A Belfast gentleman receives a witness of the Book of Mormon after a lecture on South American Indians

In Belfast, an unnamed gentleman described as a leading businessman and investigator of Latter-day Saint teachings attended a lecture about South American Indians. One account identifies Elder Black as the lecturer and says he had studied Indian customs in South America for seventeen years. The gentleman said the Book of Mormon helped him recognize the truth of the lecture’s statements and that he received a witness that the book was a divine record; he later confirmed this witness to the missionaries. In a fuller retelling, he arose near the close of the service and declared, “I know the Book of Mormon is true, that what the elders have said is true, and I am only sorry that I am not one of them on my way to Utah.” He explained that many years earlier he and other members of his father’s family had been baptized by a Latter-day Saint elder, but that he had since drifted about the world seeking something more popular to satisfy him. The accounts describe the same Belfast lecture and the gentleman’s resulting witness.