![]() Vol. ? Pittsburgh, January 1, 1867. No. ? DIED. EICHBAUM -- On Sunday morning, Dec. 30, at 7 o'clock, WILLIAM EICHBAUM, in the 81st year of his age. |
![]() Vol. ? Washington, Pa., April 8, 1869. No. ? Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?
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![]() Vol. ? Washington, Pa., April 21, 1869. No. ? Solomon Spalding Again. Messrs. Editors: -- |
Vol. ? Athens, Penn., Thursday, August 25, 1870. No. ?
From the Montrose Republican.
[Beginning is largely illegible -- tells of Smith's blessing a corn field that froze, etc.] ... He was very poor at that time and with several visionary companions was a good deal engaged in digging for money at some place or places near the Susquehanna river.... In those days, Smith was more celebrated for lying than for any other quality, unless it was ignorance, and perhaps a sort of low cunning." |
![]() Vol. ? Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania January 1, 1847. No. ?
First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh
... When Holland Sumner dealt with Rigdon for his bad teachings, and said to him, "Brother Rigdon, you never got into a Baptist Church without relating your Christian experiences," Rigdon replied, "When I joined the church at Peters Creek I knew I could not be admitted without an experience, so I made up one to suit the purpose; but it was all made up, and was of no use, nor true." This I have just copied from an old memorandum, as taken from Sumner himself... |
![]() Vol. ? Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania March 1, 1847. No. ?
...Sidney Rigdon, when quite a boy, living with his father some fifteen miles south of Pittsburgh on a farm, was thrown from his horse, his foot entangled in a stirrup and dragged some distance before relieved. In this accident he received such a contusion of the brain as ever after seriously to affect his character and in some respects, his conduct. In fact, his brother always considered Sidney a little deranged in his mind by that accident. His mental powers did hot seem to be impaired, but the equlibrium in his intellectual exertions seemed thereby to have been sadly affected. He still manifested great mental activity and power, but he was to an equal degree inclined to run into wild and visionary views on almost every question. Hence he was a fit subject for any new movement in the religious world... |
![]() Vol. ? Pittsburgh, Tuesday, July 18, 1876. No. ?
A PECULIAR GENIUS. On Friday last there died at Friendship, Allegany county, N. Y., Sidney Rigdon, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. |
![]() Vol. IV. - No. ? Pittsburgh, Tuesday, July 18, 1876. Three Cents.
A FOUNDER OF MORMONISM.
The early history of Mormonism is intimately blended with the history of this county and of Western Pennsylvania, the Book of Mormon -- the bible of the polygamists -- having been printed in this city, and two of the most noted founders of the "twin relic" having had "a local habitation and a name" in our midst. Solomon Spalding, the author of the Book of Mormon, lived in this city from 1812 to 1814, when he removed to Amity, Washington County, where he died and was buried. Sidney Rigdon, who died in Friendship, Alleghany County, N. Y., on Friday last, was born in St. Clair Township, this county, Feb. 19, 1793. The manuscript of the Book of Mormon was set up in a printing office in Pittsburg in 1812, with which young Rigdon was connected. Soon after getting possession of a copy of Spalding's manuscript he left the printing office and became a preacher of doctrines peculiar to himself and very similar to those afterward incorporated into the Book of Mormon. He gained a small number of converts to his views, when about 1829 he became associated with Joseph Smith. It is asserted that through Rigdon's agency Smith became possessed of a copy of Spalding's manuscript. Smith and Rigdon then set about to establish a Church having at first vague and confused ideas as to its nature and design, but with the Book of Mormon as their text and authority, they began to preach this new gospel; and Smith's family and a few of his associates, together with some of Rigdon's followers, were soon numerous enough to constitute the Mormon Church, as it was styled by the people around them, or the Latter Day Saints, as they presently began to call themselves. The Church was organized in Manchester, New York, in 1830. |
![]() Vol. IV. - No. 112. Pittsburgh, Thursday, August 24, 1876. Three Cents. A Report of a Lecture He Delivered Forty Years Ago in Meadville -- Rigdon's Account of Joe Smith's Revelation. To the Editor of the Pittsburgh Telegraph: |
Vol. ? Pittsburgh, September 2 1877. No. ? How to Solve the Mormon Problem ... The only way -- is for the U. S. government to help Joseph Smith Jr., the son of the prophet, to assert his leadership and establish himself in the very Lion-house of the usurper, Brigham. In making this suggestion, the other day, we pointed out that young Joseph is the legitimate successor of his father, nominated by inspiration for the office and duly ordained, that the Mormons themselves confess the fact, admit that Brigham tricked the Smith boys out of their rights, * * * and that they have always looked on young Joseph with respect and even with reverence * * * When Joseph visited Salt Lake City, he was treated with the highest respect by the people, nor was it denied by any one that he was the true high priest, prophet and revelator, and would some day come back to rule over the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. |
![]() Volume LXV. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, January 8, 1879. No. 19.
