Don Bradley is convinced that Samuel Lawrence should be our prime suspect in the loss of the 116 manuscript pages. Bradley wrote,
[Samuel Lawrence] had clear motive, a direct connection with both Martin Harris and the book of plates, and a known instance in a few years following the manuscript theft of taking or withholding property illegally in order to get what he believed was due to him—or to exact revenge when he did not. He fits the profile of the thieves sketched in the near-contemporaneous revelation, almost certainly belongs in a set of persons whom the victim, Joseph Smith, believed had taken the manuscript (the unauthorized views), and makes an identifiable candidate for Martin’s “very particular friend,” who, whether by accident or by stratagem, compromised the manuscript’s security and likely facilitated its theft.
With that said, I have tried to build a conspiracy that included Samuel Lawrence but have failed.
Lawrence was not a man of high standing in Palmyra. He was not a mason, a militia man, or a member of the Western Presbyterian Church. He did not live among the movers and shakers in the town. He lived in the Joseph Smith Sr. neighborhood. In that neighborhood folk magic was heralded as truth by men known as “money diggers” who believed in spells, guardians, enchantments, slippery treasure, and recitations of charms. The money diggers speculated that the drumlins in Palmyra—elongated mounds of glacial debris—had interior chambers that contained treasure guarded by spirits dressed in ancient apparel. They also contended that the drumlins with interior chambers had stumps of trees as wide as six feet that had grown atop them and that an ancient people had buried their valuables in the drumlins.
I find conspiracy between leaders of the money diggers—Samuel Lawrence, Willard Chase, and Peter Ingersoll—but the conspiracy is about how to acquire the Golden Bible. I haven’t found a shred of evidence that Samuel Lawrence showed any interest in the 116 pages or the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. His “withholding property illegally in order to get what he believed was due to him” did not occur until the 1830s. Our time period is 1828. His interest in Joseph Smith stops when treasure is taken out of the equation.
To prove that a conspiracy does not exist between the money diggers to acquire the 116 page manuscript, I have written the following—
Samuel worked in an iron mine in Randolph, New Jersey before moving to Palmyra to join Abner Cole, his brother-in-law, in creating the Irondequoit Embankment on the Erie Canal.
Lawrence purchased property in the Joseph Smith Sr./Willard Chase/Peter Ingersoll neighborhood with monies saved from his sale of land in New Jersey.
Martin Harris claimed that Samuel Lawrence told him, “While they were digging, a large man who appeared to be eight or nine feet high, came and sat on the ridge of the barn, and motioned to them that they must leave. They motioned back that they would not; but that they afterwards became frightened and did leave.” Palmyra neighbor Joseph Capron recalled that money diggers had found a chest of gold watches that was “in the possession of the evil spirit.” Capron wrote of Samuel Lawrence “with a drawn sword in his hand, marched around to guard any assault which his satanic majesty might be disposed to make.”
Neighbor Willard Chase reported that when Joseph Smith needed to “raise money” to travel to Harmony, he told Samuel Lawrence that “on the bank of the Susquehanna River, [there was] a very rich mine of silver, and if he would go there with him, he might have a share in the profits; that it was near high water mark and that they could load it into boats and take it down the river to Philadelphia, to market.” Samuel questioned Joseph about trying to deceive him. Joseph promised that if Samuel did “not find it so when we get there, I will bind myself to be your servant for three years. By these grave and fair promises” Samuel was induced to believe something in it, and agreed to go with him to Harmony. When Joseph Smith and Samuel Lawrence arrived in Pennsylvania, Joseph wanted Samuel “to recommend him to Miss [Emma] H[ale], which he did.” As the story unfolds Samuel “wished to see the silver mine, and he and Joseph went to the river, and made search, but found nothing.”
Willard Chase swore that by September 1827 Joseph Smith was afraid of Samuel Lawrence and feared that he would try to interfere with his receiving the plates. Joseph Smith Sr. went to the Lawrence house on September 21, 1827 to stop Samuel from going to the hill and ambushing his son Joseph. Samuel never left his house that night.
When Joseph Smith had the gold plates in his possession, Samuel Lawrence and Willard Chase sent for Luman Walters—a conjurer, magician, and a fortune teller. Walters was paid three dollars a day by them to find the Gold Bible. Lucy Mack Smith wrote of their being more involved with Walters than Lawrence and Chase: “My husband soon learned that ten or twelve men were clubbed together, with one Willard Chase, a Methodist class leader, at their head to devise plans to find ‘Joe Smith’s gold Bible.’”
