OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - HISTORY: Chapter 36 (Abbott, John S. C., 1875)
***************************************************************************
OHGENWEB NOTICE:  All distribution rights to this electronic data are
reserved by the submitter.  Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted
material will require the permission of the copyright owner.  The submitter 
has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently 
for free access.
***************************************************************************
File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Kay L. Mason
keziah63@yahoo.com	
January 17, 2000
***************************************************************************

			Chapter XXXVI.
		Physical and Mental Phenomena.

   The great earthquake to which we have alluded in the last chapter, was an
event so extraordinary that it calls for a more minute record. It not only
shook the whole majestic Valley of the Mississippi to the center, but the
Allegheny Mountains trembled beneath its gigantic throes, and its convulsions
agitated the waves of the Atlantic. The subterranean forces which could
have produced such results, must have been of inconceivable magnitude.
   The region on the west bank of the Mississippi, and in the southern part
of the State of Missouri, seems to have been the center of the most violent
shocks. The first shock occurred on the night of the 15th of December, 1811. 
They were repeated at intervals of two or three months. These shocks, in
their terrible upheavings of the earth, equal any phenomena of the kind of
which history gives any record. The country was very thinly settled, and
there were but few educated men in the whole region who could philosophically
note the phenomena which were witnessed. Fortunately, most of the houses
were very frail, being built of logs. Such structures would sway to and fro
with the surgings of the earth, but they were not easily thrown down. Vast
tracts of land were precipitated into the turbid, foaming current of the 
Mississippi. The graveyard at New Madrid was, at one swoop, torn away, and
with all its mouldering dead was swept down the stream. Most of the houses
in New Madrid were destroyed. Large regions of forest, miles in extent, 
suddenly sank, disappearing entirely, while the waters rushed in, forming upon
the spot almost fathomless lakes. Other lakes were drained, leaving only vast
basins of mud, where apparently for centuries in the solitudes of the forest
the waves had rolled.
   The whole wilderness territory, extending from the mouth of the Ohio three
hundred miles to the St. Francis, was so convulsed as to create lakes and
islands, ravines and marshes, whose numbers never can be fully known. There
were some effects produced which it was very difficult to account for. Large
trees were split through the heart of the tough wood. They were thrown together
and their branches were almost inextricably intertwined. They were inclined
in every direction, and were lodged in every angle towards the earth and the
horizon. The undulations of the earth resembled the surges of a tempest-lashed
ocean, the billows ever increasing in magnitude. At the greatest elevation
these earth-ejected as high as the loftiest trees. Some of the chasms thus 
created were very deep.
   Wide districts were covered by a shower of small white sand, like the ground
after a snow-storm. This spread of desolation would render the region quite
uninhabitable. Other immense tracts were flooded with water from a few inches
to a few feet deep. As the water subsided, the coating of barren sand was
left behind.
   "Indeed, it must have been a scene of horror in these deep forests and in
the gloom of the darkest night, and by wading in the water to the middle to
fly from these concussions which were occurring every few hours with a noise
equally terrible to beasts and birds as to men. The birds themselves lost 
all power and disposition to fly, and retreated to the bosoms of men - their
fellow sufferers in this general convulsion. A few persons sank in those 
chasms, and were providentially extricated. A number perished who sank with
their boats in the Mississippi. A bursting of the earth just below the village
of New Madrid arrested the mighty Mississippi in its course, and caused a
reflux of its waves by which in a little time a great number of boats were
swept by the ascending current into the month of the bayou, carried out and
left upon the dry earth when the accumulating waters of the river had again
cleared the current. The remainder of this account I give mainly as it is
recorded in "The Great West":
   There were a number of severe shocks, but the two series of concussions
were particularly terrible; far more so than the rest. The shocks were
clearly distinguishable into two classes - those in which the motion was
horizontal, and those in which it was perpendicular. The latter were attended
with explosions, and the terrible mixture of noises that preceded and 
accompanied the earthquakes in a louder degree, but were by no means so
desolating and destructive as the other. The houses crumbled, the trees waved
together, the ground sunk; while ever and anon vivid flashes of lightning, 
gleaming through the troubled clouds of night, rendered the darkness doubly
horrible. After the severest shocks a dense black cloud of vapor overshadowed
the land, through which no struggling sunbeam found its way to cheer the hear
of man. The sulphurated gases that were discharged during the shocks tainted
the air with their noxious effluvia, and so impregnated the water of the river
for one hundred and fifty miles as the render it unfit for use.
   In the intervals of the earthquake there was one evening, and that a 
brilliant and cloudless one, in which the western sky was a continued glare 
of repeated peals of subterranean thunder, seeming to proceed, as the flashes
did, from below the horizon. The night which was so conspicuous for subterranean
thunder, was the same period in which the fatal earthquakes in Caracas, in
South America, occurred, and it is supposed that these flashes and those
events were part of the same scene.
