"While east I had some time on my hands so I went to Kirtland and called on Martin Harris, who was one of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. He took me into the Kirtland Temple and I read to him his testimony as contained in the Book of Mormon, and I asked him if there was any possibility of him having been deceived in regard to the visitation of an angel. He testified to me in all solemnity, although not a member of the Church [he had left the Church] at that time, that the angel did appear with the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and testified that they contained a history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent, and that they had been translated by the gift and power of God. There was a feeling accompanied his testimony, when he bore it, that I have never experienced either before or since in any man that I ever heard bear testimony.

"From there I went to Richmond, Missouri, and called upon David Whitmer, who was the other surviving witness. I told him my purpose and asked him questions similar to what I had propounded to Martin Harris. He showed me the manuscript from which the said Book of Mormon had been printed. I was sufficiently acquainted with printing to know that the manuscript had been in the hands of a printer, and he [Whitmer] also testified that an angel turned the leaves of the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and as he turned them, testified that they contained a history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent, and that they had been translated by the gift and power of God.

"Upon my asking for his opinion regarding Joseph Smith and his prophetic power, he [Whitmer] said he regarded Joseph Smith as one of the greatest prophets that had ever lived. He thought that Joseph Smith had failed through his transgression.

"I asked him about Oliver Cowdery, whom I understood to have been his brother-in-law, and he told me that Oliver Cowdery, when on his death bed, had born testimony to the truthfulness of the Gospel, and that he had laid his hands upon his own head, saying to the people assembled there, Peter, James, and John have laid their hands upon this head and conferred the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood. There was a feeling accompanied this testimony which was similar to the one I experienced with Martin Harris. David Whitmer was not a member of the Church at the time which I make reference to.