SPAULDING'S REWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT.
Spaulding commenced his writing about 1809, changing his plans while still at Conneaut, that is, prior to 1812,[23] at which later date the rewritten story of "The Manuscript Found" was still incomplete.[24] In 1812 Spaulding borrowed some money with which to go to Pittsburg, hoping there to get his novel published and thus make it possible for him to pay his debts.[25] In Pittsburg Spaulding submitted his manuscript to one Robert Patterson, then engaged in the publishing business.[26] The exact date is not known but it is probable almost to certainty that Spaulding would do this immediately upon his arrival in Pittsburg in 1812, since that was one of his definite purposes in going there. Spaulding's widow is reported as saying: "At length the manuscript was returned to the author, and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington County, Pa."[27] The return of the manuscript before 1814, the date of the removal to Amity, is made additionally certain by the testimony of Redick McKee[28] and Joseph Miller.[29] This additional evidence, especially that of the latter, makes it plain that Spaulding had his rewritten manuscript at Amity, thus demonstrating its return to Spaulding before the latter's removal from Pittsburg. The evidences of identity between the manuscript testified about as being at Amity, and Spaulding's rewritten story, leave no doubt. The review of this evidence of identity will be postponed until we come to review the other evidences of identity between "The Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon.
[Footnote 23: Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," 288.]
[Footnote 24: Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," 283.]
[Footnote 25: Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," 282-3.]
[Footnote 26: "New Light on Mormonism," 16-17; "History of the Mormons," 43; "Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?" 7.]
[Footnote 27: "Gleanings by the Way," 252; "Mormons' Own Book," 29; "Prophet of Palmyra," 419; "History of the Mormons," 43.]
[Footnote 28: Washington (Pa.) Reporter of April 21, 1869; "Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?" 6.]
It is said that Patterson returned the manuscript to Spaulding with the advice to "polish it up, finish it, and you will make money out of it."[30] On behalf of Patterson it has been said that he directed its return unless the author would furnish ample security to guarantee the expense of publishing, which we can readily believe to have been impossible to the impecunious Spaulding.[31]
[Footnote 30: "New Light on Mormonism," 238; Magazine American History, June, 1882; Scribner's Monthly, August, 1880; "Prophet of Palmyra," 423.]
[Footnote 31: "Mormonism Exposed," by Williams, 16; "Prophet of Palmyra," 455; "The Spaulding Story Examined and Exposed," by John E. Page, 7.]
After residing in Pittsburg two years,[32] the Spauldings moved to Amity in Washington County, Pa., where Solomon Spaulding and his returned "Manuscript Found" again became the center of attraction among the commonplace neighborhood listeners, who did their loafing about the Spaulding tavern.[33] Here the story was polished and finished,[34] and from Amity Spaulding again journeyed to Pittsburg, in the hope in the second attempt of securing the publication of his story, "The Manuscript Found."[35] Spaulding's widow and daughter assert that at one time Patterson advised Spaulding "to make out a title-page and preface."[36] That remark would seem most likely to have been made after the finishing of the story, and I therefore feel justified in believing it to have been made after the second submission of the manuscript. Mrs. Spaulding-Davidson says this request was never complied with, but for reasons which are unknown to her. In the light of evidence to be hereafter reviewed, we are justified in an inference that one of the causes was a theft of the manuscript from the publisher's office, followed, perhaps, within a few weeks or months, by the death of Spaulding, which occurred in October, 1816.
[Footnote 32: Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," 287; "Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?" 7.]
[Footnote 33: "Prophet of Palmyra," 441, 442.]
[Footnote 34: Reddick McKee in Washington (Pa.) Reporter, April 12, 1869; "Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?" 6.]
[Footnote 35: "Prophet of Palmyra," 442-55.]
[Footnote 36: "Prophet of Palmyra," 419-42; iii. Millennial Harbinger, about May 1839; Boston Recorder during May 1839; "Mormons' Own Book," 29.]