Grand Lodge of New York - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District ...

In this emergency the fruitful mind of Smith was called on to devise a way to obtain the prize. Mr. Stowell went to his flock and
selected a fine vigorous lamb, and resolved to sacrifice it to the demon spirit who guarded the coveted treasure. Shortly after the
venerable Deacon might be seen on his knees at prayer near the pit, while Smith, with a lantern in one hand to dispel the midnight
darkness, might be seen making a circuit around the spot, sprinkling the flowing blood from the lamb upon the ground, as a
propitiation to the spirit that thwarted them. They then descended the excavation, but the treasure still receded from their grasp, and
it was never obtained.
What a picture for the pencil of a Hogarth! How difficult to believe it could have been enacted in the nineteenth century of the
Christian era! It could have been done only by the hallucination of diseased minds, that drew all their philosophy from the Arabian
nights and other kindred literature of that period! But as it was declared under oaths in a Court of Justice, by one of the actors in the
scene, and not disputed by his co-laborers it is worthy of recital as evincing the spirit of delusion that characterized those who
originated that prince of humbugs, Mormonism.
These scenes occurred some four years before Smith, by the aid of his luminous stone, found the Golden Bible, or the Book of
Mormon. The writer may at some subsequent day give your readers a chapter on its discovery, and a synopsis of its contents. It is
hardly necessary to say that, as the testimony of Deacon Stowell could not be impeached, the prisoner was discharged, and in a
few weeks left the town.
Greene, April 28, 1877.
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/1826Trial/facts.html
William D. Purple was asked to take notes, and it has been assumed that they are the source of the record in Judge Neely's docket
book. But for his published record he used his memory. "The scenes and incidents of that early day are vividly engraven upon his
memory, by reason of his having written them when they occurred".
Although William D. Purple claims to have told about the trial: "and by reason of his public and private rehearsals of them in later
years", it is not used to discredit Joseph Smith by any of the anti-Mormon authors until the trial record was published in 1873.
"Four years before Dr. Purple's account was published the actual trial record taken from Albert Neely's Docket Book was made
public. This official trial record had been torn from Mr. Neely's book by his niece, Miss Emily Pearsall, and taken to Utah with her
when she went to serve as a missionary under Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle. Before her death in 1872, Charles Marshall, a British
journalist visiting Salt Lake City, was shown the document, copied it and upon returning to England published it in Fraser's
Magazine in 1873.
http://www.curtisit.com/curtis/wgu12.html#I1136
Note: William D. Purple, was a medical doctor who practiced medicine in McDonough NY 1830-1840 per McDonough section of
book History of Chenango and Madison County NY.
Purple, Edward V (1769 - 1834) b. 1769; d. 1834
father: Purple, Edward Iv (1746 - 1794) ; mother: Hodge, Mary (1750 - 1846)
spouse: Cowdery, Lydia (Conway) (1757 - 1856)
Children:
Purple, Fanny (1793 - 1834)
Purple, Thomas T. (1795 - 1880)
Purple, Sally (1799 - )
Purple, William D. (1802 - )
Purple, Daniel (1804 - 1825)
Purple, Lydia (1808 - 1902)
http://www.curtisit.com/curtis/wgu12.html#I1148
Purple, William D. (1802 - ) - b. 1802; d. aft 1880
father: Purple, Edward V (1769 - 1834)
mother: Cowdery, Lydia (Conway) (1757 - 1856)
1880 Census. Greene, Chenango, New York
William D. PURPLE Self M 78 NY Keeps Book Store CT CT
Julia PURPLE Wife M 75 CT Keeping House CT CT
Augusta PURPLE Dau S 47 NY At Home NY CT
Agnes PURPLE Dau S 45 NY Clerk NY CT
Mary PURPLE Dau S 35 NY Clerk NY CT
Ann BIRDSALL Aunt W 87 CT At Home CT CT
William D. Purple, M.D., was born in Burlington, Otsego, NY, 6 Apr 1802. His father was Edward Purple, an early settler in the town
of Smithville. Dr. Purple commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Charles Josslyn of Greene, in 1820, and remained with him four
years. He afterwards continued his studies with Arthur Packer and Austin Rouse of Oxford. He was licensed to practice in 1824, and
entered upon the duties of his profession in Bainbridge, where he remained six years, when he removed to Greene. He practiced
here till 1853, when he abandoned the medical profession and engaged in mercantile business, which he still continues. Dr. Purple
possesses a remarkably retentive memory, and his mind is a rich store-house of facts and incidents connected with the early
settlements in this locality, with which he is probably more conversant than any other individual in the southern part of the county.
His efforts to rescue from oblivion the intensely interesting facts which enter into the early chapters of the county's history, and which
are rapidly passing out of the reach of the present generation, are worthy of the highest commendation and of more general
emulation. He has been a liberal contributor to the periodical medical literature of the country, and in 1849, on the recommendation
of the State Medical Society, received from the Regents of the University of this State, the Honorary Degree of M.D.
48