The Story of the Mormons:

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* "Biographical Sketches," Lucy Smith, p. 135.

The translation being ready for the press, in June, 1829 (I
follow Tucker's account of the printing of the work), Joseph, his
brother Hyrum, Cowdery, and Harris asked Egbert B. Grandin,
publisher of the Wayne Sentinel at Palmyra, to give them an
estimate of the cost of printing an edition of three thousand
copies, with Harris as security for the payment. Grandin told
them he did not want to undertake the job at any price, and he
tried to persuade Harris not to invest his money in the scheme,
assuring him that it was fraudulent. Application was next made to
Thurlow Weed, then the publisher of the Anti-Masonic Inquirer, at
Rochester, New York. "After reading a few chapters," says Mr.
Weed, "it seemed such a jumble of unintelligent absurdities that
we refused the work, advising Harris not to mortgage his farm and
"beggar his family." Finally, Smith and his associates obtained
from Elihu F. Marshall, a Rochester publisher, a definite bid for
the work, and with this they applied again to Grandin, explaining
that it would be much more convenient for them to have the
printing done at home, and pointing out to him that he might as
well take the job, as his refusal would not prevent the
publication of the book. This argument had weight with him, and
he made a definite contract to print and bind five thousand
copies for the sum of $3000, a mortgage on Harris's farm to be
given him as security. Mrs. Harris had persisted in her refusal
to be in any way a party to the scheme, and she and her husband
had finally made a legal separation, with a division of the
property, after she had entered a complaint against Joe, charging
him with getting money from her husband on fraudulent
representation. At the hearing on this complaint, Harris denied
that he had ever contributed a dollar to Joe at the latter's
persuasion.

Tucker, who did much of the proof-reading of the new Bible,
comparing it with the manuscript copy, says that, when the
printing began, Smith and his associates watched the manuscript
with the greatest vigilance, bringing to the office every morning
as much as the printers could set up during the day, and taking
it away in the evening, forbidding also any alteration. The
foreman, John H. Gilbert, found the manuscript so poorly prepared
as regards grammatical construction, spelling, punctuation, etc.,
that he told them that some corrections must be made, and to this
they finally consented.

Daniel Hendrix, in his recollections, says in confirmation of
this:--

"I helped to read proof on many pages of the book, and at odd
times set some type.... The penmanship of the copy furnished was
good, but the grammar, spelling and punctuation were done by John
H. Gilbert, who was chief compositor in the office. I have heard
him swear many a time at the syntax and orthography of Cowdery,
and declare that he would not set another line of the type. There
were no paragraphs, no punctuation and no capitals. All that was
done in the printing office, and what a time there used to be in
straightening sentences out, too. During the printing of the book
I remember that Joe Smith kept in the background."

The following letter is in reply to an inquiry addressed by me to
Albert Chandler, the only survivor, I think, of the men who
helped issue the first edition of Smith's book:--

"COLDWATER, MICH., Dec. 22, 1898.

"My recollections of Joseph Smith, Jr. and of the first steps
taken in regard to his Bible have never been printed. At the time
of the printing of the Mormon Bible by Egbert B. Grandin of the
Sentinel I was an apprentice in the bookbindery connected with
the Sentinel office. I helped to collate and stitch the Gold
Bible, and soon after this was completed, I changed from
book-binding to printing. I learned my trade in the Sentinel
office.

"My recollections of the early history of the Mormon Bible are
vivid to-day. I knew personally Oliver Cowdery, who translated
the Bible, Martin Harris, who mortgaged his farm to procure the
printing, and Joseph Smith Jr., but slightly. What I knew of him
was from hearsay, principally from Martin Harris, who believed
fully in him. Mr. Tucker's 'Origin, Rise, and Progress of
Mormonism' is the fullest account I have ever seen. I doubt if I
can add anything to that history.

"The whole history is shrouded in the deepest mystery. Joseph
Smith Jr., who read through the wonderful spectacles, pretended
to give the scribe the exact reading of the plates, even to
spelling, in which Smith was woefully deficient. Martin Harris
was permitted to be in the room with the scribe, and would try
the knowledge of Smith, as he told me, saying that Smith could
not spell the word February, when his eyes were off the
spectacles through which he pretended to work. This ignorance of
Smith was proof positive to him that Smith was dependent on the
spectacles for the contents of the Bible. Smith and the plates
containing the original of the Mormon Bible were hid from view of
the scribe and Martin Harris by a screen.

