David once informed the writer that he
was walking with Hiram Page in the bed of a dry branch, sometime in the summer
or fall of 1830, and Page found a smooth black stone, some six inches long.
While Page looked at the stone, he saw some letters on it, and took out his
note book and wrote down the words on the stone, when they passed off and other
words came in their place. Hiram continued to write as long as words appeared,
and when done, what he had written proved to be a revelation in condemnation of
the course of Joseph Smith. (John Logan Traughber, "David Whitmer, 'The
Last Witness' of the Book of Mormon," c. 1881,1888, p. 6)
