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INTRODUCTORY  NOTE.

The origin of Mormonism seventy-two years ago was undoubtedly the greatest religious fraud ever perpetrated by man. Of three persons it is really difficult to determine on which one rests the greatest amount of guilt. The claims of Joseph Smith do not exceed those of Spalding any more than Spalding's exceeded the truth. And yet, without the manipulations of Sidney Rigdon neither of the former would likely have amounted to anything. Again, it is safe to say that if there had been no Spalding romance, there would have been no Mormonism. As it was, hundreds and thousands were deluded in a short time, and being recruited with converts in nearly every country of the world, two generations of over 500,000 children have been raised up to believe a lie, -- all because somebody did not take enough interest in the matter to dig it up at once.

Church histories and cyclopedias have usually related the crude story and left the reader about where they found him, with sometimes the weight of testimony in favor of Mormonism; avowing at the same time with an air of contentment, that as scarcely any one believes in it, its origin must be false but never taking time to give the proof.

The unexpected finding of the Spalding manuscript seventeen years ago afforded one of the best opportunities the world has ever had to strike the fatal blow to this delusion, but authors and writers outside of Mormon ranks have paid so little attention to it that even this great opportunity has been turned to advantage by the Mormons, who hastened to give to the world their triumphantly perverted story, with the result that many non-Mormon writers, accepting their version of the matter, have laid down pens and abandoned the thought of further effort.

This renewed zeal of the Mormons on the one hand, and this flagging interest on the part of their opponents on the other, has given fresh impetus to the Mormon movement to such an extent that within the last few years their success in this country and elsewhere has been amazing. During the past ten years they have made 96,982 converts in this country -- a net gain of

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about 50 per cent. During the past year alone they gained 65,000 members in the East. They hold the balance of power in seven of the United States and are persistently colonizing in half a dozen others.

In the face of such figures it seems to be high time for some one to make a thorough investigation of the subject and give to the world the real facts in convenient, compact form. Of course, thousands of volumes have been written, each one containing some part of the evidence -- some of them many parts -- but in most of them several important links are missing, and in no one that I have seen is there a perfectly connected chain containing all the links. This brief work claims to furnish all the links, each one in its place and so perfectly connected as to constitute POSITIVE PROOF that the Book of Mormon is a fable and that Mormonism is a fake.

Most readers will especially appreciate the presentation of 22 points of perfect identity between the Book of Mormon and the Spalding manuscript. This new feature is the result of a careful comparison of the two works, and is especially important and convincing.

All the facts presented in this volume are the result of years of careful investigation and personal research. The list of literature on the subject is immense. It is not deemed worth while here to mention the names of authors consulted. Same will be given in the proper place. Through the courtesy of friends and libraries I have had access to a large range of this literature, some of which is not for sale at any price. Special indebtedness is acknowledged to the Librarian of Oberlin College in Ohio for the loan of a verbatim copy of the Spalding manuscript for examination and comparison with the Book of Mormon, and for other valuable information. Many personal letters of inquiry have been written, and in most cases courteous and helpful replies have been received.

The plain facts gathered from all these sources and by all these methods are so overwhelmingly convincing that I do not hesitate to pronounce it "Positive Proof." Each reader, however, is requested to be his own judge and give as impartial consideration to the testimony as has been exercised in gathering and presenting the facts, then make up his own verdict accordingly.

This volume, unlike my former work on the subject, deals mainly with the origin of the sect. That being determined, it is not thought necessary to pursue the subject further. I wish to

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say, however, that I do not believe the Mormons of today are aware of their error. I believe that they are ignorantly sincere in their beliefs and labors, and nothing in this book is to be construed as a reflection on the honesty or sincerity of those who are living up to the light they have. It is our duty to give them the true story of their delusion and fortify others against being led astray until the entire fraud is wiped from the face of the earth.

With a sincere hope of helping in this great work, and an earnest appeal for the co-operation of those who are likewise responsible for whatever they can do in the same direction, I send forth this volume, prompted by the love of the truth, God and common humanity.

J. E. MAHAFFEY. 

THE  STORY  THEY  TELL  US.

The Mormons tell us that Joseph. Smith, the founder of Mormonism in 1830, was a prophet. That he was visited by an angel from heaven who talked with him and directed him to a spot where he found the Book of Mormon engraved on gold plates written in what Smith called "Ancient Egyptian" language and bound together by three rings. Smith pretended that by means of two little transparent stones found with the record to be used as spectacles, he was enabled to translate this language into English. The manner of the translation is very suggestive. Smith says he had been solemnly warned that no other eye should ever look upon these plates. Accordingly, "he sat behind a blanket hung across the room to keep the sacred records from profane eyes, and read off to Oliver Cowdery, who wrote down what the invisible prophet gave as a translation Smith himself being, as he confessed 'but a poor writer.'"

A farmer by the name of Martin Harris was prevailed upon to furnish the money and the Book of Mormon thus produced was printed in 1830, with the names of Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris and David Whitmer attached to a statement that an angel of God had come down out of heaven and showed them the

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original plates. This was soon followed by the testimony of eight other witnesses, including Smith's own father and two other brothers, all testifying that Smith had showed them the original plates.

Space will not admit of calling attention to the inconsistencies and contradictions evident at nearly every point in the progress of this new sect, but the one which occurs here may be taken as a sample of scores of others. Mind you, Smith claimed to have had solemn warning from the angel that no other eye but his should ever behold these mysterious plates; therefore, he must sit behind a blanket "to keep the sacred records from profane eyes" and yet, eleven men, some of whom as will be seen later were addicted to the habit of sheep-stealing and other nefarious practices, testify that Smith had showed them the original plates. 

WHITMER'S WONDERFUL "EYE OF FAITH."

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Mind you, this is the same Mr. Whitmer whose printed statement, in language the most solemn that English can make use of, is still being inserted in every copy of the Book of Mormon. He is the man who asserts in millions of copies of cold type that an angel of God laid the plates before his eyes, and now face to face with Mrs. Fuller he denies ever having seen them at all. This is one of the three original witnesses upon whose testimony the Mormon church is founded. Mrs. Fuller did not remain there long, but renounced Mormonism and went West.

It is said that all three of the original witnesses fell out with Smith, renounced Mormonism and avowed the falsity of their affidavits, but what mattered that to Smith or the superstitious public either? Their second testimony might be judged as liable to be false as the first. Smith soon found four other Whitmers, Hiram Page and three more of the Smith family, who consented to give out their testimony as witnesses, and thus his pretended system of religion was foisted upon the world supported by the slender testimony of these family connections.

Harris, being a farmer of considerable means, had been told by Smith that the Lord had commanded him to furnish the money to bring out the book, but he afterward confessed that he yielded to Smith's request in the hope of making money. Mrs. Harris was not at all in sympathy with the enterprise. She did. not like the idea of mortgaging their land to raise the $3,000 to publish the book, and one day while on a visit to her sister she remarked that it was all a delusion; to which her husband replied: "What if it is a lie? Let me alone, and I'll make some money out of it." Mrs. Harris refused to join the Mormons, and she and Harris separated and divided their property. She remained at Palmyra until the day of her death; he followed Smith for some time, and after various misfortunes, died in want, as did several other of the prominent characters connected with the early history of Mormonism. 

AS TO THE SMITH FAMILY.

Just here a little sketch of the history and character of Joseph Smith may be in order. He was born at Sharon, Vt. The date of his birth is not exactly known, but is supposed to be about the year 1798. His parents moved to Palmyra, central New York, when he was nine or ten years old. They had already settled on young Joseph as the "genius" of the family of nine children. It is said that he could read at an early age, but: could

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not write. His mother enjoyed quite a reputation for "telling fortunes" and was filled with other odd conceits and superstitions. His father dug wells, made baskets, peddled beer and ginger bread, and seems to have been everything by turns and nothing long. Mrs. Smith did washing by the day, hut her employers soon learned that it was not safe for the clothes to remain out after dark. Young Joseph assisted generally and soon had a reputation of being an adept at robbing hen-roosts and orchards. Indeed, the reputation of the Smith family is said to have been of the worst kind. "They avoided honest labor, were intemperate, untruthful and suspected of sheep-stealing and other nefarious practices." From all accounts they were the terror and torment of the neighborhood.

These accusations are generally denied by Mormons, but Smith himself partly admitted them, affirming that he had "never done anything so bad as was reported of King David, the man after God's own heart." Like his present followers now tramping through the country from house to house, scattering their pernicious books and sowing seeds of heresy that threaten the religious, social and political life of the nation, when assailed on the subject of polygamy, they point: to the Bible for examples, and try to make the impression that God approved of the wicked practices of ancient times.

From an old book in the Astor Library we learn that on November 3rd and 4th, 1833, sixty-two male residents of Manchester, Ontario Co., N. Y., made an affidavit that the family of Joseph Smith, Sr., with whom the Book of Mormon originated, are a lazy, indolent, intemperate set, whose word is not to be depended upon. Joseph Smith, Sr., and his son Joseph, in particular, were considered entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits.

Very early Mrs. Smith instructed Joseph to set up claim for miraculous powers and provided him with a peculiar little stone afterward called the "peek stone," which had been in the family for generations. With this little transparent stone he pretended to see sights, buried treasures of gold, silver, stolen property, stray cattle, etc., and with the assistance of his witch-hazel rod, he told where wells should be dug to get water. In these ways, decked in his white stove-pipe hat, he fooled the credulous and superstitious and eked out a precarious subsistence.

For some time he had a band of diggers who slept by day and roamed at night to such places as he designated to dig for hidden

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treasures, but his rules were of such a character as to easily break the "charm," and upon failing to find the treasure he affirmed that it had been spirited away to some other place, and that he must again consult the "peek stone" or the witch-hazel rod to see where it had located. When he wanted fresh meat for his family he told the diggers that in order to insure their success it was necessary for them to kill a black sheep as a sacrificial offering before going to work.

