| 335 "What made them think that?"
"They thought he lied when he said he found that gold bible."
"Before this what was thought of him, as to his telling the truth?"
"I never heard anything before this."
"What else did he lie about? And how did he get the name of being such a great liar?"
"The people said he lied about finding the plates; I don't know whether he lied about anything else; they were all a kind of a low, shiftless set."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The people said they were awful poor, and poor managers. Joe was an illiterate fellow. If you come from Palmyra, you could have got Tucker's work there, and it would have told you all about them. I have read a great deal about them."
"Yes; we have seen Tucker's work, but there are too many big stories in that. Thinking people don't believe them; they ridicule them, and demand the facts; we wish to get some facts which we can stand by.
"I don't know anything myself: I wish I did. Have you been to see Mr. Reed? He lives up north of Manchester; he knows."
Mrs. Bryant.-"My husband don't know anything about them; they did not live in the same neighborhood that we did, and he was not acquainted with them; he don't know anything."
"Well, were they drunkards?"
Mr. Bryant.-"Everybody drank whisky in them times."
"Did you ever see Joe Smith drunk, or drinking?"
"No, I can't say that I did; I only saw him once or twice, when he came to the woolen mill where I worked."
"Did you not see Joe drink sometime?"
"N-o-e."
Mrs. Bryant.-"He ought not to say anything, for he knows nothing about them; then it has been a long time ago."
"Have you stated now all you know about them?"
Mr. Bryant.-"Yes: I never knew much about them, anyway."
"Did you know any of their associates-Cowdery, Harris, or others?"
"No, I never knew any of them."
Mrs. Bryant.-"I knew Cowdery; Lyman Cowdery, I believe, was his name. They lived next door to us; they were low shacks,-he was a lawyer,-he was always on the wrong side of every case, they said."
"Did he ever teach school?"
"No, not this one."
"Did you know any other one?"
"No, I only knew this one and his family; I know they borrowed my churn once, and when it came home, I had to scour it all over before I used it. My father owned the largest house there was in the country at that time."
"How were they about being honest, and telling the truth?"
"I don't remember anything about that, now."
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