The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel circulates rumors that Joseph translated the characters using two semi-transparent stones and supernatural methods.

Date
Dec 18, 1830
Type
News (traditional)
Source
The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel
Non-LDS
Hearsay
Reprint
Unsourced
Journalism
Reference

"Delusion," Geauga Gazette (Ohio) circa November 1830 in The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel (Boston, Massachusetts), December 18, 1830: 126

Scribe/Publisher
The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel, Geauga Gazette
People
The Jesuit or Catholic Sentinel, Joseph Smith, Jr., Oliver Cowdery
Audience
General Public
Transcription

They were engraved in a character unintelligible to the learned men of the United States, to many of whom it is said they have been presented. The angel afterwards appeared to the three individuals, and showed them the plates. To Smith was given to transcribe the character which he was enabled to do by looking through two semi-transparent stones, but as he was ignorant of the writing, Cowdery and others wrote as Smith interpreted. They say, that part of the plates escaped from them in a supernatural manner, and are again to be revealed when the events of time shall require them.

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