Mourning Courier and New-York Enquirer suggests that Sidney Rigdon wrote the BOM and Joseph fallaciously claimed to translate it.

Date
Sep 1, 1831
Type
News (traditional)
Source
Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer
Non-LDS
Hearsay
Unsourced
Journalism
Reference

“Mormon Religion— Clerical Ambition— Western New York.— The Mormonites Gone to Ohio,” Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer (New York City) 7, no. 1334 (September 1, 1831): 2

Scribe/Publisher
Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer
People
Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris, Joseph Smith, Jr., Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer
Audience
General Public
Transcription

At last a printer in Palmyra undertook to print the translations of Joe Smith, Harris becoming responsible for the expense. They were called translations, but in fact and in truth they are believed to be the work of the Ex-Preacher from Ohio, who stood in the back ground and put forward Joe to father the new bible and the new faith. After the publication of the golden bible, they began to make converts rapidly.

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