STATE OF NEW YORK VS. JOSEPH SMITH
"Warrant issued upon written
complain upon oath of Peter G. Bridgeman, who informed
that one Jospeh Smith of Bainridge was a disorderly
person and an imposter."
"Prisoner brought before Court
March 20, 1826. Prisoner examined: says he came
from the town of Palmyra, and had been at the house
of Josiah Stowel in Bainbridge most of time since....that
he had a certain stone which he occasionally looked
at to determine where hidden treasures in the bowels
of the earth were...."
The above quote from Fraser's
Magazine in 1873 begins the documentation of
the trial of Joseph Smith; a trial of fraud. Now
at the age of 21, Joseph was using a "peep
stone" (a stone used to divine the whereabouts
of hidden items, by staring into it), and in this
trial was found guilty of defrauding people with
this act.
There were seven witnesses in the
trial, and Joseph was found guilty.
Money digging and stone peeping
were two of Joseph's early hobbies. As a treasure
hunter, we shall see that he eventually struck gold!
But not in the manner you may be thinking.
This evidence of Joseph's trial
and conviction become an interesting fact which
leads us to the story of the discovery and writing
of the Book of Mormon.
