Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-11-09
The " Book of Mormon" and How 1t
. Originated. ~ :.

zaUon OF q church OF that, name at
Kirkland, Lake County, O., in the year
1884. Sidney Rigdon was at that time,
the recognized organizer and leader of
the new order. The writer lived with
in a few miles of Kirkland at the time,
and although quite young he has a dis
tinct recollection of the public senti-
ment and feeling as tothe new religion.
| After this new religion had succeeded
in attracting some attention, and had
obtained quite q number of adherentsl
by the efforts of Rigdon, Joseph Smith
and Oliver Cowdery, it began to chal-
lenge the criticism and investigation of
a class of minds far above those who,
through, superstition and religious
frenzy, had joined the order. Among
these We're Eber d. Howe and Storm
Rosa. Mr.. Howe was the editor of the
gainesville Telegraph and Mr. Rosa was
a practising physician. They resolved
to see what there was in Mormonism,
and went to wsrk. The result was a
book of some 500 pages entitled "Mor-
monism Unveiled.a' Al I presume the
book could be obtained now by sending
to the Postmaster or Mayor Of Paines-
vile, O., where the authors lived.
gainesville is but ten miles from Kirt-
land. ..
The pretense of the Church leaders
that the Book of Mormon had it's orr
gin from the discovery of the plates by
Joe Smith, as claimed in the letter of
w. W., was of the first things to be
exposed. This the authors did by
showing that the original Book of Nor
w ~ WAC a r0lTnSnrVc ~ Al ra ,r06
by solomon Spaulding, a retired
preacher of the gospel, of Ashtabula
County, Ohio; and this fact was shown
by the sworn afidavits of Mrs. Spauld-
ing and a large number of the immedi-
ate neighbors and friends of Mr..
Spaulding, whom he often entertained
during long evenings with reading por-
tions of his romance. These affidavits,
in describing the romance and in Civ
ing the names OF the actors, the scenes
and incidents narrated, and all the sur
rounding circumstances, leave no doubt
Of the two books.
1t is further shown that Mr.. S., after
completing his book, went with his
manuscript to a certain printer in Pitts
burgh, Pa, to have it published, and,
while the printer was examining the
manuscript and considering the subject,
Mr.. Spaulding was taken sick and died.
The book further shows that Sidney
Rigdon was at that time a journeyman
printer in the same office applied to
by Mr.. S., and had assisted in examin-
ing the manuscript. 1t further shows
that S~paulding's widow after his death
applied to the printer for the manu-
script of her husbands romance, but it
could not be found. "Mormonism In
yelled" further shows hat about this
time a young and very eccentric man
by the name Of Joseph Smith, in the
County of Chautauqua, n. Y, was at
tracing considerable attention as a
"seer" who pretended that by looking
at a certain stone placed in his hat
drawn close to his face he would dis
cover hidden things and unknown facts
and that Rigdon had changed his resi-
dence from Pittsburgh to the neighbor-
hood of this ~"seer."
The plates mentioned by w. w. next
make their appearance as having been
discovered by this ''seer'' Joe Smith.
Here Oliver Cowdery's services are
called in to translate the inscriptions
and hieroglyphics of the plates, he be-
ing a man of learning. And the result
of all this was the advent of the Nor
mon Bible into the world and the es-
Enlistment at Kirkland of the Church
of the Latter-day Saints, with Rigdon,
Smith, and Cowdery at its head, with q
few followers as devoted as Catholicism
itself could wish.
The combined effects of Mormon
ism Unveiled and the collapse of the
Kirkland Safety Fund Bank, got up by
these same men, whose bills had been
spread as broadcast as possible, and
the constantly occurring troubles be-
tween the Mormons and the surround
ing citizens, compelled them to abandon
Kirkland. These troubles were of the
same kind as those that subsequently,
led to Smiths death at Nauvoo, Iii. He
was, in fact, arrested and tried for an
attempt to commit murder, but slipped
through the meshes of the law, as many
q culprit has done. The charge was
that Smith had persuaded q meek men,
Der of the faith by the name of Denton
to believe that it was the will of God
that a man by the name of Grandson
Newell should be removed, as he vas a
wicked hindrance to the progress OF the
church. And Denton waylaid Newell
to kill him; Newell failed to put in an
appearance at the requisite time, and
Denton told the story. Judge Bissell,
who is now living a retired life at Red
Oak, Ia, successfully defended Smith.
Many are the storiestold blythe former
people of Kirkland of the fruitless efforts
of the Mormons to work miracles in
support of their faith. One would
scarcely believe at this time that fanati-
cism or folly could carry any people to
the extent it didsthese MorRons: It's
susceptible of the strietest proof that
Smith, in an attempt "to walk on
the WATER" got his foot off the plank
just below the surface for him to
walk on, and went all over
into the creek. The saints rushed
in to his rescue, concealed the plank,
or tried to, and laid his failure to a
want of faith. He once undertook the
practical operation of casting out the