The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-03-11

ullOf III OnlO, hnu lOT inuny years
tate Printer at Columbus. When
President James II. Fairchild, of
)berl n College, was in Honolulu
more than year ago he suggested
NJ. Rice "that he might have /
valuable anti-savcry documents in
lis session, which he would be |
Wiling to contribute to the rich
collection already in the Cberlin
College Library. In pursuance of
this suggestion, Mr.. Rice began
looking over his old pamphlets and
papers, and at length came upon an
old, worn, and faded manuscript of
about one hundred and seventy-ive
pages, small quarto, purporting to
be history of the migrations and
conflicts of the ancient Indian tribes,
which occupied the territory now
belonging to the States of New
York, Ohio and Kentucky" Mr..
Rice and President Fairchild ex-
amined the document, and decided
that it was the long-lost story about
which the Mormon controversy had
ragged for years; also that it bore
no resemblance to the Book of
Mormon, further than that both
profess to set forth the history of
lost tribes. In a letter written from
here on March 2Sth, 1885, Mr..
Rice says the manuscript had come
into his hands in lS39-40, with the
effects of the Painesville, Ohio,
Teiegroph, when he and partner
bought that newspaper. Thus the
manuscript had been in his keeping
over forty years, but he had never
examined it, nor knew its character,
until some six or eight months pre-
vious to the date of his letter just
mentioned. President Fairchild was,
of course, the first applicant in the
field for the curiosity, but had a
host of competitors Immediately on
the discovery being made known in
the United States. He succeeded,
however, in procuring the original
copy for the museum of Oberlin
College, Mr.. Rice taking pains to
make an exact copy to keep for him
} self. Spaulding's introduction shows
what the story purports to be,
namely, translation made by
Spaulding of part of Latin manu-
script found in box, within an
artificial cave, near the west bank of
Coneaught River. This original
, document consisted of twenty-eight
rolls of parchment, the one of prin-
cipal interest to Spaulding being O
history of the authors life and tina,
, part of America which extends
/ along the great lakes and the waters
of the Mississippi. The author Of
: the Latin purported to he person
, of the family name of Fabius, who
: was born at Rome and receiving ,
4. good education there was sent by
? the Emperor Constantine on a mis-
e sion to Britain, or "Brittian," a.
= Parson Spaulding writes it. III
,, make long story short, the shil
t carrying Fabius was blown out int
n the ocean, and brought up on tin
: American beach, at the mouth o
J. vast river, up which she sailet
IS many leagues until a town wa
j. reached. The narrative proceed
IS with description of the kings, laws
- customs, etc., of this new country
v AS to religion, that may he mention
e ed as being the center of the book
Is interest, the inhabitants of the ne,
> world are found by Fabius to hav
.e theology in some points resem
a bling the systems in vogue in Europ
W and Asia. A passage scored out i
T. Spaulding's writing represents plura
0. marriages as having been permss
lg BILE among those primitive Amer
N cans. Whether Fabius and hi
to parchment are myths or not, tn
S. scratching out of polygamy b
b. Spaulding involves some interestin
III points that will suggest themselve
s. to any mind. The printed boo
ly follows Spaulding's writing to til
I'd letter, even the erasures Being show
or by undermining, and atrocious spell
is ing, together with the frequel
nd underining, makes the work