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Captain Kidd External Link Wayne Sentinel, Palmyra, NY, Feb 16 1825, pg 1, col 5 Wayne Sentinel Article Wayne Sentinel Feb 16, 1825    From the Windsor, (Vermont) Jour. Jan. 17.    Money digging. - We are sorry to observe even in this enlightened age, so prevalent a disposition to credit the accounts of the marvellous. Even the frightful stories of money being hid under the surface of the earth, and enchanted by the Devil or Robert Kidd, are received by many of our respectable fellow citizens as truths. No Preview Available External Link The Lowell Courier, Lowell, MA, July 28, 1842, Vol 8, No 1203 Jonathan Hadley Letter Jonathan A. Hadley Jul 14, 1842    But you wish to know something about the earlier history of the Smiths. They were always considered by their own townsmen as a lazy, vicious, profane, unlearned, superstitious family. They lived "from hand to mouth," spending most of the time not required for the provision of their immediate wants, in digging in the hills of Manchester for money, under the often-repeated impression that Capt. Kidd or some other person of wealth, had there deposited their treasures. For many, many years to come, traces of these excavations will be visible - monuments alike of their superstition and folly. (Note:  No images of this source are available online. Please contact us if you have any information.) Full Source External Link Mormonism: its leaders and designs, by John Hyde, 1857, pg 263 John Hyde description John Hyde 1857    It was quite common in the western part of New York, about thirty years ago, for men to dig for treasure which they supposed had been hidden by Captain Kidd and others. Many plans were tried and much imposition practiced by means of divining-rods, dreams, and seeing-stones. It was not at all a new thing for Smith, therefore, to pretend to the power of seeing where gold was by the use of a ‘peep-stone,' nor did it surprise the inhabitants of that locality. External Link Origin, rise, and progress of Mormonism, by Pomeroy Tucker,. pg 17 Pomeroy Tucker Claim Pomeroy Tucker 1867    Joseph, moreover, as he grew in years, had learned to read comprehensively, in which qualification he was far in advance of his elder brother, and even of his father; and his talent was assiduously devoted, as he quitted or modified his idle habits, to the perusal of works of fiction and records of criminality, such for instance as would be classed with the "dime novels" of the present day. The stories of Stephen Burroughs and Captain Kidd, and the like, presented the highest charms for his expanding mental perceptions. External Link The Historical Magazine, May 1870, Vol 8, No 5, pg 316 Judge Woodard Letter Daniel Woodard Nov, 1870    Joseph Smith, Sr., was, at times, engaged in hunting for Captain Kidd's buried treasure; No Preview Available External Link Elizabeth Kane's Journal, 15 Jan, 1873 Artemisia Beaman Account Elizabeth Kane Jan 15, 1873    Not only was there religious excitement, but the phantom treasures of Captain Kidd were sought for far and near, and even in places like Cumorah where the primeval forest still grew undisturbed the fold finders sought for treasure without any traditionary rumor even to guide them. (Note:  This account was recorded in Elizabeth Kane's journal the day she visited and heard the account from Artemisia Snow, daughter of Alva Beaman. No images of the journal entry appear to be available online. Please contact me if you have any information.) External Link Marion Enterprise, September 28, 1923, vol 43, no 39, pg 1 Philetus B. Spear Account Philetus B. Spear 1873    Joe was an ungainly looking lad, clothing poor, with associates of the lower class. He had for a library a copy of the 'Arabian Nights,' stories of Captain Kidd, and a few novels. --- Though of a coarse wit and of some influence, he gave no promise in his youth of the power exercised in his later years. --- The attention of the people was first called to him by the claims made that Joe could find anything lost or hidden. Once in a while he would succeed in telling where a thing was to be found, and, forgetting his many failures, the one success was loudly proclaimed. --- This prepared the public to believe him when he claimed to know where Captain Kidd had hidden money in Palmyra. A company was organized to dig in a certain hill specified by 'Joe.' This company was solemnly told that a spell was upon the treasure. --- No one could find it unless digging in the night. (Note:  This account was written down by Reverend Jared S. Nasmith and published in Plattsville, Wisconsin circa 