   One result from these terrible phenomena was very obvious. The people in
this region had been noted for their profligacy and impiety. In the midst
of these scenes of terror all, Catholics and Protestants, the prayerful and
the profane, became of one religion and partook of one feeling. Two hundred
people, speaking English, French and Spanish, crowded together, their visages
pale, the mothers embracing their children. As soon as the omen which preceded
the earthquake became visible, as soon as the air became a little obscured, 
as though a sudden mist rose from the east, all in their different languages 
and forms, but all deeply in earnest, betook themselves to the voice of 
prayer. The cattle, much terrified, crowded about the people, seeking to 
demand protection or community of danger.
   The general impulse, when the shocks commenced, was to run. And yet when 
they were at the severest point of their motion, the people were thrown upon
the ground at almost every step. A French gentlemen told me, in escaping from
his house, the largest in the village, he found that he had left an infant
behind; and he attempted to mount up the raised piazza to recover the child, 
and was thrown down a dozen times in succession. The venerable lady in whose
dwelling we lodged was extricated from the ruins of her house, having lost
everything that appertained to her establishment which could be broken or
destroyed. The people at the Little Prairie who suffered most had their
settlement, which consisted of a hundred families, and which was located in 
a rich and fertile bottom, broken up. When I passed it, and stopped to 
contemplate the traces of the catastrophe, which remained after several years,
the crevices where the earth had burst were sufficiently manifest, and the
whole region was covered with sand to the depth of two or three feet. The
surface was red with oxydized pyrites of iron, and the sand blows, as they
were called, were abundantly mixed with this kind of earth and with pieces
of pit coal. But two families remained of the whole settlement. The object
seems to have been, in the first paroxysm of alarm, to escape to the hills.
The depth of water that soon covered the surface precluded escape.
   The people without exception were unlettered backwoodsmen of the class
least addicted to reasoning. And yet it is remarkable how ingeniously and
conclusively they reasoned from apprehenion sharpened by fear. They observed
that the chasms in the earth were in the direction from southwest to northeast, 
and they were of an extent to swallow up not only men, but houses, down deep
into the pit. And these chasms occurred frequently, within intervals of half
a mile. They felled the tallest trees at right angles to the chasms, and
stationed themselves upon the felled trees. Meanwhile their cattle and harvests, 
both there and at New Madrid, principally perished.
   The people no longer dared to dwell in houses. They passed that Winter and
the succeeding one in bark booths and camps, like those of the Indians, of
so light a texture as not to expose the inhabitants to danger in case of their
being thrown down. Such numbers of laden boats were wrecked above the Mississippi, 
and the lading driven into the eddy at the mouth of the bayou at the village
which makes the harbor, that the people were amply provided with provisions
of every kind. Flour, beef, pork, bacon, butter, cheese, apples, in short
everything that is carried down the river, was in such abundance as scarcely
to be matters of sale. Many of the boats that came safely into the bayou were
disposed of by the affrighted owners for a trifle, for the shocks continued
daily, and the owners deeming the whole country below sunk, were glad to 
return to the upper country as fast as possible. In effect a great many 
islands were sunk, new ones raised, and the bed of the river very much changed
in every respect.
   After the earthquake had moderated in violence, the country exhibited a
melancholy aspect of chasms, of sand covering the earth, of trees thrown
down, or lying at an angle of forty-five degrees, a split in the middle. The
Little Prairie settlement was broken up. The Great Prairie settlement, one 
of the most flourishing before on the west bank of the Mississippi, was much
diminished. New Madrid dwindled into insignificance and decay, the people
trembling in their miserable hovels at the distant and melancholy rumbling
of the approaching shocks.
   The general government passed an act allowing the inhabitants of the 
country to locate the same quantity of lands that they possessed here in any
part of the territory where the lands were not yet covered by any claim. These
claims passed into the hands of speculators, and were never of any substantial
benefit to the possessors. When I resided there this district, formerly so
level, rich and beautiful, had the most melancholy of all aspect of decay. 
The tokens of former cultivation and habitancy were now mementos of desolation
and desertion. Large and beautiful orchards were left uninclosed, houses
were deserted, and deep chasms in the earth were obvious at frequent intervals.
Such was the face of the country, although the people had for years become
so accustomed to frequent and small shocks, which did no essential injury, 
that the lands were gradually rising again in value, and New Madrid was slowly
rebuilding with frail buildings adapted to the apprehensions of the people.
   Another very remarkable phenomenon, which occurred a few years after the 
great earthquake, is worthy of special record.
   On the 18th of May, 1825, there occurred one of the most violent tornadoes
of which history gives any account. It has usually been called the "Burlington
Storm," because of its greatest severity was experienced in that township.