If the reader is inclined to wonder how such a man with such methods gulled the people and secured their attention as he did, just remember where his role was acted and when it was done, especially the latter. Eighty years have wrought wonders, but there is a good deal of such superstition and gullibility remaining in people to this day. This same Smith is still gaining followers and making proselytes to a life more serious than that of plundering at night in other people's fields and sheep pastures.

This state of affairs continued for some time, and his reputation extended to the adjacent counties which he often visited. He often spent weeks and months away from his immediate community, and finally disappeared for four years, which have always been involved in mystery, and not until several years after were any traces of his whereabouts known to his acquaintances. It is now known that during that time he was in both Onondaga and Chenango counties, for his name appears in the criminal records of both of these counties as a vagabond. He is also known to have been in Broome county and at Harpersviile, Pa., but it was during his stay in Onondaga Valley, while working for William H. Sabine, about the year 1819 or 1820, that he fell upon his final gigantic scheme which resulted in the publication of the Book of Mormon and the projecting of the greatest and slickest religious fraud that has ever disgraced any civilization.

Just about this time Smith became very much interested in the various theories that were afloat attempting to account for the peopling of the American continent. The discovery of ruined cities and temples in Central America, and the relics of pottery, bricks, and the stumps of axe-cut trees buried deep under the surface of the Mississippi Valley, together with traditions that had been collected from the Indians, made the subject a common topic of conversation throughout the country. Almost any one who had a theory to advance on this subject could get a hearing in almost any crowd at almost any time.

A man by the name of Solomon Spalding, highly educated and

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deeply interested in the subject, and being unable to engage in other employment, conceived the idea of writing a romance elucidating his theory, hoping to launch the book on this rising tide of public interest and make money out of it. He spent most of his time and nearly all of his thought for the space of seven years writing and re-writing the manuscript for his book, but finally died without ever being able to publish his long cherished story. As this matter is so important a factor in the subject under consideration the reader will doubtless appreciate a brief glance at the life and history of this man and his writings. 

THE REAL HERO OF OUR STORY.

Solomon Spalding was born at Ashford, Conn., in 1761. He came of a highly respectable English family, was educated at the Plainfield, Conn., Academy, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1785 and graduating in theology in 1787, he became a preacher in some obscure New England town, and married Miss Matilda Sabine of Pomfret, Conn. In a few years he retired from the ministry on account of ill-health. The next we hear of him he is principal of an academy in Cherry Valley, N. Y., where he remained until persuaded by his brother, John Spalding, to remove to a little town in Ohio, now known as Conneaut, Ashtabula Co. Here in 1809 the two Spaldings and Henry Lake built an iron foundry and conducted a successful business until the war of 1812, which ruined them financially.

During these three years Spalding was almost an invalid, and spent much of his time in his own house, reading and writing. Possessed of a fine education and habits of study he naturally took to this as pastime, and continued it until his death in 1816. He was especially fond of historical studies, the writing of essays and romances, and given to talking with his neighbors about what he had read or written. He became very much interested in the earth-mounds near his residence and determined to have one of them investigated. A large tree on this mound was thought to be one thousand years old. It is said that he found buried in this mound various evidences and relics of a prehistoric race, mingled with human bones of gigantic skeletons. These discoveries excited him greatly and fired his imagination. He had long had a theory as to the peopling of this country by a race which inhabited the entire Continent, possessing the refinements of civilization, and that in some unaccountable manner they had all perished except the few Indians that remained.

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These relies secured by his workmen seemed to confirm his theory, and he immediately decided to write a romance embodying his views. He was not the first, however, to indulge in this sort of speculation. Over forty authors, half of whom are Americans have been cited as writing on this subject, some of these as far back as the seventeenth century.

Mr. Spalding conceived an idea which he thought would secure for his romance the attention which he desired. Accordingly, he pretended that among the relics discovered by his workmen he had found a box containing a roll of parchment written in the Latin language, giving an account of a party of Roman sea voyagers, who left Rome in the time of Constantine, but by storms were drifted ashore on the American continent. He pretended that one of their number had made and buried this record of their travels, customs, wars, etc., etc., and that his romance was a translation of this record.

Finding that the plot of his story as to the time and place of their departure would not exactly harmonize with some other notions that he had, and that a question might he raised as to the preservation of the parchment for so long a time, he altered the plan after writing a portion of the story, and instead of starting them from Rome for their travels, he fitted them out and started them from Jerusalem with Lehi and his four sons under Divine direction, and with "brass plates" on which to make and preserve the records of their travels. Mr. Spalding pretended that his workmen had discovered these plates covered with hieroglyphical writings, and that he had merely translated the story of the wanderings and sufferings of this people as it had been inscribed on the plates.

This pretense, of course amused Spalding's friends and acquaintances very much, but it has resulted in deceiving thousands who will never known in this world that it was never intended for anything but a romance; though Spalding did once jokingly remark that in a hundred years it would be accepted as veritable history.

As proven by abundant testimony, a part of which will be noticed later, Spalding adopted the literary style of the Bible in re-writing his story according to the new plot, which dated back into Bible times and really pretended that it was a continuation of the Bible from the times of Zedekiah. His knowledge of the classics and histories of olden times enabled him to coin and introduce the odd names which were noticed and remembered by

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his friends as he frequently entertained them by reading what he had written. Such names as Nephi, Mormon, Lamanite, Moroni, Lehi, etc., were remembered distinctly by members of his family and many of his friends and neighbors to whom he frequently read his story, all of whom were greatly impressed with its peculiarities and apparently amazed at its plausibilities. He finally called it: "The Manuscript Found," -- that is, a written history of a lost people, found in an earth-mound, purporting to be an account of the peopling of America by the lost tribes of Israel.

At that time it was quite a distinction for a man to write a book and a still more difficult one to get it published after it was written. It appears that the entire community became very much interested, partly in the cleverness of the story, and partly out of sympathy for a man in ill-health who could do nothing else and had nothing else to look to for support. He was encouraged to push its completion for publication. This pleased him very much. The war had blasted all his hopes of fortune in the iron business, his health was gone, and being embarrassed with debt (which doubtless embarrassed others also), his last hope lay in the success of his book if it could only reach the public in proper form.

At times he was very sanguine of success, and there are some things which indicate that he was not very particular as to the extent of seriousness with which his book should be received by the public. His joking remark to Nathan Howard, a neighbor, that probably in a century from that time his account of the early inhabitants of America would be accepted as a veritable history, was a prophecy that was fulfilled in less than a fourth of that time. A nephew of Spalding named King told one Hale, a school teacher, that he could start a new religion out of his uncle's manuscript novel and make money. Some think that Spalding himself was not a man who would be deterred by conscientious scruples from practicing such a fraud, if he believed it would be more profitable in that way; but from all I can learn of the man I am not inclined to this opinion. If this had been his purpose he would have acted differently in the beginning, and would not have read and talked about his romance so freely to the public.

He was confident of making money out of it as a novel, and with this in view he borrowed money and removed to Pittsburg, Pa., where he had a preacher friend named Patterson, who was

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a publisher, to whom he submitted a copy of his manuscript for inspection immediately upon his arrival, with the hope that Patterson would publish the book. After some discussion of the matter this copy was turned over to Silas Engles, the foreman and superintendent, whose business it was to decide upon the propriety, or otherwise, of publishing manuscripts offered to the book department, which was in a separate building. Mr. Spalding called again in a few days, but the manuscript could not be found. He was given to understand that the matter was still under consideration, but that Mr. Patterson wanted him to guarantee the expense of printing, which of course, Spalding was not then able to do. One day Mr. Patterson finally said to him: "Polish it up, finish it, and you will make money out of it." A young man by the name of Rigdon was in some way connected with this department at the time, and Mr. Spalding always believed that he had it out of the office when it could not be found.

Encouraged by Patterson's remark, Spalding left this duplicate copy of the manuscript there for further consideration, and in order to lessen the expense of living and secure some additional employment while he was engaged in "polishing up" and re-writing his romance, he removed in 1814 to Amity, Pa. Here at one time he kept a store, then a public-house, and again became the center of attraction among the neighborhood listeners to his talk and the reading of his peculiar writings. Here the story was polished and re-written, and from Amity in 1816, Spalding again journey [sic] to Pittsburg for the purpose of securing its publication.

Spalding's wife and daughter both assert that about this time Patterson requested him to "make out a title page and preface." This seems to indicate that they had about arrived at some agreement for its publication, and the following letter shows that he complied with this request. The letter was written to Mrs. Ellen E. Dickinson (New Light on Mormonism, p. 240), by Joseph Miller, who lived at Amity during Spalding's stay there. He gives some interesting facts as to his knowledge of Spalding and his doings while at Amity. He says:

"I knew the man very well, was intimately acquainted, often heard him read from what he called his MS., he came to our house and wanted me to go with him and bail him for fifty dollars as he needed the money, and while on the road he told some of his history. He said while living in Ohio he lost his health and in looking over the country where he lived he discovered

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some mounds, they appeared to be the work of an ancient race of people and he concluded he would write their history or a fictitious novel of the people that built the mounds. After living there, he told me he moved to Pittsburg and while there he applied to Mr. Patterson to have his novel printed for the purpose as he stated to help him take care of his family. Patter[son] said he, Patterson, would publish it, if he, Spalding, would write a title page. He told me he kept a little store in Pittsburg. He then moved to Amity, leaving a copy of the manuscript in Patterson's hands. After being at Amity some time he went back to Pittsburg, took his title page. He called it the The Lost Manuscript Found. When he went to Pittsburg the manuscript could not be found. He said there was or had been a man by the name of Sidney Rigdon who had stole it. Spalding did not die at my house as you have it, but died at a house he had rented in Amity and kept as a public-house or tavern. He was a man fully six feet high, rather stooped forward a little, of sober visage, very reserved in conversation and very candid apparently in all his dealings, and I think a very good man. It used to he very common at that day to gather in at the public house in the evenings and often Mr. Spalding would read from his MS. to entertain us. I had the Book of Mormon in my house for about six months for the purpose of comparing it with my recollections of the Lost Manuscript Found, and I unhesitatingly say that a great part of the historical part of the Book of Mormon is identical with the MS. and I fully believe that the MS. is the foundation of the whole concern.

