By Jerald and Sandra Tanner

We feel very honored and happy to announce one of the most important discoveries since Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church in 1830. This is the discovery by Wesley P. Walters of an original document which is more than 140 years old. This document proves that Joseph Smith was a “glass looker” and that he was arrested, tried and found guilty by a justice of the peace in Bainbridge, New York, in 1826. The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated, for it establishes the historicity of the account of the trial which was first published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1873. We quote the following from that publication:

State of New York v. Joseph Smith.

Warrant issued upon written complaint upon oath of Peter G. Bridgeman, who informed that one Joseph Smith of Bainbridge was a disorderly person and an impostor.

Prisoner brought before Court March 20, 1826. Prisoner examined: says that he came from the town of Palmyra, and had been at the house of Josiah Stowel in Bainbridge most of time since; had small part of time been employed in looking for mines, but the major part had been employed by said Stowel on his farm, and going to school. That he had a certain stone which he had occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth were; that he professed to tell in this manner where gold mines were a distance under ground, and had looked for Mr. Stowel several times, and had informed him where he could find these treasure, and Mr. Stowel had been engaged in digging for them. That at Palmyra he pretended to tell by looking at this stone where coined money was buried in Pennsylvania, and while at Palmyra had frequently ascertained in that way where most property was of various kinds; that he had occasionally been three years, but of late had pretty much given it up on account of its injuring his health, especially his eyes, making them sore; that he did not solicit business of this kind, and had always rather declined having anything to do with this business.

Josiah Stowel sworn: says that prisoner had been at his house something like five months; had been employed by him to work on farm part of time; that he pretended to have skill of telling where hidden treasures in the earth were by means of looking through a certain stone; that prisoner had looked for him sometimes; once to tell him about money buried in Bend Mountain in Pennsylvania, once for gold on Monument Hill, and once for a salt spring; and that he positively knew that the prisoner could tell, and did possess the art of seeing those valuable treasures through the medium of said stone; that he found the (word illegible) at Bend and Monument Hill as prisoner represented it; that prisoner had looked through said stone for Deacon Attleton for a mine, did not exactly find it, but got a p____ (word unfinished) of ore which resembled gold, he thinks; that prisoner had told by means of this stone where a Mr. Bacon had buried money; that he and prisoner had been in search of it; that prisoner had said it was in a certain root of a stump five feet from surface of the earth, and with it would be found a tail feather; that said Stowel and prisoner there upon commenced digging, found a tail feather, but money was ne; that he supposed the money moved down. That prisoner did offer his services; that he never deceived him; that prisoner looked through stone and described Josiah Stowel’s house and outhouses, while at Palmyra at Simpson Stowel’s, correctly; that he had told about a painted tree, with a man’s head painted upon by means of said stone. That he had been in company with prisoner digging for gold, and had the most implicit faith in prisoner’s skill.

Arad Stowel sworn: says that he went to see whether prisoner could convince him that he possessed the skill he professed to have, upon which prisoner laid a book upon a white cloth, and proposed looking through another stone which was white and transparent, hold the stone to the candle, turn his head to book, and read. The deception appeared so palpable that witness went off disgusted.

McMaster sworn: says he went with Arad Stowel, and likewise came away disgusted. Prisoner pretended to him that he could discover objects at a distance by holding this white stone to the sun or candle; that prisoner rather declined looking into a hat at his dark coloured stone, as he said it hurt his eyes.

Jonathan Thompson says that prisoner was requested to look for chest of money; did look, and pretended to know where it was; and that prisoner, Thompson, and Yeomans went in search of it; that Smith arrived at spot first; was at night; that Smith looked in hat while there, and when very dark, an told how the chest was situated. After digging several feet, struck upon something sounding like a board or plank. Prisoner would not look again, pretending that he was alarmed on account of the circumstances relating to the trunk being buried, (which) came all fresh to his mind. That the last time he looked he discovered distinctly the two Indians who buried the trunk, that a quarrel ensued between them, and that one of said Indians was killed by the other, and thrown into the hole beside the trunk, to guard it, as he supposed. Thompson says that he believes in the prisoner’s professed skill; that the board which he struck his spade upon was probably the chest, but on account of an enchantment the trunk kept settling away from under them when digging; that notwithstanding they continued constantly removing the dirt, yet the trunk kept about the same distance from them. Says prisoner said that it appeared to him that salt might be found at Bainbridge, and that he is certain that prisoner can divine things by means of said stone. That as evidence of the fact prisoner looked into his hat to tell him about some money witness lost sixteen years ago, and that he described the man that witness supposed had taken it, and the disposition of the money:

And therefore the Court find the Defendant guilty. Costs: Warrant, 19c. Complaint upon oath, 25 1/2c. Seven witnesses, 87 1/2. Recognisances, 25c. Mittimus, 19c. Recognisances of witnesses, 75c. Subpoena, 18c.—$2.68. (Fraser’s Magazine, London, February 1873, pages 229-230)

[Bold in quotations is added for emphasis and does not appear in originals.]

