Part 7 (1/2)

”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 b.l.o.o.d.y Wars ensued, in which great mult.i.tudes 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 pa.s.s,' or 'now it came to pa.s.s,' 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 ma.n.u.script were the same, and she well recalled such phrases as ”it came to pa.s.s.”

Mr. Spaulding's business partner at Conneaut, Henry Lake, testified that Spaulding read the ma.n.u.script to him many hours, that the story running through it and the Bible was the same, and he recalls this circ.u.mstance: ”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 pa.s.s,' 'now it came to pa.s.s,' 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 ”Ma.n.u.script 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 'Ma.n.u.script Found'.... The names of Nephi, Lehi, Moroni, and in fact all the princ.i.p.al 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 ”Ma.n.u.script 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 ma.n.u.script.... The longer I live, the more firmly I am convinced that Spaulding's ma.n.u.script was appropriated and largely used in getting up the ”Book of Mormon.”

Red.i.c.k McKee, a resident of Amity, Pennsylvania, when Spaulding lived there, and later a resident of Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., in a letter to the Was.h.i.+ngton [Pennsylvania] Reporter, of April 21, 1869, stated that he heard Spaulding read from his ma.n.u.script, and added: ”I have an indistinct recollection of the pa.s.sage 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 Was.h.i.+ngton County, Pennsylvania, Historical Society, under date of December 20, 1880, an account of his recollections of the Spaulding ma.n.u.script, and it was printed in the Was.h.i.+ngton [Pennsylvania] Reporter of January 7, 1881.

Spaulding read a large part of his ma.n.u.script 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 pa.s.s,'

occurred so often that some called him 'Old Come-to-pa.s.s.' 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-pa.s.s' 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 Was.h.i.+ngton County, Pa.”

The testimony of so many witnesses, so specific in its details, seems to prove the ident.i.ty 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 ma.n.u.script” (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 ma.n.u.script.

The defenders of the Mormon Bible as an original work received great comfort some fifteen years ago by the announcement that the original ma.n.u.script of Spaulding's ”Ma.n.u.script 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 ma.n.u.script 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 ma.n.u.script 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 ma.n.u.script (it has been printed by the Reorganized Church at Lamoni, Iowa), which shows that it bears no resemblance to the Bible story. But the a.s.sumption 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 ma.n.u.script. Hurlbut was in Howe's service when he asked Mrs. Davison for an order for the ma.n.u.script, and he gave to Howe, as the result of his visit, the ma.n.u.script which Rice gave to President Fairchild. Howe in his book (p. 288) describes this ma.n.u.script substantially as does President Fairchild, saying:--

* ”Ma.n.u.script 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 s.h.i.+p's being driven 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 ma.n.u.script to President Fairchild (who reproduces it), thus adding to the proof that the Rice ma.n.u.script is the one Hurlbut delivered to Howe.

Mr. Howe adds this important statement:--

”This old ma.n.u.script has been shown to several of the foregoing witnesses, who recognize it as Spaulding's, he having told them that he had altered his first plan of writing, by going further back with dates, and writing in the old scripture style, in order that it might appear more ancient. They say that it bears no resemblance to the 'Ma.n.u.script Found.'”

If Howe had considered this ma.n.u.script of the least importance as invalidating the testimony showing the resemblance between the ”Ma.n.u.script Found” and the Mormon Bible, he would have destroyed it (if he was the malignant falsifier the Mormons represented him to be), and not have first described it in his book; and then left it to be found by any future owner of his effects. Its rediscovery has been accepted, however, even by some non-Mormons, as proof that the Mormon Bible is an original production.*