Martin Harris Tries to Deny His Testimony Under Wine — And Cannot

In Ohio, a group of men conspired to discredit Martin Harris' testimony about the Book of Mormon by getting him drunk on wine and then catching him in a denial. The plan failed spectacularly.

Martin Harris himself recounted the story publicly in Utah in 1870:

'He publicly said that many years ago, in Ohio, a number of persons combined and sought to get Martin to drink wine for the purpose of crossing him in his testimony. At the conclusion they asked him if he really believed the testimony that he had signed in the Book of Mormon to be true? He replied no, he did not believe it, but, much to their surprise, he said he knew it to be true!'

Even under the influence of wine, with every incentive to simply concede in the moment, Martin Harris could not bring himself to deny what he had seen and heard. His own reply drew the distinction between belief and knowledge — a distinction he had made to dozens of witnesses over four decades: 'I don't believe it. I KNOW it.'