"I should think that Martin Harris, after becoming a convert,
gave up his entire time to advertising the Bible to his neighbors
and the public generally in the vicinity of Palmyra. He would
call public meetings and address them himself. He was
enthusiastic, and went so far as to say that God, through the
Latter Day Saints, was to rule the world. I heard him make this
statement, that there would never be another President of the
United States elected; that soon all temporal and spiritual power
would be given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter
Day Saints. His extravagant statements were the laughing stock of
the people of Palmyra. His stories were hissed at, universally.
To give you an idea of Mr. Harris's superstitions, he told me
that he saw the devil, in all his hideousness, on the road, just
before dark, near his farm, a little north of Palmyra. You can
see that Harris was a fit subject to carry out the scheme of
organizing a new religion.

"The absolute secrecy of the whole inception and publication of
the Mormon Bible stopped positive knowledge. We only knew what
Joseph Smith would permit Martin Harris to publish, in reference
to the whole thing.

"The issuing of the Book of Mormon scarcely made a ripple of
excitement in Palmyra.

ALBERT CHANDLER."*

* Mr. Chandler moved to Michigan in 1835, and has been connected
with several newspapers in that state, editing the Kalamazoo
Gazette, and founding and publishing the Coldwater Sentinel. He
was elected the first mayor of Coldwater, serving several terms.
He was in his eighty-fifth year when the above letter was
written.

The book was published early in 1830. On paper the sale of the
first edition showed a profit of $3250 at $1.25 a volume, that
being the lowest price to be asked on pain of death, according to
a "special revelation" received by Smith. By the original
agreement Harris was to have the exclusive control of the sale of
the book. But it did not sell. The local community took it no
more seriously than they did Joe himself and his family. The
printer demanded his pay as the work progressed, and it became
necessary for Smith to spur Harris on by announcing a revelation
(Sec. 19, "Doctrine and Covenants"), saying, "I command thee that
thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to
the printing of the Book of Mormon. "Harris accordingly disposed
of his share of the farm and paid Grandin.

To make the book "go," Smith now received a revelation which
permitted his father, soon to be elevated to the title of
Patriarch, to sell it on commission, and Smith, Sr., made
expeditions through the country, taking in pay for any copies
sold such farm produce or "store goods" as he could use in his
own family. How much he "cut" the revealed price of the book in
these trades is not known, but in one instance, when arrested in
Palmyra for a debt of $5.63, he, under pledge of secrecy, offered
seven of the Bibles in settlement, and the creditor, knowing that
the old man had no better assets, accepted the offer as a joke.*

* "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," Tucker, p. 63.

CHAPTER VII. THE SPAULDING MANUSCRIPT

The history of the Mormon Bible has been brought uninterruptedly
to this point in order that the reader may be able to follow
clearly each step that had led up to its publication. It is now
necessary to give attention to two subjects intimately connected
with the origin of this book, viz., the use made of what is known
as the "Spaulding manuscript," in supplying the historical part
of the work, and Sidney Rigdon's share in its production.

The most careful student of the career of Joseph Smith, Jr., and
of his family and his associates, up to the year 1827, will fail
to find any ground for the belief that he alone, or simply with
their assistance, was capable of composing the Book of Mormon,
crude in every sense as that work is. We must therefore accept,
as do the Mormons, the statement that the text was divinely
revealed to Smith, or must look for some directing hand behind
the scene, which supplied the historical part and applied the
theological. The "Spaulding manuscript" is believed to have
furnished the basis of the historical part of the work.

Solomon Spaulding, born in Ashford, Connecticut, in 1761, was
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1785, studied divinity, and
for some years had charge of a church. His own family described
him as a peculiar man, given to historical researches, and
evidently of rather unstable disposition. He gave up preaching,
conducted an academy at Cherry Valley, New York, and later moved
to Conneaut, Ohio, where in 1812 he had an interest in an iron
foundry. His attention was there attracted to the ancient mounds
in that vicinity, and he set some of his men to work exploring
one of them. "I vividly remember how excited he became," says his
daughter,when he heard that they had exhumed some human bones,
portions of gigantic skeletons, and various relics. "From these
discoveries he got the idea of writing a fanciful history of the
ancient races of this country.

