This Smith claims to have written from mysterious plates, which no man ever saw, but it was really a plagiarism from a manuscript written by Solomon Spaulding, of Conneaut, Ohio, about 1812. Spaulding's work was a story of the prehistoric tribes of America. By some means it came into possession of one Sidney Rigdon, of Kirtland, an erratic, eloquent, and unscrupulous minister, well known throughout the Western Reserve. There can be little doubt that Rigdon and Smith, between them, concocted the "Book of Mormon" and Mormonism. It is known that Rigdon often left his home in Ohio, and absented himself for weeks at a time. There is indubitable evidence which proves that on these occasions he was in communication with Smith. Shortly after one of these visits, Smith dictated the Book of Mormon" from his plates, he said, but it was really from Solomon Spaulding's manuscripts which had been furnished him by Sidney Rigdon.

When Joseph Smith came to Ohio, Rigdon was his most zealous and effective apostle, and was soon made a High Priest. With ardor worthy of a better cause, this pair traveled and labored day and night for their new creed. Under their leadership it spread like wildfire, and Kirtland grew in population, wealth and importance. It was the Mecca of the new faith, and according to the wild dreams of Smith and Rigdon, it was to be the great City of the Saints. Streets were platted, and in the center of all was to be erected a great temple. For five years Mormonism prospered in Ohio, and some of the sanguine visions of the faithful were realized, at least for a time. But they labored under disadvan.

tages, which only seemed to increase their zeal. On the 25th of March, 1832, Smith and Rigdon were seized by a mob at Hiram, stripped naked and tarred and feathered. Nothing daunted, Smith appeared next morning, which was Sunday, in his usual capacity as Prophet of the Lord," having spent the most of the night in cleaning the tar and feathers from his body. Sidney Rigdon was rendered temporarily insane by his treatment. A young man, just over thirty, came to Kirtland this year, whose life and destiny is now a part of the history of Mormonism. This was Brigham Young. He was a man of much native shrewdness, earnest in his purposes, yet eminently practical in worldly affairs. Smith saw at a glance the material before him, and Young was ordained to preach at once, and in three years after, at a conference held at Kirtland, he was selected as one of the Twelve Apostles.

The success of Mormonism reached its highest point in Ohio upon the completion of their great temple, which cost them forty thousand dollars. March 27, 1836, was fixed as the day of dedication. It was a day of mysterious and emotional enthusiasm. For four days and four nights the Saints abandoned themselves to an exciting state of religious fervor. Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were the chief among those present, and we are told that there were over four hundred elders and deacons in the temple; there were also gathered there thousands of people from all over northern Ohio. It really seemed as if they had reached the Promised Land; Smith knew it, and the Mormons believed it.

Joseph Smith applied to the Legislature for

authority to start a bank at Kirtland, but the charter was refused. He had a revelation that he should do so for the good of the Church, and, regardless of the refusal of the Legislature, he organized the "Kirtland Safety Society Bank." Smith was president and Sidney Rigdon cashier; the capital was five thousand dollars. It exercised banking powers as freely as if it had been incorporated, and issued its bills with the assurances of future payment and that the Lord would take care of them. The financial panic of 1837 proved disastrous to both bank and people. The general spirit of speculation spread through the Church, and with it came dissensions and schisms. The creditors of the Mormons began to close in upon them. In January, Joseph Smith with others, was sued for many thousands of dollars by creditors at home and abroad. As a last resort they were compelled to mortgage the Temple to secure delay and forbearance. But it was in vain; the financial tide was against them, as it was against the whole country, in 1837. On the heels of creditors, came Smith's personal enemies, and we find in March that himself and Rigdon were arrested for acting as bank officers. In October a jury of Geauga county found them guilty. While the case pending in the higher courts, whither it had been taken in error, Smith received a "revelation" commanding himself and Rigdon to leave for the West beyond the jurisdiction of Ohio laws and courts. It need scarcely be told that the "revelation" was cheerfully obeyed. Under the cover of night, January 12, 1838, the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon mounted fast horses and fled from Kirtland to be

was

yond the Missouri River, where the Mormons were gathered in great numbers at a town called Far West.

They were soon followed by those who remained faithful. Brigham Young had left some time before. The great Temple fell into the hands of the "Reformers," a Mormon sect opposed to Smith. Thus did Mormonism and its false Prophet fade out of Ohio history.

The

In 1832 occurred the remarkable and devastating flood in the Ohio River, which worked so much destruction to Ohio property and business. summer and fall of the previous year were very rainy; in those seasons there fell in the Ohio Valley three feet of rain, whereas that fall was the usual one for the entire year. Snow fell heavily in the mountains, so that when the breaking up of the winter arrived in February additional falls of snow and rain found the Ohio River high in its banks and rising rapidly. In the last ten days of January there fell sixteen inches of snow, then for twelve days came a rain of eight inches accompanied with a warm temperature. The result was an immense inundation. The destruction and devastation which followed is simply indescribable. To the damage and danger of property was added the terror and helplessness of the people along the river in the presence of a calamity no human means could avert or lessen. At Marietta on Saturday and Sunday, the 11th and 12th of February, the river was a floating mass of ruins. Dwelling houses, stables, haystacks, boards, timber, trees and farming implements, all piled in confusion, floated down the stream. In one place where their

progress was impeded, these accumulated ruins heaped up to the height of thirty feet. At an island below Marietta over thirty buildings were crowded upon each other by the resistless flood. In some of these were complete stocks of country stores. An instance is known of a barn that floated one hundred miles and landed at Long Bottom, Meigs County, with a horse safely resting within. Much stock was drowned, and the whole territory along the river was a sad scene of devastation. Outside of the towns, the loss in Ohio was estimated at about five hundred dollars per mile. The destructiveness of the flood seemed to have penetrated the interior of the State. The continued rains filled all the rivers to overflowing. The Maumee, the Great Miami, the Scioto and other streams of less importance leaped their banks, destroying bridges, mills, fences, stock and produce.

In the cities and towns, especially in the river counties, the loss was incalculable. In Cincinnati five hundred families were driven from their houses and a half a million dollars worth of property destroyed. The two days of distress are thus described by the Cincinnati American:

"Thursday, February 16, 1832.- The river still continues on the rise-it is undoubtedly sixty-four feet above low water mark. Yesterday it rose at the rate of an inch an hour. From six o'clock last evening to six this morning, we should think at the rate of an inch an hour. The Amulet,' from above, reports that we may expect twelve or fifteen inches. more. It was falling above the Great Kanawha, and was at a stand below. It rose several inches while