INTERVIEW WITH E. D. HOWE.

After visiting Hurlburt, the author saw E. D. Howe, at Paineswille, Ohio. He admitted writing the letter

shown by Hurlburt, and said that a manuscript was given to him by Hurlburt, in 1834, which "had no connection with Mormonism.”

He agreed to give Hurlburt five hundred copies of his book ("Mormonism Unveiled"), ‘which agreement he kept, and that was the last he ever saw of him.

The manuscript he received from Hurlburt he said was "lying around” his printing-office for twenty years; he "considered it of no account, and did not know what became of it.”

I asked if he did not agree to return it to Mrs. Davison, to which he replied :

"Perhaps I did; but it wa’n’t of no account, so I did not think of it.”

"You used it in your ‘Mormonism Unveiled'?"

"Well, yes; there it was of some use."

I then told him what Hurlburt had said of Howe’s connection with the matter.

He grew very red in the face, and remarked:

"Well, Hurlburt is not to be relied on.”

I asked if he would make a sworn statement that the words "Mormon, Maroni, Nephi, and Lamenite’’ were not in the manuscript which Hurlburt gave him by agreement.

"No, I will not swear to it; but I'll answer questions, and my word is as good as Hurlburt’s any day.”

"You ought, for your own sake, to make a statement to answer him.”

He made an odd reply.

“Hurlburt was always an unreliable fellow; he went lecturing in this neighborhood.”

"Mr. Howe, did you send Hurlburt to get ‘The Manuscript Found’?"

“Yes, I did, and the idea was proposed to me by him."

"Do you think the manuscript was burned in your office?”

"I don’t know; it got lost," he replied.

"The whole matter, then, is between you and Hurlburt. Is there a possibility that the original Spaulding manuscript will yet come to light?”

"No, I don’t think so,” he replied, earnestly; "the Mormons had too much at stake to let it exist.”

"Then you think Hurlburt destroyed it?"

"I believe he had two manuscripts—the original one and another—the one he gave me, which had no resemblance to the ‘Book of Mormon.'”

"Do you think Spaulding wrote a story from which

Rigdon and Smith made the ‘ Book of Mormon’?"

"Certainly I do,” emphasizing the words.

He then told me a little of Rigdon’s life, which I will hereafter use. Mr. Howe is very old—nearly ninety—but certainly of sound mind and memory; and although he was seemingly agitated during our conversation, he was not more so than such an unexpected visit would naturally occasion any one to be under the same circumstances; and he carefully considered his answers before making them. An unmistakable expression of relief settled upon his countenance as the interview closed.

Upon making an inquiry in Painesville as to the character of the author of "Mormonism Unveiled," nothing of a very satisfactory nature was elicited from several highly respected citizens of the town. At best it was to the effect that Mr. Howe had always had the reputation of being a sharp-witted, shrewd man, and that his declining years had not robbed him of his predominating qualities

A clergyman of Painesville, in speaking of the traces that Mormonism had left in that vicinity, remarked that "time alone would obliterate the demoralization that had followed in the wake of the Saints; that whole families were sceptics in religious faith who had been church members before their conversion to the doctrines advocated so eloquently by Sidney Rigdon and other Mormon preachers, and who had later apostatized.”

A very remarkable circumstance occurred to the writer on the day following the interview with E. D. Howe, at his residence in Painesville. At midday, on reaching the railway station with the intention of proceeding to Conneaut, Ohio, that afternoon, 1 personally attended to checking the one. large trunk I had with me at the time. It was an odd trunk as to its outward appearance, and had my initials distinctly printed on either end. As it was a way train, I settled myself as comfortably as possible by a window, and was reading until we reached the next station—in fact, until the train was just moving on; then, by chance looking up, I was amazed to see my trunk being wheeled away on a truck across the platform. The conductor was standing at the door on the platform of the car. I ran to him and shouted, "That is my trunk being taken away; do stop the train and get it again !”

"Your trunk!" he replied; "no, it cannot be. You ladies always fancy your luggage is lost, or carried away, or something.”

...

Arriving at the residence of Mr. Henry Lake, in Conneaut, and telling the family of the occurrence, they considered it very unusual—in fact, had never heard of anything like it before. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lake went to the station with me at ten o’clock, and the trunk was taken from the train on its arrival at that hour. My friends insisted that both the station-master and baggage-master of the train should be with me when opening the trunk, to see if its contents had been disturbed. The lock, a good sound one, I found had been forced open, the heavy straps alone holding it together. At a glance, on lifting the cover, it was evident that everything in the trunk had been turned over, just as though its contents had been pulled out and thrown in again by hasty and inexperienced hands. A later investigation the same night proved that not one single item had been stolen, although there. were valuable articles of various descriptions in the trunk. My papers connected with the interview with Hurlburt, Howe, and General Garfield—in fact, all the notes taken in this trip on the subject of Mormonism, were in my hand-satchel, and had been carefully guarded. On writing to an official connected with the Lake Shore Railroad, relating all the facts of the case, his reply was to the effect that so long as nothing had been stolen from the trunk, it was proof conclusive that the breakage of the lock and its detention at the way station were merely accidental. He regretted the circumstance, but was of the opinion that there was no legal redress for it.