. Corning's in Mentor, in 1834, I have no doubt we had this very identical "manuscript" now published among the papers submitted by Dr. Hurlburt. We also had a copy of the "Manuscript Found," that was compared with the Mormon Bible and satisfied the committee that it was the basis of the Mormon Bible. I have said and believed since 1834 that I had seen and examined the original "Manuscript Found" of Solomon Spaulding, out of which Sidney Rigdon got up the Mormon Bible. I believe, as Dr. Hurlburt stated, that he "sold the manuscript for $400." It is certain that he had it, and who but the Mormons would buy it? Three years ago I wrote to Hurlburt and asked him about the "Manuscript Found." He did not answer my letter. He is now dead. He was once a Mormon. For some reason in 1833 he had some difficulty with "the Saints" in Kirtland. The last known of the "Manuscript Found" it was in Hurlburt's hands. It was not given to Mr. Howe of Painesville, O.

Now there is no doubt that the Rev. Solomon Spaulding wrote the "Manuscript Found": that the historical part of the Book of Mormon was taken from that manuscript, if human testimony is to be relied on as of any validity. That Sidney Rigdon had the original manuscript in his possession, read it first as a curiosity, and then used it to get up the Book of Mormon, a sham, a fraud, and a deception, and that he was the first to preach the delusion -- are facts. This fact should not be lost sight of -- that Solomon Spaulding wrote two or more pamphlets on different subjects.
                                            JAMES A. BRIGGS.
No. 177 Washington Street, Brooklyn,  1886.


(The writer of the above, Mr. Briggs, is a leading and influential citizen of Brooklyn, N. Y. For a number of years he was in the internal Revenue Service, having been appointed by president Lincoln. Previous to that time he lived in Cleveland, O., where he was an extensive real-estate dealer. He is a man of standing, veracity, and intelligence, and is now about 70 or 75 years of age. -- ED. TRIBUNE.)


Note 1: This letter by James A. Briggs was originally written to the Editor of the New York Watchman in about the beginning of September and was first printed in that paper on Sept. 9, 1886. Briggs had been making similar statements regarding D. P. Hurlbut, the writings of Solomon Spalding, and the origin of the Book of Mormon since March 1875, when he wrote a letter on this subject to John Codman.

Note 2: Dan Vogel, in his Early Mormon Documents I (pp. 205-206) reprints excerpts from several of Briggs' published letters regarding D. P. Hurlbut, etc. Among those citations he includes a few sources gleaned from vol. 2 of the James A. Briggs Scrapbooks (on file at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland); however, Vogel ignores the article on page 164 of that scrapbook, clipped from the New York Watchman. Vogel also refrains from listing the subsequent reprinting of Watchman that article in the Chicago Tribune. For a listing of Briggs' various published letters on this topic see the "transcriber's comments" attached to Codman's 1881 article.

Note 3: James A. Briggs says he and the Kirtland area Anti-Mormons met with D. P. Hurlbut "at Mr. W. Corning's in Mentor, in 1834." The meeting date was more likely near the end of December, 1833. Hurlbut left Geauga county for Ashtabula county on or about December 27, to avoid arrest in the matter of an altercation between himself and Joseph Smith, Jr.; to get a sample of Spalding's handwriting certified by his old neighbors at Conneaut; and probably to visit with Miss Maria Woodbury, his future bride. He was arrested in Painesville on Jan. 3, 1834 and it is altogether possible that he never met with the Anti-Mormon Committee after that time.

Note 4: Briggs makes the offhand remark: "I believe, as Dr. Hurlburt stated, that he sold the manuscript for $400. It is certain that he had it, and who but the Mormons would buy it?" This quip should not be considered as being a direct quotation of anything Briggs heard directly from D. P. Hurlbut. It is rather unlikely that Hurlbut ever made any such confession to Briggs, when the latter served as the anti-Mormon's attorney during the winter of 1833-34. Briggs attempted to correspond with Hurlbut in later years but never received any answer from the man. It is possible that Briggs derived this remarkable notion (that D. P. Hurlbut had sold a Spalding manuscript to the Mormons) from a piece of gossip relayed in an 1841 letter written by John Storrs: "Dr. Hurlbut took the [Spalding] manuscript. It is reported in Missouri, that he sold it for four hundred dollars; that the manuscript is not to be found. I must confess that my suspicions are, that a deep laid plot has been consummated to obtain possession of the manuscript, and thus preclude all possibility of its ever being compared by competent men with the Book of Mormon.... I am suspicious that a deep and long game has been played by the Mormons to obtain and destroy the manuscript" Storrs, in turn, probably picked up this unsubstantiated report from Mrs. Spalding Davison or a member of her family. Of course the same rumor may have been current in the Kirtland area before most of the Mormons departed at the end of 1837. While some of the documents D. P. Hurlbut was displaying at the end of 1833 may have ended up in Mormon hands, there is no firm evidence supporting the conclusion that Hurlbut sold his documents to anybody other than E. B. Howe, at the beginning of Feb. 1834.

THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON.
_____

Joe Smith, the Son of the Prophet,
in Reply to James A. Briggs.
_____

His Reasons for Believing the Book What the
Elder Smith Claimed It to be.
_____

Review of the Testimony Concerning the Spaulding
Manuscript from the Mormon Standpoint.
_____

The controversy regarding the origin of the Book of Mormon is again revived with some intensity by the publication of a long letter in the Boston [sic - New York] Watchman from the pen of James A. Briggs, of Brooklyn. As he states, he was "one of the self-appointed committee" that met at Mentor, Ohio, some fifty years ago, to compare the manuscript of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding with the Mormon Bible.["] This manuscript had been obtained from Mrs. McKinstry, the daughter of Mr. Spaulding, by Dr. D. P. Hurlbut, a seceding Mormon. It was then claimed, as it is now, that there was a collusion between Sidney Rigdon, a farmer and a Baptist preacher, and Joseph Smith to palm off the Book of Mormon upon the world as a divine revelation, when it really was a bold plagiarism from a romance written by an imaginative clergyman. The "Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints." of which Joseph Smith, the son of the Prophet, have many times protested against this version of the origin of their Bible, and from its headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, has put forth strong defenses which few of those who write so flippantly of the subject have perhaps read.

When the article of Mr. Briggs first appeared in the Watchman it was inclosed in a letter to Mr. Smith, written by a gentleman in this city, and sent to him at Lamoni. There he lives as a respected, intelligent citizen, preaching what he believes to be the truth, and editing the Herald, the organ of his church. Although an uncompromising opponent of polygamy, having often carried the war into the camp of the enemy in Utah, he is an earnest believer in the purity of his religion as taught by his father. It may also be added, previous to giving

MR.  SMITH'S  LETTER,

that David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris, who have been charged with apostatizing and upholding the collusion theory, as the "three witnesses" to the Divine origin of the Book of Mormon, maintained that their testimony was true to the very last. Mr. Whitmer live at Richmond, Mo., being the