St. Paul daily globe., 1885-12-20
DEATH OF A MORMON APOSTLE

DEATH OF A MORMON APOSTLE.
DAVID WHITMER, the last survivor of
the witnesses who beheld the plates of gold
on which JOSEPH SMITH claimed that the
Book of Mormon was inscribed in hero
glyphics, died last Friday at his home near
Richmond, No., at an advanced age. Mr..
WHITMER's early life was spent in Western
New York in the neighborhood of JOSEPH
SMITHS home. When sensation was
created in the neighborhood by the rumor
that SMITH had discovered a lot of gold
plates with strange characters on them, Mr..
WHITMER went to SMITHS house, in COM
pany with man by the name of CowDERY,
to ascertain the truth of the rumor. Ac-
cording to his statement, SMITH was in
clined to be retieent on the sub
ject, and refused at first to make
any communication. This Is explained
by the fact that threats had
been made by some avaricious neighbors to
take the plates from SMITH by force, alleg-
ing that he had stolen them or that he had
found some buried treasure to which he
was not entitled. The neighbors attached
more value to the gold that was in the
plates than they did to the characters in
scribed on them. When SMITH became
satisfied that WHITMER and COWDERY had
10 evil designs, but that they were ''seek-
ers after TRUTH" he produced the plates.
and they were carried to WHITMER's home
for safe keeping. 1t was there that eight
months were devoted to deciphering the
characters and interpreting the book by
means of the spectacles which were found
with the plates. In al interview with a re-
porter of the Chicago Tribune who visited
him on his death bed, WHITMER stated
that the plates were taken to Prof.
CHARLES ANTHoN, the professor of
ancient languages in Columbia college and
also the author of number of Greek and
Latin text books, and after careful i'll
spection of them Prof. ANTHoN said the
hleroglyphics were Egyptian characters.
During the time that the work of translat-
ing the book was going on they worked in
an apartment at one end of the family par
lor, which was partitioned Off by blankets
being hung across the room to prevent in
trusion. SMITH wore the spectacles and did
the reading, while WHITMER, CowDERY
and SMITHS wife in turn acted as amanu-
enseS. WHITMER says that SMITH was an
iliiterate man and frequently had difficulty
in pronouncing the words, but that Cow
derry, who was school teacher, rendered
valuable aid to them in this respect. A few
days after the work of deciphering the
plates had been completed and
the manuscript of the Book of
Mormon had been finished the
quartet who had engaged in the work
were on the highway together when great
light, like unto that which shone around
SAUL of Tarsus on his way to Damascus,
broke upon them, "a great power Smote them
to the earth, and a voice spoke unto them
commanding them to bear testimony to the
truth of that which they had seen and wit
messed. From that time WHITMER be-
came an apostle of Mormonism, but when
afterwards BRIGHAM Young and SMITH
attempted to impose upon the church new
revelation concerning polygamy he parted
company with them. He has lost no op-
portunity to denounce the false revelation
concerning polygamy, but has never way
0IGu III Ills lellUu LII eINiiS OiiSi VI
Mormonism and the miracle attending
its revelation. He denied that RIGDEN
ever had anything to do with the original
translation of the book, nor did he have
any connection with the church until two
years afterwards. The original manuscript
remained in WHITMER's possession, al
though the Mormon elders at Salt Lake had
made repeated efforts to get it from him. 1t
is asserted that at one time they offered him
S1OO, 600 for it, which he declined. Now
that he is dead they will probably reopen
negotiations with his heirs. Mr.. WHITMER
was highly esteemed in the neighborhOod
where he has lived for the last thirty-fiye or
folty years. He had held offices of high
trust and responsibility in the community,
and was always regarded as man of
scrupulous honesty, full of charity and
kindness, truthful, hosptable and just He
seems never to have been conscious of the
swindle which had been practiced upon him
by the charlatans, and while he deprecated
the brutal worship of the Utah MOrmons,
he testified with his dying breath to his be-
lief in the divine origin of the book Of
Mormon as a supplement to the Bible.
YOUNG AMERICA.