It commenced between one and two o'clock in the afternoon in Delaware County, 
upon the upper waters of the Scioto, and in the very heart of the state. It
seemed for a time with incredible fury to sweep the surface of the earth of
Ohio. It then apparently rose into the air, rushing along above the tops of
the highest trees. Soon it descended with increased violence and tore its
destructive way in an easterly direction, through Licking, Knox, and Coshocton
Counties. Its general course was a little north of east.
   The force and violence of the wind which accompanied this tempest have
probably never been equaled in a northern latitude. Gigantic forests were
instantly uprooted, and enormous trees were whirled like feathers through the
air. Some were carried several miles. There was no strength of trunk or root
which for a single instant could withstand the assault. Cows, oxen and horses
were lifted bodily from the ground and carried to the distance of one or two
hundred rods. There was a creek flooded with recent rains over which the 
tornado passed. The gale so emptied it of its flood that in a few minutes
there was only a small, trickling stream to be seen in its bed.
   There had been so much rain that the roads were very muddy and the fields
were like sponges saturated with water. The tornado seemed to dispel every
particle of moisture, and both roads and fields were left dry and almost
dusty. The track of the tornado through Licking County was about two-thirds
of a mile in breadth, gradually increasing as the blast advanced. The air
was so filled with trees, buildings, and every kind of debris, whirled as
high as the clouds, that the spectacles resembled immense birds pressing along
in hurried flight.
   The very ground trembled beneath the gigantic tread of this terrific storm.
Many persons who were at the distance of more than a mile from the track of
the tornado testified that they distinctly felt the earth to vibrate beneath
their feet. Those who experienced the fury of the tempest state that the
roar of the wind, the darkened sky, the trembling of the earth, the crash of
falling timbers, and the air filled with trees, fragments of houses and cattle,
presented a spectacle awful in the extreme.
   The cloud from which this terrific power seemed to emerge was black as 
midnight. It was thought by some careful observers that it rushed along at
the rate of about a mile a minute. It sometimes seemed to sink low to the 
ground, and again to rise some distance about the surface. Tremendous as was 
the velocity of the storm, sweeping in one continuous course, it is remarkable
that no one could tell from the fallen timber in which direction the wind
had blown, for the trees were spread in every way.
   There were many well authenticated incidents which seems almost incredible.
An iron chain, about four feet long, and of the size of a common plow chain, 
was lifted from the ground and hurled through the air, with almost the velocity
of a shot from a gun, for the distance of half a mile, and was there lodged
in the topmost branches of a maple tree. A large ox was carried eighty rods
and was then so burried beneath a mass of fallen trees that it required 
several hours chopping to extricate the animal, which, strange to say, was not
materially injured. From the same field with the ox a cow was carried forty
rods, and was lodged in the thick branches of a tree. The tree was blown down
and the cow was killed. An ox cart was carried through the air forty rods, 
and was then dashed to the ground with such violence as to break the tough
axle and to entirely demolish one of the wheels.
   Colonel Wright had a house strongly built of heavy logs. His son was standing
in the doorway when the gale struck him, and hurled him across the room with
such violence as to kill him instantly. The house was torn in pieces. A coat
which was hanging up in the same house, was found six months afterwards in
Coshocton County, more than forty miles from the demolished building. It was
taken back to Colonel Wright's and was clearly identified. Many light articles, 
such as shingles, books and pieces of furniture, were carried twenty and thirty
miles. A little girl, Sarah Robb, twelve years of age, was taken from her 
father's house, lifted several feet from the earth, and carried more than an
eighth of a mile, when she was gently deposited upon the ground unharmed, as
the gale left her. Fortunately the tornado passed over a wilderness region
very sparsely settled, and but three lives were lost.
   Having thus alluded to remarkable physical phenomena, we ought not pass
in silence a mental phenomenon, totally inexplicable upon any known principles
of intellectual philosophy, and yet thoroughly attested by competent witnesses.
   The Rev. Joseph Badger was the first missionary on the Western Reserve. He
graduated at Yale College about the year 1785, and was the highly esteemed
pastor of the Congregational Church in Blanford, Massachusetts, for fourteen
years. He was a man of enterprising spirit as well as fervent piety, and
became deeply interested in the religious welfare of the Indians in Northern
Ohio. Aided by a missionary society he visited the country, and was so well
satisfied that a field of usefulness was opened before him there, that he
returned for his family and took up his residence among the Wyandots of the 
Upper Sandusky, extending his services to the tribes on the Maumee.
