, 1886-10-06
VISIT TO MINERS HILL,
ONE OF THE PLACES CELEBRATED
IN THE HISTORY OF MORMONlsM.


Amanuensis-One OF the Dupes-case
on Miner's Hill bringing Out the
Book.
On returning to the village of Palmyra
we visited another hill which is celebrated
In the annals of Mormon history. In
order that the reader may understand
the Significance of this hill we must go
back 10 Joe Smith and his bible. The
book, which. by the way. no one ever
saw, was said to consist of metal plates,
pierced on one edge, and faste ned to-
gether by rings which passed through the
holes. With the book was also found, or
so pretended, a huge pair of spectacles.
too large for any mortal eyes, which had
the remarkable quality of turning the
hieroglyphics on the metal plates into
plain English.
Smiths scheme required the publica-
ton of his bible. How was he to accomp-
lish thisf No one was allowed to see the
metal plates, and yet Smith could not
write n legible hand. An accomplish was
necessary. But Smith was equal to the
occasion He engaged one Oliver Cow
derry, a school-teacher, to be his scribe.
promising him part of the proceeds of the
book. The Smiths were then living in a
little, one-story log house. There were
only two rooms on the ground floor, with
a pointed garnet in the roof Across one
corner of this garnet smith had n blanket
screen stretched. Behind this screen he
eusconced himself with his magic spec
tacles and his golden book Tor, as Hussey
afirms. his tile brickl Cowdery sat on
the other side of the blanket and wrote
from Smiths dictation.
ONE OF TIL UPEs
Martin Harris, a wealthy farmer, was
induced to bear the expense of printing
the manuscript, But Harris wife was a
woman of too much good sense to be
Smiths dupe. ST in the absence OF her
husband she put the manuscript in the
stove and burnt 1t up. Here was a check
in the proceeding, and one, too, that filed
Smith with dismay. He and Harris were
morally certain that Mrs. Harris had
taken the manuscript, but they did not
know It was burned. Smith was unable to
reproduce the book exactly, and he feared
that the first manuscript would be pro-
duced to confound him. However, it
wasn't a time to give up. He and his
friends repaired to Miners hill by night,
and there dug a sort of cave on the east
side of the hill. The dimensions of this
cav were forty feet deep, sixteen feet
wide, and seven feet high. The entrance
was secured by a substantial door Of two
inch oak plank. In this lark save Smith
set about producing a new manuscript,
Cowdery still acting rs an amanueDsis.
This copy was more securely guarded; it
is that from which the Mormon bible was
printed in 1922.
Miners hill is about two and a half
miles south OF Palmyra. In appearance
1t Is similar to Mormon hill, and like it
runs of to the south in a ridge. In the
days of Smith 1t was heavily wooded.
When we visited the hill the timber had
been cut down, and the whole was IA
slashihg filed with stumps, briers and
burrs. We had little difficulty in finding
what used to be the cave. 1t is situated
just below the brow of the hill. Fifty-six
years, however, have left their ravnges.
Instead of a cav we found quite a depres-
sion where tho earth had given way and
fallen In. The door had long since disap-
peared. The door-frame, however, still
stands there, buried more than half the
way up in the earth. The frame is
roughly made. the sides not being NOR
tised into the top, but simply secured by
three large spikes driven through each
end of the top piece. We took our knife
and cut off n piece of the wood. II wa
as sound rs when the frame was frs
made. Hundreds of people, we wer,
told, annually visit Mormon hill; but few
ever wend their way through the burrs
and briers of Miners hill.
rRINTED Al LAS
After a good deal of demurrlng Mr..
E0bert h. Grandin, the publisher OF Toe
Wayne Sentinel, contracted to do the
printing. An edition of 5,OOh copies was
ordered. The price agreed Upon was
$1,000. Harris pied ging himself to pay
the money. 1t happened that at that time
the leading compOsitor in Mr.. Grandin's
office was Mr.. John II. Gilbert. Mr.. Gil
bert, or, as he is now called, Maj. Gilbert,
is to-day a hale man of IS years. 1t was
our good fortune to meet him md have a
long talk about the early days Of Nor
monism, He had the chief operative trust
Of the typesetting and p%resswork. He
got out the first form. There were in all
hSS pages of the bible, and of these Gil
bert set up with his own hands over 500.
The original instructions were that no
alterations whatever from the copy were
to be made. But under Gilbert's earnest
protestations these instructions were re-
scinded. Cowdery, though a tolerable
penman, was poor in syntax, photography,
punctuation. etc. The copy furnished him,
Mr.. Gilbert assured us, was a solid mass.
There was no punctuation, very few
capitals, no paragraphs.
Joe Smith kept In the background. Gil
bert only say him ~twice-once in the of
flee for n few minute and once on the
street. Hyrum Smith, his brother,
brought the copy to the office every morn
ing, in installments of twenty-four pages,
buttoned up in his vest, and came for
them at night, But after much friendly
expostulation Smith In about ten days re-
Taxed his vigilance, and permitted Gil
bert to a k the manuscript home to cor
rect and punctuate. This was on Gil
bert's word hat he would be responsible
for the copy. Grandin read most Of the
proof: Gilbert read the rest. The con.
tract price of the printing was faithfully
paid by Harris. David Whitmer, whc
now lives in Richmond, Mo, has the
original manuscript. A man living in
Williamson, Wayne county, n. Y, has
the press on which the book was printed.
The book was seven month in printing
that is, from August, 1929. to March,
1880.
Mr.. Gilbert has one copy of the orig
inal edition OF the Mormon Bible. 1t
has never been bound, but is in loose
leaves. He has been offered 800 for it,
but wants $500. He thinks II ought to
be procured for the library at Washing.
ton. In the Mormon Bibles now pub.
lished Joe Smith is styled the Trans.
lator." But the first edition bore on the
title page, "By JOSEPH Smith, Jr., author
and proprietor. IF. W. Morton In Chi
cago Times.