Without Disclosing My True Identity
Witnesses of the Artifacts
Joseph, Hyrum, and their father had worked for Martin Harris on and off for about
two years, whenever Harris needed help on his 300-acre farm. Harris learned to respect the
Smiths as honest workers. He was especially drawn to the younger Joseph, whose charisma
won over the well-to-do farmer. Martin heard all the rumors and stories (most of which
were malicious and untrue) circulating about the Smith family. But he, unlike those who
spread the rumors, knew the Smiths. He didn’t perceive one bit of “craziness” in Joseph.
And when he was invited to see the breastplate and the “rocks,” he received his first
confirmation that Joseph’s claims were true.
Critical histories cannot account for the breastplate. Yet none denies that it existed and
was shown. Fawn Brodie, one of the most critical authors on the life of Joseph, and well
respected among her peers, wrote:
Although Joseph divulged almost no details about the golden plates other than
the visions, Lucy Smith bubbled over with gossip. Her story is a mine of rich
anecdote, garrulous and amusing, and adds to the confusion and contradiction
already manifested in other documents. Emma and Joseph, she wrote, brought
home the plates on September 22, 1827. Joseph showed her the magic spectacles,
which she described as “two smooth three-cornered diamonds set in glass and
the glasses in silver bows.” With them was a breastplate, which he kept wrapped
in a muslin handkerchief. “It was concave on one side and convex on the other,
and extended from the neck downwards as far as the center of the stomach of a
man of extraordinary size.”^80The footnote in Brodie’s book to the above quote exposes her inability to deny that there
was an actual breastplate. Following the same disparaging slant she used throughout her
unauthorized biography, she does not question the existence of the breastplate, yet justifies in her
footnote, “Joseph may have found a copper breastplate, for such objects were frequently
discovered in the mounds. The Ohio State Museum has an impressive collection.”^81
Joseph and Emma were very poor, more so than any other couple in the area at that
time. If Joseph had found the breastplate “in a mound,” as Brodie postulates, then it would have
been worth plenty and he could have sold it or, at least, shown it to others to help relieve their
burden of poverty. The most logical explanation for Joseph not getting some monetary gain out
of an otherwise useless relic, would be that he was telling the truth about how he obtained it.
The breastplate was one of the only evidences allowed to be seen and handled by
someone other than the Three Witnesses. However, Joseph was only allowed to show it once.
Even so, the testimonies given by those who were allowed to see and handle the breastplate
differ; and there are countless LDS/Mormon legends concerning it.
A few weeks passed from the time Joseph received the Urim and Thummim before he
gathered a few people together to whom he showed the artifacts. Josiah Stowell, Joseph Knight,
and Martin Harris were invited to the Smith home where, in the presence of the rest of his
family also, Joseph did indeed show the breastplate and Urim and Thummim to them. He
allowed them to hold the artifacts and examine them carefully. He counseled those in
attendance to never speak of the event to others. But, as human nature persists, most present
could not keep the event to themselves and the rumors began to spread.