Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1851-10-14
HiUiaill HNWl


rbad composition
+ The pripiIiYs 4 81 IN az .Mss. S.aith her
fhqsband, Jo and Cpwdefy. was moDcy.nlak
fnSi bippded ywilh which. perhaps was a.4lc.
sire iur ndiofleiy, 10 be ob,ajned Gy a cheat,
and fraud; The idea. beius lhe toaA1orI
.etI New sect was Sh aller3hoosh, in
= Air!liiey yyere ai,!od.by Others, r 5l-~
& The Projectors Of the hnubu. heins dos
uIute ol niranS for CARRYING on, their plans,
a victim was selected TO Ubviaie lhgt '!iflicu!-
Wi Mplpp lIHris was laflner Of Palny
tui ,hc owner Of Il go0G farm, and an hon.
psr,w9bihy pciti2ynj bR especially given 10
rc'lainus e!!tl,usias in; new .crrnds, - more
exlrlyggapee she barn:, u nloi,onau!ac. il,
lacs. Joseph Snilh. upon whom ii, n;an.
aesqf prophecy had fallen aticr tho saI fase
Of Alvah, began 10 make demonstrations. -
H4 Informed Harris Of the grsN dissessry.
ana ,iiaI hestftasrisf was a ehasisa iias.rii.
inenl TO aid in the grva, work Of surprising
lh} world with new rcyeia;;uil. Thov
had hil upon lhn righlman. lls norgagei
his fine farm 10 pay for printing he hdok
Department., and made hero ana ,her, among
his acquainlances solemn anuunciaiior4 OF
The grear event that was 'lranspirin4. Ills
yerSion Of ihe discovery, rs cummunicaled
TO him BY lhc Prophei Joseph himself, i,
weilremembcred by sevsral resppclab,e Gil.
i gems Of Palmyra, 10 whom he made earl y
disclosures, !, was in substance u lUlIsvs:
The prophet Joseph was directed by an
angel whore tp find, by 'xcavaiun. ii ,he
plnce afterwards called Mormon Hin, the
gold plates; and was compelled BY ,hs an
gel, much against his will, to b, III. inter.
prefer Of tho sacred record lhey cnutainrd,
and publish i. 10 The wcrd, Yha, ,hc
plates contained record ul, the aEc.n, ia.
habilanls of this country. ",n2ravcd bl
Mormon tho son Of Nephi," Thsr-on he
rnp Of the box containing the pIs!es, "a pair
Of arge specacles were found The slunes
or glass sci in which were opaquc 10 al but
the prophet that ''lhese belong d 20 Nor.
mon. The engravCr Of the plates and wi,hou,
Ihemlhc p'a.rs, could no, bs reaa'' liar.
ris assumed that hjmsei and Cowdcry were
the 'chnsen. misunderstanding !he piophel
Joseph. curIained from lhe word aad them.
wi.h1 hIs spociac'es read Gro,n .hc gold
plates what lhey coNynitt4d 10 papr. .
ilagris exhibited 10 an ildnr,nsn, Of the
author lhc manuscript uHle pagr. Ga il
vas d'aMn. ruday, and bangingly, conc,n.
,ric circles. between ,abuvc and beins which
were characters with lille resemblance 10
tG'efs, apparently q miserable imitation ol
hiero9l lyphcs, The writer may somewhere
have seen, To guard against rroiane curl
osiiy. The prophcI had given oui iha, no on
burhmsCIl not even his chosen co-opers.
tors ,mustbe permnled 10 see ,he,n, ON pain
Of instant death. Harris had never seen
the plates, bur he glowing ncconm Of their
massive richness excited other Than spiritual
hopes, and he, upon one OCCASION, gol u
village slsorsmi'h 10 help him estimate
their value, taking asa basis The pruphcl's
account Of their dimensions. II was q
blending Of the spiritual and uliii,arian tha,
threw shadow Of doubt upon Mnriin's sin
cehy. This, and some anticipation. he
dulgod in as to the profits thai would arise
from the sale of The God Bble, made il
then, as il is now, mooied "a lsllon who,h.
Ell he was altogether dupe.
The wife Of harris vas rack ir6le
aud hereto, touching the Shos shipg, and
decidedly opposed 10 her husbands par,ici.
patton in ii. With sacriIcgious hands she
siczed over a hundred of lhs manuscr!p
pages OF The new ewrrveIalion, and burned .,
secrcsed them. Ii was agresd BY SmiGh
and family, Cowdery and Harris. no, ,c
'ranscribe these again. bul 10 Ie. so much oI
the new revelation lrop Out, as The "evil
spirit would get up a Story lhs. the second
translation did not agree with the Rrss." A
very ingenious method, surely, OF guarding
agiiinst the possibility lha, Mrs. Harris had
preserved the manuscript with which lhey
might be confronted, should,hey attemp, an
imitation of their oWu miserable pslchW work
Tho prophet did no, &c. his lesson well
upon the start or The household Of the i'm
postors were in fault. Alter he had told his
story, in his absence, the rest Of the family
made a new version of i, 10 one Of lheil
neig ghbors. They showed him such peb.
Bile rs may any day bc picked up ON Inc
shore Of Lake On,ariu--the common horn,
blendc--careluly wrapped up in cotton and
Kept in a mysterious box, They said i
was by looking at This stone, in hat, The
light excluded, shol Joseph discovered the
plates. Fhis, it will be observed. differs
materially from Joseph's story Of The angel
Ii was ih0 same stone The Smiths had used
in m9ney.diggng.. and in So;ne pretended
discover ol SI9rn propyrW Wunam9l lo al
|. ,lLong before lhp GuId Bible demonslra
zion, ihe Smlh family had, with some SIMS.
Ter pRlerl in siew, mhispercj another fra,ii
in Tue ears of ,lhs ereiulous. They pre-
'einyled shaL ~ idlgSig ior iiIuneyi aG Nor
mon KlIl, Ihey caW1 agroSs.a chasE three by
iwo, ieel, 10 size, G0Eemdiwhh adurk cbIof
ed stone IN tn, ceAtra,i ioSl the ST M was (
white SPOT abJui lbe size uo( a sxpincGlL
EnIarging, the spol Increased 20 hel sizS Is
a iWenly- Tour pound shM, and,Ihen expiotlet
with terrible nolse..d The chest vanishet
and all was, niler datkness.a' layN atl !e d
| l'nnas bei safely presumed dha, IN no, OH
or iAsancp hhsoypropne,sn'e and The chose,
and deslsDN@dl oI'Ihngets, 5cenaqute as cal
cuIaIing and worldly as were thtise of SIafF
iorI s'roeha MormonlhI, hdPalmyra, 'rh
oalyN business Hcnnuaet--yet:aa.qe insqu
'ncns IN wrIimg-Ihat wuS ever exccu,Gd Is
spNnua agents, has tb1rn prcservtl, ali
should DO among ihea archives of'th5 htN
State of UIah.---Ii is signed bythe proph,