Although the Bainbridge court record was printed a few times, it did not become too well known until Fawn Brodie printed it in her book No Man Knows My History. Immediately after her book was printed the Mormon leaders declared that the record was a forgery. The following statements appeared in the “Church Section” of the Deseret News:

. . . the alleged find is no discovery at all, for the purported record has been included in other books . . . after all her puffing and promise the author produces no court record at all though persistently calling it such . . . This alleged record is obviously spurious . . . The really vital things which a true record must contain are not there, though there is a lot of surplus verbiage set out in an impossible order which the court was not required to keep.

This record could not possibly have been made at the time as the case proceeded. It is patently a fabrication of unknown authorship and never in the court records at all. (Deseret News, Church Section, May 11, 1946, as quoted in A New Witness For Christ In America, vol. 2, pages 430-431)

Mrs. Brodie had taken her account from a book published in 1883, and therefore there was a wide gap between the date of the trial and the published version. The Mormon writer Francis W. Kirkham stated: “No account of the life of Joseph Smith . . . prior to Purple in 1877, and Tuttle in 1883, assert that Joseph Smith confessed in a court of law that he had used a seer stone for any purpose, and especially that the record of such confession was in existence” (A New Witness For Christ In America, vol. 1, pages 386-387). Future research, however, led to the discovery that the “court record” had been printed ten years previous to this in Fraser’s Magazine. In a “Supplement” to his book, Dr. Kirkham conceded that it had been printed in 1873.

Dale L. Morgan did research on this matter and discovered that the trial was actually mentioned as early as 1831 in a letter published in the Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, printed in Utica, N.Y. The letter is “signed A.W.B., and Mr. Morgan identifies him from subsequent articles as A.W. Benton” (No Man Knows My History, page 418 A). Since Mr. Benton lived in Bainbridge, his account is very important:

Messrs. Editors—. . . thinking that a fuller history of their founder, Joseph Smith, jr. might be interesting . . . I will take the trouble to make a few remarks . . . For several years preceding the appearance of his book, he was about the country in the character of a glass-looker: Pretending, by means of a certain stone, or glass, which he put in a hat, to be able to discover lost goods, hidden treasures, mines of gold and silver, &c. . . . In this town, a wealthy farmer, named Josiah Stowell, together with others spent large sums of money in digging for hidden money, which this Smith pretended he could see, and told them where to dig; but they never found their treasure. At length the public, becoming wearied with the base imposition which he was palming upon the credulity of the ignorant, for the purpose of sponging his living from their earnings, had him arrested as a disorderly person, tried and condemned before a court of justice. But considering his youth, (he then being a minor,) and thinking he might reform his conduct, he was designedly allowed to escape. This was four or five years ago. (Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9, 1831, page 120)

Dr. Hugh Nibley tries to dismiss Benton’s letter as “fiction.” In his book The Myth Makers, page 157, we find the following: . . . we are inclined to regard A.W. B.’s story of the 1826 trials as fiction . . . without the reality of the peep-stones, the whole legend of the 1826 trials collapses . . . the 1826 trial, unattested in any source but his for fifty years, was a product of A.W. B.’s wishful thinking.”

We could not agree with Dr. Nibley concerning this matter. In our book Joseph Smith and Money-Digging, we devoted over 15 pages to the question of the authenticity of the trial. On page 38 we concluded: “Although the evidence supporting the authenticity of the ‘court record’ seems to be rather convincing, more research needs to be done.” During the past two years Wesley P. Walters has been doing a great deal of research and has made some very important discoveries which tend to support the 1826 trial. The discovery which we report in this issue of the Messenger, however, is certainly the most important, for it absolutely proves that the 1826 trial actually took place and that the published report is authentic.