   His labors among the Indians and the scattered inhabitants of the Reserve
were very arduous, but interesting and valuable. He was appointed by Governor
Meigs chaplain in the northern army as war broke out with England. He was in
Fort Meigs during the memorable siege of 1813, and was afterwards attached to
General Harrison's command. Mr. Badger had a high reputation for sound judgement, 
energy of character and superior intellectual endowments. He died in 1846, 
at the age of eighty-nine.
   Quite a powerful revival of religion commenced under his preaching in the
Towns of Austinburg, Morgan and Harpersfield, when, at that time, 1803, he
was alternately preaching. The revival was attended by a strange bodily 
agitation call "the jerks". We find in the Historical Collections of Ohio a
very graphic account of this strange occurrance.
   It was familiarly called the jerks, and the first recorded instance of its
occurrance was at a sacrament in East Tennessee, when several hundred of both
sexes were seized with this strange and involutary contortion. The subject 
was instantaneously seized with spasms or convulsions in every muscle, nerve
and tendon. His head was thrown backward and forward and from side to side
with inconceivable rapidity. So swift was the motion that the features could
no more be discerned than the spokes of a wheel can be seen when revolving
with the greatest velocity. No man could voluntarily accomplish the movement.
Great fears were often awakened lest the neck be dislocated.
   The whole body was often similarly affected, and the individual was driven,
notwithstanding all his efforts to prevent it, in the church over pews and
benches, and in the open air over stones and the trunks of fallen trees, so 
that his escape from bruised and mangled limbs seemed almost miraculous. It
was of no avail to attempt to hold or restrain one thus affected. The paroxysm
continued until it gradually exhausted itself. Moreover, all were impressed
with the conviction that there was something supernatural in these convulsions,
and that it was opposing the spirit of God to attempt by violence to resist
them.
   These spasmodic contortions commenced with a simple jerking of the forearm,
from the elbow to the hand, violent, and as ungoverned by the will as what
is called the shaking palsy would be. The jerks were very sudden, following
each other at short intervals. Gradually and resistlessly they extended 
through the arms to the muscles of the neck, the legs, and all other parts of
the body. The convulsions of the neck were the most frightful to behold. The
bosom heaved; the featured were greatly distorted, and so violent were the
spasms that it seemed impossible but that the neck must be broken. When the
hair was long, as was frequently the case with these backwoodsmen, it was 
often thrown backward and forward with such velocity that it would actually
snap like a whip-lash. We are not informed whether the victim suffered pain
under these inflictions or not.
   An eye witness gives the following graphic description of this inexplicable
phenomena: "Nothing in nature could better represent this strange and 
unaccountable operation than for one to goad another alternately on every 
side with a piece of red hot iron. The exercise commonly began in the head, 
which would fly backward and forward and from side to side with a quick jolt,
which the person would naturally labor to supress, but in vain; and the more
any one labored to stay himself and be sober, the more he staggered and the
more his twitches increased. He must necessarily go as he was inclined, whether
with a violent dash on the ground and bounce from place to place like a 
foot-ball, or hop around with head, limbs, and trunk twitching and jotting 
in every direction, as if they must inevitably fly assunder. And how such could
escape without injury was no small wonder among spectators.
   "By this strange operation the human frame was commonly so transformed
and disfigured as to lose every trace of its natural appearance. Sometimes
the head would be twitched right and left, to a half round, with such velocity
that not a feature could be discovered, but the face appeared as much behind
as before; and in the quick, progressive jerk, it would seem as if the person
was transmuted into some other species of creature. Head-dresses were of
little account among the female jerkers. Even handkerchiefs, bound tight around
the head, would be flirted off almost with the first twitch, and the hair 
put into the utmost confusion. This was a very great inconvenience, to redress
which the generality were shorn, though contrary to their confession of faith.
Such as were seized with jerks were wrested at once, not only from their own
government, but that of every one else, so that it was dangerous to attempt
confining them or touching them in any manner, to whatever danger they were
exposed. Yet few were hurt, except it were such as rebelled against the 
operation through wilful and deliberate enmity, and refused to comply with
the injunctions which it came to enforce.
   All who witnessed this unaccountable movement agree in the declaration 
that the convulsions were not only involuntary but resistless. Stout, burly, 
wicked men, would come to the meetings in scorn and to revile. Suddenly the
paroxysms would seize them, and they would be whirled about and tossed in every
direction, though cursing at every jerk. Travelers passing by, and who from 
curiousity looked in upon the religious meetings, would be thus seized. These
facts are apparently as well authenticated as any facts can be from human
testimony. There is no philosophy which can explain them. The faithful historian
can only give them record and leave them there.
   In this same County of Ashtabula, laved by the waters of Lake Erie, where
the jerks were so prominently exhibited, Mormonism, one of the most amazing
and incomprehensible fanaticisms of earth, seems to have had its birth.