In another incident, Joseph Knight wrote of Samuel Lawrence and Alvah Beeman, a “grate rodsman,” trying to persuade young Joseph to give Samuel a share of the plates. By use of a divining rod, Beeman discovered the plates were under the hearth in the Smith home.
When the plates were no longer in Joseph Smith’s possession, Samuel Lawrence drops out of the picture.
The Willard Chase affidavit tells of his early acquaintance with the Smiths in 1820. Chase has much negative to say against the Smiths, yet from his own words he chooses to spend much time with them. The biggest issue for Chase was the seerstone. He wrote, “After digging about twenty feet below the surface of the earth, we discovered a singularly appearing stone, which excited my curiosity. I brought it to the top of the well, and as we were examining it, Joseph put it into his hat, and then his face into the top of his hat. It has been said by Smith, that he brought the stone from the well; but this is false. There was no one in the well but myself.”
Chase went on to explain that the next morning, after having dug a well on his property, seventeen year old Joseph “came to me, and wished to obtain the stone, alleging that he could see in it.” Willard replied, “I did not wish to part with it on account of its being a curiosity, but would lend it.” Willard explained that when Joseph had the stone in his position, “he began to publish abroad what wonders he could discover by looking in it, and made so much disturbance among the credulous part of community, that I ordered the stone to be returned to me again.” The stone was never returned to Chase.
Chase also wrote of Joseph Smith’s interviews with the angel Moroni and that in 1825 he took Samuel Lawrence to the hill and showed him “where the treasure was.” Chase claimed that before September 1827 Joseph promised him that “if I would make the chest he would give me a share in the book.” He reported that “a few days afterwards, he told one of my neighbors [Peter Ingersoll] that he had not got any such book, nor never had such an one; but that he had told the story to deceive the d–d fool, (meaning me,) to get him to make a chest.”
Chase sought to take the plates from Joseph Smith by using the mystic talents of his sister Sally and her peep stone. Physician John Stafford of Manchester claimed that “Sally (Sallie) used the peep stone to locate hidden treasure.” Following Sally’s directions, a mob tore up the floor of Joseph Smith Sr.’s coopers shop thinking they would find the plates. Not finding the gold plates, Willard Chase and Samuel Lawrence sent for Luman Walters—a conjurer, magician, and a fortune teller living in Sodus, New York.
Then everything stops. Like Samuel Lawrence, Willard Chase shows no interest in the 116 page manuscript or the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Are Lawrence or Chase hiding information? I don’t think so. Neither appear that clever. As to Willard Chase, he is not even creative in his presentations of magic. His accounts of magic are generic for the times—black horse, black clothes, etc.
In 1814 Peter was arrested and charged with grand larceny. He escaped from jail and journeyed to Western New York. He eventually settled on property that bordered the Joseph Smith Sr. property to the north. Neither Lucy Mack Smith nor her son Joseph wrote of Peter Ingersoll being a neighbor or having any interactions with them. Our one source of information about Peter and his interaction with the Smiths comes from the Peter Ingersoll affidavit printed in Mormonism Unvailed. The affidavit tells of treasure hunting and expresses a dim view of the Smiths.
Peter claimed in 1822 that “the general employment of the [Joseph Smith Sr.] family, was digging for money.” He told of the Smiths giving him “frequent invitations to join the company, but always declined being one of their number.” However, Peter contradicted himself and detailed experiences with Joseph Smith Sr. and the use of a divining rod to find treasure. He tells of going with Joseph Smith to Harmony, Pennsylvania. Neither Lucy Mack Smith nor Joseph mention any travels with Peter Ingersoll to Pennsylvania.
Peter told of Joseph Smith duping his family about gold plates and of Martin Harris giving Joseph fifty dollars for a trip to Pennsylvania. What he failed to mention was that he was sued for stealing a cow and milking it. Peter was forced to sell his property north of the Joseph Smith Sr. property to satisfy a judgment against him.
Peter Ingersoll, like Samuel Lawrence and Willard Chase, showed no interest in acquiring the 116 page manuscript or the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. His interest was in treasures.
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