| 347 "He was a real clever, jovial boy. What Tucker said about them was false, absolutely. My father, William Stafford, was never connected with them in any way. The Smiths, with others, were digging for money before Joe got the plates. My father had a stone, which some thought they could look through, and old Mrs. Smith came there after it one day, but never got it. Saw them digging one time for money (this was three or four years before the Book of Mormon was found), the Smiths and others. The old man and Hyrum were there, I think, but Joseph was not there. The neighbors used to claim Sally Chase could look at a stone she had, and see money. Willard Chase used to dig when she found where the money was. Don't know as anybody ever found any money."
"What was the character of Smith, as to his drinking?"
"It was common then for everybody to drink, and to have drink in the field; one time Joe, while working for some one after he was married, drank too much boiled cider. He came in with his shirt torn; his wife felt bad about it, and when they went home, she put her shawl on him."
"Had he been fighting and drunk?"
"No; he had been scuffling with some of the boys. Never saw him fight; have known him to scuffle; would do a fair day's work if hired out to a man; but were poor managers."
"What about that black sheep your father let them have?"
"I have heard that story, but don't think my father was there at the time they say Smith got the sheep. I don't know anything about it."
"You were living at home at the time, and it seems you ought to know if they got a sheep, or stole one, from your father."
"They never stole one, I am sure; they may have got one some time."
"Well, Doctor, you know pretty well whether that story is true or not, that Tucker tells. What do you think of it?"
"I don't think it is true. I would have heard more about it, that is true. I lived a mile from Smiths; am seventy-six years old. They were peaceable among themselves. The old woman had a great deal of faith that their children were going to do something great. Joe was quite illiterate. After they began to have school at their house, he improved greatly."
"Did they have school in their own house?"
"Yes, sir; they had school in their house, and studied the Bible."
"Who was their teacher?"
"They did not have any teacher; they taught themselves."
"Did you know Oliver Cowdery?"
"Yes; he taught school on the Canandaigua Road, where the stone schoolhouse now stands; just three and a half miles south of Palmyra. Cowdery was a man of good character."
"What do you know about Martin Harris?"
"He was an honorable farmer; he was not very religious before the
(page 347) |