   Mr. Soloman Spaulding. About the year 1809 he moved to Conneaut, where the
first settlement of the Connecticut Reserve had been commenced about twelve
years before. He seems to have been a very worthy man, and was for a time a
preacher of the Gospel. He probably was not successful in this calling, and 
turned his attention to mercantile affairs, in which he also failed. The 
theory was then advocated by many speculative men that the Indians were 
descendents of the Jews, of the lost tribe of Israel. Several books and
pamphlets had been published in advocacy of that view.
   Conneaut was rich in monuments, mounds and fortifications, relics of a 
past race. Mr. Spaulding, a man of eccentric tastes and habits, and of
considerable antiquarian lore, became quite interested in the subject of the
origin of the aborigines of our country. As the past was entirely buried in
obscurity, he undertook to write an imaginary narrative of the wanderings of 
the lost tribes. The book was intended as a historical romance written in 
the style of the Bible, and founded upon the supposition that the American
Indians were descendants of the Jews. Mr. Spaulding's brother John visited
him while he was writing the book, which he entitled "Manuscript Found."
John writes:
   "It gave a detailed account the journey of the Jews from Jerusalem, by
land and sea, till they arrived in America. They afterwards had quarrels and
contentions, and separated into two distinct nations. Cruel and bloody wars
ensued, in which great multitudes were slain. They buried their dead in large
heaps, which caused the mounds so common in this country. Their arts, sciences
and civilization were brought into view, in order to account for all the 
curious antiquities found in various parts of North and South America."
   Mr. John Spauling testifies that the Morman Bible, so-called, is essentially
this book. Mr. Henry Lake, of Conneaut, also corroborates this testimony, in
the following emphatic words:
   "I left the State of New York late in the year 1810, and arrived at Conneaut
the 1st of January following. Soon after my arrival I formed a co-partnership
with Solomon Spaulding, for the purpose of rebuilding a forge, which he had
commenced a year or two before. He very frequently read to me from a manuscript
which he was writing, which he entitle the 'Manuscript Found,' and which he
represented as being found in this town. I spent many hours in hearing him
read said writings, and became well acquainted with their contents. He
wished me to assist him in getting his production printed, alleging that a
book of that kind would meet in a rapid sale. I designed doing so, but the
forge not meeting our anticipations, we failed in business, when I declined
having anything to do with the publication of the book.
   "This book represented the American Indians as the descendents of the lost
tribes, gave an account of their leaving Jerusalem, their contentions and 
wars, which were many and great. One time, when he was reading to me the 
tragic account of Laban, I pointed out to him what I considered an inconsistancy, 
which he promised to correct. But by referring to the Book of Morman, I find,
much to my surprise, that it stands there just as he read it to me then. Some
months ago I borrowed the Mormon Bible, put it into my pocket, carried it home,
and thought no more about it.
   "About a week after my wife found the book in my coatpocket, as it hung
up, and commenced reading it aloud, as I lay upon the bed. She had read but
a few minutes till I was astonished to find the same passages in it that 
Spaulding had read to me more than twenty years before from his 'Manuscript
Found.' Since then I have more fully examined the said Mormon Bible, and have
no hesitancy in saying that the historical part of it is principally, if not
wholly, taken from the 'Manuscript Found.' 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. Mr. Spaulding left here in 1812, 
and I furnished his means to carry him to Pittsburgh, where he said he would
get the book printed and pay me. But I never heard any more from him or his
writings, till I saw them in the Book of Mormon."
   The testimony of six other witnessed is equally explicit upon this point.
Mr. Spaulding as vain of his writings, and was continually reading them to
his neighbors. It is much easier to write such a book than it is to get a 
publisher who is willing to risk his capital by issuing it from the press.
Mr. Spaulding could not find a publisher for his book. He remained in Pittsburgh
two or three years and died in Amity in 1816. Several years afterwards, when
this manuscript, with sundry additions and alterations, appeared as the Mormon
Bible. Solomon Spaulding's widow testified that it was her impression that 
her husband took the manuscript to a publishing house of Messrs. Patterson
and Lambkin, but that she did now know whether it was ever returned.
   In the meantime Mr. Lambkin died. The establishment was broken up. Mr.
Patterson had no remembrance of any such manuscript. He said, however, that 
many manuscripts were at that time brought to the office and remained upon 
the shelves even for years unexamined.
   About the year 1823, a man by the name of Sidney Rigdon, came to Pittsburgh.
He was a very eccentric character, with an unbalanced mind, and somewhat of
a monomaniac upon the subject of the Bible. He had been a wandering preacher,
without any special ecclesiastical connection. He became very intimate with 
Mr. Lambkin, was often in the printing office, where all the manuscripts, 
which were candidates for publication, were on the shelves. For three years
he deemed it his duty to abandon all other employment, even preaching, that 
he might devote his whole time to the study of the Bible. He is described, 
by those who knew him, as a man of some versatility, a kind of religious
Ishmaelite, sometimes a Campbellite preacher, and sometimes a printer, and 
at all times fond of technical disputations in theology.
