Every complete critical discussion of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon naturally divides itself into three parts: first, an examination as to the sufficiency of the evidence adduced in support of its miraculous and divine origin; second, an examination of the internal evidences of its origin such as its verbiage, its alleged history, chronology, archaeology, etc.; third, an accounting for its existence by purely human agency and upon a rational basis, remembering that Joseph Smith, the nominal founder and first prophet of Mormonism, was probably too ignorant to have produced the volume unaided. Under the last head, two theories have been advocated by non-Mormons. By one of these, conscious fraud has been imputed to Smith, and by the other, psychic mysteries have been explored in an effort to supplant the conscious fraud by an unconscious self-deception.

In 1831, four years after its first appearance, an effort was made to show that the Book of Mormon was a plagiarism from an unpublished novel of Solomon Spaulding. For a long time, this seemed the accepted theory of all non-Mormons. In the past fifteen years, apparently following in the lead of President Fairchild of Oberlin College, all but two of the numerous writers upon the subject have asserted that the theory of the Spaulding manuscript origin of the Book of Mormon must be abandoned, and Mormons assert that only fools and knaves still profess belief in it.

With these last conclusions, I am compelled to disagree. In setting forth my convictions and the reasons for them, I have undertaken nothing entirely new, but have only assigned myself the task of establishing as a historical fact what is now an abandoned and almost forgotten theory. This will be done by marshalling in its support a more complete array of the old evidence than has been heretofore made and the addition of new circumstantial evidence not heretofore used in this connection.

It will be shown that Solomon Spaulding was much interested in American antiquities; that he wrote a novel entitled the "Manuscript Found" in which he attempted to account for the existence of the American Indian by giving him an Israelitish origin; that the first incomplete outline of this story, with many features peculiar to itself and the Book of Mormon, is now in the library of Oberlin College, and that while the story as rewritten was in the hands of a prospective publisher, it was stolen from the office under circumstances which caused Sidney Rigdon, of early Mormon fame, to be suspected as the thief; that later Rigdon on two occasions exhibited a similar manuscript which in one instance he declared had been written by Spaulding and in another had been left with a printer for publication. It will be shown further that Rigdon had the opportunity to steal the manuscript and that he foreknew the forthcoming and the contents of the Book of Mormon; that through Parley P. Pratt, later one of the first Mormon apostles, a plain and certain connection is traced between Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith, and that they were friends between 1827 and 1830. To all this will be added very conclusive evidence of the identity of the distinguished features of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon. These facts, coupled with Smith's admitted intellectual incapacity for producing the book unaided, will close the argument upon this branch of the question, and it is hoped will convince all not in the meshes of Mormonism that the Book of Mormon is a plagiarism. To those Mormons whose minds are untainted by mysticism, who have the intelligence to weigh evidence and the courage to proclaim convictions opposed to accepted church theories, to such Mormons, though not convinced that the evidence here reviewed amounts to a demonstration, it must be that this essay will yet furnish even to them a more believable and more probable theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon than the one which involves a belief in undemonstrable miracles as well as matters entirely outside of all other experience of sane humans. Certainly the theory here advanced requires for its belief the acceptance of less of improbable assumption than does any other explanation offered.

With this statement of what it is expected to accomplish, we may proceed to review the evidence in detail.

Solomon Spaulding and his First Manuscript.

Solomon Spaulding was born in 1761 at Ashford, Conn., graduated from Dartmouth in 1785, graduated in theology in 1787, and became an obscure preacher. The fact that Spaulding had become an infidel, that in rewriting the first outline of his story he adopted, as he said, "the old Scripture style" to make it seem more ancient, and the further fact that he told at least four persons at different times that his story would someday be accepted as veritable history, all of these combined with the peculiar product tend to show that one motive for the writing of this supposed novel may have been the author's desire to burlesque the Bible and furnish a practical demonstration of the gullibility of the masses. While at Dartmouth college, Spaulding had as a classmate the subsequently famous impostor and criminal Stephen Burroughs, which fact furnishes interesting material for reflection as to how far the subsequent ill fame of Burroughs, coupled with personal acquaintance, may have operated in Spaulding as a fruitful suggestion inducing this labor as a means of securing fame through fraud. If Spaulding did not see the possibility of a new and profitable religion in his "Manuscript Found," then he was more short-sighted than was a nephew of his named King. This nephew told one Dille, a school teacher, of his belief that he could start a new religion out of this novel and make money thereby, at the same time briefly outlining a plan very similar to the one long afterward adopted by Smith, Rigdon, and company. If we can place any confidence in the report of an interview between a Mormon "elder" and a nephew of Solomon Spaulding, then it would appear that in the opinion of the latter's brother, Solomon Spaulding was not a man who would be by conscientious scruples deterred from practicing such a fraud if believed profitable. Be that as it may, Spaulding did hope by the sale of his literary production to make sufficient money to enable him to pay his debts.

