Show DAVID J WHITMER DEAD on june irth david J whitmer son of david whitmer one of the three witness Wit a to the book of mormon died at richmond clay county missouri his funeral took place irom from the family residence at io 10 a m on june lath and the body was interred in the new aeme tery at that place david J whitmer received from his lather father and retained in his bis possession the manuscript from which the printers set the type for the first edition of the book of mormon not the original manuscript in english but the original transcript taken printed primed in new york in 1829 the richmond democrat of june asin has an article relating thereto under the heading the original transcript the origin of the mormon bible owned by the late david Whit whitmer merl which is id reproduced produced Te here much of it was published in the NEWS at the time of david Whit mers death but in connection with the demise 01 of his son will III again prove interesting reading the ane in connection with the sad death ot of david J whitmer yesterday we republish aft ftfe article which appeared in the democrat ra in 1888 at the time of the death of david whitmer sr it being the wt interview with that famous mormon disciple it is what he said just belore before his bis death in speaking of the art frigm am 0 of i th the e M mormon ormon bible he was the last to go ot of the three to the divine authenticity ot of the skord tf of the Nep hites and sh as the history of this book ot of mormon is not we think this a fitting occa occasion sign to repeat what mr whitmer has often said on the subject taken in part from an article written by joe johnson Job ot of the plattsburg Platts burg democrat it is as follows when he was 24 years of age and working on his fathers farm near palmyra Pai myra new york all that section ot of couba country y was more or less excited over the re reported arted discovery by joseph smith of the gold plates from which the book of mormon ormon was translated oliver cowdery the village school teacher mentioned the matter to him and announced his determination to visit smith and investigate vesti gate the matter for himself promising g mr whitmer at the batters lat request to advise him ot of the result A few days later he received a letter from cowdery urging him to join him which he did being received by the prophet with open arms after remaining long enough i to satisfy hunsell ot of the divine inspiration of smith the three returned to Whit mers somewhere home where etwas it was agreed the work of translation should be prosecuted shortly after his return and while he was plowing in the field one afternoon he was visited by smith and Cowd cowdery erv who requested that he should accod pany them into the woods on a hill across the road for the purpose ot of witnessing a manifestation that should quality qualify he and cowdery to bear witness to the divine authenticity of the book of mormon smith explaining that such procedure was in accordance with explicit instructions he had reze received ived from tase atie awl anel of the lord repairing to the woods they engaged in prayer for a short time when suddenly a great aig t shone round about them tar brighter and more dazzling than the brilliancy of the noon day sun seemingly enveloping the wood for a considerable sid erable distance A spirit of eleva tion seized him as ot of joy indescribable and a strange influence stole over him which so entranced him that he felt thai he was chained to the spot A moment later and a divine personage clothed in white raiment appeared unto them and immediately in front of the personage stood a table on which lay a number of gold plates some brass plat plates esthe the arim and Thum min and the sword ol of laban all of these they were directed to examine care carefully fudy and after their examination they were told that the flae lord would demand that they bear beai witness thereof to all the world these plates were en engraved raved with characters termed in the afook book of mormon reformed egyptian characters unknown to the linguists of the present day which is claimed as a fulfilment fulfillment of the prophecy ot of isaiah and the word of the lord has become unto them as the leaves ot a book which is sealed and which is delivered unto him that is learned saying baying read this I 1 pray thee and he I 1 cannot for it is sealed etc A slip of paper containing a fact sim pie of these by y joseph smith was submitted to the ae celebrated e bratt d professor anthon and others and at ali confessed con lessed their inability to translate them tbell recognizing in them characters charac teris ties beveral or several ancient alphabets this this slip is still in mr Whit mers posses possession siou and is cherished with the same sacred care that he bestows bestons on the original manuscript ot of the book of mormon which he also has while describing this vision to us all traces of a severe cold from which he was suffering disappeared for the time being his form straightened his countenance assumed almost a beatified beautified beati fied expression and his tones became strangely eloquent Aj although though evidently no studied effort the description was a magnificent piece oi 01 wood painting and he canies his hearers with him to that lonely hill by the old farm and they stood there with him awed in the divine presence skeptics may laugh and scoff it if they will but no man can listen to mr mer as he talks of his interview with the i angels of the lord without being most forcibly convinced that he has heard beard an honest man tell what he honestly be to true the result of this vision was a proclamation cla mation setting forth the facts enumerated the arim and Thum min mentioned in the account of the vision were a pair of transparent stone spectacles smith would put on the spectacles when a tew few words of the text ol of the book of mormon would appear on the lenses when these were correctly transcribed by cowdery who acte i as his amanuensis these words would disappear and others take lake their place when one hundred and sixteen pages were completed smith entrusted them to martin harris to take to his bis home with a view to convert his family to the he new faith they were placed at night in a bureau drawer JIM and dext abelt xa orning were missing having been stolen they were never founds and never replaced so that the book of mormon today is short that number of pages of the original matter As a chastisement for this carelessness the arim and was taken from smith but by humbling himself he again found favor with the lord and was presented with a strange ed chocolate colored stone about the size ot of an egg but more flat which it was promised should answer the same purpose with wilh this stone all the present book was translated the prophet would place the stone in a hat then put his face in the hat and read the words that appeared thereon this stone is is the only relic of the prophets work in existence which is not in possession ot of mr whitmer it was confided to oliver cowdery and preserved by him until his bis death in in 1852 after that event phineas young succeeded in getting it from Cow derys widow and it is now among the sacred relics preserved at salt lake city on sunday evening at january aana 1888 mr whitmer called his family and some friends to his bedside and addressing himself to the attending physician said dr buchanan I 1 want giant you to say whether or not I 1 a am min in my right mind before I 1 give my dying testimony the doctor answered yes ye you are i in your right mind for I 1 have just had conversation with you he then addressed himself to all now you must all be faith faithful fu in christ I 1 want to say to you all the bible and the record of Nep hites book of mormon is is true so you can say that you have heard beard me bear my testimony on my death bed all ail be faithful in christ anti your reward will be according to your i works god bless you all my trust is in christ forever worlds without end amen |