   This man, looking over the manuscripts, fell upon Mr. Spaulding's, which
he read and re-read with the greatest interest. It was peculiarly adapted to
his half-crazed state of mind. He became so much absorbed in the work that
he copied it, as he himself frequently stated (See Utah and the Mormons, by
Benjamin G. Ferris).
   Mr. Rigdon, in his wanderings, fell in with a very singular man, known as
Joe Smith. He professed to possess certain arts of divination, by which 
there were revealed to him treasures hidden in the ground. He was, at that
time, digging for money on the banks of the Susquehanna. He is represented,
by those opposed to his pretentations, as a man of low associates, averse to
all regular industry, very voluble in speech, having great self-confidence, 
and with unusual powers of duping others. He had some seer stones, by which
he could look into futurity, as well as into the bowels of the earth.
   Smith was ever traveling about the country, appearing suddenly and in
unexpected places. He was confined to no particular branch of business. At
times he would be very active in a religious revival, praying and exhorting
with unusual fervor, in that exuberance of words which he had wonderfully at
his command.
   The human mind is so singular in its varied operations that it it very 
difficult to tell where hypocrisy loses itself in a sort of sincerity of
fanaticism. Joe Smith and Sidney Rigdon, both fanatics and monomaniacs, 
originated the system of Mormonism. It is by no means certain that in deluding
others, they did not in a certain degree delude themselves into a belief that
they were guided by the movements of the Holy Spirit to establish a new
religion. Smith was endowed with the requisite cunning and volubility. He had
"seer stones", in which the illiterate had faith. He had already exhumed from 
the Indian mounds many mysterous antiquities, not a few of which, it was
conjectured, were of his own manufacture. Sidney was a printer, a preacher,
who had but to open his mouth and there came from it a wonderful flow of 
religious verbiage; and he had Spaulding's manuscript not only in his hand
but thoroughly in his mind.
   Joe Smith had the commanding energies and that self-confidence which nothing
could embarrass or cause to blush. He took the lead in the new enterprise, 
being sagaciously guided by events as they occurred.
   "A portion of mankind," writes Mr. Ferris, "have been looking for the 'last
days' for the past eighteen hundred years, and at the period in question were
ready to run into Millerism, or any other 'ism', whereby their notions could
be accommodated in this respect. A prophet, therefore, who could superadd to
the discovery of a golden Bible, a proclamation of the speedy destruction of
all mundane things, a power of attorney for the restoration of an authorized
priesthood, and the gathering of saints, and make a formidable display of 
miraculous powers, was the most acceptable gift which could be made to popular
superstition. Here then would seem to have been combined the elements of an 
imposture which hads since branched out and gathered strength, until it has
become the most noted instance in modern times of the development and growth
of religious fanaticism."
   Joe Smith's story is as follows: He says that in the year 1820, as he in
a retired place was earnestly engaged in prayer, two angels appeared to him.
They informed him that God had forgiven all his sins, and taht he was the 
chosen instrument to introduce a new dispensation; that all the then religious
denomination were in error; that the Indians were the descendants of the lost
tribes; that they had brought with them to this country inspired writings;
that these writings were safely deposited in a secret place, and that he was
selected by God to receive them, and translate them into the English tongue.
   There was considerable negotiation before the angel condescended to put
the plates into his hands. At length the angel informed him where they were 
to be found. About four miles from Palmyra, New York, there was a small hill
or mound. Smith dug down on the left side of this mound and found a large 
stone box so carefully sealed that no moisture could enter it. Here the plates
were found. Orson Pratt, one of the first converts to Mormonism, and one of 
its most distinguished advocates, gives the following account of the plates
as then found:
   "These records were engraved on plates which had the appearance of gold.
Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in width and length, being
not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled on both sides with 
engravings, in Egyptian characters, and were bound together in a volume, as
the leaves of a book, and fastened at one edge with three rings running
through the whole. This volume was something like six inches in thickness, a 
part of which was sealed.
   "The characters or letters upon which the unsealed part were small and 
beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in 
its construction, as well as much skill in the art of engraving. With the
record was found a curious instrument, called by the ancients the Urim and
Thummin, which consisted of two transparent stones, clear as crystal, set in
the two rims of a bow. This was in use in ancient times by persons called
seers. It was an instrument by the use of which they received revelation of
things distant or of things past or future."
