Smith’s Scheme to Purchase Fake Plates

Mormon Portraits, p 21; “Dr. John C. Bennett says: “Shortly after I located in Nauvoo, Joe proposed to me to go to New York and get some plates engraved and bring them to him, so that he could exhibit them as the genuine plates of the Book of Mormon, which he pretended had been taken from him, and “hid up” by an angel, and which he would profess to have recovered. He calculated to make considerable money by this trick, as there would of course be a great anxiety to see the plates, which he intended to exhibit at twenty-five cents a sight. I mentioned this proposition to Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, on the day the Prophet made it, and requested her to keep it in memory, as it might be of much importance.” When asked by me in the spring of 1885 about this statement of John C. Bennett, Mrs. Pratt confirmed it fully and stated also that Bennett had reported to her this conversation with Joseph on the very day when it happened.” – Dr. W. Wyl

2 John 1:7-11; “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Whenever Mormons leave the Church there’s a process they (myself included) go through that resembles the peeling of an onion. There’s one layer after another that reveals the hidden teachings and history of Mormonism. Our example today serves as a classic example of what most Mormons don’t know. 

While the majority of Mormons, then and now, reject anything Bennett has to say, there’s quite a bit of evidence to support the claim he made in Dr. Wyl’s expose` written over 100 years ago. 

From Smith’s failure of trying to sell the BoM copyright in Canada, to his stories of caves with hidden treasures and now this, it’s not difficult to believe Mr. Bennett’s testimony at all.  His comment is further solidified with the known fact that even today there are no plates to see or handle. 

Furthermore, this behavior matches up with other activities of the Smith family – 

 Joe’s mother Lucy set up a mini-museum in Nauvoo and put the mummies on display that Joe bought from the traveling salesman Michael Chandler. She charged 25¢ per visit.* The mummies were part of the package that included the facsimiles Smith used to ‘translate’ the Book of Abraham. 

It’s obvious if there was money to be made off anything Smith had his hand in it. 

*Story of the Book of Abraham: Mummies, Manuscripts, and Mormonism, p 199; “As has been noted, several of the visitors who saw the mummies in Nauvoo commented that Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, appeared to be in charge of the Egyptian artifacts in the log cabin and later in the Mansion House. When Joseph Smith was home, he apparently showed them on occasion, but more frequently his mother would conduct the tours and answer the questions, for which she charged a fee of twenty-five cents per person.” – H. Donl Peterson