The document which Wesley P. Walters has found is Justice Albert Neely’s bill showing the costs involved in several trials in 1826. The reader can see from the photograph below that the fifth item from the top mentions the trial of “Joseph Smith The Glass looker.” This statement alone seems to show that the published account of the trial is authentic. Besides this, however, Neely’s bill provides additional evidence. It states that the trial took place on “March 20, 1826,” and this is precisely the date found in the published account of the trial: “Prisoner brought before Court March 20, 1826” (Fraser’s Magazine, February 1873, page 229). In Albert Neely’s bill the fee for this trial is listed as “2.68,” and this is the exact figure found in the printed record: . . . $2.68.

In the face of this evidence it is impossible to continue to deny the authenticity of the court record.

Importance of Discovery

Now that Wesley P. Walters has proven beyond all doubt that the Bainbridge court record is authentic, it will be interesting to see how the Mormon leaders will react. They have previously stated that the record is “spurious.” The Mormon scholar Francis W. Kirkham has stated that if the court record could be proven authentic, it would show that Mormonism itself is untrue:

A careful study of all facts regarding this alleged confession of Joseph Smith in a court of law that he had used a seer stone to find hidden treasure for purposes of fraud, must come to the conclusion that no such record was ever made, and therefore, is not in existence. . . . If any evidence had been in existence that Joseph Smith had used a seer stone for fraud and deception, and especially had he made this confession in a court of law as early as 1826, or four years before the Book of Mormon was printed, and this confession was in a court record, it would have been impossible for him to have organized the restored Church. (A New Witness For Christ In America, vol. 1, page 385-387)

If a court record could be identified, and if it contained a confession by Joseph Smith which revealed him to be a poor, ignorant, deluded, and superstitious person—unable himself to write a book of any consequence, and whose church could not endure because it attracted only similar persons of low mentality—if such a court record confession could be identified and proved, then it follows that his believers must deny his claimed divine guidance which led them to follow him . . . How could he be a Prophet of God, the leader of the Restored Church to these tens of thousands, if he had been the superstitious fraud which “the pages from a book” declared he confessed to be? (Ibid., pages 486-487)

In his book The Myth Makers, Dr. Hugh Nibley has written almost 20 pages in an attempt to discredit the “Bainbridge court record.” On page 142 of Dr. Nibley’s book we find this statement: “. . . If this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith.” Dr. Nibley’s book also states that if the authenticity of the court record could be established it would be “the most devastating blow to Smith ever delivered . . .” (Ibid.)

Now that the authenticity of the court record has been established, the Mormon Church leaders are faced with a serious dilemma. The record shows plainly that Joseph Smith was deeply involved in magic practices at the very time he was supposed to be preparing himself to receive the plates for the Book of Mormon. A careful examination of Joseph Smith’s story of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and even the text of the book itself reveals that it is just an extension of his money-digging practices. For example, the court record shows that Joseph Smith had used a stone placed in his hat to find treasures “for three years” prior to 1826. Now according to eye witnesses to the translation of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith translated the plates in the same manner. David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, stated:

I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated, Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. (An Address To All Believers In Christ, by David Whitmer, page 12)

The Mormon historian B. H. Roberts frankly admitted that Joseph Smith sometimes used a “Seer Stone” to translate:

The seer stone referred to here was a chocolate-colored, somewhat egg-shaped stone which the Prophet found while digging a well in company with his brother Hyrum, for a Mr. Clark Chase, near Palmyra, N.Y. It possessed the qualities of Urim and Thummim, since by means of it— as described above— as well as by means of the Interpreters found with the Nephite record, Joseph was able to translate the characters engraven on the plates. (A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Published by the Church, vol. 1, page 129)

In the Book of Mormon we read: “And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light, . . .” (Book of Mormon, Alma 37:23). In the Doctrine and Covenants 78:9, Gazelam is identified as “Joseph Smith Jun.”

It is interesting to note that the gold plates of the Book of Mormon were supposed to have been found in the Hill Cumorah. In light of the court record, however, this sounds like just another extension of Joseph Smith’s money-digging schemes. In our book Joseph Smith and Money-Digging we explore these parallels at greater length.

Does Truth Matter?

Jesus once said: “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Those of us who were raised in the Mormon Church should be glad that the Lord has sent us light so that we can be set free from the errors into which Joseph Smith has led us. Unfortunately, however, Jesus also said that “men loved darkness rather than light, . . .” (John 3:19). It is sometimes very difficult to receive the truth when it comes in conflict with our preconceived opinions.

