“I have thus briefly stated a few of the facts, in relation to the conduct and character of this family of Smiths; probably sufficient has been stated without my going into detail.

“WILLIAM STAFFORD.”

The following is a curious document from one of the very individuals who printed the Mormon Bible:—­

“Having noticed in a late number of the Signs of the Times a notice of a work entitled ‘Mormon Delusions and Monstrosities,’ it occurred to me that it might, perhaps, be of service to the cause of truth to state one circumstance, relative to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, which occurred during its publication, at which time I was engaged in the office where it was printed, and became familiar with the men and their principles, through whose agency it was ‘got up.’

“The circumstance alluded to was as follows!—­We had heard much said by Martin Harris, the man who paid for the printing, and the only one in the concern worth any property, about the wonderful wisdom of the translators of the mysterious plates, and we resolved to test their wisdom.  Accordingly, after putting one sheet in type? we laid it aside, and told Harris it was lost, and there would be a serious defection in the book in consequence, unless another sheet, like the original, could be produced.  The announcement threw the old gentleman into great excitement; but, after a few moments reflection, he said he would try to obtain another.  After two or three weeks, another sheet was produced, but no more like the original than any other sheet of paper would have been, written over by a common schoolboy, after having read, as they had, the manuscript preceding and succeeding the lost sheet.  As might be expected, the disclosure of this trick greatly annoyed the authors, and caused no little merriment among those who were acquainted with the circumstance.  As we were none of us Christians, and only laboured for the ‘gold that perisheth,’ we did not care for the delusion, only so far as to be careful to avoid it ourselves and enjoy the hoax. Not one of the hands in the office where the wonderful book was printed ever became a convert to the system, although the writer of this was often assured by Harris, that if he did not, he would be destroyed in 1832.

“T.N.S.  TUCKER.”

GROTON, MAY 23, 1842.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Let us now examine into the political views of the Mormons, and follow Smith in his lofty and aspiring visions of sovereignty for the future.  He is a rogue and a swindler,—­no one can doubt that; yet there is something grand in his composition.  Joe, the mean, miserable, half-starved money-digger of western New York, was, as I have before observed, cast in the mould of conquerors, and out of that same clay which Nature had employed for the creation of a Mahomet.

His first struggle was successful; the greater portion of his followers surrounded him in Kirkland, and acknowledged his power, as that of God’s right hand; while many individuals from among the better classes repaired to him, attracted by the ascendancy of a bold genius, or by the expectation of obtaining a share in his fame, power, and glory.