1873. However, no copies of the original printing have been located. This copy comes from a much later printing in the Marion Enterprise, Newark New York on September 28, 1923. Spear died in 1901.) External Link The Prophet of Palmyra, Thomas Gregg, 1890, pg 36 Stephen Harding Account Stephen S. Harding Feb, 1882    When I was a student at Brookville, in the fall of 1827, the Brookville Enquirer was laid upon my table, when my eye fell upon a paragraph, credited to some Eastern paper, of the finding of a book of metallic plates, called the 'Golden Bible.' It was found by a young man by the name of Joe Smith, who had spent his time for several years in telling fortunes and digging for hidden treasures, and especially for pots and iron chests of money, supposed to have been buried by Captain Kidd. This paragraph interested me more at the time from the fact that all this had happened near the village of Palmyra, N. Y. External Link New light on Mormonism, by Ellen E. Dickinson, 1885, pgs 28-29 Ellen Dickinson Account Ellen E. Dickinson 1885    It is said that Joseph at an early age could read, but not write; and when quite young committed these lines to memory from the story of Captain Kidd, the notorious pirate, which seemed to give him great pleasure:    "My name was Robert Kidd    As I sailed, as I sailed;    And most wickedly I did    As I sailed, as I sailed." No Preview Available External Link Naked Truths About Mormonism, Vol 1, No 1, pg 2, col 6 William Hine statement William Riley Hine Jan, 1888    Jo Smith claimed to be a seer. He had a very clear stone about the size and shape of a duck's egg, and claimed that he could see lost or hidden things through it. He said he saw Captain Kidd sailing on the Susquehanna River during a freshet, and that he buried two pots of gold and silver. He claimed he saw writing cut on the rocks in an unknown language telling where Kidd buried it, and he translated it through his peep-stone. I have had it many times and could see in it whatever I imagined...    ...Jo dug next for Kidd's money, on the west bank of the Susquehanna, half a mile from the river, and three miles from his salt wells. (Note:  No images of this source are available online. Please contact me if you have any information.) External Link Early Days of Mormonism, by James H. Kennedy, pg 13 James Kennedy Account James H. Kennedy 1888    The boy's education, or rather the rude smattering of learning that went by that name, was but added preparation for that which lay before him; he was not given to books, and the few he was persuaded to read were of vicious tendency, and set his imagination in the wrong direction. His favorites have been described as the "Life of Stephen Burroughs," a scoundrel dressed in the garb of the church, and the autobiography of the pirate Kidd. Smith afterward made confession that the book last named made a deep impression upon him, and owned to a special fascination in these lines found therein:    "My name was Robert Kidd,    As I sailed, as I sailed;    And most wickedly I did,    God's laws I did forbid,    As I sailed, as I sailed." External Link A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates, Arthur L. Hayward, 1927, pg 389. Reprinted in 2002 by Charles Johnson Sailing through the Comoros Islands Arthur L. Hayward 1927    It happened that at this time the Pirate ships were most of them out in search of prey, so that according to the best intelligence Captain Kid could get, there was not one of them at that time about the island; wherefore, having spent some time in watering his ship and taking in more provisions, he thought of trying his fortune on the coast of Malabar, where he arrived in the month of June following, four months from his reaching Madagascar. Hereabouts he made an unsuccessful cruise, touching sometimes at the island of Mohilla, sometimes at that of Johanna, between Malabar and Madagascar. (Note:  This account refers to journeys made by Captain Kidd and his crew in 1697, where they made anchorage on the island of Johanna (or Anjouan) near a place called "Meroni," known today as Mirontsi. The capital of the Comoros Islands on the Grande Comore island, known as "Moroon" in the late 1700's, became known as "Moroni" by the late 1800's. Alternate spellings of the archipelago in old maps include "Comoro," "Comore," and "Comora." For more information, consult this article.) External Link Histoire Generale des Voyages, Abbe Prevost, 1748, pg 544 Meroni in the Comore Islands Jacque-Nicolas Bellin 1748 (Note:  Moroon on the Grande Comore island can be seen on this 1778 map. )

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