BY WILLIAM G. HARTLEY
THE ENSIGN OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
JANUARY 1989, P. 45
     In early June 1829, Joseph and Oliver finished the work of translation on the Book of Mormon, and the Three Witneses and then the Eight Witnesses were allowed to see the plates. Sadly, none were Knights, who lived quite a distance away. But on the day the Church was organized, one-third of the sixty people there were Knight relatives from Colesville.
     Shortly thereafter, Joseph Smith went to Colesville to preach and hold meetings, probably because he knew that the Knights were ready to receive the gospel. While there, he challenged Newel Knight to pray vocally. (Newel failed in this attempt and retired to the woods to pray privately later that day. In this attempt his tongue became tied and he began to feel sick. As he returned home his limbs became twisted and his wife, realizing a devil was possessing him, called for the Prophet.) The evil spirit lifted Newel from the floor "and tossed him about most fearfully." Neighbors gathered and then saw the Prophet command the devil in the name of Jesus Christ to depart. (Newel said as Joseph Smith commanded the devil to depart he saw it come out of his body and fly through.) Newel felt great relief and gladly accepted baptism. This exorcism was the first miracle performed in the restored Church.
     At the Church's first conference on 9 June 1830 at the Whitmer's, those attending experienced spiritual outpourings similar to those on the day of Pentecost. Newel was one. He beheld a vision much like the one Stephen the Martyr saw: "I saw the heavens opened; I beheld the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High, and it was made plain to my understanding that the time would come when I would be admitted into His presence, to enjoy His society for ever and ever."
     Despite local harassment, many Knight relatives were baptized on 28 June 1830. They included Father and Mother Knight, son Joseph, Newel's wife Sally, daughter Esther and her husband William Stringham, and daughter Polly (named after her mother). ... Angry neighbors prevented the converts from being confirmed, and a constable arrested Joseph Smith. Father Knight, indignant, hired James Davidson and John Reid, neighboring farmers well versed in the law, to defend his friend. They did, and Joseph Smith was acquitted the following midnight.
     Joseph Knight, Jr., said that feelings in the neighborhood became heated: "That night our wagons were turned over and wood piled on them, and some sunk in the water, rails were piled in the stream and a great deal of mischief was done."
     Within hours after his acquittal, Joseph Smith was arrested again and tried in Colesville. Father Knight's lawyer friends felt too fatigued to help, but his pleadings won them over. Mr. Reid said that Father Knight was "like the old patriarchs that followed tha ark of God to the city of David." Newel, called upon to testify (about his experience with the exorcism), told the court that no, Joseph Smith had not cast a devil out of him, but that Joseph by God's power had cast it out. (The prosecution asked Newel to describe what the devil looked like, but Newel refused, telling the prosecution that since they did not understand spiritual things they could not understand his spiritual experience.) Mr. Davidson and Mr. Reid picked apart the prosecution's case, and Joseph Smith was freed.

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Surprised in Church
George Phineous Hatch surprises his wife, Dora, by naming their 11th child Quola Mae.