Yours truly,      
                        JOSEPH MILLER." 

This same Mr. Miller tells how he nursed Mr. Spalding in his last illness, made his coffin, helped to bury him and settled up his slender little estate, which probably did not replace the $50 he loaned him about the time of his second journey to Pittsburgh with the "polished" copy, title page, etc., of his manuscript. Spalding was buried in the village graveyard at Amity, Pa., and the humble head-stone which marks his grave has been almost entirely chipped away by relic hunters of this and foreign lands.

Thus far we have traced the history of the Spalding romance through the different stages of its preparation by the author, to the hands of Patterson, the publisher in Pittsburg, and after considerable delay its publication was promised upon certain conditions, which Mr. Spalding was evidently making an effort to comply with when he moved to Amity to "polish up" the story, and after which he again journeyed to Pittsburg, carrying with him the polished story, and according to Mr. Miller, the title page and preface. Upon his arrival in Pittsburg the

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old copy which he had left with Patterson could not be found and Mr. Spalding expressed his belief that young Rigdon, who was connected with the office at the time, had stolen it. This state of things aroused Spalding's suspicions to such an extent that further negotiations with Patterson were suspended. He immediately returned to his home at Amity, carrying with him the polished story, and being tired and disappointed at these repeated failures, he sank into an illness which soon culminated in his death, October, 1816.

The following extract from a letter written by Mrs. McKinstry, Spalding's daughter, and sworn to by her before a Notary Public, furnishes the next period in the history and travels of Spalding's writings. She says: 

"In 1816 my father died at Amity, Pa., and directly after his death my mother and myself went to visit my mother's brother, William H. Sabine, at Onondago Valley, Onondago county, N. Y.  *  *  *  We carried our personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk in which my mother had placed all my father's writings, which had been preserved. I perfectly remember the appearance of this old trunk, and of looking at its contents. There were sermons and other papers, and I saw a manuscript about an inch thick, closely written, tied with some of the stories my father had written for me, one of which he called the 'Frogs of Wyndham.' On the outside of this manuscript were written the words: 'Manuscript Found.' I did not read it, but looked through it and had it in my hands many times and saw the names I had heard at Conneaut when my father read it to his friends. I was about eleven years old at this time."

That this old hair-covered trunk, containing the various productions of Mr. Spalding, -- novels, sermons, essays, etc., was carried to Mr. Sabine's house, has never been denied, and that it also contained the "polished up," that is, the last and final writing of Spalding's story, cannot be denied in the face of the testimony furnished by Spalding's wife, his daughter, Mr. Sabine's family and others who saw it and talked about it together off and on during all this time. That this old trunk containing all these writings was put in the garret at Mr. Sabine's house in 1816, and remained there until some time after 1820, a period of four years or more, and that it was accessible to the Sabine family, their friends and visitors, or any one else who might chance to be in the house, there is not the shadow of a doubt.

Mrs. Anna T. Redfield testifies that in 1818 she was principal of the Onondago Valley Academy, and resided in the house of

William H. Sabine, that she heard Mrs. Spalding and the family talk of a manuscript in her possession, which her husband, the Rev. Mr. Spalding had written. That it was so often mentioned that she remembered well the substance and peculiarities of the story. Mrs. McKinstry is quite sure that Mr. Sabine read the manuscript while it was in his house. It is just at this point that the tracks of Joseph Smith first cross the path of the Spalding manuscript, and while his part in the story-has been laid aside for some time, the facts demand that he now be recognized and looked after, at least for a little space. 

JOSEPH SMITH AGAIN.

As has already been noted, Smith was in Onondago county about the time of Mrs. Spalding's stay at Mr. Sabine's, as his name appears in the criminal records of 1817. An old man testifies that Smith was about this time employed to locate wells and look for gold with his "divining rods" of witch-hazel and his "seer-stone" in that community. He was put in the Onondago county jail for "vagrancy and debt" when he was 20 or 22 years old. The jail was then at Onondago Hill, two miles from Mr. Sabine's house. Mr. Sabine was a lawyer, and it was probably a few months after this that Smith was employed by Mr. Sabine as teamster and man for out-door work, taking his meals in the kitchen, hearing the talk of the family, and probably sleeping in the garret with the old trunk. It is quite likely that Smith got in possession of a portion of Spalding's writings at this time, but the manner in which he followed up the trunk suggests that he took charge of its contents on the installment plan.

Mrs. Spalding had by this time set up courtship with a Mr. Davison of Hartwick, and her interest in her dead husband's writings (what little she had) was fast being eclipsed by the attentions of this gentlemen. They married in 1820, and all of Mrs. Spalding's personal effects, including the old trunk and its contents, had to be moved to the residence of her new husband at Hartwick, N. Y., back into the section of Smith's old haunts and almost his immediate vicinity. Neither the mother nor the daughter in their new relations gave the same attention to Mr. Spalding's literary productions that they had formerly given. The old trunk was carried, but it was now beginning to be looked upon as rubbish, and it was a very easy matter for Smith, either while living the team in moving, or sometime after its arrival in the new quarters (which happened to be an old closet somewhere

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in Mr. Davison's house), to relieve the old rickety trunk of whatever suited his taste.

He would probably not have been suspected of such a thing if he had not immediately after this talked and acted in such a way as cannot be accounted for upon any other supposition. For, as we shall see, there was ample opportunity afforded him through Rigdon to take the part he did in the perpetration of the Mormon fraud without ever stealing the manuscript himself. A number of witnesses testify that soon after this, and previous to his ostensible discovery of the "plates," he advocated the Spalding views and called many of the names contained in that story. At one time he professed to have found a book buried in white sand, but was not permitted to show it, as he said an angel had warned him that it would be death to any one else to look upon it. This all happened previous to his acquaintance with Rigdon and previous to his pretended opening of the "plates" which he says was on the night of September 22, 1827.

Add to this date the several years claimed by Smith to have been occupied in his pretended translation and preparation of the work, which he says was delayed at one time for the space of ten months on account of the abstraction of several sheets by Mrs. Harris, who it is said could not be induced, by threat or cajolement, to give them up, and the following testimony from Mr. Thurlow Weed looks very suspicious. Mr. Weed says: 

"In 1825, when I was publishing the Rochester Telegraph, a man introduced himself to me as Joseph Smith, of Palmyra, N. Y., whose object, he said, was to get a book published. He then stated he had been guided by a vision to a spot he described, where, in a cavern, he found what he called a golden Bible. It consisted of a tablet, which he placed in his hat, and from which he proceeded to read the first chapter of the 'Book of Mormon.'

I listened until I became weary of what seemed to me an incomprehensible jargon. I then told him I was only publishing a newspaper, and that he would have to go to a book publisher, suggesting a friend who was in that business."

Smith afterwards made a second call, but was again refused. (New Light on Mormonism, 260.) Mind you now, Mr. Weed says this was in 1825, and yet, when Smith's plans were finally perfected and means secured for the publication of the book in 1829, he affirmed that it was on the night of September 22, 1827.

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that these records were first committed to him. Thus it appears that he was seeking a publisher and reading it out of his hat two years before it was dug out of the ground, and four years before the "translation" was completed. These facts and others that might be given begin to furnish positive proof that if Smith did dig his treasure out of the ground in 1827, it had not been buried there more than two years.

As to the exact time and manner in which Smith first got in possession of the Spalding manuscript, of course no one but him may ever exactly know. About the nearest we call come to it, according to the most reliable evidence, sifted from direct testimony and circumstances, is that: 

First, during the stay of the trunk at Sabine's house, from 1816 to 1820, the manuscript was there, and it appears that Joseph Smith while working as teamster for Mr. Sabine, had become interested in it.

Second, during this time Mrs. Spalding visited her father at Pomfret, Conn., leaving her daughter and all her personal effects, including the old trunk, at Mr. Sabine's house about the year, 1819.

Third, Mrs. Spalding married Mr. Davison in 1820, and sent for her things, including the old trunk, to be moved to her new home at Hartwick, Joseph Smith probably being the driver of the team that carried the things to her.

Fourth, Joseph Smith is next visible, according to his own statement, in the employ of Mr. Stowell, near Hartwick, where the trunk said to contain Spalding's writings was carelessly deposited.

Fifth, shortly after this time Joseph Smith returns to Palmyra and begins preparations, with great caution, to bring before the public his fraudulent scheme. 

One day at dinner time he told his family that in passing through a grove, he found a book in some white sand. They asked to see the book, but he said that the angel which told him of its locality had forbidden him to show it, and that any other person who looked on it would surely die. It was a little after this time that he first applied to Mr. Thurlow Weed to get it published.

Sixth, soon after this the most valuable contents of the old trunk appear to be missing, and the manuscript which Mrs. Clark saw when the old trunk was moved to her father's house, "looked soiled and worn on the outside," and according to her

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          17

statement, was dry reading and did not contain the words Mormon, Maroni, etc. This of course, was the manuscript which was turned over to Mr. Hurlburt a few weeks later, but the finished manuscript could not be found.

It is safe to say that Smith did not get all of Spalding's writings at the same time, but that he did get first and last, about all that was of any particular value to him. It was doubtless his interest in this old treasure that accounts for his digging around after it from place to place, ostensibly in the employment of some neighbor near by.

Those who claim that this old trunk and its contents were too carefully guarded to admit of Smith or any one else stealing anything from it, will find it difficult to explain how it was that in so short a time after Mrs. Spalding's marriage to Mr. Davison the old trunk was again put aside and contained absolutely nothing. What went with all that mass of writings? And how did it go?

