The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-15
BIBLE Of
MORMONS
Facts About the SpauId-
ing Manuscript
Related.

mon Church of 1.-The finding of manu-
script Gin the Sandwich Islands) whicl
had been called the original of tn
Book of Mormon" AS Presiden
Smiths statement gives a wrong ac
| count of the relation of this manuscript
to the origin of the Book of Mormon
(the Mormon Bible) you may care t.
present to your readers the facts in re-
lation thereto.
The announcement of the discovery
of the manuscript in the Islands was
| made many years ago. President Fair
child of Oberlin College, in Ohio, gave
| nation in his possession went) in pa
per read by him before the Northern
Ohio and Western Reserve Historical
Society on March %, 1SS6-a paper that
is preserved in pamphlet form. His an
nouncement was eagerly accepted by
| the Mormons as disproving the theory
that the basis of the Book OF Mormon
was the Spaulding manuscript, and
their view has been accepted by Some
nom Mormons who have lacked the
facilities or the industry to disprove 1t.
The theory that the secular part of
the Book of Mormon owed it's origin to
the Spaulding manuscript may be thus
concisely stated:
Solomon Spaulding. when resident
N
ested in the ancient mounds in the
vicinity, and wrote a sort of story CIV
ing a hypothetical account Of the origt-
nal settlement of the American con-
tinent. This story he read to many of
his neighbors, who listened to it with
more or less interest. Failing to find
a. publisher, he moved to Pittsburg, Pa,
where he renewed his efforts. but still
in vain. and he died without seeing his
production in type.
Sidney Rigdon, q preacher in Pitts
burg, who allied himself, with the
Campbells in the early steps which re-
suited in the founding of the denomina-
ton known as the Disciples of Christ,
became jealous of the Campbelis' promi-
nence in the new organization, and,
deeming himself wronged and sighted,
conceived the scheme of founding sect
of his own which should have new
word of God as it's foundation. Getting |
possession of Spaulding's manuscript, |
(just where and how has never been |
lisclosed) and meeting Joseph Smith Jr. |
when the latter was posing as crystal |
yazer in Pennsylvania, he entrusted to |
Smith the work of ''translating, in
act transcribing-the manuscript and |
he doctrinal parts which he provided,
md the product was announced to the
world as a revelation to Smith by an
nigel in the shape of writings on golden
plates which he alone had power to
translate.
Almost as soon as the book was pub
ished, Smith joined Rigdon in Ohio,
where Rigdon then had a prominent
.hurch When the first copy of the
Book of Mormon was shown in the
of Conneaut, Spaulding's
Id nefghbors to whom he had read his
tory recognized it at once, and laugh
ngly exposed the plagiarism.
E. D. Howe, an editor living near the
Iormon settlement. undertook an ex-
,osure of the pretenses of Smith as
prophet, and made the Spaulding |
manuscript one subject of his investi-
alton. In his book, 'Mormonism I'm
eiled" QS34) he collected the testi-
nony of many of Spaulding's neigh
ors. all going to show that the Sec
lar part of the Book Of Mormon and
he Spaulding story were identical. Not
MY were the characters and names
sed in the two works the same, but
ven Spauldings form of expression
ras recalled. Many verses of the Book
f Mormon begin with the words and
came to pass" When one old resi-
ent of Conneaut heard some chapters
.ad he exclaimed at once. 'Old Come
,-nass Cas he had called Spaulding's
tory has come to life again" II
Howe. employed an agent to try to
ct possession of the Spaulding manu-
,rint but naturally failed, as neither
.iedon nor Smith would have permit
sd II to get into other hands after
,aling use of it. The agent did, how !
yer. secure for Howe one OF Spauld-
,e's manuscripts-he was rather
luminous writer-and that manu-
,ript is the one discovered in the
andwich Islands. Its later history is
5 follows:
Howe. in time, sold his printing es-
,blishment at Painsville. o., to an
editor. named L. L. Rice.
no 1asnr moved to the Sandwich ISL
nds. Rice was requested by Prest-
afrchild to look over his papers for
aterial that would be OF value in the
election OF anti-slavery material in |
berlin College library, and in doing
, he found the Spaulding manuscript
hfch had come to him from Howe. c
nd Prest. Fairchild, ignorant OF its {
STORY, accepted 1t as the manuscript
hich had been called the basis OF the
ook Of Mormon.
But Howe had given an account Of t
lis second manuscript in his book, I
acing it where it belonged. 1t may S
. remarked that if Howe had been a a
.bricator of the Spauldins manuscript I
cory. as the early Mormons declared, [
, would have destroyed this second Z
or,,scrint az destructive of his theory. G