It will be gratifying to the whole country to learn on the 6th inst. the Supreme Court at Washington unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the act of Congress prohibiting polygamy in the Territories. The decision of the court in Utah, in which a Mormon was convicted of bigamy, was affirmed. It only remains for the Government to enforce this righteous law. |
![]() Volume LXV. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, January 15, 1879. No. 20. POLYGAMY AND THE CONSTITUTION. The decision of the U. S. Supreme Court, rendered on the 6th inst. and briefly reported in last week's BANNER, deserves more than a passing reference which was all we could then give it. Like most other evils, polygamy dies hard, and its death struggle is not over. A great point, however, has been gained in the fact that the Third District Court of Utah, in whose jurisdiction this test case originated, and on appeal the Supreme Court of Utah Territory, and on further appeal the Supreme Court of the United States have all decided, as indeed would seem to have been inevitable, that the law of Congress, enacted in 1862, prohibiting bigamy in the Territories, is constitutional. This law provided that "every person having a husband or wife living, who marries another, whether married or single, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of bigamy, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500, and shall be imprisoned for a term of not more than five years." In this statute nothing is said of polygamy, or, as the Mormons designate it, "plural marriage;" but as, according to other precedents, the "plural" husband may be punished for each offence, the subject must be one of peculiar interest in Utah just now for those miscreants who have "pluraled" from ten to twenty times. |
![]() Vol. 3 -- Whole 781. Washington, Pa., Wed., Feb. 5, 1879. One Cent.
Origin of Mormonism. For the Reporter. |
![]() No. 1797. Pittsburgh, Thurs. Evening, Feb. 6, 1879. 3 Cents. A NEW CLAIM OF AUTHORSHIP. Important Researches at Amity Authorized From Utah -- The Story of Rev. Solomon Spaulding -- Some New Facts. The little town of Amity, a few miles up the Monongahela River, was the birth place of Mormonism. For many years Sidney Rigdon was thought to have written the Book of Mormon, afterward elaborated by Joe Smith, and made the basis of the faith or system of the Utah Colony, but some investigations lately made at Amity by Dr. W. W, Sharp, under authority from Salt Lake City, have brought out a new story about the origin of the book. Dr. Sharp writes as follows to the Reporter of Washington, Pa. |
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Vol. 9 Pittsburgh, Monday, Feb. 8, 1879. One Cent. A QUESTION OF AUTHORSHIP. A correspondent of the Washington, Pa., Reporter, Dr. W. W. Sharp, has given an interesting account of his attempt to investigate the origin of the Book of Mormon. It is nothing less than surprising to find able editors, even of city journals characterizing Dr. Sharp's statement as "a new story about the origin of the book." As we have said, the account is interesting, but its interest consists wholly or chiefly in the fact that the writer repeats with apparent fidelity the narrative of an aged though still competent witness respecting facts often before related. That the book out of which the Book of Mormon was concocted was the work of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, a Congregationalist clergyman, has been frequently asserted with the allegation of evidence more or less satisfactory. Mr. Spaulding, disqualified for his professional labors by ill health, spent the last two years of his life in the village of Amity, in this State, where, it seems, he kept a decent public house or tavern for subsistence. He died in 1816, and Dr. Sharp has lately conversed with an old man, Mr. Miller, who knew him well, and who retains a distinct recollection of the style and general tenor of the manuscript which has been so often mentioned as the source of the book of Mormon. The style of the manuscript which was an imitation of the style of the King James version of the Bible, and the tenor of it was a romantic history of those lost races or tribes who formerly inhabited this country, and of whom the mysterious mounds of the Mississippi valley are supposed to be the remains. Mr. Miller has seen the Book of Mormon, and not only the style recalled the Spaulding manuscript, but he at once recognized the tribal name of the Nephites as a name used in the romance. Othervdetails proving the general identity of the two books were attested years ago by other persons who knew Spaulding and had read or heard his novel. |
![]() No. 1799. Pittsburgh, Thurs. Evening, Feb. 8?, 1879. 3 Cents. The Early Saint of the Mormon Church. -- One Who Heard Him Preach Here. To the Editor of the Telegraph. |
![]() Volume LXV. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, February 12, 1879. No. 24. THE MORMON PROBLEM. In another column will be seen what there is much reason to believe is a true history of the origin of the Mormon Bible." It will be read with the closest attention. |
![]() Vol. 3 -- Whole 783. Washington, Pa., Fri., Feb. 14, 1879. One Cent.