   Joe Smith boldly exhibited these apparently golden plates, but no unsanctified
hands were permitted to touch them. He also showed a very highly polished
marble box, which he said had contained the plates, and which in that case 
must have miraculously retained its lustre for countless centuries. But it
had been observed some time before that Joe Smith, his brother Hiram, and
another man by the name of McKnight, were very busily employed in some secret
work, which particularly engrossed their time in hours of darkness. It was
suspected that they were engaged in some counterfeiting operations. According
to Joe Smith's account, they were engaged in lonely vigils and in prayer.
   It was emphatically true of the new prophet that he had but very little
honor in his own country. His peculiar claims excited ridicule and contempt.
Mobs beset his house, demanding a sight of the famous plates. At length the
annoyance became so great that he fled from Palmyra and took refuge in the
Northern part of Pennsylvania, where his father-in-law resided. He secreted
his plates for the journey in a barrel of beans. Being quietly housed in 
his retreat, he commenced, by divine inspiration, translating the Egyptian
hieroglyphics. As he scarcely knew how to write himself he employed a scribe,
one Oliver Cowdry. Stationed behind a screen, where Cowdry could not see him, 
he professed to look through the Urim and Thummim, and thus translated the
unknown symbols, sentence by sentence.
   The work proceeded very slowly, and month after month passed away while
it was in progress. During this time John the Baptist appeared to them, 
having sent by the Apostles Peter, James, and John, and ordained first Smith
and then Cowdry into the priesthood of Aaron. The family of the prophet's
father became converts, and then an individual by the name of Martin Harris.
The character of this man's mind may be inferred from the fact that he had
been a Quaker, Methodist, Baptist and finally a Presbyterian. Harris had some
property, and Smith importuned him to furnish funds to publish the book, 
assuring him that it would produce an entire change in the world and save it
from ruin.
   Mr. Harris, a simple-minded, well-meaning man, was very anxious to see the
wonderful plates, but the prophet avowed that he was not yet holy enough to
enjoy that privilege. He, however, after much importunity, gave Mr. Harris
a transcript of some of the characters on a piece of paper. As Mr. Harris
was parting with his money, he evidently felt some solicitude lest he might
be deceived, since all around him were speaking contemptuously of the prophetic
claims of Joe Smith, and he adopted the wise precaution, probably urged to it
by some of his friends, of submitting the paper containing the hieroglyphics
to Professor Charles Anthon, a distinguished Oriental scholar in New York.
   Mr. Howe, in writing a history of Mormonism, subsequently wrote to Professor
Anthon making inquiries upon this subject. He received a reply, under date
of February 17, 1834, from which we make the following extracts:
   "Some years ago a plain, apparently simple-minded farmer called on me with
a note from Dr. Mitchell, requesting me to decipher if possible the paper
which the farmer would hand me. Upon examining the paper I soom came to the 
conviction that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax. When I asked the person
who brought it how he obtained the writing, he gave me the following account.
   "A gold book, containing a number of plates fastened together by wires of
the same material, had been dug up in the northern part of the State of New
York, and along with it an enormous pair of spectacles. These spectacles were
so large that if any person attempted to look through them, his two eyes 
would look through one glass only, the spectacles altogether too large for
the human face. 'Whoever,' he said, 'examined the plates through the glass,
was enabled not only to read them but fully to understand their meaning.'
   "All this knowledge, however, was confined to a young man, who had the 
trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole possession. This young
man was placed behind a curtain, in a garret in a farm-house, and being thus
concealed from view, he put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather looked
through one of the glasses, deciphered the characters in the book, and having
committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain to
those who stood outside.
   "The farmer had been requested to contribute a sum of money towards the
publication of the Golden Book. So urgent had been these solicitations, that
he intended selling his farm and giving the amount to those who wished to 
publish the plates.
   "On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the paper, and 
instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax, I began to regard it as part of
a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money; and I communicated my suspicions
to him, wanting him to beware of rogues.
   "The paper in question was, in fact, a singular scroll. It consisted of
all kinds of singular characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently
been prepared by some person who had before him, at the time, a book containing
various alphabets, Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes. Roman
letters inverted or placed sideways, were arranged and placed in perpendicular
columns. The whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into
various compartments, arched with various strange marks, and evidently copied
after the Mexican calender, given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as 
not to betray the source whence it was derived.
   "Some time after the farmer paid me a second visit. He brought with him
'the gold book' in print, and offered it to me for sale. I declined purchasing.
I adverted once more to the roguery which in my opinion had been practiced
upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold plates. He informed me 
that they were in the trunk with the spectacles. I advised him to go to a 
magistrate and have the trunk examined. He said the curse of God would come
one him if he did. On my pressing him, however, to go to a magistrate, he
told me he would open the trunk if I would take the curse of God upon myself.
I replied that I would do so with the greatest willingness, and would incur
every risk of that nature, provided I could only extricate him from the
grasp of the rogues.
