CUL:Testimonals to Joseph Smith's heresies  by Walter Martin

Excerpted from "Kindom of the Cults" 
by Dr. Walter Martin, pg. 175.

One of the most interesting statements concerning the early life  
of the Smith family and of Joseph, Jr., Was obtained by E.D. Howe, a  
contemporary of Smith's, who did tremendous research during the  
lifetime of Joseph which has never been successfully impugned by any  
Mormon historians.  Smith himself never dared to answer Howe's  
charges, though they were well known to him, so great was the weight  
of contemporary evidence.      
 
Mr. Howe obtained a statement signed by sixty-two residents of  
Palmyra, New York, one that cannot be ignored by any serious student  
of Mormonism:  
 
"We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family, for a
number of years, while they resided near this place, and  we have no
hesitation in saying, that we consider them destitute of that moral
character, particularly famous for visionary projects, spent much of
their time in diggings for money which they pretended was hid in the
earth: and to this day, large excavations may be seen in the earth, not
far from their residence, where they used to spend their time digging
for hidden treasures.  Joseph Smith, senior, and his son Joseph, were
in particular, considered entirely destitute of moral character, and
addicted to vicious habits"  
- (Mormonism Unveiled, Zanesville, Ohio, 1834, p. 260).      
 
Some persons reading this may feel that it is unfair to quote only one
side of the story: what about those who are favorable to the Mormons,
they will ask.  In answer to this, the amazing fact is that there
exists no contemporary pro-Mormon statements from reliable and informed
sources who knew the Smith family and Joseph intimately.   It has only
been the over-wise Mormon historians, utilizing hindsight over a
hundred-year period, who have been able to even seriously challenge the
evidence of the neighbors, Joseph's father-in-law, and many ex-Mormons
who knew that was going on and went on record with the  evidence not
even Mormon historians have bothered seriously to dispute.