| 334 been set on foot and assiduously circulated about those men, by the enemies of the faith, impugning their motives and character, with a view to destroy their testimony in favor of the latter-day work.
Here is where they lived, and where, the stories say, lived those who knew of their bad character, etc. We were among some of their old neighbors, all unbelievers in the faith they taught, and we remembered some of the names of the parties published by their enemies as knowing facts against them, and determined to "beard the lion in his den," and hear the worst, let it hurt whom it would. So we set about it in good earnest, to interview, if possible, all of those referred to by the enemies of these men, as having a knowledge of them; and with one writing during each interview, we obtained the following as the results:
Having the names of Messrs. Bryant, Booth, and Reed, obtained from a published communication in the Cadillac News, of Michigan, about a year ago, by Reverend A. Marsh, of that place, who had received it from a brother reverend, one C. O. Thorn, of Manchester, New York, who claimed to have interviewed the above named gentlemen, and obtained from them wonderful revelations about the Smith family, Cowdery, etc. . .
Believing then that the whole story was a trumped up thing, I was determined to call on these gentlemen, and ascertain whether the pious reverend told the truth about what they said, or not.
At about ten o'clock in the forenoon we called at the house of Mr. Bryant, and knocked at the door, which was answered by a lady who gave her name as Mary Bryant. She gave us seats in the room where her husband, William Bryant, was sitting. He is now eighty-five years of age, tall, and lean in flesh, and, during our interview, sat in a stooping posture, with open mouth. His wife informed us that for the last few years his mind had been somewhat impaired. She has a good memory, is seventy-five years of age, intelligent, and seemingly a great talker. We announced that the purpose of our visit was to ascertain some facts from the old settlers, with reference to the people known as Mormons, who used to live there, as it is understood to have been the home of the Smith family and others, at the time the Book of Mormon is alleged to have been discovered.
To this Mr. Bryant in a slow voice replied: "Yes; that big hill you saw coming along, is where they say Joe Smith got the plates; you must have seen it coming along. Well, you can't find out much from me; I don't know much about them myself; I have seen Joe Smith once or twice; they lived about five miles from where I did; was not personally acquainted with any of them-never went to any of their meetings, and never heard one preach."
"What do you know about the character of the family? How were they for honesty? Were they industrious or lazy? We want to know their character among their old neighbors."
"Well, I don't know about that. I never saw them work; the people thought young Joe was a great liar."
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