In 1809, Solomon Spaulding and Henry Lake built and conducted a forge at Salem (now Conneaut), Ohio, where in 1812 the former made his second business failure. Spaulding, being an invalid, possessed of a good education and habits of study, naturally took to literary work, which he probably commenced soon after 1809 and continued until his death in October 1816. During this seven years, he seems to have written several other manuscripts besides the two with which we are directly concerned.

Necessarily, Spaulding's surroundings without any evidence that he received and sold to the Mormons the rewritten story entitled "Manuscript Found," which will be more fully discussed hereafter. From Howe, this first manuscript story went into the possession of one L. Rice, who bought out Howe's business, and later, with other effects of Rice's, it was shipped to Honolulu and there, in 1884, accidentally discovered by President James H. Fairchild of Oberlin College. This manuscript is now in the Oberlin library and has been published by two of the Mormon sects as being a refutation of the Spaulding origin of the Book of Mormon. It can be such a refutation only to those who mistake it for another story. Howe, in 1834, published a synopsis of the manuscript now at Oberlin and submitted the original to the witnesses who testified to the many points of identity between Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon. These witnesses then (in 1834) recognized the manuscript secured by Hurlburt and now at Oberlin as being one of Spaulding's, but not the one which they asserted was similar to the Book of Mormon. They further said that Spaulding had told them that he had altered his original plan of writing by going farther back with his dates and writing in the old Scripture style in order that his story might appear more ancient. According to many witnesses, the rewritten "Manuscript Found" (like the Book of Mormon) was an attempt at imitating the literary style of the Bible, so was the manuscript submitted to Patterson, according to his own statement. No such indications are found in the Oberlin manuscript, which further evidence that it is not the manuscript of which the witnesses testified and which Patterson says was submitted to him. The Oberlin manuscript also furnishes internal evidence of an improbability that it was ever submitted to a publisher by any man as sane and well-educated as was Spaulding. The plot of the story is incomplete, and the manuscript is full of interlineations, alterations, careless or phonetic spelling, and misused capital letters. These are all easily explainable consistently with Spaulding's erudition if we view the manuscript as a hasty and careless blocking out of his literary work, but it is not in such a condition as would make him willing to submit it to a publisher.

If we bear in mind that from the beginning, it was asserted that it was this manuscript from which the Book of Mormon was alleged to have been plagiarized, then President Fairchild's conclusion that it disproves such plagiarism of course becomes absurd and only demonstrates his ignorance of the early testimony upon which was asserted the connection of the Book of Mormon and another manuscript. By always remembering these separate manuscripts and their different histories, much seeming conflict of evidence can be explained, mistaken conclusions accounted for, and confusion avoided. The Mormons, in their publication of this first manuscript story, have labeled it "The Manuscript Found," though no such title is discoverable anywhere upon or in the body of the manuscript in the Oberlin library. The evident purpose of this is to further confound that first story with the second or rewritten manuscript, which it will be demonstrated really was used in constructing the Book of Mormon and which manuscript the witnesses to be hereafter introduced described by that title. Having traced to its final resting place at Oberlin College the first manuscript story, which had no direct connection with the Book of Mormon and never was claimed to have such, let us now, if we can, trace into the Book of Mormon Spaulding's rewritten story entitled "The Manuscript Found."

Spaulding's Rewritten Manuscript

Spaulding commenced his writing about 1809, changing his plans while still at Conneaut, that is, prior to 1812, at which later date the rewritten story of "The Manuscript Found" was still incomplete. In 1812, Spaulding borrowed some money with which to go to Pittsburgh, hoping there to get his novel published and thus make it possible for him to pay his debts. In Pittsburgh, Spaulding submitted his manuscript to one Robert Patterson, then engaged in the publishing business. The exact date is not known, but it is probable almost to certainty that Spaulding would do this immediately upon his arrival in Pittsburgh in 1812 since that was one of his definite purposes in going there. Spaulding's widow is reported as saying, "At length, the manuscript was returned to the author, and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington county, Pennsylvania." The return of the manuscript before 1814, the date of the removal to Amity, is made additionally certain by the testimony of Redick McKee and Joseph Miller. This additional evidence, especially that of the latter, makes it plain that Spaulding had his rewritten manuscript at Amity, thus demonstrating its return to Spaulding before the latter's removal from Pittsburgh. The evidence of identity between the manuscript testified about as being at Amity and Spaulding's rewritten story leaves no doubt. The review of this evidence of identity will be postponed until we come to review the other evidence of identity between "The Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon.

