Jason Treadwell

About sunset, May 11th, 1824, the body of Oliver Harper, son of Hon. Geo. Harper of Windsor, N. Y., was found lying and streaming with blood in the old Harmony road, a mile and a half below Lane's mill (Lanesboro).  

When Harper's body was found, the news spread like wildfire. A foul murder had been committed, and suspicion pointed to Jason Treadwell, of Harmony (Oakland). "A man murdered and the murderer at large!" Every muscle was strained to procure his arrest. Roads and bridges were guarded, men on horseback and on foot scoured the woods for several days, and great was the relief when the supposed criminal was lodged in Montrose jail. 

Treadwell's trial took place Sept. 1-5, 1824, before Judge Herrick, with D. Dimock and Wm. Thomson, Associates. He was defended by B. T. Case, Esq., and Hon. Horace Williston. The evidence daily grew stronger to implicate Treadwell as the murderer; and the jury's verdict  was, "guilty." Upon his own statement he knew who committed the deed; he lent the rifle to the murderer, gave him provisions while lying in the woods two days — the time within which Harper and another man were expected to pass with money; received the rifle in a secluded spot the evening after the murder, and kept him secreted that night. But until he saw his own immediate danger of paying the penalty, he was silent as to any knowledge of the murder.

The Hon. H. Williston relied upon his client's protestations of innocence until the following incident occurred on the trial: — One witness described the disguised person seen in the woods the day Harper was shot, and not far from where he was found dead, as having on a particular coat, from which a certain button was missing. The coat was produced, shown to be Treadwell's; but there was no missing button. The fact tended to discredit the witness, and favor Treadwell. As the trial passed on, Mr. Williston drew the coat towards him, carelessly turned it over so that he could see the button alleged to have been missing, and discovered, by the thread, etc., that the button had been newly sewed on! A cold conviction of Treadwell's guilt passed over his lawyer like an ague chill, as this mute fact corroborated the witness. He revealed it to no one then, and but rarely in later years. Both O. N. Worden, Esq. (who furnished the item), and Hon. W. J. Turrell, have heard the incident from his own lips. 

Treadwell was executed Jan. 13, 1825, on the only gallows ever erected in Susquehanna County. The location was on the west side of the public square, nearly in front of the present residence of Dr. Vail. [There is some discrepancy in the statements respecting this.] The remains were taken to Great Bend and interred on the bluff above the 60-feet cut on the Erie Railway. He left a widow and seven children.

Travelers on the old Harmony road about one and a half or two miles from Lane's (Lanesboro), are still shown the poplar tree near the fatal spot, on which the initials "O. H." are rudely carved.

Joe Smith's original occupation among the money-diggers was that of a "peeper" or "treasure witch." It seems likely that Smith took over those duties for local money-diggers after the predictions and directions of a certain lady named Odle (or O'Dell) proved useless. The financier of the c. 1823-24 money-digging operations in the Great Bend area was Oliver Harper. Harper's eventual partner in the treasure hunting was Josiah Stowell. Either Stowell or Harper (or both together) contracted the services of Joseph Smith, Jr. (as a replacement for the "peeper" O'Dell) some time prior to Harper's death (by murder) in May of 1824. On page 97 of her history, Blackman reports that "Oliver Harper was murdered by Jason Treadwell." On page 325, she says that Treadwell was executed for the murder on January 13, 1825. Some reports say that Treadwell was a member of Harper's money-digging crew and that he and another man were incited to kill Harper after Joseph Smith, Jr. announced that one of the company would have to die before a certain "enchantment" guarding the buried treasure would be lifted. Whether or not these reports have any validity, Oliver Harper's widow continued to maintain a family interest in subsequent money digging operations conducted under the supervision of her husband's partner, Josiah Stowell. 

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R. C. Doud said that in 1822 he was employed with thirteen others by Oliver Harper to dig for gold on Joseph McKune's land under Joe Smith's direction and that Joe had begun operations the previous year. The digging was kept up constantly, with seven digging and seven resting (Emily C. Blackman, History of Susquehanna County, 1873, pp. 580-81).

 A resident of the area reported that Harper spent on the treasure quest "$2000 [and] he utterly refused to go any further" (Ibid., p. 580)

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"On a wilderness-hill--now a part of Jacob J. Skinner's farm— “peek-stone” discovered a ton of silver bars which had been buried by weary Spaniards as they trudged up the Susquehanna. An expedition for their recovery was undertaken as soon as Smith could muster enough followers to do the work. . . . The third hole had been sunk fifteen out of the necessary twenty feet when the treasure once more jumped to the other side of the big hole. Then the prophet had a vision: the blood of a black sheep must be shed and sprinkled around the diggings. Black sheep were scarce, and while they waited for one, the faithful obtained their needed rest. At length, no black sheep appearing, Joe said that a black dog might answer. A dog, therefore, was killed, and the blood was sprinkled on the ground.

After that the silver never went far away. Still, it waltzed about the big hole in such a lively manner that frequent tunneling to affect its capture availed nothing. At the last, the prophet decided that it was of no use to dig unless one of their number was made a sacrifice. None of the faithful responded to his call, and thus the magnificent scheme was abandoned. Oliver Harper, one of the diggers who furnished the money, was soon afterward murdered. The prophet thought this might answer for a sacrifice: he again rallied the diggers, but the charm remained stubborn and would not reveal the silver" (Lippincott's Magazine, 1880, pp. 199-200).

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In 1823, shortly after the preceding events, at a location across the Susquehanna River from camp, an angel named Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and told him of the existence of an ancient record engraved on plates, buried in a hill near his home. Moroni, referred to as the last ancient record keeper to inscribe his teachings on the plates, appeared to Joseph on a number of occasions between 1823 and 1829, guiding and mentoring Joseph as he obtained the plates and translated them using his seer stone.