Nauvoo Jany. 18. 1844.

Dr. Sir

I have received a letter from you dated the 1st. instt., concerning some pretended claim you seem to think you have on the Mummies, and also requesting me to let you have the use of my farm for a longer Season &c, as a recompense for your interest in the Mummies.

I have received information from an authentic source, that Brother [Reuben] Mc.Bride has not been able to realize much rent from you for the place and also that you have neglected to pay your <​the​> taxes. Now I am satisfied that you know you wrong me when you thus expose my property for sale for the Taxes, and at the same time are reaping the fruits of it. I must confess that I feel very much dissatisfied with the course you are pursuing in relation to the matter. Brother Mc.Bride is my authorized Agent to attend to matters and affairs in Kirtland. I shall give him such instructions as I deem expedient about the matter

The idea of your claiming an Interest in the Mummies astonishes me. You must either be under the influence of very corrupt feelings, or be very forgetful of your business transactions. However it may be that you have forgot some things, and I will therefore inform you by way of putting you in remembrance that I have got your Deed, executed by your own hand, in due form, for all the interest you every held in the Mummies, and consequently dont feel under the necessity of listening to such unjust claims, nor taking any notice of them, only as above stated.

It is astonishing that any man can be so wicked and corrupt as to suffer the property of his benefactor and best friend to be sold in order to defraud him out of it by getting a Sheriffs Deed, surely the shades of darkness prevail over such a man; his heart must be hard as the nether-mill-stone, and virtue have no place in him. The tenor of your letter and other information I have received tells a black story of the situation of the Apostates in Kirtland.

On the place where Godliness and uprightness once dwelt, now dwells dishonesty, fraud, envy, lying, oppression and every evil work.

But enough on this subject, I must conclude and turn my attention to a more pleasing and profitable subject

Yours &c

Joseph Smith

Mr. Joseph Coe.