| Show manuscript FOUND 19 THE tur SPAULDING ROMANCE NOW IN possession N OF MR RICE SANDWICH ISLANDS EXAMINED AND fio FID FOUND UN D TO BEAR near NO resemblance SEMBLANCE R tE TO 1 THE HE BOOK OF MORMON THREAD OF oil TIM TUB NARRATIVE HONOLULU sandwich islands may 11 editor deseret news wems on the morning of the of april companion y and I 1 made our way vay to pu Pun ruu ahou about two miles from honolulu to the residence of mr J M whitney son in law of mr L urlce with whom the latter Is at present living on going to the house we met a very aged but intelligent looking man at the rear of t the he d dwelling welling whom we found to be mr rice rlee after introducing ourselves I 1 informed him that I 1 had seen an article published in tile the papers byar by mr james H fairchild relative to MR SPAULDING DINGS bings 3 ROMANCE from which it was alleged the book of mormon was derived and that interest and curiosity had led us to call on himi him in hopes of seeing it and of havin having some conversation him on the tb c subject ile he invited us into the parlor and when we were seated he asked are you vou mormons cormons Mor mons of course to this we had but one unequivocal answer ile he then enquired how long we had been la the country our business etc etc to all of which we gave appropriate answers so that he seemed satisfied that we had come no great distance for the special object of our visit he then began to talk about as follows to the best of my recollection 1 I have no objection to show you the manuscript you shall shail see it but it is of no value to anybody I 1 have with others compared it with the book of mormon and I 1 undertook to copy it but ran out of paper before I 1 got ot it 11 finished and S so 0 discontinued it there lohere is not one word nor sentence in it in common with the book of mormon THE if POSSIBLE resemblance is they both purport t to give an account ot of american ame Awe rican indians indian this manuscript is nothing but a simple story about the tribes of indians supposed to have inhabited the country inythe ini the vicinity dt some ancient mounds existed and it is a very poor story at that it came into my possession in when mr and I 1 bought out the printing n tily till establishment formerly owned 9 bv ria ure frad irad D huwe in Pains ville ohio in tri connection with a large amount of old papers found in the place and turned over to us with it I 1 have had it ever since in my possession I 1 have looked at it scores of times and often thought I 1 would look into it to see sec what it was but never did until a year ear ago on the occasion of president eair ealr childs visit since ethen then I 1 have often wondered that I 1 did not long iong ago destroy it with other worthless papers I 1 have recently had letters from several parties making inquiries about this manuscript and all desiring to obtain possession of it mr air ho howe we thinks he has a claim upon it but I 1 have told them all they cannot carnot have it when I 1 get th through 0 u 11 with it I 1 shall most likely deposer deposit t 1 it tin til in the oberlin college library as I 1 have promised president fairchild I 1 remarked firemark ed there is no use uvedis disguising the fact that we would like to obtain it or a copy of it to which he very emphatically replied well sir you cant have it he went into another part of the house rouse and soon returned with a parcel wrapped in apic apie apice e of old oid brown wrapping paper and fastened with an old tow string 11 I 1 judge THE TUB manuscript to be qi OX inches wide and 8 inches long iong ion lon and about an inch in thickness holding the parcel before my roy e eyes eves es be he said this thi I 1 is just s t as I 1 received tit fit it and as it has b been ee nu t io 0 my possession for over forty years tied with that same string you see that pencil writing that was written there before it came into my roy hands this writing in pencil quite legible was satorv but continued he this writing in ink I 1 foolishly wrote there myself verv recently I 1 suppose I 1 ought not to have done it but with that exee exec exception it is just as it came into my handa hands bands and as it has remained for over forty years this writing in ink was as follows 11 writings of solomon spaulding and was wits inscribed partly over the manuscript Manus cripe story written lu in pencil mr rice elce then untied the tow string and took off the wrap wrapper pei when we saw a timeworn time worn dingy somewhat dilapidated old manuscript I 1 glanced over a portion of THE rr PREFACE EFAcE which set forth that in consequence of the existence of large mounds in the vicinity of conneaut Conne Coane aut indicating the former occupation of the country by a numerous people etc the author had ead been induced to write etc etc I 1 do not pretend to vive give the text but merely the sense as I 1 gathered it from a kasty masty glance mr rice called our attention to the certificate on the last page ie which was referred to by mr fa fairchild ra I 1 re lid iid in his article published in the new York Observer of feb oth 1883 1885 this certificate gave the names of several persons known to the writer and sll sil signer mer of the same who had made affidavits which the certificate says were on file flie in this office to the effect that they personally know this manuscript to be the writing of solomon spaulding the certificate and the signature are in the same handwriting and are that of doctor docton docton DOCTOR hurlburt or rather the si signature nature is plain ID D P hur hurlbut abut 11 mr rice is now about 84 years of age but he is in good mental and physical condition he chatted freely relative to his early recollections and acquaintances not forgetting to give us his mind respecting plural marriage ile he said 1 I was well acquainted with sidney rigdon both before and after he became amorton 1 and land I 1 have beard him preach as a and as a I 1 mor mot moi mon ile he was a very smart man but I 1 never knew the cause 0 of f his leaving your churcher Chur church chor or whether he ever denounced mormonism and the book of