tains the treasure. He then stuck in the ground a row of witchhazel sticks around the circle, for the purpose of keeping off the evil spirits. Within this circle he made another, of about eight or ten feet in diameter. He walked around three times on the periphery of the last circle, muttering to himself something which I could not understand. He next stuck a steel rod in the centre of the circles, and then enjoined profound silence upon us, lest we should arouse the evil spirit who had the charge of these treasures. After we had dug a trench about five feet in depth around the rod, the old man, by signs and motions, asked leave of absence, and went to the house to inquire of young Joseph the cause of our disappointment. He soon returned, and said that Joseph had remained all this time in the house, looking in the stone, and watching the motions of the evil spirit; that he saw the spirit come up to the ring, and as soon as it beheld the cone which we had formed around the rod it caused the money to sink. We then went into the house, and the old man observed that we made a mistake in the commencement of the operation. If it had not been for that, said he, we should have got the money.

"At another time they devised a scheme by which they might satiate their hunger with the mutton of one of my sheep. They had seen in my flock of sheep a large, fat, black wether. Old Joseph and one of the boys came to me one day, and said that Joseph, jun., had discovered some very remarkable and valuable treasures, which could be procured only in one way. That way was as follows:-that a black sheep should be taken on to the ground where the treasures were concealed; that, after cutting its throat, it should be led around a circle while bleeding. This being done, the wrath of the evil spirit would be appeased; the treasures could then be obtained, and my share of them was to be fourfold. To gratify my curiosity, I let them have a large fat sheep. They afterwards informed me that the sheep was killed pursuant to commandment; but as there was some mistake in the process, it did not have the desired effect. This, I believe, is the only time they ever made money-digging a profitable business. They, however, had around them constantly a worthless gang, whose employment was to dig money at nights, and who at day times had more to do with mutton than money.

"When they found that the people of this vicinity would no longer put faith in their schemes for digging money, they then pretended to find a gold Bible, of which they said the book of Mormon was only an introduction."

Such is the testimony of Messrs Ingersoll and Stafford, under oath. Many other deponents testify to the same effect, with the additional relation of the drunkenness of both Joseph senior and junior. Barton Stafford says, that

"Joseph Smith, senior, was a noted drunkard, and most of the family followed his example, and Joseph, jun., especially, who was very much addicted to intemperance. In short, not one of the family had the least claims to respectability. Even since he professed to be inspired of the Lord to translate the book of Mormon, he one day, while at work in my father's field, got quite drunk on a composition of cider,

molasses, and water. Finding his legs to refuse their office, he leaned upon the fence, and hung for some time; at length, recovering again, he fell to scuffling with one of the workmen, who tore his shirt nearly off from him. His wife, who was at our house on a visit, appeared very much grieved at his conduct, and to protect his back from the rays of the sun, and conceal his nakedness, threw her shawl over his shoulders, and in that plight escorted the prophet home."

Fifty citizens of Palmyra certify that "Joseph Smith, sen., and his son Joseph, were, in particular, considered entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits." And eleven citizens of Manchester certify that the family of Joseph Smith, sen., "were not only a lazy, indolent set of men, but also intemperate, and that their word was not to be. depended on, and that we are truly glad to dispense with their society."

These extracts from the depositions given in New York, some eighteen or twenty years since, in the beginning of the Mormon imposture, exhibit a vivid picture of the character of Joe Smith. Some of the touches are done with a rough brush, but they are evidently after life, and not the creations of fancy. We have therefore thought necesssary to copy them to this extent, that our readers may be made acquainted with the character of Smith better than by any attempt on our part to delineate him anew. Such an attempt, though it might present an accurate general likeness, would be apt to fail in some of the important features. The most prominent traits of his character were a disposition to deal in the marvellous, to see what was invisible,-spirits, hidden treasure, and the like,—to pretend to extraordinary powers, to delude and impose upon the neighbours, swindling, lying, and drunkenness. He seemed to have the natural endowments for making dupes, in a larger measure than the rest of the family, and to have been selected as the Coryphæus of the fascinating circle. He could see better and farther into the earth, by the aid of the miraculous eye-stone, than any of the others; could discern the evil spirits keeping watch over the hidden treasures; could readily describe the wonders he had seen; and had in perfection that high gift, of so great value in all knavery, the power of which is acknowledged in the saying, “A lie well told is as good as the truth." The facile impudence of his lies seems to have been such as to gain ready credit in shallow minds, and to make them easy dupes to his art. His own account of the finding of the Golden Bible is a good illustration of this accomplishment, though it is not introduced in this place for that purpose, so much as on account of the probably correct statement which it gives of that great era in the life of Smith and in the Mormon Church-the discovery of that precious wonder.

The story is related in the deposition of Peter Ingersoll, from which extracts have been already given. The deponent says:

"One day he came and greeted me with a joyful countenance. Upon asking the cause of his unusual happiness, he replied in the following language: As I was passing yesterday across the woods, after a heavy shower of rain, I found in a hollow some beautiful white sand, that had been washed up by the water. I took off my frock, and tied up several quarts of it, and then went home. On my entering the house, I found the family at table, eating dinner. They were all anxious to know the contents of my frock. At that moment I happened to think of what I had heard about a history found in Canada, called the Golden Bible; so I very gravely told them it was the Golden Bible. To my surprise they were credulous enough to believe what I said. Accordingly, I told them I had received a commandment to let no one see it: for, said I, no one can see it with the naked eye and live. However, I offered to take out the book and show it to them, but they refused to see it, and left the room. Nothwithstanding he told me he had no such book, and believed there never was any such, yet he told me that he actually went to Willard Chase, to get him to make a chest, in which he might deposit his Golden Bible. But as Chase would not do it, he made a box himself of clapboards, and put it into a pillow-case, and allowed people only to lift it, and feel it through the case."

