Hillsdale Whig standard. (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1846-1851, 1851-07-08

ten Dy hlgdon. ana ne may nave aeen aidet
by Spaulding's manuscripts. but the book il
self is without doubt a production of tht
} Smith family, aided by Oliver Cowdery, wht
was school teacher on Stafford street. an IN
innate of the Smith family, and identified
with the whole matter. The production al
all will ilconclude, who have given il curse.
ry review, is not that Of an educated man o
woman. The bungling attempt TO counter.
felt the style Of the Scriptures; the intermix
ture ofmodern phraseoogy; the ignorance o.
chronology and geOgrapy; its utter crude
ness and badness, as a whole, stamp its char.
acier aud clearly exhibir its vulgar origin.
1t is a rlrange medley of Scriptures, roman.
ce and bad composition.
The primitive designs of Mrs. Smith, hel
husband, 10. and Cowdery, was money-mak.
ing; blended with which perhaps, was a de.
sire for notorieiy, to be obtained by a cheat
and fraud. The idea Of being the found.
ers OF new sect was an alter thought, in
which they were aided by others
The projectors of the humbug, being des-
titute of means for carrying out their plans
a victim was selected TO obviate that difficult
~. Martin Harris was farmer Of PALMYRA,
the owner Of good farm. aud 40 honest wor-
thy citizen; bat especially given to religious
enthusiasm. new creeds, the more extrava-
ganI The better; a monomauiac 10 fact. Jo-
seph Smith. upon whom the mantle Of pro-
phecy had fallen after the sad fate of Alvah,
begsn 10 make demonstrations. He inform
ed Harris Of the great discovery, and that il
/ had been revealed TO him. that he (Hanis. J
was cb osen instrument TO aid in the great
work OF surprising the world with new rev.
| elation. They had hi, upon the right man.
( tie mortgaged his fine iarm TO pay FOR print
! ing the book, assumed a grave mysterious,
and uneathly department, and made here
and there among his acquantances solemn
/ anuunciatlons OF the great event that was
! transpitlug. His version Of the discovery,
+ AS communicated to him by the Prophet Jo-
Z seph himself, is well remembered by several
respectable citizens of Palmyra, 10 whom he
made early disclosures. Ii was. 10 substance
as follows:
The Prophet Joseph was directed oy an an.
gel where TO find, by excavation, at the place
afterwards called Mormon Hi the gold
| plates; and was compelled by the angel much
against his will, to be the interpreter of the
sacred record they contained, and publish il
10 the world. That the plates contained
record OF the ancient inhabitants of this cOuG-
try, 'engraved by Mormon the son of Ne
PIN That on top of the box containing tie
plates, "a pair Of spectacles were found, the
stones or glass set in which were Opaque 10
all but the Prophet that 'lhese belonged to
Mormon the engraver Of the plates, and with
out them, the plates could not be read. -
Harris assumed that himself and Cowdefy
were the choseH amanuenses. and that the
Prophet Joseph. curtained from the world
and them with his speetscles read from the
W8fid we sns s9d I5 !hem TAp isJ neGaGfaSfq6 iqn
per. Harris exhibited TO an informant o: the
author, the manusciipt title page. On II
were drawn, rudely and bungingy. concen-
trio circles, between, above and below which
were characters, with little resemblance to
letters; apparently mserat lie imitation oil nj
eroglyphics, the writer may somewhere have
seen. To regard against profane curiosity,
the Prophet had given out that no one bat
himself, not even his chosen co-operators,
must be permitted to see them on pain OF IN
slant death. Harris had never seen the plates
but the glowing account of their massive rich.
ness excited other than spiritual hopes, aud
he, upon one occasion, got village silver
smith 10 help him estimate their value, taking
as basis, the Prophets account OF their di-
mensions. Ii was a bleeding of the spiritu-
al and utilitalian. that threw a shadow of
doubt upon Martins sincerity. TINS, and
/
profits that would arise from the sale Of the
Gold Bible, made it then, as it is now, moo
ted question whether he was altogether a
dupe.
The wife Of Harris was rank infdel aud
| hereto, touching the whole thing, and deci
dedly opposed TO her husbands participation
10 il. With sacriligous hand she seized
over an hundred OF the manuscript pages OF
| the nev revelation, and burned or secreieG
them. 1t was agreed by Smith and family,
! CUwerdy and Harris, not to uanscrlbe these
again, but TO let so much Of the new reve'a-
! ilon drop out, as the 'eyil spirit would get up
/ a story that the second translation did not a
gree with the first A very ingenious meth
| cd, surely, of guarding against the posslblll-
| ty that Mrs. Harris had preserved the man
uscript with which they might be confronted
/ should they attempt an imitation OF their own
miserable patchwork.
The Prophet did not get his lesson well
| upon the start, or the household Of the i'm
| pOstoTs were in fault. After he had told hls
story. in his absence, the TEST Of the family
| made new version Of il To one OF their mel
! ghbors. They showed him such pebble
as may any day be picked up on the shore OF
\ Lake Ontario--the common horn blend
carefully wrapped 10 cotton, and kept IN
mysterious box. They said it by looking at
this stone, in hat, the light excluded, that
Joseph discovered the plates. This, it will
! be observed differs materially from Joseph's
story Of the angel. Ii was the same stone
the Smiths had used in money digging, and
10 some pretended discoveries OF stolen prop
euy.
Long before the Gold Bible demonstration, n,
the Smith family had. with some sinister OBJ
ject in view, whispered another fraud ia the
the ears of the credulous. They pretended
that in digging for money on Mormon Hill,
they came across chest. three by two feet
in size, covered with Sark colored stone.
In the centre Of the store was a white spot
about the size OF sixpence. Enlarging, the
spot increased to the size Of twenty four
poand shot, and then exploded With terrible
noise. The chest vanished and all was utter
darkness.
Ii may be safely presumed that 10 no 9TH
er instance have Prophets and the chosen
and designated Of angels, been quite as cal
culating snd worldly as were those OF Stat