In a Welsh anti-Mormon tract written by “The Levite” entitled Dynoethiad Mormoniaeth; yn cynwys Hanes Joseph Smith, Saith Gradd y Dem, Gwyreigiaeth Ysbrydol, yn nghyda’r Seremoniau a arferir ar Dderbyniad i’r Urdd hono. O Enau Tystion Profedig (English: Exposure of Mormonism; Containing the History of Joseph Smith, Seven Degrees of the Temple, Spiritual Wifery, Together with the Ceremonies that are used on Acceptance into that Order. From the Mouths of Proven Witnesses) (Swansea: Joseph Rosser, 1853), we read the following tall tales concerning Joseph Smith on pp. 5-6:
When he was
very young he was beaten by an old woman by the name of Tracey for stealing
eggs from her; and the following night her chickencoop was set on fire, and Joe
was found guilty. When he was thirteen years old he stole some clothes from a
hedge, and he exchanged them with a peddler for cosmetics, and within three
days he testified having seen one James Bradshaw steal them. One day his father
took a switch to punish him, and to spite his father he poisoned the big dog he
had to guard the house. Another time, when he had a grudge against one of his family
members, he put some elixir in the coffeepot which made all of them
sick. After being beaten by a boy who was bigger than he, he watched constantly
for an opportunity for revenge and one day found him bathing in the river; he
took his clothes away and scattered them here and there across the surface of
the water so that not one shred of them was ever found.
In school
there never was a bigger blockhead than Joe; his favorite activity was
to steal, beat the children, and tell lies: and he was totally destitute of any
abilities for working; he never took hold of any tool except against his will,
and when he did, he was determined to do as much damage as he could by making
things wrong, breaking the tool, and such things. Everyone considered Joe the
most abominable and wicked lad throughout the entire neighborhood of Palmyra. (On
Trial in the Welsh Press: Latter-day Saint Missionaries Declare and Defend the
Faith, 1840-1860, ed. Ronald D. Dennis [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies
Center, 2023], 803-4)