Mrs. (Spalding) Davison soon found it necessary to break up from, her new home and take up her abode in Munson, Mass., with her daughter, who had married a Dr. McKinstry, and the old trunk, a feather bed and an old bureau were stuck away somewhere at her cousin's, Mr. Jerome Clark, in Hartwick, and in a short while everything in the old trunk had disappeared.

The following extract of a letter from George Clark, a son of Jerome Clark, at whose house the trunk was left, gives some idea of how the trunk and its contents were guarded. About a year after Mrs. (Spalding) Davison left the things at Clark's, she wrote him to sell her personal effects and remit to her the proceeds, which he did, and as to the trunk, he says: "The old trunk still remained in the garret when I sold the farm, and was given away, to whom I do not remember. It was an old rickety, moth-eaten hair trunk, and entirely worthless. There was nothing whatever in it." There is not to be found any where single fragment of all that mass of Spalding's writing except that first fragment of the "block-out" of the original story written at Conneaut, which is now in the Library of Oberlin College, and as some may be anxious to know just how it happened to be preserved, its history will be given here.

Soon after the arrival of Mrs. (Spalding) Davison at Munson to live with her daughter, the whole country became agitated over a new religious faith which had suddenly sprung up, called Mormonism, and the report that it was founded on Solomon

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Spalding's romance quickly followed, to the great surprise of all who knew him. Then a report was carried directly to these ladies at Munson, how that on one occasion when the Book of Mormon was being read to a vast assemblage at Coneaut, Ohio, by an "elder" who had accidentally straggled into that town, John Spalding and Mr. Lake, the farmer partners of Solomon Spalding, and many others present, recognized its similarity to the Spalding romance, which they had heard him read time and again in that very locality years ago. These reports excited them considerably, and Mrs. McKinstry says she remembers how her mother talked on the subject, recalling the firm conviction of Mr. Spalding that Sidney Rigdon had appropriated his manuscript while it was in Patterson's office at Pittsburg. (See letter in Scribner's Magazine, Aug., 1880.)

During this controversy between Spalding's friends and the Mormons as to the real authorship of Smith's new book, inquiry was made as to the whereabouts of Spalding's writings at that time, with a view of securing the Spalding manuscript for comparison with the Book of Mormon. The Mormons themselves, evidently knowing the situation better than any of their opponents, readily consented to make the comparison, and a committee was appointed to get the manuscript. This committee employed Mr. D. P. Hurlburt to do its work. It is difficult to say whether Hurlburt's interest in the matter at this time was in behalf of the new faith or against it, The fact that he was a Mormon about that time is well established, but whether he :had renounced the faith previous to this undertaking will probably never be known. However, he was willing and anxious to go, and it seems that all parties were willing that he should.

The ease and directness with which he went about the matter indicate that he was provided with considerable private information. He went directly to the residence of William H. Sabine, Onondago Valley, N. Y., and secured a letter of introduction to Spalding's widow at Munson, Mass., and also a request from Mr. Sabine, that she give Mr. Hurlburt an order to Mr. Jerome Clark for the manuscript which was thought to be in the old trunk at Mr. Clark's house in Hartwick. Mrs. McKinstry says that her mother was greatly agitated over the arrival of Mr. Hurlburt with this request, and hesitated for some time before complying. But upon being assured by Mr. Hurlburt that her brother, Mr. Sabine, was anxious to have the fraud exploded, and that he (Hurlburt) had made the trip with that in view, she reluctantly consented and gave him the order.

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          19

With this order he hurried back to Mr. Clark, and upon examining the old trunk which only a short time ago contained all the numerous writings of Mr. Spalding, the only thing that could be found which in any way resembled a manuscript for a book, was the fragment of the original block-out of the story as it was first written while he was connected with the iron foundry in Coneaut. Not one of the subsequent re-written copies, nor even the 'polished-up" copy which had finally been prepared for Mr. Patterson, but was not left with him for reasons already given, -- not one of these copies could be found. The charge that Hurlburt obtained an additional copy of the manuscript and sold it the Mormons or made some other disposition of it is utterly without any foundation.

This fragment block-out of Spalding's story was carried by Mr. Hurlburt back to Coneaut and, it is said, compared with the Book of Mormon publicly, but the superficial manner in which it was done, and the crudeness and incompleteness of this fragment copy, resulted in a victory for the Mormons, and it seems added new force to their enterprise. Mr. Hurlburt had solemnly promised to return the manuscript to Mrs. Davison in a short time, but was so disappointed on finding that it was not the copy he wanted, he loaned it to Mr. Howe and took no more interest in it. Unfortunately this old fragment of Spalding's first writing disappeared from view without being critically compared with the Book of Mormon and was lost for over fifty years, but finally turned up in Honolulu, S. I., in 1884, and now has its final resting place in the Library of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. The following letter furnishes additional light on its seclusion for fifty years: 

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Dr. D. P. Hurlburt has been severely censured by many who have charged him with dishonesty and many other unkind things utterly without any foundation, but the story of the manuscript as told in the above letter confirms the sincerity and truthfulness of the following statement, which Mr. Hurlburt first gave to the world years ago, and which he has repeated from time to time when requested. The following is probably the last statement that he ever gave out: 

(Signed)                     D. P. HURLBURT. 

Modern developments have demonstrated the truthfulnes of Mr. Hurlburt's statement, and the following letter written to him by Mr. Howe, August 7, 1880, is worth preserving in the same connection. Mr. Howe says:

"Dear Sir: Just received your line, calling my attention to an article in Scribner, on the origin of that old Mormon Bible. Hardly a year passes that I do not receive more or less inquiries, some of which seem to reflect on your honesty in regard to the manuscript obtained from, that old trunk, that: was all explained truthfully in the book I published, as I then believed, and have ever since, that Spalding's 'Manuscript Found' was never found or received by you. I have no manner of doubt, but altogether a different manuscript on a very different subject. It was in my possession till after the publication of 'Mormonism

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          21

Unveiled,' and then disappeared and lost, I suppose, by fire."

These letters also give us some idea of the opinion which prevailed as to the likeness or unlikeness of the Book of Mormon to the manuscript which Hurlburt had obtained, and while of course, there is always considerable difference between an author's first block-out of a story and the finished story, and especially one that has undergone so many revisions and change in the plot as this one had, yet we shall see later whether this manuscript did really contain "nothing of the kind," and whether it was "a manuscript on an entirely different subject" as stated by these men and others, evidently upon very careless and superficial examination and comparison. 

Let us see now. We have traced the fate of the finished manuscript from the death of Spalding to the second marriage of his widow, and found that Smith was closely associated with the old trunk in which it was deposited. His stay at Sabine's house while it was there, and the probability of his having charge of the wagon which moved her things to Hartwick, together with the evident carelessness with which the old trunk and its contents were now beginning to be regarded by Mrs. Davison as a new bride, -- all these things seem to afford Smith abundant opportunity to put himself in possession of some of this old rubbish. Add to this his ostensible employment at Mr. Stowell's near Hartwick, which afforded him additional opportunity to secure whatever might still be to his liking from the old neglected trunk, and note the fact that he next turns up as having "found a book in some white sand" and soon applies to Mr. Weed to get it published. All these things occurring previous to his pretended finding of the "plates" and previous to his acquaintance with Rigdon, begin to indicate what became of Spalding's writings and the use that Smith intended to make of them.

It must be remembered, however, that while Smith possessed a wonderful amount of tact and shrewdness which had already won for him prophetic notoriety among the ignorant and superstitious, yet he was lacking in that intelligence which was necessary to make his scheme a success. This must be supplied from some other source, and to this source we must now turn our attention.

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SIDNEY RIGDON AND PARLEY PARKER PRATT.

We now propose to show beyond the shadow of a doubt that Sidney Rigdon was the master mind in the preparations for Smith, the "Peeker" and money digger, to pretend the discovery of the golden plates in Cummora Hill, and the final planning of the scheme of Mormonism.

Mormon objectors assert that even if Rigdon did have one of the Spalding manuscripts in his possession, it could have been of no service to Joseph Smith in preparing the Book of Mormon, since as they claim, no possible connection between Rigdon and Smith has ever been shown to exist prior to 1830. We propose to show that Smith and Rigdon were intimately associated for four years prior to 1830, and that their association was through such a medium and of such a nature as leaves no doubt as to the object they had in view.

The first knowledge that Smith and Rigdon had of each other was doubtless through Parley Parker Pratt, who was born at Burlington, Ostego Co., N. Y., April 12, 1807. In his sixth year he went to reside with his father's sister named Van Cott, which name afterward became prominent in the early history of Utah. In 1825 Pratt spent a few months in Wayne (formerly Ontario) county, New York. This was the same county in which Smith was at that time enjoying much newspaper notoriety by the use of his "peek-stone' and other implements of necromancy, by which he worked the gullible and superstitious of the entire neighborhood, Pratt at this time was a peddler, traversing the country at intervals, and it is said, knew almost everybody in western New York. His recorded connection with the Wells family, who were Smith's neighbors and friends makes it certain that he knew Smith in 1825.

Pratt frequently extended his trips into northern Ohio and Pennsylvania, and as will be seen, was acquainted with Rigdon, who for some time had been itinerating from one denomination to another as a preacher. About this same time Smith pays a visit to relatives in Harpersville, Pa., and Rigdon is said to have made "mysterious journeys" to that section at the same time. Just where and when they first met may be impossible to say, but that they did meet about that time there is no doubt, if any confidence can be placed in recorded facts.

It was on this same visit at Harpersville, Pa., that Joseph Smith was married to Emma, the daughter of Isaac Hale, January

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          23

18, 1826," and Sidney Rigdon performed the ceremony. This fact seems to indicate that they not only did meet four years prior to 1830, and that they were not only acquainted with each other; but that for some reason Rigdon's services on this occasion were preferred above others, and that he put himself to considerable trouble in order to be on hand. The protracted absence of Smith and Rigdon from their accustomed haunts at this time has been substantiated by several persons familiar with the matter at the time, and there is no doubt that here, as Rigdon once admitted, they laid their plans and made preparations for the coming great discovery which Smith was soon to make at Cummora Hill.

