Show I 1 copyright secured HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH MAY ally 1843 1943 I 1 have translated a portion of 0 them and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found ile lie was a dencen descendant nant of ham through the loins of pharaoh king kin of egypt and that he received his bis kingdom from flom the ruler of heaven and earth I 1 extract the following from the times and seasons when the book of mormon first made matle its appearance appet appeS rance among amoel men it was looked up upon on by many as a wild speculation and that it was dangerous to the interest and happiness of the religious world but when it was found to teach virtue honesty integrity and pure religion this objection was laid aside as being untenable nt enable we were then told that the inhabitants of this continent were and always had been a rude barbarous race uncouth unlettered and alid without civilization but when ahen they tiley were told of the various relics that have been found indicative c a tice tive of civilization intelligence and learning when they were told of the wealth architecture and sa splendor lendor of ancient mexico when recent developments proved be beyond ond a doubt that there are ancient ruins ill in central central america which in point of magnificence beauty strength and architectural design vie with any of the most splendid ruins on the asiatic continent when they could trace the fine delineations of the sculptors chisel on the be beautiful antiNI statue the mysterious hieroglyphic and the unknown character f ley ey began to believe belleve that a wise po powerful intelligent and scientific race bad had inhabited this toils continent but still it was improbable nay almost impossible notwithstanding not the testimony of history to the contrary atiat that anything like plates could have been used anciently particularly among this peo people le re the following letter and certificate will perhaps have a tendency to convince the sceptical that such things have been used and that even the obnoxious book of mormon may be true and as the people in columbus day were obliged to believe that there was such a place as america so will the people in this day be obliged to believe however reluctantly that there may have been such plates as those from which the book of mormon was translated it will be seen by the annexed statement ement of the quiny quincy whig that there are more dreamers and money diggers than joseph joseppi smith in the world and the worthy editor is obliged to acknowledge that this circumstance will go a good sad way to prove the authenticity of the book ook of mormon ile he further states that it joseph smith can decipher the hieroglyphics on the plates he will damore do more towards thi owing light on the early history of this continent than any man inan living we think that he has done that already in translating and publishing the book of mormon and would advise the gentle man and all interested to read for themselves and understand 11 TO tiie tile THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES AND seasons sons EONS on the lelh of april last a respectable merchant by thie thee name of robert wiley commenced digging in I 1 n a large arg ge mound near this place he excavated to the depth of ten feet and came to rock about that time the rain be began bean an to fall and he abandoned the work on an the he and quite a number of the citizens with myself repaired to the mound and after making ample ampie opening we found plenty of rock the most of which appeared as though it had teen been been strongly burned and after removing full two feet of said rock we found plenty of charcoal and ashe asbe also human alenty bones ones that appeared aa as though thed they had been burned and near the a bundle bundie was found that consisted of six plates of brass of a bell shape each having a hole near thle the small nd ad and a ring through nh P them all and clasped with two clasps the rings and clasps appeared to be iron very much oxy dated the plates ap pared first to be copper and had the appearance of bein being covered with characters it was agreed 0 by the them company that I 1 should cleanse th the plates accordingly I 1 took them to my ray house washed them with so soap boap ap and water and a woollen cloth but finding them not yet cleansed I 1 treated them with dilute sulphuric uric ald cid acid which made them perfectly clari on 03 which it appeared that they were completely covered with hiero hieroglyphics that none as yet have been able to read wishing that the world might know the hidden bidden things I 1 as bastas they come to light I 1 was induced to state the facts hoping that you would give it an insertion in in your excellent caper for we all feel anxious to know the true meaning of the plates and publishing the facts might lead to the true translation they were found I 1 judged jud e d more than twelve feet below the surface of the top of the mound I 1 am most respectfully i A citizen of rinder Zinder kinderhook kinderhook hook W P HARRIS MD ALD 11 we the citizens of kinderhook whose names are annexed do certify and declare that on the of april 1843 while excavating a large mound in this vicinity mr air R wile wiley took from said mound six brass plates of a be befi I 1 shape cover covered edwith with ancient chara characters eters said plates were very much oxy dated the bands and rings on said plates moul dered into dust agn on a slight pressure ROBERT wines WILES W P HARRIS G N p F WARD W longnecker FAYETTE GRUBB IRA S CURTIS GEO decke sov sow IV FUGATE J R |