David Whitmer told the editor of theReflector that Joseph had led him to an open field, where they found the plates lying on the ground. But in later years Whitmer’s story too was richly embellished. “We saw not only the plates of the Book of Mormon,” he said, “but also the brass plates, the plates of the book of Ether, the plates containing the records of the wickedness and secret combinations of the people of the world. . . . there appeared as it were a table with many records or plates upon it, besides the plates of the Book of Mormon, also the Sword of Laban, the directors — i.e., the ball
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