manuscript of Solomon Spaulding--unquestionably
genuine.

I found it in 1884 in the hands of Hon. L. L. Rice,
of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. He was formerly state
printer at Columbus, Ohio, and before that, publisher
of a paper in Painesville, whose preceding publisher
had visited Mrs. Spaulding and obtained the manuscript
from her. It had lain among his old papers forty
years or more, and was brought out by my asking him to
look up anti-slavery documents among his papers.

The manuscript has upon it the signatures of several
men of Conneaught, Ohio, who had heard Spaulding read
it and knew it to be his. No one can see it and
question its genuineness. The manuscript has been
printed twice, at least;--once by the Mormons of Salt
Lake City, and once by the Josephite Mormons of Iowa.
The Utah Mormons obtained the copy of Mr. Rice, at
Honolulu, and the Josephites got it of me after it
came into my possession.

This manuscript is not the original of the Book of
Mormon.

Yours very truly,
JAMES H. FAIRCHILD.

The "Manuscript Story" has been published in full, and
comparisons between the same and the Book of Mormon may be made