   "He then left me. I have given you a full statement of all that I know
respecting the origin of Mormonism; and I must beg you, at a personal favor, 
to publish this letter immediately, should you find my name mentioned again
by these wretched fanatics.
			"Yours respectfully, 
					"CHARLES ANTHON."
   When the Mormons say that an illiterate young man could not fluently dictate,
in connected series, a voluminous work, it is replied that all that marvel
is removed by the supposition that, hid behind the curtain, he was reading
Spaulding's manuscript. Still, Joe Smith was very reluctant to have the plates
examined. But the clamors of an incredulous community became so loud, that it
was "revealed" to Joe that they were to be shown to three witnesses chosen
by the Lord. The witnesses thus selected were Oliver Cowdry, who had been
the scribe to write the translation, Martin Harris, who had furnished the funds
for printing the book, and a new convert, David Whitmer, who subsequently, 
getting into a quarrel with some of the Mormons, was accused, together with 
Cowdry, of being connected with "a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars
and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat and defraud the saints."
The "Elders' Journal" also spoke of Martin Harris is the following disrespectful
terms: "Martin Harris is so far beneath contempt, that a notice of him would
be too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make."
   These men, according to the declaration of Joe Smith, were the divinely
appointed apostles to testify to the authenticity of the golden plates. Their
meagre testimony was as follows:
   "An Angel of God came down from Heaven and brought and laid before our 
eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates and the engraving thereon."
   No one doubted that Joe Smith had provided himself with some yellow plates
upon which certain unintelligible characters were inscribed. Still, strange
as it may appear, there were men and women found who were willing to accept
Joe Smith as a divinely appointed prophet. On the first of June, 1830, he 
organized a band of thirty followers, at Fayette, Ontario County, Pennsylvania.
But these saints were held in such slight repute where they were known, that
their leader thought it best to remove with them, and to establish his
head-quarters at Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio.
   Here, having assumed the name of the "Latter Day Saints," three thousand
persons gave in their adhesion to Joe Smith. Many of the persons had considerable
property. It was "revealed" to Joe that they should build him a house. They
did so. It was "revealed" to him that they should "provide for him food and 
raiment and whatsoever thing he needeth." They did so. It was revealed to him
that they should erect a temple, at the expense of forty thousand dollars.
They did so. Whenever Joe Smith wished to have anything accomplished, he
simply resorted to a new "revelation," and it was promptly done. "Thus," it
is written in the history of Mormonism, "from a state of almost beggary, the
family of Smith were furnished with the fat of the land by their disciples,
many of whom were wealthy."
   Joe Smith established a bank which he said "could never fail," as it was
instituted "by the will of God." It did fail, however - miserably. The
prophet explained: "The Lord," said he, "promised a blessing only upon condition
of the bank being conducted upon proper principles."
   The managers failed in their duty. The prophet, in his autobiography, gives
the following account of what ensued:
   "At this time the spirit of speculation in lands and property of all kinds
was taking deep root in the church. As the fruits of this spirit, evil
surmisings, fault-finding, disunion, dissension and apostacy followed in
quick succession. It seemed as though all the powers of hell were combining
to overthrow the church at once, and make a final end. Other banking institutions
refused the Kirtland Safety Society's notes. The enemy abroad and apostates
in our midst united their schemes. Many became disaffected towards me, as 
though I was the sole cause of those very evils I was most strenuously striving
against, and which were actually brought about by the brethren not taking
heed to my counsel."
   In addition to these troubles, the outside barbarians in and around 
Kirtland, who fancied themselves swindled by these banking operations, became
excited and procured legal process for the arrest of Joe Smith and Elder
Rigdon. They both ran away. Smith thus describes the affair:
   "A new year dawned upon the church in Kirtland, in all the bitterness of 
the spirit of the apostate mobocracy, which continued to rage, and grow
hotter and hotter, until Elder Rigdon and myself were obliged to flee from 
its deadly influence, as did the apostles and prophets of old, and, as Jesus
said, 'When they persecute you in one city flee to another;' and on the 
evening of the 12th of January, about 10 o'clock, we left Kirtland on 
horseback to escape mob violence, which was about to burst upon us, under
cover of legal process to cover their hellish designs, and save themselves
from the just judgment of the law. The weather was extremely cold, and we
were obliged to secrete ourselves sometimes to elude the grasp of our
pursuers, who continued their race more than two hundred miles from Kirtland,
armed with swords and pistols, seeking our lives."
   In consequence of these persecutions, the Mormons purchased a large tract
of land in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, to which place they 
gradually removed from Ohio. Converts were multiplied; a printing press and a 
weekly newspaper were established, and a thriving town sprang up, as by
magic. This little settlement soon numbered twelve hundred Mormons; and this
singular fanaticism seemed again to be borne along on the tide of prosperity.