NOM

I read one of the references in the Book of Mormon translation essay that proved to be very interesting (Deseret Evening News, Dec. 13, 1881, 4). It's called One of the Three Witnesses: Incidents in the Life of Martin Harris. It turns out that many of the stories and statements about Martin and his participation in the translation of the Gold Plates come from this article, which was written 13 years after his death.

https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details ... r_end=1881

The article tells and retells and re-retells Martin's claims about the plates and angel. It is the source of the story of how Martin tried to pull one over on Joseph by substituting the rock in the hat with a plain ol' river rock (as if Joseph wouldn't notice after staring at the thing for years). The story we never hear, for some reason, is the one about how Martin had a hard time getting to Salt Lake because Satan set a trap for Martin using blackberry bushes to ensnare and nearly kill him.

You sometimes get the feeling that Martin Harris was a very, very unreliable witness.

As far as being a reliable witness, didn’t Martin testify of the truthfulness of the Shakers or Strangites after Joseph’s death?

Those blackberries will get you every time...

♫ ♬ Dum dum dum dum blackberries!!! ♬ ♫

The challenge with Marin Harris seems to have been a surplus of credulity.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored

Apparently, He has been lax in regard to ensnaring blackberry bushes.

Corsair wrote: ↑Wed May 02, 2018 11:14 pm The challenge with Marin Harris seems to have been a surplus of credulity.

You're a nice person, Corsair. You use nice words when most people would use mean ones like "gullible."

Hagoth wrote: ↑Wed May 02, 2018 6:15 pm The story we never hear, for some reason, is the one about how Martin had a hard time getting to Salt Lake because Satan set a trap for Martin using blackberry bushes to ensnare and nearly kill him.

I don't know why we don't hear it. It's not too far from the stories heard in church about how Satan tries to keep Mormons from going to the temple.