That he went to Mr Chase, as he related, appears from the testimony of Chase.

There were other stories related about the attempts made by Smith to find the Bible, which appeared to have occurred at the time of finding the sand. The stories are told by Smith and his father. They differ each from the other, and it is needless to say that they both differ from the above, related by Joe to Ingersoll.

As this pretended discovery of the Golden Bible is the grand event from which Mormonism, with all its beautiful efflorescence, has sprung, the various versions of that occurrence by the prophet cannot well be omitted. In September 1827, he requested Mr Willard Chase to make a chest, stating that he expected soon to get his Golden Bible, and he wanted a chest to lock it up. This was no doubt the occasion of which he spoke, when he informed Mr Ingersoll, as related on a previous page, that he had gone to Chase for that purpose, though it seems he did not tell him, as he had told Ingersoll, that he had found it, but only that he expected to find it. A few weeks after, Mr Chase says he came to his house and related the following story. That on the 22d of September he arose early

*The part omitted is Smith's remark on this scene. It is considered unfit for repetition here, on account of its profane vulgarity. It expressed that he had the fools fixed, and would carry out the fun-these words being a part of the omitted phrase.

in the morning, and, together with his wife, repaired to the hill which contained the book. He left his wife in the waggon by the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or forty rods from the road. He said he then took the book out of the ground and hid it in a tree-top, and returned home. The old man, Smith, sen., had another tale, highly embellished with the marvellous, according to his usual manner, about the precious discovery. In the summer of the same year, 1827, according to Chase's testimony, he related to him that, some years previous, a spirit had appeared to his son Joseph in a vision, and informed him that in a certain place there was a record on plates of gold, and that he was the person that must obtain them; and this he must do in the following manner. On the 22d of September he must repair to the place, dressed in black clothes, and riding a black horse with a switch tail, and demand the book in a certain name; and after obtaining it he must go directly away, and neither lay it down nor look behind him. They accordingly fitted out Joseph with a suit of black clothes (no doubt the especial object of the vision) and borrowed a black horse. He repaired to the place of deposit, and demanded the book, which was in a stone box, unsealed, and so near the top of the ground that he could see one end of it, and, raising it up, took out the book of gold; but fearing some one might discover where he got it, he laid it down to place back the top stone as he found it; and turning round, to his surprise there was no book in sight. He again opened the box, and in it saw the book, and attempted to take it out, but was hindered. He saw in the box something like a toad, which soon assumed the appearance of a man, and struck him on the side of his head. Not being discouraged at trifles, he again stooped down and strove to take the book, when the spirit struck him again, and knocked him three or four rods away, and hurt him prodigiously. He was commanded by the spirit to come again in a year. He did so, and again received the like command. He went again the third time, and saw the book and a pair of spectacles, with which he afterwards translated the Book of Mormon. At this interesting point of the romance the particularity of the old man's story leaves off, and it is not distinctly stated whether he obtained the book or not; but as it seems that he has since had the spectacles as well as the book, we are to suppose that both were obtained together at this third attempt, toad and hardfist notwithstanding.

Smith thus became possessed of a sacerdotal capital, marvellous in its nature, marvellous in the pretended mode of acquiring it, and, combined with his marvellous courage in obtaining it, most marvellously adapted to work upon the credu

lity of the simple and superstitious. He accordingly, when he found there were fools to believe him, which was quite beyond his expectation, commenced a career of lying on a more extended scale than he had hitherto practised. He held communications with God, who revealed to him what he should do, which was always the thing that he would himself have proposed, and was specially effective for his individual advantage. He began his translation of the Golden Bible, or Book of Mormon. The origin of the book is a matter of undoubted proof, and will be explained in a few words. The mode in which Smith became possessed of it is also pretty well substantiated.

Solomon Spalding, who was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and had been a regularly ordained clergyman, after a short term of years passed in preaching, relinquished the ministry, and removed first to Cherry Valley, New York, and subsequently, in 1809, to Conneaut, in Ohio, and engaged in mercantile business. While in this place he occupied his hours of leisure from business in writing a fabulous account of the origin of the former inhabitants of this country, on which work he laboured for several years. As he intended that the origin of his work should appear fictitious, as well as the narrative, he determined to introduce it to the public as a volume found in a cave; and, to give it the appearance of antiquity, he wrote in the style which is used in the common translation of the Scriptures. He completed the volume about 1812 or 1813, at about which period it was announced in the papers of the day as a discovery then recently made of the Book of Mormon, containing a history of the lost tribes. From some cause the publication of the volume was delayed, and some fifteen years after, Smith, who got possession of the book by a fortunate accident, pretended to have found the Book of Mormon on plates of gold, in the manner above related, and to be engaged in translating it from the unknown tongue in which it was written. It appears that he retained the book in the form in which it had been prepared by Mr Spalding, altering the text only or chiefly by the interpolation of certain matters which purport to be Divine revelations to Smith, in which he is represented as a prophet, clothed with all sacerdotal power, and implicit faith and obedience in and to him are enjoined upon the saints. With this capital and his unequalled impudence he imposed himself on a credulous few as a prophet of God. In the State of New York there is a class of persons not educated to the knowledge of law, and who do not appear in the courts as counsel or attorney, but, having attained some acquaintance with the statute law, and the forms of judicial proceeding, with a voluble style of speaking, make a business of managing causes, if it be correct so to say, before justices