The title he chose for his book was "The Manuscript Found." He
considered this work a great literary production, counted on
being able to pay his debts from the proceeds of its sale, and
was accustomed to read selections from the manuscript to his
neighbors with evident pride. The impression that such a
production would be likely to make on the author's neighbors in
that frontier region and in those early days, when books were
scarce and authors almost unknown, can with difficulty be
realized now. Barrett Wendell, speaking of the days of Bryant's
early work, says:--

"Ours was a new country...deeply and sensitively aware that it
lacked a literature. Whoever produced writings which could be
pronounced adorable was accordingly regarded by his fellow
citizens as a public benefactor, a great public figure, a
personage of whom the nation could be proud."* This feeling lends
weight to the testimony of Mr. Spaulding's neighbors, who in
later years gave outlines of his work.

* "Literary History of America."

In order to find a publisher Mr. Spaulding moved with his family
to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. A printer named Patterson spoke well
of the manuscript to its author, but no one was found willing to
publish it. The Spauldings afterward moved to Amity,
Pennsylvania, where Mr. Spaulding died in 1816. His widow and
only child went to live with Mrs. Spaulding's brother, W. H.
Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, New York, taking their effects with
them. These included an old trunk containing Mr. Spaulding's
papers. "There were sermons and other papers," says his daughter,
"and I saw a manuscript about an inch thick, closely written,
tied up with some stories my father had written for me, one of
which he called 'The Frogs of Windham.' On the outside of this
manuscript were written the words 'Manuscript Found.' I did not
read it, but looked through it, and had it in my hands many
times, and saw the names I had heard at Conneaut, when my father
read it to his friends. "Mrs. Spaulding next went to her father's
house in Connecticut, leaving her personal property at her
brother's. She married a Mr. Davison in 1820, and the old trunk
was sent to her at her new home in Hartwick, Otsego County, New
York. The daughter was married to a Mr. McKinstry in 1828, and
her mother afterward made her home with her at Monson,
Massachusetts, most of the time until her death in 1844.

When the newly announced Mormon Bible began to be talked about in
Ohio, there were immediate declarations in Spaulding's old
neighborhood of a striking similarity between the Bible story and
the story that Spaulding used to read to his acquaintances there,
and these became positive assertions after the Mormons had held a
meeting at Conneaut. The opinion was confidently expressed there
that, if the manuscript could be found and published, it would
put an end to the Mormon pretence.

About the year 1834 Mrs. Davison received a visit at Monson from
D. P. Hurlbut, a man who had gone over to the Mormons from the
Methodist church, and had apostatized and been expelled. He
represented that he had been sent by a committee to secure "The
Manuscript Found" in order that it might be compared with the
Mormon Bible. As he brought a letter from her brother, Mrs.
Davison, with considerable reluctance, gave him an introduction
to George Clark, in whose house at Hartwick she had left the old
trunk, directing Mr. Clark to let Hurlbut have the manuscript,
receiving his verbal pledge to return it. He obtained a
manuscript from this trunk, but did not keep his pledge.*

* Condensed from an affidavit by Mrs. McKinstry, dated April 3,
1880, in Scribner's Magazine for August, 1880.

The Boston Recorder published in May, 1839, a detailed statement
by Mrs. Davison concerning her knowledge of "The Manuscript
Found." After giving an account of the writing of the story, her
statement continued as follows:--

"Here [in Pittsburg] Mr. Spaulding found a friend and
acquaintance in the person of Mr. Patterson, who was very much
pleased with it, and borrowed it for perusal. He retained it for
a long time, and informed Mr. Spaulding that, if he would make
out a title-page and preface, he would publish it, as it might be
a source of profit. This Mr. Spaulding refused to do. Sidney
Rigdon, who has figured so largely in the history of the Mormons,
was at that time connected with the printing office of Mr.
Patterson, as is well known in that region, and, as Rigdon
himself has frequently stated, became acquainted with Mr.
Spaulding's manuscript and copied it. It was a matter of
notoriety and interest to all connected with the printing
establishment. At length the manuscript was returned to its
author, and soon after we removed to Amity where Mr. Spaulding
deceased in 1816. The manuscript then fell into my hands, and was
carefully preserved."