mormon or not I 1 said one cause of his leaving the church was that he assumed to be the 9 guardian and leader of the church after the death of the prophet joseph while that authority had been conferred con ferrel ferrea through joseph smith upon the twelve apostles and that to my knowledge mr air rigdon had never at any time d denied or denounced either mormonism or the book of mormon ile he said 1 61 I was very well acquainted with joseph smith in kirtland Kirtlan dand and I 1 saw him once in nauvoo 11 ile he was also quite well acquainted with sister ERS E R S smith said she used to write poetry for his paper and he always thought her a very nice intelligent tell igent young oung lady and wanted to know if tie the was still stift living As be he had refused so emphatically to parl part art with the manuscript or allow it to 0 be copied I 1 asked him it if he would par part t with the ca copy py he had made so far tar as he had eone zone for a reasonable compensation for his time and labor at first he refused but after some talk on the subject he promised to write mr fairchild by the next mail and if he made no objection he would do so there here is no doubt in my mind that this Is the identical much talked of long lost much belied but very innocent manuscript FOUND the facts already demonstrated beyond contradiction stamp its identity with unmistakable certainty in 1834 1831 it was obtained by hurlburt from jerome clarke at hardwicks new york upon an order of mrs davidson dividson the widow of solomon gt certified to as being the we writing of solomon b by several persons personally knowing the fact and subscribe 1 to byda hurlburt hurn Huri burt himself by whom bid it t was taken to the printing establishment of mr E D howe the r reputed c author of mormonism envall ed 11 and transferred to mr L L aice sice on his purchasing the printing establishment and byar by mr rice p preserved re served until edw without even enoi knowing ving ying what it was for some forty years it seems that THE HAND OF providence is plainly visible for some wise purpose ose in the whole affair and now it has ras been boen carefully examined anscom and compared with the book of mormon by mr L L ribe rile mr air james H fairchild president of the oberlin college library ohio and by others and dy by them declared without similarity in nai nal name me incident purpose or fact with the bookoff book of al mormon ormon mr L L rice kice declared to brother farrand farr and myself that he believed it to be the only romance of the kind ever written by mr spaulding and aid said he 11 somehow I 1 feel that ibis this is a i fact ac t 1 1 1 from his remarks we inferred that it was his belief that THE REASON IT WAS NOT by spaulding himself was hectus it it was not worth publish publishing inc int for nid mid he be it is only a very simple story vai lad sad sat a very poor one at that takina ethis this thib statement as the cart uhri served judgment of an old editor iti ini newspaper man mun who hag bag noi not 0 carefully read it and compare compared ditl it m the book of mormon but with hi band baud copied about two thirds of it IA opinion must be accepted as of ta weight and it corresponds correspond alleged message sent by mr with the alss when it is said baa ban turned it to spaulding ihde print it and sald said polish it apka it and you you vou will make male money obion t it no doubt needed and still wili will good deal of roi pol yoli Bh sh 11 on the In instant slant brother inq ind F I 1 called again on an mr rice allowed us to examine the esi manuscript round found we ml preface aud and and aud two chapters of tiek which we found to be what it li call rather j A farfetched yar rab FETCHED mir MIT about the discovery of ww some sheets of parchment in in gihr cave cavell about IS 8 feet deep 11 situ a mound on the west me aftin river kiver with this which was plainly written roman ho man letters inbe latin was a roll of parchment colm conita the biography dlo blo graphy of the writer the arst two chapters whick which til wil airport purport to be a translation di biography og raphy which sets forth twi writer s name was cablas fabias born in rome and received hirsth tion under the tuition 0 of 11 learned master at the time abil st stant antine lne lue entered eomme borne anaut and seated as emperor to whom K h was introduced and was appon him one of his secretaries secre 11 soon after this sabias was a g constantine Constant lue ioe with an Import aw sage to a certain general in euis EDO on the voyage vo ya e the heavens ge blackness obscuring sun suu and and a terrine storm arose 4 tinned unabated for lor give five M daysi aw Y lulled but the darkness cong colt cost they were vere lost at sea bea they bo tx pray with great lamentations lamenta tioMi 1 when a voice came telling them b be e afraid and they would he uh ukel safe harbor for five i more they were i before the wind auy any aua ana 1 themselves in the mouth of clr large river up which they tigi for many days when they adt art villa village and cast anchor thai the il were alarmed held keld a council arf W ally extended towards them thera biml tei of friendship made mude a great aw 1 them sold them a large ailet d 1 for my fifty nitty pieces of scarlet W aa fifty knives and establish them a covenant of perpetual pa not daring to venture that i and uncertainties of the bt ad deep dee over which they had beeart bee 9 t tediously e r bously driven they canel toli toll was better to remain than thin to a to return to rome etc et ships cOm company pany PaDY consisted ott oft seven of whom were yond who had embarked at romet rome 4 their relatives in england U lucian was the name of the 0 a the vessel and Tro jenous of his mate one of the 0 ailed balled droll tom tern another cn 0 were three ladles of rank if women on motion of one f f ors the women chose their f lucian fabins and Tro cro jenor course select selected ed bythe by the threat three rank but six poor fellows V without etc wives or marry tw thel a this ia Is about the thre thread ad ltv ott so 80 far tar as aasve aste we have read 9 agu |
