that would prevent the 'enchantment' from removing the treasure.
Search was made all over the country, but no perfectly white dog
could be found. "Then Joe said a white sheep would do as well;
but when this was sacrificed and failed, he said "The Almighty
was displeased with him for attempting to palm off on Him a white
sheep for a white dog. This informant describes Joe at that time
as "an imaginative enthusiast, constitutionally opposed to work,
and a general favorite with the ladies."

In confirmation of this, R. C. Doud asserted that "in 1822 he was
employed, with thirteen others, by Oliver Harper to dig for gold
under Joe's direction on Joseph McKune's land, and that Joe had
begun operations the year previous."

F. G. Mather obtained substantially the same particulars of Joe's
digging in connection with Harper from the widow of Joseph McKune
about the year 1879, and he said that the owner of the farm at
that time "for a number of years had been engaged in filling the
holes with stone to protect his cattle, but the boys still use
the northeast hole as a swimming pond in the summer."*

* Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1880.


Confirmation of the important parts of these statements has been
furnished by Joseph's father. When the reports of the discovery
of a new Bible first gained local currency (in 1830), Fayette
Lapham decided to visit the Smith family, and learn what he could
on the subject. He found the elder Smith very communicative, and
he wrote out a report of his conversation with him, "as near as I