History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

MARTIN HARRIS. 47
wrest them from him. But almighty power and wisdom
prevailed, and the sacred relics were safely kept
till the day the messenger called for them, when they
were delivered into his hands, Joseph meanwdiile having
accomplished by them all that was required of
him.
And now so fierce becomes the fiery malevolence of
the enemy that Joseph is obliged to fly. 9 He is very
poor, having absolutely nothing, until a farmer named
Martin Harris has pity on him and gives him fifty
dollars, 10 with which he is enabled to go with his wife
to her old home in Pennsylvania. 11 Immediately after
his arrival there in December, he begins copying the
9 ' Soon the news of his discoveries spread abroad throughout all those
parts. . .Tlie house was frequently beset by mobs and evil-designing persons.
Several times he was shot at, and very narrowly escaped. Every device was
used to get the plates away from him. And being continually in danger of
his life from a gang of abandoned wretches, he at length concluded to leave
the place, and go to Pennsylvania; and accordingly packed up his goods,
putting the plates into a barrel of beans, and proceeded upon his journey.
He had not gone far before he was overtaken by an officer with a search-warrant,
who flattered himself Avith the idea that he should surely obtain the
plates; after searching very diligently, he was sadly disappointed at not finding
them. Mr Smith then drove on, but before he got to his journey's end
he was again overtaken by an officer on the same business, and after ransacking
the wagon very carefully, he went his way as much chagrined as the first
at not being able to discover the object of his research. Without any further
molestation, he pursued his journey until he came to the northern part
of Pennsylvania, near the Susquehanna River, in which part his father-inlaw
resided.' Pratt's Visions, 15.
10 ' In the neighborhood (of Smith's old home) there lived a farmer possessed
of some money and more credulity. Every wind of doctrine affected him.
He had been in turn a quaker, a Wesleyan, a baptist, a presbyterian. His
heterogeneous and unsettled views admirably qualified him for discipleship
where novelty was paramount, and concrete things were invested with the
enchantment of mystery. He was enraptured with the young prophet, and
offered him fifty dollars to aid in the publication of his new bible. ' Taylder's
Mormons, xxviii.-ix.
11 'Soon after Smith's arrival at Harmony, Isaac Hale (Smith's father-inlaw)
heard he had brought a wonderful box of plates with him. Hale "was
shown a box in which it is said they were contained, which had to all appearances
been used as a glass box of the common window-glass. I was
allowed to feel the weight of the box, and they gave me to understand that
the book of plates was then in the box—into which, however, I was not allowed
to look. I inquired of Joseph Smith, Jr., who was to be the first who
would be allowed to see the book of plates. He said it was a young child.
After this I became dissatisfied, and informed him that if there was anything
in my house of that description, which I could not be allowed to see,
he must take it away; if he did not, I was determined to see it. After that
the plates were said to be hid in the woods.'" Howe's Mormonism Unveiled,
264.