Just here may be as good a place as any to settle the question as to Rigdon's possession of the manuscript which Spalding left at Patterson's printing office. A few glimpses into Rigdon's previous history will help us to understand his part in the story. He was born February 19, 1793, in Piney Fork of Peter's Creek, St. Clair township, Allegheny county, Pa., about eight miles from Pittsburg, and remained on the farm with his parents until eighteen years old. He joined the Baptist church under the pastorate of Rev. David Phillips, May 31, 1817, and "began to talk in public on religion soon after his admission to the church, probably at his own instance, as there is no record of his license." The next year he left the farm to take up his residence and the study of Divinity with Rev. Andrew Clark at Sharon, Pa., where in March, 1819, he was licensed as a Baptist preacher.

Rigdon's preaching from place to place, apparently having no settled charge, except about two years in Pittsburg, is too tedious and tasteless to spread out on these pages. His preaching was so tainted with what turned out to be Mormonism that in 1824 he was expelled from the Baptist church. Thereupon Rigdon, Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott proceeded to organize the "Christian Church," otherwise known as "Disciples" or finally "Campbellites." It was during this period of roaming around through the country making "disciples" to his new faith that he was called upon to marry Joseph Smith and Emma Hale in 1826. *

As to the genuineness of Rigdon's conversion and pious intentions

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when he joined the Baptist church, the following item taken from Dr. Winter's historical sketch of the first Baptist. church of Pittsburg is sufficient He says: "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 Peter's 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." This item was published thirty-four years before Rigdon's death and yet he never did deny it.

According to his own testimony, therefore, Rigdon had some other object in view when he suddenly "made up" the tale of his miraculous conversion," as he says, "to suit the purpose," and applied for membership in the Baptist church, early in 1817. We venture to assert and propose to prove that this "purpose" was to seek an opportunity to ventilate his newly acquired religious views, deducted from the Spalding ,manuscript which had fallen into his hands the year before, and this sort of religious dishonesty establishes his willingness to become party to the religious fraud which we shall see is charged against him.

Let us inquire, first: Did Rigdon have any opportunity to steal Spalding's manuscript from Patterson's office? No one will likely ever know upon what ground Spalding's expressed suspicion that Rigdon had stolen it rested. Probably it was Rigdon's great interest in it when first submitted, and his close intimacy with Lambdin, in whose name the book department was run; but be that as it may, it is not difficult to show the ground upon which the suspicion rests now. The first ground is, as will be seen, he did get it from some where. The second ground is, that during the years 1815 and 1816, Rigdon was in some way connected with the office, most likely as a printer.

Unfortunately in the early years of the Mormon controversy, Rigdon was frequently charged with being connected with Patterson's office "during his residence in Pittsburg," which was in 1822-1824. This charge was vehemently denied and denounced as "the most base of lies, without even the shadow of truth" by Rigdon in a studied-lawyer-like statement published in 1839. He also adds: "There was no man by the name of Patterson during my residence in Pittsburg who had a printing office." This denial by Rigdon may all be true and yet not effect in any

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          25

way the real grounds of the suspicion. Very likely Rigdon was not in any way connected with Patterson's office "during his residence" in the city in 1822-1824; for as preacher, pastor and lawyer, his hands were full. It was previous to this time, in 1815 and 1816, just after leaving the farm and becoming a printer, that he was known to have been connected with the office.

The facts in the case are as follows: In 1812 the firm was known as Patterson & Hopkins. They had in their employ J. Harrison Lambdin, who was soon taken into partnership, and the firm known as Patterson & Lambdin. This new partnership also had under its control a book store on Fourth street, a book bindery and a job printing office. The book business was run under the name of Buttler & Lambdin, and of course this was the place where all business pertaining to books was transacted. This was the department to which Spalding's book manuscript was submitted, and this was the department with which Rigdon was connected at the time. It is doubtful whether Rigdon really knew of Patterson's interest in that department. Patterson was a Presbyterian minister and seldom paid any attention to the job office and bindery, as it was mainly an enterprise of Buttler and Lambdin. Rigdon has never denied being on very intimate terms with Lambdin and Engles, the latter being foreman of the office at that time. It appears that Rigdon or either of the others handled the office mail, and frequently on Sundays visited the postoffice together.

The following statement by Mrs. R. J. Eichbaum, under date of Pittsburg, September 18, 1879, leaves no doubt on this subject and is worth preserving:

"My father, John Johnston, was postmaster at Pittsburg for about eighteen years, from 1804 to 1822. My husband, William Eichbaum, succeeded him, and was postmaster for about eleven years, from 1822 to 1833. I was born August 25, 1792, and when I became old enough, I assisted my father in attending to the postoffice, and became familiar with its duties. From 1811 to 1816 I was the regular clerk in the office, assorting, making up, dispatching, opening and distributing the mails. Pittsburg was then a small town, and I was well acquainted with all the stated visitors at the office who called regularly for their mails. So meager at that time were the mails that I could generally tell without looking whether or not there was anything for such persons, though I would usually look in order to satisfy them. I was married in 1815, and the next year my connection with the office ceased except during the absence of my husband. I

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knew and distinctly remember Robert and Joseph Patterson, J. Harrison Lambdin, Silas Engles and Sidney Rigdon. I remember Rev. Mr. Spalding, but simply as one who occasionally called to inquire for letters. I remember there was an evident intimacy between Lambdin and Rigdon. They very often came to the office together. I particularly remember that they would thus come during the hour on Sabbath afternoon when the office was required to be open, and I remember feeling sure that Rev. Mr. Patterson knew nothing of this, or he would have put a stop to it. I do not know what position, if any, Rigdon filled in Patterson's store or printing office, but am well assured he was frequently, if not constantly; there for a large part of the time when I was clerk in the postoffice. I recall Mr. Engles saying that 'Rigdon was always hanging around the printing office.' He was connected with the tannery before he became a preacher, though he may have continued the business whilst preaching." (Pamphlet by A. T., Schroeder, 21.)

This evidence establishes the fact of Rigdon's intimacy with Engles and Lambdin in the book publishing department, and the fact that they frequently called for business mail on Sundays indicates that Rigdon must have had some sort of connection with the office. Of course, Patterson could not have "put a stop" to these men calling for their own private mail on Sundays. At any rate, the fact that Rigdon was known to be almost constantly around this office known as Buttler & Lambdin, and that his conduct was such as led to a general impression that he had some connection with it, and the further fact that Rigdon so vehemently denounced as the basest of lies, the charge that Spalding's manuscript was ever in Patterson's office, quite naturally leads one to conclude that Rigdon's denial was based on the still further fact of his knowledge that Spalding's manuscript was submitted to this office of Buttler & Lambdin. If Rigdon really knew as little as he pretends about Patterson's office, how did he know that the Spalding manuscript was not there, except upon the fact that he knew it was at the Buttler and Lambdin office, and did not know of Patterson's connection with it.

Presuming that we have clearly established the fact that Rigdon did have opportunity to get in possession of the manuscript just before applying for membership in the Baptist church, and that this was one of his motives, if not the only one, in uniting with the church, we will now examine the still more convincing proof of the still more convincing ground upon which rests the suspicion that Rigdon did get the Spalding manuscript from

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          27

some where, -- that is to say, that he did have it in his possession during his residence in Pittsburg from 1822 to 1824, and of this there is not the shadow of a doubt.

The Rev. John Winter, M.D., one of western Pennsylvania's early preachers, was teaching school in Pittsburg during Rigdon's pastorate of the Baptist church. It appears that at first they were very intimate friends, and on one occasion when Dr. Winter was in Rigdon's study, Rigdon took from his desk a large manuscript, and told Dr. Winter that a Presbyterian minister named Spalding, whose health had failed, brought it to a printer to see if it would not pay to publish it. "It is a romance of the Bible," said Rigdon. Dr. Winter did not read the manuscript nor think any more of it until the Book of Mormon appeared. Dr. Winter's family think that he then committed his recollections of this interview with Rigdon to writing, but it has not been found.

The authorities for Dr. Winter's statement, however, are of such character as gives it as much weight as though reduced to writing by himself. The first is the Rev. A. G. Kirk, to whom Dr. Winter related the incident at New Brighton, Pa. The second authority is the Rev. J. A. Bonsall, a son-in-law of Dr. Winter, and at one time pastor of the Baptist church at Rochester, Pa. The third authority is Mrs. Mary W. Irvin, a daughter of Dr. Winter. Her statement of the matter brings out additional details and is worth preserving. She says: "I have frequently heard my father speak of Rigdon having Spalding's manuscript, and that he had gotten it from the printer to read it as a curiosity; as such he showed it to father and that at the time Rigdon had no intention of making the use of it that he afterwards did." (Schroeder's Pamphlet, 22.)

This testimony brings out the fact that while Rigdon was going forward and upward in the Baptist church he was tolerably well contented, and had not yet conceived of the necessity which finally arose for his establishing a new religion. Hence, in this unguarded moment with his friend, he exhibited and commented upon the Spalding manuscript. In a short time after this, however, upon being expelled from the Baptist church, he was confronted with an emergency which set him to thinking seriously; but inasmuch as he had betrayed his opportunity by so free an exhibition of the manuscript, he contented himself with helping to establish that new religion now known as "Disciples" or "Campbellites." This he did doubtless, for

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the sake of having further preparatory employment until some of his old associates should die out, and a more favorable opportunity for the launching of his new faith should arise. Spalding had died in 1816. His family had about disappeared from notice. Lambdin, who doubtless knew that Rigdon had the manuscript, died in 1825, but Dr. Winter and probably others, who knew that Rigdon had it, were still alive. Hence, Rigdon easily saw the propriety of forming a partnership with Joseph Smith, the "peeker-prophet and treasure-digger," and allow him to make the great find of "Golden Plates" and become, as Rigdon once thought, second fiddler to the new hero of a mighty religious and political empire. These dreams of future glory fired his elastic imagination more and more, until as though by some magician's wand he and Smith came face to face, and then in some manner and method so delicate as almost approaches unconsciousness, each began to reveal to the other in tones that crumbled like the falling of dew, the infinite possibilities of the founding of a new religion.