This statement stirred up the Mormons greatly, and they at once
pronounced the letter a forgery, securing from Mrs. Davison a
statement in which she said that she did not write it. This was
met with a counter statement by the Rev. D. R. Austin that it was
made up from notes of a conversation with her, and was correct.
In confirmation of this the Quincy [Massachusetts] Whig printed a
letter from John Haven of Holliston, Massachusetts, giving a
report of a conversation between his son Jesse and Mrs. Davison
concerning this letter, in which she stated that the letter was
substantially correct, and that some of the names used in the
Mormon Bible were like those in her husband's story. Rigdon
himself, in a letter addressed to the Boston Journal, under date
of May 27, 1839, denied all knowledge of Spaulding, and declared
that there was no printer named Patterson in Pittsburg during his
residence there, although he knew a Robert Patterson who had
owned a printing-office in that city. The larger part of his
letter is a coarse attack on Hurlbut and also on E. D. Howe, the
author of "Mormonism Unveiled, "whose whole family he charged
with scandalous immoralities." If the use of Spaulding's story in
the preparation of the Mormon Bible could be proved by nothing
but this letter of Mrs. Davison, the demonstration would be weak;
but this is only one link in the chain.

Howe, in his painstaking efforts to obtain all probable
information about the Mormon origin from original sources,
secured the affidavits of eight of Spaulding's acquaintances in
Ohio, giving their recollections of the "Manuscript Found."*
Spaulding's brother, John, testified that he heard many passages
of the manuscript read and, describing it, he said:--

* Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," pp. 278-287.

"It was an historical romance of the first settlers of America,
endeavoring to show that the American Indians are the descendants
of the Jews, or the lost tribe. It gave a detailed account of
their journey from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived
in America, under the command of Nephi and Lehi. They afterwards
had quarrels and contentions, and separated into two distinct
nations, one of which he denominated Nephites, and the other
Lamanites. Cruel and bloody Wars ensued, in which great
multitudes were slain.... I have recently read the "Book of
Mormon," and to my great surprise I find nearly the same
historical matter, names, etc., as they were in my brother's
writings. I well remember that he wrote in the old style, and
commenced about every sentence with 'and it came to pass,' or
'now it came to pass,' the same as in the 'Book of Mormon,' and,
according to the best of my recollection and belief, it is the
same as my brother Solomon wrote, with the exception of the
religious matter."

John Spaulding's wife testified that she had no doubt that the
historical part of the Bible and the manuscript were the same,
and she well recalled such phrases as "it came to pass."

Mr. Spaulding's business partner at Conneaut, Henry Lake,
testified that Spaulding read the manuscript to him many hours,
that the story running through it and the Bible was the same, and
he recalls this circumstance: "One time, when he was reading to
me the tragic account of Laban, I pointed out to him what I
considered an inconsistency, which he promised to correct, but by
referring to the 'Book of Mormon,' I find that it stands there
just as he read it to me then.... I well recollect telling Mr.
Spaulding that the so frequent use of the words 'and it came to
pass,' 'now it came to pass,' rendered it ridiculous."

John N. Miller, an employee of Spaulding in Ohio, and a boarder
in his family for several months, testified that Spaulding had
written more than one book or pamphlet, that he had heard the
author read from the "Manuscript Found," that he recalled the
story running through it, and added: "I have recently examined
the 'Book of Mormon,' and find in it the writings of Solomon
Spaulding, from beginning to end, but mixed up with Scripture and
other religious matter which I did not meet with in the
'Manuscript Found'.... The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni, and in
fact all the principal names, are brought fresh to my
recollection by the 'Gold Bible.'"

Practically identical testimony was given by the four other
neighbors. Important additions to this testimony have been made
in later years. A statement by Joseph Miller of Amity,
Pennsylvania, a man of standing in that community, was published
in the Pittsburg Telegraph of February 6, 1879. Mr. Miller said
that he was well acquainted with Spaulding when he lived at
Amity, and heard him read most of the "Manuscript Found," and had
read the Mormon Bible in late years to compare the two. "On
hearing read, "he says," the account from the book of the battle
between the Amlicites (Book of Alma), in which the soldiers of
one army had placed a red mark on their foreheads to distinguish
them from their enemies, it seemed to reproduce in my mind, not
only the narration, but the very words as they had been impressed
on my mind by the reading of Spaulding's manuscript.... The
longer I live, the more firmly I am convinced that Spaulding's
manuscript was appropriated and largely used in getting up the `
Book of Mormon."

