He next stuck a steel rod in the centre of the circles, and then enjoined profound silence, lest we should arouse the evil spirit who had the charge of these treasures.  After we had dug a trench of 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 the son the cause of our disappointment.  He soon returned, and said, that Joe had remained all the time in the house, looking in his 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 had 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 flesh 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 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 would be four-fold.  To gratify my curiosity, I let them have the 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 constantly around them a worthless gang, whose employment it was to dig for money at night, and who, during day, had more to do with mutton than money.

“When they found that the better classes of people of this vicinity would no longer put any 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.  This latter book was at length fitted for the press.  No means were taken by any individual to suppress its publication; no one apprehended danger from a book originating with individuals who had neither influence, honesty, nor honour.  The two Josephs and Hiram promised to show me the plates after the Book of Mormon was translated; but afterwards, they pretended to have received an express commandment, forbidding them to show the plates.  Respecting the manner of obtaining and translating the Book of Mormon, their statements were always discordant.  The elder Joseph would say, that he had seen the plates, and that he knew them to be gold; at other times he would say, they looked like gold; and at other times he asserted he had not seen the plates at all.