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60  to the New York edition of the Book of Mormon, essentially the same as that advanced previously by E. D. Howe, and subsequently elaborated by others: ‘About the year 1809, the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, a clergyman who had graduated from Dartmouth college, and settled in the town of Cherry Valley, in the State of New York, removed from that place to New Salem (Conneaut), Ashtabula county, Ohio. Mr Spaulding was an enthusiastic archæologist. The region to which he removed was rich in American antiquities. The mounds and fortifications which have puzzled the brains of many patient explorers attracted his attention, and he accepted the theory that the American continent was peopled by a colony of the ancient Israelites. The ample material by which he was surrounded, full of mythical interest and legendary suggestiveness, led him to the conception of a curious literary project. He set himself the task of writing a fictitious history of the race which had built the mounds. The work was commenced and progressed slowly for some time. Portions of it were read by Mr Spaulding's friends, as its different sections were completed, and after three years' labor, the volume was sent to the press, bearing the title of The Manuscript Found. Mr Spaulding had removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., before his book received the final revision, and it was in the hands of a printer named Patterson, in that city, that the manuscript was placed with a view to publication. This was in the year 1812. The printing, however, was delayed in consequence of a difficulty about the contract, until Mr Spaulding left Pittsburgh, and went to Amity, Washington county, New York, where in 1816 he died. The manuscript seems to have lain unused during this interval. But in the employ of the printer Patterson was a versatile genius, one Sidney Rigdon, to whom no trade came amiss, and who happened at the time to be a journeyman at work with Patterson. Disputations on questions of theology were the peculiar delight of Rigdon, and the probable solution of the mystery of the book of Mormon is found in the fact that, by this man's agency, information of the existence of the fictitious record was first communicated to Joseph Smith. Smith's family settled in Palmyra, New York, about the year 1815, and removed subsequently to Ontario county, where Joseph became noted for supreme cunning and general shiftlessness. Chance threw him in the company of Rigdon soon after Spaulding's manuscript fell under the eye of the erratic journeyman, and it is probable that the plan of founding a new system of religious imposture was concocted by these two shrewd and unscrupulous parties. The fact that the style of the book of Mormon so closely imitates that of the received version of the bible—a point which seems to have been constantly kept in view by Mr Spaulding, probably in order to invest the fiction with a stronger character of reality—answered admirably for the purposes of Rigdon and Smith.’ Mr Howe testifies that ‘an opinion has prevailed to a considerable extent that Rigdon has been the Iago, the prime mover of the whole conspiracy. Of this, however, we have no positive proof.’ Mormonism Unveiled, 100.

To prove the foregoing, witnesses are brought forward. John Spaulding, brother of Solomon, testifies: ‘He then told me that he had been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled The Manuscript Found, of which he read to me many passages. It was an historical romance of the first settlers of America,’ etc. He goes on to speak of Nephi and Lehi as names familiar, as does also Martha Spaulding, John's wife. Henry Lake, formerly Solomon's partner, testifies to the same effect; also John N. Miller, who worked for Lake and Spaulding in building their forge; also Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, and Nahum Howard, neighbors; also Artemas Cunningham, to whom Spaulding owed money. To these men Solomon Spaulding used to talk about and read from his Manuscript Found, which was an account of the ten lost tribes in America, which he wanted to publish and with the profits pay his debts. After the book of Mormon was printed, and they saw it, or heard it read, they were sure it was the same as Spaulding's ''Manuscript Found. Id.'', 278–87.