Many accounts have been printed of the true source of the Book of Mormon which forms the foundation stone of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and which is accepted as a genuine revelation by thousands of Mormons scattered throughout our Western territories; but in "New Light on Mormonism" Mrs. Ellen E. Dickinson has brought together a mass of new information which, added to the facts already known, makes her book the most complete exposition of the mental fraud of the century. The book was written in 1882, and this new edition continues the history of Mormonism down to the present time, and contains a good summary of the effects of Edmunds' law when enforced by such men as Judge Zane. The writer, Mrs. Dickinson, is a niece of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, who, while at the Conneaut, O., wrote a romance called "The Manuscript Found" — the true source of the Book of Mormon. Spaulding was a man of much literary ability, whose curiosity in regard to the mounds builders was deeply stirred by the discovery of the remains of an early race in an ancient burial home. He conceived the idea of writing a book, founded on the discoveries made in this earth-mound, and attributing this work to the descendants of the immigrant Jews, who started from Jerusalem with Levi and his four sons under Divine guidance. He was a semi-invalid, and it was his custom to read chapters as they were completed to the members of his family and neighbors who chanced to call. Several of these people recall the peculiar names which he gave to the wandering tribes — Mormon, Moroni, Lamanites and Nephi — which he connected and with which Joseph Smith afterward appropriated. Mrs. Dickinson, with much detail, tells of the disappointment of Spaulding in failing to secure the publication of his work at Pittsburg, where the manuscript was left for months working a young printer named Sidney Rigdon, who became after years by Spaulding Mormons, and who was accused in after years by Spaulding of copying his book while it remained in the printer's hands. Certain it is that the names, the plot, and much of the imagery of Spaulding's romance were found in the Book of Mormon, which was given to the world by Joseph Smith as an inspired work. There is no positive proof that Rigdon stole the romance, as Spaulding removed his original manuscript; but there is proof of the effort made by the Mormons to get possession of the original manuscript story. Through trickery, one Dr. D. P. Hurlburt obtained possession of the coveted book for the purpose, as he claimed, of comparing it with the Book of Mormon. The owners of the manuscript never heard of it again, although they tried frequently to get possession of it. The natural assumption is that Hurlburt sold it to the Mormons, as he was known soon after to purchase a farm at Gibsonburg, O., where he lived to the day of his death. The destruction of evidence of the fraudulent character of the Mormon Bible was absolutely necessary, as its publication would have seriously injured the growth of the new religion. Mrs. Dickinson paid a visit to Hurlburt in 1880, but, although he showed signs of great uneasiness when questioned on the subject, he denied the charges that he had sold the manuscript to the Mormons. He died two years after, and with his death ended all prospect of any direct evidence to develop the literary larceny by Rigdon and Hurlburt, which proved of so much value to the Mormons.

The story of the origin of Mormonism, its rapid spread under the leadership of the aggressive Joseph Smith, the migration of the band, the grafting of polygamy upon the parent creed by Brigham Young, and the events which have brought the Mormons within reach of the law—all this astonishing story of credulity and credence is told here with much power, because there is no indulgence in invective or strong feeling. It is a valuable record of a monstrous delusion which bids fair to be robbed of most of its power in the course of a few years."