Mormonism By Spaulding. We publish in this issue the facts in relation to the origin of the Book of Mormon. It is a curious piece of history which persons yet living can verify. It is due to those who have been deceived by this imposture; to the country under whose institutions it has become so powerful and so insolent, and to christianity which it presumes to supplant as "the church of the latter day saints of Jesus Christ," that some permanent memorial shall be erected to identify and make clear the time, place and circumstances of [its[ origin. Solomon Spalding, as a man or a preacher, is not entitled to any special notice save as the innocent author of a system of religion [which it is fair?] to do a great amount of harm to us as a people and a government. The system is a fraud, although it claims a divine origin, and while the living witnesses of this imposture still exist, [some?] efforts should be made to mark the spot where its author lies, in such a manner as will identify it as a historical fact. In a few years the grave of Spaulding will only be known by tradition, nothing being left to mark the place. The living witnesses will have died, and then in time, it may be a question in the minds of many whether such a man really lived, and whether the origin of the Book of Mormon is not a fiction. In the name of christianity which it shames, a monument should be reared as a protest against the imposture which threatens to mislead so many simple-minded people, and to involve our country in evils of the greatest magnitude. The different christian churches should unite and place a durable monument of granite upon the grave of Spaulding as a permanent memorial which will remind the people of the outrages and crimes perpetrated in the name of a religion which claims to be divine. The christianity of Washington county owes it to itself and the country that this memorial shall be solemnly made. A few hundred dollars thus invested will rear a monument which will be permenant portest against the claims of "the latter day Saints" of Utah.
MORMONISM.
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Vol. 16. Pittsburgh, Monday., Feb. 17, 1879. No. 93.
The Mormon Bible. To the Editors of the Commercial Gazette: |
![]() No. 18__ Pittsburgh, Thurs. Evening, March 27, 1879. 3 Cents.
FACT VERSUS FAITH.
To the Editor of the Telegraph:
Here follows the text of the original Davison-Storrs The above has been carefully compared with a transcript taken from the files of the Boston Recorder, to secure an accurate copy of so important a document. A typographical error occurred in the Recorder, in Which "Mormon preacher" was printed "woman preacher." The correction has been made on the authority of Rev. D. R. Austin, who acted as amanuensis for Mrs. Davison. |
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Vol. ? Washington, Pa., June 11, 1879. No. ? As will be seen by the minutes elsewhere, the Historical Society has appointed a committee to take measures to perpetuate the memory of Rev. Solomon Spaulding, a citizen of this county and the author of the so-called Bible of the Mormons. The collection of marvelous statements which make up that wonderful piece of sacred fiction was written, it is generally believed by the above gentleman as a sort of intellectual gymnastic exercise, and to pass away the idle hours, never thinking it would become the standard of faith for a people gathered from all parts of the world controlling one of the richest territories belonging to the United States. The work was never printed, but the manuscript was left to careless hands as a thing of no value. How Joe Smith, the high priest of Mormonism, got possession of it, we have not heard, but it is said that it can be clearly proven that the story which Solomon Spaulding, the Washington county preacher, wrote for fun, is substantially the same that Joseph Smith, the apostle of polygamy, palmed off for gospel. The work of this committee will be, in addition to making this fact well understood beyond quibble, to devise some permanent memorial of the obscure country preacher, who, however unwittingly, shaped the foundation stones for the religion of Utah. |
![]() Volume LXV. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, August 13, 1879. No. 50. THE MORMON QUESTION. At last hope is awakened that something decisive is about to be done by the Government in relation to the Mormon iniquties which have been such a foul blot on the land. It is well known that the additions to Mormonism are mostly from Europe, obtained for the most part under false pretences, and in expectation of light labor and comfortable living. If this importation can be stopped a long step will have been taken towards solving the Mormon problem. |
![]() Volume LXV. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, August 20, 1879. No. 51.
