The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-04-25
JOB SMITHS BIBLE.
Not PIagiarized, But Was an
Original Work,
PROBLEM OF HIS CAREER
He Was Probably as Much
Fanatic as Hypocrite.
PROBLEM OF HIS CAREER

Philadelphia, April 22.-The Record says:
Joseph Smith is the peculiar hero of Lily
Douglas new romance, 1.-THE Mormon
Prophet" and the whole story is told of
the early PRONUNCIATION of the Book Of
Mormon, which he claimed to have trans
lated by means of the magic spectacles,
and the founding, through boodshed,
wanderings and martyrdom, of the Church
! of the Latter Day Saints The narrative
| begins with Smiths return to Manches-
| ter, y. Y, accompanied by his young wife
! Emma, whom he had espoused in SusQue-
hanna county, of this state There he
| had also translated the Book of Mormon
from behind the curtain, which has for
! ever yelled his secret. AS Miss DOugau
states in her preface, That the Prophets
| Book was an original production now
seems probable, as the recent discovery of
the celebrated Spalding (sic) manuscript,
and a critical examination of the evidence
Of Mrs. Spalding, go far to discredit the
popular accusation Of plagiarism"
The discovery Of DR.. Solomon Spalding's
long lost romance, The Manuscript
Found certainly dissipated the extreme
early accusations that Smith was in
debted to the Ohio cIergymen's fantastical
Igtale of the American aboriginals for his
Bible of the Latter Day Saints. The
legend originally went that Sidney Rigdon
who afterwards became Smiths right lieu
tenant and formed with him and Freder-
ick G. Williams the first Presidency of
1.-THE Church" had stoEen DR.. Spaulding's
manuscript from a Pittsburg printing
shop, where he was a printer, and that it
was this which Smith read to Cowdery,
Harris and Whitmer from behind the
blanket RigdOn, who was a Baptist min
lister and Campbellite before the joined
the Mormon Prophet, islalso q conspicuous
figure in Miss DOugalIs romance. The
historic tarring and feathering of both
Smith and Rigdon at Hiram, Ohio, is one
Of the episodes Of the story. Miss DougaIl,
through the personality of her heroine,
Susannah, views RigdOn in a very i'll
light. Rigdon pretended, along with the
Mormon Prophet, TO have had a revelation
concerning spiritual wives" but after
ward split with the church when Brig
ham Young was chosen, instead Of him
self, as the murdered Smiths successor.
In the romance the Prophet conftdes to
Susannah, in a notably characteristic
scene, his first hesitant idea on this sub
ject OF spiritual wives on which rock
his church split in half and nearly foun-
dered. 1t will be remembered how two of
his disciples, DR.. Foster and William Law,
energetically protested agains the prophet |
thus spiritually marrying their wives. The |
son Of Joseph Smith, Jr.-Joseph the Sec
ond-who also refused to acknowledge the |
supremacy of Brigham Young, estab- !
lisheG a Mormon sect which flourishes to- |
day and is strongly opposed to the polyg- |
amous doctrine Of the Utah Saints. States |
Miss Dougall in her preface:
"a large division of the Mormons Of to- |
day. who claim to be Smiths orthodox |
following, and who have never settled in |
Utah, are strictly homogeneous. These
have never owned Brigham Young as a
leader. never murdered their neighbors
nor defied the law in any way, and so Wig
orous their growth still appears that they
claim TO have increased their number by
fifty thousand since the last census of
1890. OF all their characteristics the sin
certify Of their belief is the most striking.
In Ohio, when one of the preachers of
these 'Smithite' Mormons was conducting
me through the many-storied temple, still
standing huge and gray on Kirkland
Bluff, he laid his hand on pile Of copies
Of the Book Of Mormon, saying solemnly:
Sister, here is the solidest thing in relig-
ion that you'u find anywhere
The Mormons revere but one prophet.
As to his identity there can be no mis-
take, since many of the revelations were
TO him by name-'To Joseph
Smith. Junior. He never saw Utah, and
his public teachings We're for the most
part uneNceptionable. Taking necessary
liberty with incidents, have endeavored
to present Smiths character as / found if
in his own writings, in the narratives Of
contemporary writer's and in the memories
Of the older inhabitants Of Kirkland.
In reviewing the evidence l am unable
to believe that, had Smiths doctrine been
invention, it would have lent
sufficient power to carry him through per
solutions in which his life hung in the
balance. and his cause appeared to be
lost or that the class of earnest nen. who
constituted the rank and file of his early
following would have been so long de-
eeived 10y deliberate hypocrite. 1t an
pears to me more likely that Smith was
genuinely deiuded by the automatic
freaks Of vigorous but undiscinlined I
Drain, and THAI, yielding TO these. he be-
anne confirmed in the hvsteric3l +aroar-
lment which always adds to delusion self
deception, and 70 seIf-decepcion half-cor-
'eious fraud. In his day i, was necessary
% reject marvel or admit lis spiritual
significance; granting an honest delusfo7
Is To his visions and his book. his only
hoice lay between counting himself The
sport If devils or the aEen, Of Heaven: an
'p-omis-ic temperament Casc the die.
IN describing the prosecutions Of his
cary followers I have modified rather
IMAM en'areed upon the facts Ii would
indeed he difficult To exaggerate the SUI
isrinsS OF this unhappy and extrao5-i-
narAy successful sect