It is said that Patterson returned the manuscript to Spaulding with the advice to "polish it up, finish it, and make money out of it." That remark would seem most likely to have been made after the finishing of the story, and I therefore feel justified in believing it to have been made after the second submission of the manuscript. Mrs. Spaulding-Davidson says this request was never complied with, but for reasons which are unknown to her. In the light of evidence to be hereafter reviewed, we are justified in an inference that one of the causes was a theft of the manuscript from the publisher's office, followed perhaps within a few weeks or months by the death of Spaulding, which occurred in October 1816.

Erroneous Theories Examined

It has been a theory among some that Joseph Smith himself secured the Spaulding manuscript from the house of William H. Sabine of Onondaga Valley, N.Y., for whom Smith worked as a teamster in 1823. According to another theory, Sidney Rigdon, while the "Manuscript Found" was at the printing office, copied it, the original being returned to Spaulding. A third theory supposes Smith to have copied it while working for Sabine about 1823, leaving the original there. A fourth theory makes Spaulding copy this story for the publisher while keeping the duplicate at home to be afterward cared for by the family. Under all of these theories, the original of Spaulding's rewritten story was delivered in 1833 to D.P. Hurlbut to be used by E.D. Howe in his then forthcoming book "Mormonism Unveiled," but according to the Spaulding family, was by Hurlbut sold to the Mormons and, according to the Mormons, destroyed by Hurlbut because it was wholly unlike the Book of Mormon. These theories can claim for themselves no greater weight than that, in the opinion of their several non-Mormon advocates, they furnish a possible explanation as to the connecting link between Spaulding and Smith, but upon all essentials except one are without any evidence which involves the conclusion deduced from it, and not one of these theories is necessary as an explanation for the established facts. The one element which has direct evidence in its support is the allegation that Spaulding's rewritten story of the "Manuscript Found" was, after Spaulding's death, in the possession of his widow. That allegation rests upon the following statement of Spaulding's daughter, Mrs. McKinstry, and the family belief in it without any additional evidence upon which to base that belief. She says, "In 1816, my father died at Amity, Pa., and directly after his death, my mother and myself went to visit my mother's brother, William H. Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga county, N.Y. We carried our personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk in which my mother had placed my father's writings which had been preserved. I perfectly remember the appearance of this trunk and of looking at its contents. There were sermons and other papers about an inch thick, and I saw closely a manuscript written and tied with some of the stories my father had written for me, one of which he called 'The Frogs of Wyndham.' On the outside of this manuscript were written the words 'Manuscript Found.' I did not read it but looked through it and saw the names I had heard at Conneaut when my father read it to his friends. I was about eleven years old at this time."

The trunk remained at Sabine's until some time soon after 1820, while in 1823, Smith is said to have worked for Sabine as a teamster and almost certainly heard Spaulding's stories discussed as a matter of family history. If the rewritten story of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" had been in the trunk at Sabine's while Smith worked there, which is doubtful, he might have stolen it or copied it, though the latter is made almost impossible by Smith's inability to write, and by his youth.

Assuming for the sake of argument that Spaulding's rewritten story, if the trunk had been in it, could have been stolen or copied by Smith in that trunk at Sabine's, it could not have been the rewritten story labeled "Manuscript Found" and sold to the Mormons by Hurlbut, if he labeled and sold any manuscript, for in 1834 Hurlbut found it there. It is even possible that this first manuscript, if it had been stolen nor copied by Smith, might have been in that trunk at Sabine's. But the rewritten "Manuscript Found" was never in the trunk at Sabine's, as will be shown hereafter, and therefore could not have been either copied or stolen by Smith. This also answers one Mormon argument made against Rigdon's theft of the manuscript from the printing office, which argument is always based upon the assumption that the original manuscript of the rewritten story was in the Sabine trunk long after the time of the alleged theft by Rigdon.