SECULAR NEWS. The London Times having editorially on the 12th inst. objected to the circular of the U. S. Government on Mormon emigration, on the ground that any interference with Mormons would be a kind of inquisition into religious opinions, the attention of President Hays was called to the article, and he is reported to have said that the circular must have been misunderstood, that it does not make the slightest reference to religion, and that it invites the co-operation of foreign governments in discouraging Mormon emigration, for the protection of their own deluded subjects as well as to prevent an influx into this country of persons coming with criminal intent. Whatever other governments may do in the matter, our own government is determined to enforce the laws against bigamy, and in this is entitled to the support of all good citizens. |
![]() Volume LXVI. Pittsburgh, Wednesday, September 10, 1879. No. 2.
Any one having a copy of "Mormonism Unveiled," published by the author, E. D. Howe, in Painesville, O., in 1834 (and in 1840), to dispose of, may hear of a purchaser by addressing the PRESBYTERIAN BANNER. |
Vol. ? Pittsburgh, February 20, 1880. No. ? In reply to many criticisms, Mr. Smith, the Mormon preacher of Pittsburgh, sends us a small letter of about forty pages, which he requests us to print as 'an act of justice' to him. * * * We have to be just to our readers as well as to Mr. Smith, and can not therefore surrender the space where they have a right to look for news, to the missionary efforts of any sect whatever. It should be sufficient hustice to Elder Smith to say right now and here, as we frankly do, that the evidence by which it is sought to prove that 'Joe' Smith or Sidney Rigdon stole the manuscript copy of Rev. Solomon Spaulding's romance, and made the Book of Mormon out of it, is FATALLY DEFECTIVE. The thing can not be proved. The Mormons SUCCESSFULLY RIDDLE the testimony of those who assert it, and very fairly demand that Spaulding's romance be produced and the comparison made or the slander be dropped. The fact that this romance. though alleged to have remained in Gentile hands, never has been produced, and can not be now, is prima facie evidence that it is not the original of the Book of Mormon. |
Vol. ? Pittsburgh, February ? 1880. No. ? ... I paid him [D. P. Hurlbut] a visit at his home in Gibsonville, Sandusky county, Ohio, in August, 1879, and interviewed him in reference to his connection with the Spaulding manuscript. He said that he did receive the manuscript from the widow of Spaulding in 1834 [sic - 1833?], which manuscript he gave to E. D. Howe of Painesville, P., but declares his entire ignorance of the contents of that manuscript. He says this was the only Spaulding Manuscript he ever had in his possession. Mr. Howe states that this manuscript was not the one known as the 'Manuscript Found,' but was on an entirely different subject... |
Vol. ? Binghamton, N. Y., July 29, 1880. No. ?
THE EARLY MORMONS. ...There are very trustworthy living witnesses by whom to prove that some of the earlier years of Joe Smith's prophetic career were spent in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where, in fact his prophesy with the "peek-stone" began. It was hare that the Prophet married his wife, and it was here, on a corner of her ancestral estate, that the spiritual pair, the originator of the Latter Day Saints and the "Daughter of God" settled down to the material occupation of housekeeping. It was here that the first male child in the line of chief of the house of Latter Day Saints was barn; and it is here the first born of the Father of Latter Day Saints and the "Electa Cyria" is buried. The prophesy went forth from Joseph that this son was to be a worker of miracles, who should open the golden Bible while in his swaddling bands, and interpret the hieroglyphics "which no fellah could find out." The young prophet was stillborn, In other words he drove through time to that "undiscovered country" without stopping to feed in this sublunary sphere. He never had any swaddling bands; he never had any colic that his father knew of; he never had any milk roil on his stomach, and what gives more relief when contemplating the ills of human nature, he never cut teeth. Truly the wise die young. The early death of this prophet shows that he was too wise to go into the book publishing business on a limited capital, as a member of the firm of Joe Smith & Son, "peepers," and jobbers in new religion. |