Rigdon's pleasure at Smith's willingness and fitness for such a task was only exceeded by his surprise to find that Smith already had in his possession a copy of the Spalding manuscript, "polished and finished," and in many ways superior to the one Rigdon had treasured so long. But we must stop here and return to the balance of the evidence.

Let us not forget. The last we saw of Joseph Smith was at the time of his marriage to Emma Hale by Sidney Rigdon, at Harpersville, Pa., in 1826. We had traced his tracks in the "white sand" through the grove, listening to his strange talk, his tale of finding a book in the sand, which only his eyes were permitted to behold. We followed him on to the printing office of Mr. Weed in 1825, to whom he read a part of the first chapter out of his hat, and failing to get it published after two efforts, he quiets down and decides to take unto himself a wife. His Christmas trip to Harpersville proved a good time to court, and he was married on January the 18th.

This wedding occasion also proved to be a good time for Smith and Rigdon to decide which one had the most honorable title to the Spalding manuscript. This part of the conference, of course, occupied but a few moments. The only conclusion which they could reach is evident at once: Smith must furnish the reputation and Rigdon the brains. Smith was already the "peek-stone prophet and gold treasure digger," and Rigdon

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          29

had the brains and a good deal of literary shrewdness for a man of his day. More still, Smith probably had by far the finer finished manuscript, and Rigdon had made too much of a display of the one he had to risk the venture of digging it out of the ground.

About the time that Joseph Smith was married to Emma Hale, Sidney Rigdon was also married to Joseph Smith. Of course it was not a holy matrimony, but we cannot deal with them any more as separated long at a time. The story is coming to a focus and we shall have to keep an eye on both in order to see the part each one takes in the play. Upon coming to an agreement and forming this sort of partnership, Smith returned with his bride in 1826, and secured a primitive log house, only partly furnished, having a stove-pipe running through the roof as a chimney. This was on a hill about four miles from Palmyra, N. Y. Rigdon at once removed his family to Bainbridge, Ohio, and by this time is all aflame with his strange doctrines, amazing the people as he preaches and talks from: place to place throughout the country, preparing the way for the forthcoming new faith; but unfortunately as in the past he sometimes says too much and makes too bold with what he knows. 

The Rev. Adamson Bently, whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Sidney Rigdon wrote the following to Walter Scott under date of January 22, 1841:

"I know that Sidney Rigdon told me that 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 or had been heard of by me."

The Rev. Alexander Campbell testifies that he was present and heard the conversation between Bentley and Rigdon, but says it was in the summer of 1826, -- nearly four years before the Book of Mormon was published, and over one year before the pretended date of its discovery.

In the meanwhile Smith was pushing preparations as rapidly as possible and frequently talked of wonders soon to be performed "at the hill." It is said that the neighbors became suspicious and thought a band of counterfeiters was at work under Smith's direction, (which of course, was really the truth). Some of the boys believed that a giant was going to come out of the hill and crush Palmyra and all those who ridiculed Joe Smith and his revelations.

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During this time of incubation Smith was frequently visited by Rigdon, who it is claimed on very good authority, spent three or four months there. A number of other men, came and went with an air of mystery. For a long time even Smith's nearest neighbors could not learn the name of Rigdon, "the mysterious stranger," who was spending so much of his time at Smith's cabin. It was known at this time that Rigdon was absent from his home in Ohio, on several long visits, but he reported himself as going to Pittsburg. Abel Chase, one of Smith's near neighbors, testifies that he saw Rigdon at Smith's house at different times with considerable intervals between. Lorenzo Saunders, another neighbor, says: "I saw Rigdon at Smith's several times, and the first visit was more than two years before the Book appeared." 

RIGDON  BLUNDERS  AGAIN.

Rigdon seems to have acted very imprudently, even up to the very last of the incubation period. It was probably just after returning from one of these visits to Smith that he made a final exhibition of;his own copy of the Spalding romance in his own house, and in the presence of a child who never did forget it. Mrs. Amos Dunlap, a niece of Mrs. Rigdon, under date of Warren, Ohio, December 7, 1879, writes as follows:

"When I was quite a child I visited Mr. Rigdon's family. He married my aunt. They at that time (1826) lived at Bainbridge, Ohio. During my visit Mr. Rigdon went to his bed-room and took from a trunk which he kept locked, a certain manuscript. He came out into the other room and seated himself by the fireplace and commenced reading it. His wife at that moment came into the room and exclaimed: 'What, you are studying that thing again?' or something to that effect. She then added: 'I mean to burn that paper.' He said: 'No indeed you will not; this will be a great thing some day.' Whenever he was reading this he was so completely occupied that he seemed entirely unconscious of anything passing around him." (Schroeder's Pamphlet, 24; Who Wrote the Book of Mormon, 12; Braden-Kelly Debate, 45.)

Here it is plain to see that Rigdon's interest had suddenly been revived to the great surprise of his wife, who it seems had previously been vexed with the amount of attention Rigdon had been giving to it. The vast amount of study that Rigdon had devoted to the manuscript was necessary, not only to familiarize

                         Book of Mormon a Fable                          31

himself with its contents, but also with a view of revamping the whole thing to suit the purposes for which it was finally to be dug out of the ground. This work of revision was being carried on at Smith's cabin at the hill, under the direct supervision of Rigdon, who passed in and out at regular intervals, and was at the same time roaming through the country in the garb of a "Disciple preacher," preparing the way for Mormonism and securing what funds he could for the support of those engaged in its preparation.

The Rev. D. Atwater, then a young man in a Disciple family which Rigdon frequently visited, testifies as to his recollections of Rigdon's conduct at that time. He says: 

"Sidney Rigdon preached for us, and notwithstanding his extravagantly wild freaks, he was held in high repute by many. * * * That he knew before of the coming of the Book of Mormon is to me certain from what he said (during) the first of his visits at my father's some years before. He gave a wonderful description of the mounds and other antiquities found in some parts of America, and said that they must have been made by the aborigines. He said that there was a book to be published containing an account of those things. He spoke of these in his eloquent, enthusiastic style, as being a thing most extraordinary. Though a youth then, I took him to task for expending so much enthusiasm on such a subject, instead of things of the gospel." (Schroeder's Pamphlet, 24; Early History of the Disciples, 239-240, etc.)

A great deal of such testimony is at hand, but it is not thought necessary to consume the time and space that would be required to give it all. And yet, tedious as it may seem to some, it is necessary to establish all the facts as we go; for fragmentary presentations of the subject have allowed the fraud to reach present day proportions. But we will close this feature of Rigdon's preparatory gyrations by giving an extract from a statement by Dr. S. Rosa, dated Painsville, Ohio, June 3, 1841. The conversation alluded to here also occurred months before the publication of the Book of Mormon. Dr. Rosa and Rigdon rode together a few miles one day on horseback, and of it Dr. Rosa says:

"Our conversation was principally on the subject of religion, as he was at that time a very popular preacher of the denomination calling themselves 'Disciples,' or Christians. He remarked to me that it was time for a new religion to spring up; that mankind were all rife and ready for it. I thought he alluded to

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the Campbellite doctrine. He said it would not be long before something would make its appearance; he also said that he thought of leaving Pennsylvania, and should be absent for some months. I asked him how long. He said it would depend on circumstances. I began to think a little strange of his remarks as he was a minister of the gospel. I left Ohio that fall and went to the state of New York to visit my friends who lived at Waterloo, not far from the mine of golden Bibles. In November I was informed that my old neighbor, E. Partridge, and the Rev. Sidney Rigdon were in Waterloo, and that they both had become the dupes of Joe Smith's necromancies. It then occurred to me that Rigdon's new religion had made its appearance, and when I became informed of the Spalding manuscript, I was confirmed in the opinion that Rigdon was at least accessory, if not the principal, in getting up this farce." (Gleanings by the Way, 317; Schroeder's Pamphlet, 25, etc.)

The fact is, according to all available testimony, (and there is no little), that Rigdon's entire ministry and conversation was characterized by those peculiar tenets of faith and doctrine which afterwards were incorporated in the Book of Mormon, and his evident purpose, which seemed to develop more and more, was to prepare his followers for the acceptance of Mormonism when it was ready to come forth. Upon being accused of this, and finding it necessary to make some apology or defense in reply, even Rigdon had a convenient "revelation," dated December 7, 1830, in part as follows: "Behold thou was sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me, and before Elijah which should come, and thou knewest it not." The best comment I have ever seen on this "revelation" is by Mr. Schroeder in his valuable work, page 26. He says: 

"That Rigdon did prepare the way we knew before the revelation informed us of it. That it was done unconsciously we cannot even now believe. Especially in the light of the foregoing evidence, this revelation must be construed as much more convincing proof of Rigdon's advance knowledge of the forthcoming Book of Mormon and its contents than even a tacit admission. It is practically an admission of guilty knowledge, coupled with a transparent effort at warding off the inference of complicity in fraud by veiling the acts constituting the evidence in an assumed mysticism, which really deceives few aside from the mystic degenerate and the willing victim who enters the fold for opportunities to 'fleece the flock of Christ.'"

Alas, alas, however, many are the mystic degenerate who have been deceived already.

PARLEY PARKER PRATT HAS A VISION.

