purpose, and found to be entirely wanting in the essentials claimed for it.

It was beyond question, from very strong circumstantial evidence, the manufactured manuscript prepared by Hurlburt or his confederates for the occasion. A daughter of Mr. John Spaulding, still living near Conneaut, in a letter to the writer (see Appendix, No. 15) of a recent date, substantiates all that Mr. Lake and Mr. Gould stated at the former gentleman's house.

Of the odd stories told at Conneaut, in 1834, in connection with Solomon Spaulding, was one to the effect that he told his neighbors at the time he entertained them with his romance, that his "Manuscript Found” was a translation of the "Book of Mormon," and he intended to publish a fictitious account of its having been discovered in a "cave in Ohio" as an advertisement, to advance its sale, when his book was printed.

The remarkable features of the Mormon meeting at Conneaut, in 1834, and the conflicts of opinion between the converts to the new doctrines there promulgated, and the affirmations of the old neighbors and relatives of Solomon Spaulding, led to the venture of E. D. Howe in writing the book called "Mormonism Unveiled."

There is a tradition that Mr. Howe was himself half a Mormon when he wrote this volume, and it is believed that his motive in writing it was not a desire to expose an imposture, but to make money.

Another outcome of this meeting at Conneaut, in 1834, was the wild enthusiasm of the people, who travelled from great distances to see the "new prophet," and from it "elders," or preachers, were sent out to those who could not attend.

Stories were circulated at the time that even in the then remote New England States and in the British

provinces families were placing their all in wagons--the common method of travelling at that date-and hastening to join the ranks of the "Saints."

How long the Mormons tarried at Conneaut it is now impossible to state. It must have been some weeks, however, as in the interval Hurlburt visited Munson, Mass., and other matters of importance in their history eventuated at this period of their career.

CHAPTER VII.

The Mormons in Missouri.

WHEN Joe Smith found that he could not be a prophet of repute in the State of New York, and after he and Sidney Rigdon had witnessed the favor with which their scheme was received in Ohio, they followed Oliver Cowdrey, whom they had sent on in advance to the State of Missouri to look for a fitting locality for the New Jerusalem, and, as they professed, to evangelize the Indians and Gentiles generally.

Cowdrey's report of Jackson Co., Mo., was so favorable that these two founders of "a religious empire" directed their steps thither, under the most discouraging difficulties of travel, making a portion of the distance of over three hundred miles on foot. On their arrival at Independence they were so enamored of the country that they at once selected it as the place for the New Zion; and, to silence all cavil among his followers, Smith had a "revelation," in the form of a document, which is among the most extraordinary performances of this remarkable man, as this was early in the history of Mormonism, and long before persecutions and dangers had sharpened his faculties by a ripe experience. It commences: "Hearken, oh ye elders of my Church, saith the Lord, your God, who have assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints. Behold the place which is called Independence is the centre place,

and a spot for the Temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not far from the Court House; wherefore, it is wisdom that the land should be purchased by the Saints, and also every track lying westward, even unto the line running directly between Jew and Gentile."

All the ceremony it was possible to secure under the circumstances was given to the occasion. The particular spot chosen as a site for the Temple was named "Adammon diamor," signifying the " patriarchal blessing.

Here Smith said the Latter-Day Saints would finally gather, Christ would appear in person, and the Mormons would reign a glorious and triumphant people for a thousand years.* With a business-like purpose worthy of the Prophet's most illustrious pupil, Brigham Young, Smith expressed his wishes, appointed a storekeeper and other factotums, including Oliver Cowdrey as assistant editor of a newspaper which was established at Independence, called the Morning and Evening Star. Elder W. Phelps, a man who wrote Smith's political papers and distorted several languages to make “more good" out of the word "Mormon," was appointed editor-in-chief.

After the "consecration" and these business matters were arranged, the Prophet and Rigdon returned to Kirtland, in order, as they said, "to remain five years and make money.

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Meanwhile during these five years the Mormons increased very rapidly in Missouri, settlements being made in Clay, Ray, Jackson and Caldwell counties; and with their habitual industry and thrift they made homes of comfort, and rapidly gained wealth.

The Kirtland troubles, long threatened, culminated in

* Venerable Mormons in Utah have recently been heard to give it as their opinion that they, with other Saints, would return to Zion, Independence, Mo., for the final glorification of the chosen ones.

1838, when Smith and Rigdon again made a journey to Missouri, pursued at first by creditors and afterward guided by a “revelation.”

It was on this particular westward march that the Prophet first organized a military command and a bodyguard and began to assume the prerogatives of his high military, as well as spiritual, mission. He had two hundred disciplined men-at-arms after he reached the State line of Missouri secretly, his "guard," guard," a fearful band which had been organized as "destroying angels," or "Danites," whose lawless conduct later on precipitated the tragic scenes that were followed by the expulsion of the Mormons from the State. These "Danites" were sworn to put out of sight" all persons obnoxious to the "Saints;" and even before the Prophet arrived from Kirtland many peaceable residents mysteriously disappeared-"slipped their breath," to use a favorite expression of the band.

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From the year 1833 the Mormons had been in trouble in Missouri. While their general cause had advanced, they were correspondingly hated by their neighbors. They were accused of every sort of evil and of secret crime, and yet were admitted to be industrious.

Such was the situation when the Prophet came to rule over his followers in new scenes and under new auspices. A letter was written a short time before his arrival by a man of great natural intelligence, Mr. Ezra Booth, early a local Methodist preacher in Ohio, who was a victim to the Mormon imposture in Missouri.

In a letter to the Rev. Ira Eddy, in which he gives an account of the painful experiences which revealed its iniquities to him, he says: "When I embraced Mormonism I sincerely believed it to be of God. Like a ghost it haunted me day and night, until I was mysteriously