From 1834 when this alleged plagiarism was first publicly charged until the giving of Mrs. McKinstry's evidence in 1880, it had necessarily been a matter of frequent discussion in the family circle that the Book of Mormon was a plagiarism from her father's "Manuscript Found," and always the identity of names must have been spoken of as the connecting link in the chain of evidence proving the plagiarism since that identity of names was the principal item of evidence as it was first argued and published in 1834. With like uniformity, it was firmly believed (but as a mere matter of inference be it remembered) that Hurlbut secured from the trunk that second manuscript which contained these names. Hence it would be inferred by the Spaulding family that the trunk must have contained the names "Nephi," "Lamanite," "Mormon," and "Moroni," which names it will be shown occur in and only in the rewritten manuscript and the Book of Mormon. In determining what weight to give to Mrs. McKinstry's statement as to the contents of the trunk manuscript, several important facts must be kept in mind. Mrs. McKinstry made this statement in 1880 when she was 74 years of age. Her father died in October 1816, very soon after she and the trunk went to Sabine's at Hartwick, Onondaga county, N.Y., and there she "many times" had it in her hand. At the earliest date, this must have been in the fore part of 1817, and she tells us that she was about 11 years old at this time. If in 1817 she was 11 years old, then in 1812 when she with her parents left Conneaut for Pittsburgh, she could not have exceeded 6 years of age. At the age of 74, Mrs. McKinstry testified that when she was 11 years old, she looked through but did not read a manuscript yet saw the names she heard her father read at Conneaut between 1810 and 1812 when she was from 4 to 6 years old. That this woman at 74 should remember strange names casually repeated in her presence before her sixth year and have honestly pressed this recollection to a conclusion as to the contents of the trunk manuscript is a feat of memory too extraordinary to give her uncorroborated statement any weight as against valid contradictory conclusions drawn from established facts. The only other statement which has ever been claimed as evidence showing Spaulding's rewritten manuscript to have been in the Sabine trunk is one by his widow, Matilda. She says that before leaving Pittsburgh for Amity, her husband's manuscript was returned by the publishers. She seemingly remembers nothing of its second submission while her husband resided at Amity or else those who wrote and signed her statement didn't see fit to mention it. Then (after Mr. Spaulding's death in 1816) fell into my hands and was carefully preserved. It has been frequently examined by my daughter, Mrs. McKinstry of Monson, Mass., with whom I now reside, and by other friends. By what follows, she makes it plain that the "other friends" referred to are the Conneaut neighbors whose examination was made prior to 1812 and not at Sabine's. That she herself never examined the Sabine trunk manuscript so as to speak upon the matter of identity of manuscripts from personal knowledge is apparent from several facts. First, although writing an argumentative article, the strongest part of which would have been her personal testimony as to some point of identity between the trunk manuscript and the Book of Mormon, she mentioned none such as being within her own knowledge. In the absence of personal knowledge, she repeats as a justification of her belief the evidence of Conneaut witnesses as to the identity of her husband's "Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon. Even upon the question of the existence of any manuscript in the Sabine trunk, she seems not to rely upon any personal inspection of the trunk manuscript but, with an apparent intention of putting the responsibility for her statement upon the inspection of her daughter, Mrs. McKinstry speaks of the latter's inspection while remaining silent as to whether or not she made an inspection of her own. The argumentative style and the failure to distinguish between personal knowledge and argumentative inferences are all readily understood when the history of this statement is made known. It seems that two preachers named D.R. Austin and John Storrs are responsible for this letter. Mrs. Davidson never wrote it but afterward stated that "in the main" it was true. Even with her reaffirmance of the story as published, we cannot give it evidentiary weight except in those matters where it is plain from the nature of things that she must have been speaking from personal knowledge. Upon the question as to whether or not Spaulding's rewritten manuscript was in the possession of anybody but Rigdon at any time after October 1816, Mrs. Davidson's statement as published cannot in any sense whatever be considered as evidence. And since Mrs. McKinstry's unsupported evidence for the reasons already given must be considered as of such very infinitesimal weight, I conclude that there is no believable evidence upon which to base the conclusion that the "Manuscript Found" was ever returned to Spaulding after its second submission to Patterson or was ever in the trunk at Sabine's and therefore could not have been either copied or stolen by Smith. This also answers one Mormon argument made against Rigdon's theft of the manuscript from the printing office, which argument is always based upon the assumption that the original manuscript of the rewritten story was in the Sabine trunk long after the time of the alleged theft by Rigdon.

(To be continued)