A discussion of this subject that did not pay some attention to

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P. P. Pratt could hardly be considered just. His place is that of middle man between Smith and Rigdon, hence, he must not be dispensed with entirely in our study. Remember, Smith is at the hill in 1816. In October of that year Pratt leaves Smith's community to locate in Ohio, to get to a country, as he expressed it, where there "is no law to sweep all the hard earnings of years to pay a small debt." He happens (?) to land right in Rigdon's vicinity. He says that one night he stopped at an humble cottage, but carefully fails to give the name, and here while asleep a messenger of a mild and intelligent countenance suddenly stood before him, arrayed in robes of dazzling splendor, who introduced himself as the "Angel of the Prairies," exhibiting to Pratt the mysteries of this wonderful country, and portraying to his mind the whole future of Mormonism, -- its cities, with inhabitants from all parts of the globe, its temples, with yet unattained splendor its present church organization was with considerable definiteness outlined; its political ambition to establish a temporal kingdom of God on the ruins of this government was set forth with accurate precision, as related by Pratt afterwards in a sermon.

Now, according to Mormon theology, an angel is but an exalted man. They say, "God may use any beings he has made or that he pleases, and call them his angels or messengers." "God's angels and men are all one species, one race, one great family." "God is a man like unto yourselves; that is the great secret." YES, INDEED, THAT IS THE GREAT SECRET! Sidney Rigdon is an exalted man; therefore, Mormons may call him "God's angel or messenger," as doubtless in the light of all the evidence, Pratt did on this occasion, which accounts for Pratt's failure to give the name of his host that night. After this event P. P. Pratt may also be "an angel of God' or "heavenly messenger," and Sidney Rigdon, the exalted man, may even be "the God" to Joseph Smith, in the same sense that Joseph Smith is now claimed by the Mormons to be "the God of his people."

Smith's father's dream (?), in which there appeared to him a "man with a peddler's budget on his back," such as peddler Pratt usually carried, might have happened when the old man was awake as easily as if he were asleep, and Sidney Rigdon, "the exalted man," can send this same "heavenly messenger," Parley Parker Pratt, to deliver up the precious box. Watch out for what is about to transpire at the hill and all will soon be clear.

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ALL THINGS ARE READY.

By September, 1827, preparations are all completed, and Smith has announced to his neighbors that he has been shown the box in which the golden plates are concealed, and had often tried to open it, but was struck back by an invisible blow from Satan, who had been at his elbow, and accused him of avarice and ambition, and that he must repent and humble himself for that great event.

I suppose there is no doubt about Satan being at his elbow; but that he struck him back, accused him of avarice and ambition, and urged him to humble himself and repent, is extremely doubtful, as that is quite out or his line of business. Who ever heard of the devil urging any one to repent and prepare or anything?

Smith said that angels (Rigdon and Pratt, of course) visited him frequently, and while he boldly confessed himself a great sinner, and owned that he had led an unworthy life, "the Lord had chosen him and forgiven all his sins; and for his own inscrutable purpose made him, weak and erring as he might have been, the instrument of His glory." 

Smith's neighbors have testified that he made contradictory statements as to where the box was going to be found. Of course, this treasure, like others he had dug for many a time, might-be "spirited away" from place to place, though he finally stated that he had know[n] exactly where it was for four years, and had annually visited the spot. This statement was probably true, as that is about the time that had transpired since he first got in possession of the manuscript.

However, the time came at last, on the night of September 22, 1827, as he claims, amid storms of thunder and lightning, that an angel came out of a chasm in Cummora Hill, and delivered the box with its valuable contents into his hands. Here, of course, Rigdon, the exalted man or "God" to Joseph Smith, can command Pratt, the "heavenly messenger" chosen of God (Rigdon), to perform this act, and not in any way marr the dignity of the occasion.

Smith carried the box to his cabin and opened it in secret, but just what it contained and in what shape it was has probably never been known to any one except Smith, Rigdon and; Pratt, who prepared it for the occasion. Smith is reported as claiming that it contained six golden tablets eighteen inches square, held

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together by three rings at the back; the sword of Laban and a breastplate, which had been brought from Jerusalem. Others say he claimed that the plates were about eight inches long by seven inches wide. In either case, the space afforded by such a set of plates is utterly inadequate to contain engravings for one-tenth of the Book of Mormon, and when we add to this the still more outrageous pretention that the Book of Mormon is not the "one-hundredth part" of the matter contained on the plates in the box, it does seem that at least some fragment of all this precious metal might have been seen for some time afterwards.

The fact is, it would be utterly impossible for Smith or any other man, to carry the amount of metal plates, which, according to the Book of Mormon, were deposited in that box, no matter in what style of visible hyeroglyphics it might have been inscribed. But when we remember that all three of the original witnesses who testified that they had seen the plates, afterwards acknowledged that their statement was false, we can safely dismiss this part of the fabrication; though it would have been an easy matter for Rigdon to have gotten up a few in very ingenious style for exhibition. But as no one has ever been able to produce them, however loudly demanded, we conclude that not even that much precaution was taken. The magazine pictures were taken from paper copy. 

A large portion of the following two years (1827-1829), was spent in what Smith calls translating the records. The community was now informed as to what was going on at Smith's house, and as the work progressed people sometimes called to see how it was getting on. Some of them were allowed to feel the manuscript as it reposed in a pillow-case, but no one was allowed to see it. Curiosity ran so high at one time that certain persons of Palmyra contrived a plan to capture the plates, and as a pretense, went to serve on Smith a writ for debt. Hearing about it he placed everything in a bag of beans and tried to escape, but was overtaken and searched by the sheriff, who was not bright enough to look in the bean bag, else he might have found at least the Spalding- manuscript. Smith and Cowdrey soon returned to their work and with the exception of one other calamity, were unmolested while it was slowly finished.
 

RIGDON'S COPY WAS USEFUL.

This last calamity brought Rigdon again upon the scene. During the "translation" a man by the name of Harris had gotten

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to he very intimate with Smith and was being persuaded to furnish the money for the publication of the book. Mrs. Harris was not at all pleased with this proposed lay out of their means, and watched for an opportunity to prevent it. She managed in some way to get possession of one hundred and sixteen pages of the work and could not be induced in any way to give them up. The problem was : How to replace them. Smith claimed that he was denied the gift of translation, and ten months labor was thus lost. (A very sad and remarkable loss this was at such a time, the very time it was most needed, and the very time it would certainly not have been withdrawn if it had of God.)

Luckily Joseph had a "revelation," and the solution to his dilemma is unconsciously furnished by Mother Lucy in "Joseph Smith, the prophet," pages 119, 120, 121, where she gives an account of a mysterious and unnamed "stranger" who came to their home with Joe at the time Mrs. Harris had abstracted the lost pages. She relates that as a mere matter of kindness this "stranger" forced upon Joe, "the prophet," his company for all twenty mile walk through the woods at night, left a stage coach and went out of his way to do it, and attended the interview with Harris next day. This was a very opportune time for Rigdon's presence, and a time when doubtless his second-grade copy of the Spalding manuscript was greatly in demand. Everything soon started up again though Mrs. Harris never did pony up the lost pages. 

Mr. Z. Rudolph, the father of President Garfield's wife, knew Sidney Rigdon well and has stated that 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; and that he afterward appeared very preoccupied, and would indulge in dreamy, imaginative talks which puzzled those who listened. When the book appeared and Rigdon joined so readily in advocating the new religion, the suspicion was at once aroused that he was one of the framers of the new doctrines and not ignorant of the authorship of the Book of Mormon.

HELPERS  IN  THE  FRAUD.

The suspicious manner in which the so-called translation was conducted has already been referred to and only adds to the already abundant weight of testimony that the whole thing was

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a fraud from the beginning and will be to the end. The idea of Smith hiding "behind a blanket hung across the room to keep the sacred records from profane eyes" and then to publish the book with an affidavit from eleven other men that they had "seen and hefted" the original plates, is nauseating even to a healthy stomach. And notwithstanding the fact that these witnesses have since affirmed the falsity of their statement, yet every copy of the Book of Mormon that has been printed since that time contains the same affidavit of these same men, and it is repeated in millions of pamphlets and tracts being circulated all over the face of the earth today. Thus it is that tons of fraudulent lies, are being transported by the mails of the United States, and much of it at one cent a pound.

The sheets of paper which circulated around through the country as pretended transcripts of the plates, were no doubt prepared by Rigdon for the purpose. These pictures finally got into some of the magazines and thousands of leaders all over the land today think they were really taken from original plates. The crooked characters were arranged in perpendicular columns precisely as indicated in the literary style of a people described in Spalding's first attempt at the romance, now found in the Oberlin College Library, -- another positive proof of plagiarism. The characters were a combination of Greek, Hebrew and Roman letters, placed sideways, inverted, and every other way, so as to signify nothing whatever to any one, except that it was the "great mystery" with which these magazines helped Smith to fool the people. 

THE  CHURCH  ORGANIZED.

The work is finally ready for the press and Martin Harris mortgaged his farm, contrary to the wishes of his wife, for $3,000 to get it published, as he afterwards stated, in the hope of making money. A few weeks after the publication of the book, Smith and his friends met at the house of Peter Whitmer and organized the church, with six members: Joseph Smith, Hiram Smith, Samuel H. Smith, Peter Whitmer, David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdrey, April 30, 1830. They professed to believe that it was the "Church of Christ" once more restored to the earth, holding the keys of authority, and power to bind and to loose, and to seal, on earth and in heaven. The following Sunday Cowdrey preached his first sermon on "the principles of the

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gospel as revealed to Joseph," and Mrs. Joe Smith was baptized and given the new name, "Electra Cyria," or "Daughter of God."

The church is now organized and ready for work. Pratt and Rigdon are yet unknown to the public as having anything to do with it. Let us see if there is any difficulty in bringing them into the fold. Pratt, through his association with Rigdon in Ohio, has already been converted and entered the ministry as a "Disciple." 