Redick McKee, a resident of Amity, Pennsylvania, when Spaulding
lived there, and later a resident of Washington, D. C., in a
letter to the Washington [Pennsylvania] Reporter, of April 21,
1869, stated that he heard Spaulding read from his manuscript,
and added: "I have an indistinct recollection of the passage
referred to by Mr. Miller about the Amlicites making a cross with
red paint on their foreheads to distinguish them from enemies in
battle."

The Rev. Abner Judson, of Canton, Ohio, wrote for the Washington
County, Pennsylvania, Historical Society, under date of December
20, 1880, an account of his recollections of the Spaulding
manuscript, and it was printed in the Washington [Pennsylvania]
Reporter of January 7, 1881. Spaulding read a large part of his
manuscript to Mr. Judson's father before the author moved to
Pittsburg, and the son, confined to the house with a lameness,
heard the reading and the accompanying conversations. He says:
"He wrote it in the Bible style. 'And it came to pass,' occurred
so often that some called him 'Old Come-to-pass.' The 'Book of
Mormons' follows the romance too closely to be a stranger ....
When it was brought to Conneaut and read there in public, old
Esquire Wright heard it and exclaimed, "Old Come-to-pass' has
come to life again."*

* Fuller extracts from the testimony of these later witnesses
will be found in Robert Patterson's pamphlet, "Who wrote the Book
of Mormon," reprinted from the "History of Washington County,
Pa."

The testimony of so many witnesses, so specific in its details,
seems to prove the identity of Spaulding's story and the story
running through the Mormon Bible. The late President James H.
Fairchild of Oberlin, Ohio, whose pamphlet on the subject we
shall next examine, admits that "if we could accept without
misgiving the testimony of the eight witnesses brought forward in
Howe's book, we should be obliged to accept the fact of another
manuscript" (than the one which President Fairchild secured); but
he thinks there is some doubt about the effect on the memory of
these witnesses of the lapse of years and the reading of the new
Bible before they recalled the original story. It must be
remembered, however, that this resemblance was recalled as soon
as they heard the story of the new Bible, and there seems no
ground on which to trace a theory that it was the Bible which
originated in their minds the story ascribed to the manuscript.

The defenders of the Mormon Bible as an original work received
great comfort some fifteen years ago by the announcement that the
original manuscript of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" had been
discovered in the Sandwich Islands and brought to this country,
and that its narrative bore no resemblance to the Bible story.
The history of this second manuscript is as follows: E. D. Howe
sold his printing establishment at Painesville, Ohio, to L. L.
Rice, who was an antislavery editor there for many years. Mr.
Rice afterward moved to the Sandwich Islands, and there he was
requested by President Fairchild to look over his old papers to
see if he could not find some antislavery matter that would be of
value to the Oberlin College library. One result of his search
was an old manuscript bearing the following certificate: 'The
writings of Solomon Spaulding,' proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver
Smith, John N. Miller and others. The testimonies of the above
gentlemen are now in my possession.

"D. P. HURLBUT."

President Fairchild in a paper on this subject which has been
published* gives a description of this manuscript (it has been
printed by the Reorganized Church at Lamoni, Iowa), which shows
that it bears no resemblance to the Bible story. But the
assumption that this proves that the Bible story is original
fails immediately in view of the fact that Mr. Howe made no
concealment of his possession of this second manuscript. Hurlbut
was in Howe's service when he asked Mrs. Davison for an order for
the manuscript, and he gave to Howe, as the result of his visit,
the manuscript which Rice gave to President Fairchild. Howe in
his book (p. 288) describes this manuscript substantially as does
President Fairchild, saying:--

* "Manuscript of Solomon Spaulding and the 'Book of Mormon,'"
Tract No. 77, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland,
Ohio.

"This is a romance, purporting to have been translated from the
Latin, found on twenty-four rolls of parchment in a cave on the
banks of Conneaut Creek, but written in a modern style, and
giving a fabulous account of a ship's being drlven upon the
American coast, while proceeding from Rome to Britain, a short
time pious to the Christian era, this country then being
inhabited by the Indians."*

* Howe says in his book, "The fact that Spaulding in the latter
part of his life inclined to infidelity is established by a
letter in his handwriting now in our possession. "This letter was
given by Rice with the other manuscript to President Fairchild
(who reproduces it), thus adding to the proof that the Rice
manuscript is the one Hurlbut delivered to Howe.