The reader will remember that when the original papyrus from which Joseph Smith “translated” the Book of Abraham was rediscovered in 1967, it was submitted to Egyptologists. These Egyptologists translated the papyrus and found that it was in reality the Egyptian “Book of Breathings” and had nothing to do with Abraham or his religion. This was a perfect opportunity for the Mormon leaders to free themselves from the anti-Negro doctrine found in the Book of Abraham, but instead they decided to suppress the truth concerning this matter. A number of fantastic theories were proposed in an attempt to save the Book of Abraham. Some claimed that the characters on the papyrus had a double meaning and some even went so far as to state that Joseph Smith received the Book of Abraham by revelation and didn’t even need the papyrus! Dr. Henry Eyring, for instance, recently made this statement:

Now, the Lord didn’t need the Book of Abraham—those scrolls. He was pretty well clear on everything without that. So whatever was on them wouldn’t have helped him much, I suspect, and so the essential ingredient in the Book of Abraham is whatever the Prophet was inspired to write down. . . .

To me, it’s very exciting to study the Book of Abrah[a]m itself to find out how the Lord works. . . . I wouldn’t look in it to find out whether He does work or not—I already know that. I also wouldn’t look into the matter to find out whether I thought Joseph Smith was a Prophet, because I think there are a hundred things—in fact, to anyone who is curious, I would be glad to enumerate them—where it seems to me evident that he was much more than that. . . . I don’t like to say it in this crude way, but I think it’s quite an interesting way, maybe a shocking way: it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to me if the scholars, studying the scrolls that led the Prophet to think about the problem of Abraham and write about it—it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to me if they discovered that it was a bill of lading for wheat in the Lower Nile. You see, some people don’t feel that way about it. But I think the Lord actually inspired Joseph. (Book of Abraham Symposium, April 3, 1970, Salt Lake Institute of Religion, page 3)

Dr. Eyring’s idea is about as far from reality as it is possible to get, for Joseph Smith himself claimed that the Book of Abraham was a “correct translation” of the papyrus (see History of the Church, vol. 2, page 351).

It would seem that some of the Mormon scholars have made up their minds that Joseph Smith was a prophet and no amount of evidence will convince them otherwise. This reminds us of the International Flat Earth Research Society. The Salt Lake Tribune for July 26, 1969, reported:

. . . Flat Earthist Secretary Samuel Shenton. . . . has not wavered in his beliefs despite astronauts orbiting the earth and flying to the moon. All that, including moon landing he said, is just part of a great deception by NASA and its contractors and the manufacturers of globe maps who have a vested interest in perpetuating the globite teaching. . . .

“Once you get your teeth in it, it turns your stomach over that such deception can go perhaps to your children,” he said.

The astronauts are hypnotized into believing they go into space, Shelton contended.

Although some of the Mormon scholars will not receive any evidence against Joseph Smith, there is a growing number who are searching for the truth. To those who really want to know the truth, the discovery by Wesley P. Walters will be very important. It would be almost as foolish to ignore the evidence concerning the 1826 trial as to maintain that the earth is flat.

Just as we were preparing to print this paper, Wesley P. Walters sent us a photograph of another original document dealing with the arrest of Joseph Smith in 1826. Although we do not have room to include it here, we will have a photograph of it in our new booklet Joseph Smith’s 1826 Trial. This new booklet contains important information of the trial and its significance. Also included are affidavits concerning Joseph Smith’s money-digging—some of them have never appeared in any of our other works. These affidavits provide additional evidence that Joseph Smith used his “Seer Stone” to search for buried treasures.

Joseph Smith & Money-Digging

In light of the new discovery concerning the 1826 trial our book Joseph Smith and Money-Digging should be very interesting to our readers. Besides devoting over 15 pages to the 1826 trial, we covered such subjects as:

• The common practice of money-digging in Joseph Smith’s time
• Treasures that slipped into the ground
• Statements by Martin Harris and Brigham Young on money-digging
• Joseph Smith’s “seer stone”
• The use of the “seer stone” to find the Book of Mormon plates and its use to translate the book itself
• The agreement between Smith and the other money-diggers
• The “cave” in the hill Cumorah
• The use of the divining rod in the early Mormon Church
• The revelation regarding treasure hunting
• The practice of sacrificing lambs to find treasures

This book also contains a photographic reprint of the affidavits regarding Joseph Smith’s money-digging activities which were published by E. D. Howe in 1834.

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