PRATT'S  MYSTERIOUS  VISIT

In the summer of 1834 only a few weeks after the organization of Smith's new church in New York, Pratt left Ohio for a visit to that state, and the following facts are taken from his autobiography:

"Landing in Buffalo, we (Pratt and wife) engaged our passage for Albany in a canal boat, distance 30 miles. This, including board, cost all our money and some articles of clothing." This shows that he was bent on going. When a man gives up part of his clothing to pay his fare "on a visit," you may rest assured something is up. But read on: "Arriving at Rochester, I informed my wife that, notwithstanding our passage being paid through the whole distance, yet I must leave the boat and leave her to pursue her passage to our friends, while I would stop a while IN THIS REGION. * * * I said to her: We part for a season; go and visit our friends in our native place; I will come soon, but how soon I know not, FOR I HAVE A WORK TO DO IN THIS REGION OF COUNTRY, AND WHAT IT IS OR HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE ME TO PERFORM IT, I KNOW NOT; BUT I WILL COME WHEN IT IS PERFORMED." He went with her as far as Newark, about a hundred miles from Buffalo, then left her on the boat, and his autobiography continues:

"It was early in the morning, just at the dawn of day, I walked ten miles into the country" (mind you now, he does not know where he is going) "and stopped with a Mr. Wells." (The same Wells family, mind you, with which Smith had long been intimate.) He then continues: "I proposed to preach in the evening. Mr. Wells readily accompanied me through the neighborhood to visit the people and circulate the appointment."

"We visited an old Baptist deacon by the name of Hamblin. After hearing of our appointment for the evening, he began to tell of a BOOK, A STRANGE BOOK, A VERY STRANGE BOOK in his possession, which had just been published. I inquired of him how and whence the book was to be obtained. He promised me the perusal of it at his house the next day, if I

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would call. I felt a strange interest in the book. Next morning I called at his house, where, for the first time, my eyes beheld the Book of Mormon, that book of books."

That he was interested in it and had been for two or three years, there is no doubt, and that this was this first sight of the printed book, may likewise be conceded; but that he was ignorant of its contents, no one can believe in the light of what preceded and what followed.

Pratt at once determined to see Smith but he was away. He spent the night with Hirum Smith, preached two more nights in the neighborhood and Joseph still not having arrived, Pratt went to the Whitmers, rested that night and took his Mormon baptism the next day. The following Sunday he attended a Mormon meeting, preached a Mormon sermon, and his autobiography concludes: "My work was now completed, for which took leave of my wife and the canal boat some two or three weeks before."

Knowing that such a sudden conversion raises a suspicion of Pratt's complicity in the fraud, the Mormons tried to make it appear that Pratt was much prejudiced against the book and took much time for serious deliberation, etc., but in a sermon delivered in 1856, Pratt affirmed that he was converted during that first reading of the book. Here are his own words: "I knew it was true, because it was light, and had come in fulfillment of Scripture; and I BORE TESTIMONY OF ITS TRUTH TO THE NEIGHBORS THAT CAME IN DURING THE FIRST DAY THAT I SAT READING IT AT THE HOUSE OF AN OLD BAPTIST DEACON NAMED HAMBLIN."

The many discrepancies in the various accounts given by Mormons of Pratt's conversion are caused by an attempt to conceal Pratt's complicity in the fraud. I should think his own account, recorded by him at the time and publicly preached later, would be just about as reliable as anything that might he hatched up years after to keep down suspicion.

RIGDON  CAPTURED  NEXT.

Let us now behold with what difficulty and dispatch Rigdon is brought into the fold. Pratt is already in, of course Rigdon must report next, and as far as possible, the people whom he had so carefully prepared for the reception of Mormonism.

Joseph has a "revelation," ordering Pratt and others to "go

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unto the wilderness among the Lamanites (Indians)." Pratt is out of clothing, having sold it in getting to the Book of Mormon. The women set to work to supply him, which they say, "was no easy task, as most of it had to be manufactured out of the raw material." Pratt's wife is left at Whitmers, "that she may not want while he is away converting Indians" (and Rigdon.) "Late in October" Pratt took leave of his friends and started on foot, of course, "preaching by the way," to Indians at that, and through the inclement weather of that season and the rough roads of the then wild west, we find him at Kirtland, Ohio, a distance of three hundred and seventy miles, by November the 13th, and according to very exact authority, Pratt preaches Mormonism in Rigdon's own church (Disciples) on Sunday, and Rigdon is baptized and brought into the fold that same day, November 14, 1830, -- just thirty-six hours after Pratt's arrival.

Seeing that these sudden conversions would serve to identify the guilty conspirators, the Mormons have claimed that Pratt and Rigdon both antagonized Mormonism for weeks, but in doing this they make Pratt walk three hundred and seventy miles in less than no time at all and give the lie to his own words in his autobiography and in his published sermon. If these conversions had really been honest, there would have been no thought of trying to conceal their suddenness. 

By the last of November Rigdon is a Mormon visitor at Smith's home in New York, and preached the first Mormon. sermon in what is at present the Hall of the Y. M. C. A., at Palmyra, taking his text from the Book of Mormon, and on December 7th, was made "scribe to the prophet Joseph, by special revelation from God."

In another revelation following immediately after this, Rigdon's community in Ohio, where for some time he has been preparing the people for the reception of the new faith, is designated as "the promised land," even at Kirtland, which was to be the "seat of the New Jerusalem" for the Mormons. This "revelation" grew out of the fact that fierce opposition and persecution of an unfortunate type now confronted the "Saints" in their native state. It was "revealed" to Smith that that was not a suitable place for them to prosper in, or be recognized. He announced that it was time for them to move to Kirtland, Ohio. There the soil had been better prepared by the effectual work of Rigdon while posing as "Disciple" preacher.

Preparations were made and the Mormons, under the leadership

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of "Joseph, the prophet," journeyed in wagons to Ohio, carrying their household goods with them. On the way a sister of Joseph was delivered of a lifeless female child, which the "prophet Joseph" had said before its birth, would astonish the Gentile world as a second advent of a "triune humanity." Its mother was unmarried, and the birth of the babe was to be miraculous; but it became pretty well known that Rigdon was its father. But as we are dealing only with the origin of Mormonism, we will not soil these pages with its further abominable history. 

STILL  MORE  CONVINCING.

Thus far we have traced the history and revisions of Spalding's romance along two lines:

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sudden conversions of Rigdon and were really attempts to conceal their complicity in the fraud, and that the prompt removal of Mormon headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio, was to get into the more favorable territory where Rigdon had previously prepared, and thus avoid the exposure that was about to overtake them in their native state.

The facts thus far established are doubtless sufficient for the: ordinary mind, but as this little work is to furnish "Positive Proof," even to the most prejudiced reader, no link in the chain must be left unhooked. The best way to show that we have the proof for what we say, is to plank it down. When that is done the matter should be settled, but experience teaches that it is not likely to be settled until that is done. 

It now remains to establish beyond the shadow of a doubt the points of identity between the Spalding romance and the Book of Mormon. The showing of this will not only clinch the fraud, but will establish also the very low-down human. origin of the book and the system of religion which it inculcates.

The first part of the evidence establishing this identity consists of spontaneous, voluntary testimony of eye and ear witnesses, and is therefore of very great evidentiary value. The second part consists of a careful examination and comparison of the internal contents of the Spalding manuscript and the Book: of Mormon. The manuscript used for this purpose is the original block-out of the story, now deposited in the Library of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. It is rather a poor specimen of Spalding's work, but as we shall see, it abundantly answers our purpose for comparison.

Spalding was very fond of his writings and took great pleasure in reading them to his friends when they visited him at his home. Many of his old friends were still living at Conneaut when Mormonism was organized in New York. The "elders" were soon going up and down in the earth, and began to "compass sea and land to make one proselyte." It happened that one of them accidentally straggled over into Conneaut, the very place where Spalding had done most of his writing, and where he had read it from time to time to his friends. A public meeting was appointed for the stranger preacher, and he discussed and read copiously from his new Bible, the Book of Mormon. It was immediately recognized as the writings of Solomon Spalding by many who were present, among them John Spalding, a brother of Solomon, who was amazed and afflicted that

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his brother's writings had been perverted to so wicked a purpose. With tear-filled eyes he arose in the meeting and expressed his sorrow that his sainted brother's writings were being used for so vile a purpose. Others united with him in protesting against it, and a citizen's meeting appointed Dr. D. P. Hurlburt to collect evidence which was afterwards published in Howe's Mormonism Unveiled, and which has been republished many times since then. We will now take up some of this direct testimony, together with some of the abundant corroborative evidence which has been gathered since then. 

FIRST WITNESS, OLIVER SMITH.

Conneaut, Ohio, August, 1833.    

When Solomon Spalding first came unto this place, he purchased a tract of land, surveyed it out, and commenced selling it. While in this business he boarded with me six months. All his leisure hours mere occupied in writing an historical novel founded upon the first settlers of this country. He said he intended to trace their journey by land and sea till their arrival in America, give an account of their art, sciences, civilizations, wars, and contentions. In this way he would give a satisfactory account of the old mounds, so common in this country.

During the time he was at my house I read and heard read one hundred pages or more. Nephi and Lehi were by him represented as leading characters when they first started for America. Their main object was to escape the judgments which they supposed were coming upon the old world. * * * When the Book of Mormon came in the neighborhood, and I heard the historical part of it related, I at once said it was the writings of Solomon Spalding.

OLIVER SMITH."     

SECOND WITNESS, JOHN SPALDING.

Conneaut, Ohio.    

Speaking of the writing which his brother had done, John Spalding says: "The book he was writing was entitled '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 Jew, 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 LEI-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

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large heaps, which caused the mounds so common in this country. The arts, sciences and civilization were brought into view in order to account for all the curious antiquities found in various parts of North and South America. I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and, to my great surprise, I find NEARLY ALL 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 my best 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, I am unable to determine. 

JOHN SPALDING."    

THIRD WITNESS, MARTHA SPALDING.

Conneaut, Ohio.    

The testimony of this witness being substantially the same as that of her husband above, as to the general contents of the romance, and the leading names and phrases, all of which are identical with the same in the Book of Mormon, it is not deemed worth while to spread it out here, as our space is already getting scarce. 

FOURTH WITNESS, HENRY LAKE.

Conneaut, Ohio.