View source for William Smith (1893): "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds"

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==William Smith (1893): "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds"==
William Smith describes the physical characteristics of the plates:
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Bro. Briggs then handed me a pencil and asked Bro. Smith if he ever saw the plates his brother had had, from which the Book of Mormon was translated.

He replied, "I did not see them uncovered, but I handled them and hefted them while wrapped in a tow frock and judged them to have weighed about sixty pounds. I could tell they were plates of some kind and that they were fastened together by rings running through the back. Their size was as described in mother's history."

Bro. Briggs then asked, "Did any others of the family see them?"

"Yes," said he; "'''Father and my brother Samuel saw them as I did while in the frock. So did Hyrum and others of the family'''."

"Was this frock one that Joseph took with him especially to wrap the plates in?"

"No, it was his every day frock such as young men used to wear then."

"Din't [sic] you want to remove the cloth and see the bare plates?" said Bro. B[riggs].

"No," he replied; "for father had just asked if he might not be permitted to do so, and Joseph, putting his hand on them said; "No, I am instructed not to show them to any one. If I do, I will transgress and lose them again." Besides we did not care to have him break the commandment and suffer as he did before."5

"Did you not doubt Joseph's testimony sometimes?" said Bro. Briggs.

"No," was the reply. "We all had the most implicit confidence in what he said. He was a truthful boy. Father and mother believed him, why should not the children? I suppose if he had told crooked stories about other things we might have doubted his word about the plates, but Joseph was a truthful boy. That Father and mother believed his report and suffered persecution for that [p.512] belief shows that he was truthful. No sir, we never doubted his word for one minute." <ref> "Wm. B. Smith's last Statement," ''Zion's Ensign'' 5 (13 Jan. 1894): 6; reprinted in the ''Deseret Evening News'' 27 (20 Jan. 1894): 11; ''Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star'' 56 (26 Feb. 1894): 132. Reproduced in {{Book:Vogel:EMD|vol=1|pages=510-512}}</ref>
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William again insists that despite not seeing the plates, he and the others were convinced that Joseph had them.  He talks of the future witnesses (Hyrum, Samuel, and his father) seeing through the cloth--but only when Joseph first brought them home.  He includes himself and the rest of the family in this group.  He is not talking about the three and eight witnesses' experience at all.
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{{endnotes sources}}
[[Category:Book of Mormon/Plates/Tow frock]]
[[Category:Letter to a CES Director]]
[[Category:MormonThink]]

[[es:Fuente:William Smith:Wm. B. Smith's last Statement:1893:Yo les manejé y les Levanté mientras envuelto en un vestido de remolque y los juzgué que pesaba sobre sesenta libras]]
[[pt:Fonte:William Smith:Wm. B. Smith's last Statement:1893:mas as manuseei e levantei-as enquanto cobertas por uma casaca e julguei pesarem em torno de 30 quilos]]