The next annual visit on September 22, 1827 would be, Smith told associates, his last chance to receive the plates.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref name="Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3">{{Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3}}.</ref><!--

 

--> According to Brigham Young, as the scheduled final date to obtain the plates approached, several Palmyra residents expressed concern "that they were going to lose that treasure" and sent for a skilled [[necromancer]] from 60 miles (96&nbsp;km) away, encouraging him to make three separate trips to Palmyra to find the plates.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Young|1855|p=180}}.</ref><!--

 

--> During one of these trips, the unnamed necromancer is said to have discovered the location, but was unable to determine the value of the plates.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Young|1855|pp=180–81}}.</ref><!--

 

--> A few days prior to the September 22, 1827 visit to the hill, Smith's loyal treasure-hunting friends Josiah Stowell and [[Joseph Knight, Sr.]] traveled to Palmyra, in part, to be there during Smith's scheduled visit to the hill.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3}} (Saying Knight went to Rochester on business, and then passed back through Palmyra so that he could be there on [[September 22]]); {{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=99}} (Smith's mother, stating Knight and Stowell arrived there September 20, 1827 to inquire on business matters, but stayed at the Smith home until [[September 22]]).</ref>

 

Another of Smith's former treasure-hunting associates, Samuel T. Lawrence, was also apparently aware of the approaching date to obtain the plates, and Smith was concerned he might cause trouble.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3}} (saying Lawrence was a seer, had been to the hill, and knew what was there).</ref><!--

 

--> Therefore, on the eve of September 22, 1827, the scheduled date for retrieving the plates, Smith dispatched his father to spy on Lawrence's house until dark. If Lawrence attempted to leave, the elder Joseph would have informed him that his son would "thrash the stumps with him" if he found him at the hill, but Lawrence never left his home.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref name="Harvtxt|Knight|1833|p=3"/><!--

 

--> Late at night, Smith took a horse and carriage to the hill [[Cumorah]] with his wife Emma.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=100}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}} (Emma "didn't see the records, but she went with him").</ref><!--

 

--> While Emma stayed in the wagon kneeling in prayer,<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Harris|1853|p=164}}.</ref><!--

 

--> Joseph walked to what he said was the site of the Golden Plates. Some time in the early morning hours, he said he retrieved the plates and hid them in a hollow log on or near Cumorah.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Chase|1833|p=246}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1850|p=104}} (Smith had cut away the bark of a decaying log, placed the plates inside, then covered the log with debris); {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=165}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}} (saying Smith "brought them part way home and hid them in a hollow log").</ref><!--

 

--> At the same time, Joseph said he received a pair of large spectacles he called the "[[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]]" or "Interpreters", with lenses consisting of two [[Seer stones and the Latter Day Saint movement|seer stones]], which he showed [[Lucy Mack Smith|his mother]] when he returned in the morning.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=101}}. Smith's friend Joseph Knight said Smith was even more fascinated by the Interpreters than the plates {{Harv|Knight|1833|p=3}}.</ref>

 

Over the next few days, Smith took a well-digging job in nearby [[Macedon (town), New York|Macedon]] to earn enough money to buy a solid lockable chest in which to put the plates.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=101}}.</ref><!--

 

--> By then, however, some of Smith's treasure-seeking company had heard that Smith said he had been successful in obtaining the plates, and they wanted what they believed was their share of the profits from what they viewed as part of a joint venture in treasure hunting.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref name="Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=167">{{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=167}}.</ref><!--

 

--> Spying once again on the house of Samuel Lawrence, Smith, Sr. determined that a group of ten to twelve of these men, including Lawrence and Willard Chase, had enlisted the talents of a renowned and supposedly talented seer from 60 miles (96&nbsp;km) away, in an effort to locate where the plates were hidden by means of [[divination]].<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=102}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}} (saying that Smith's father "heard that they had got a conjurer, who they said would come and find the plates".</ref><!--

 

--> When Emma heard of this, she rode a stray horse to Macedon and informed Smith, Jr.,<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=103}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}}.</ref><!--

 

--> who reportedly determined through his [[Urim and Thummim (Latter Day Saints)|Urim and Thummim]] that the plates were safe. He nevertheless hurriedly rode home with Emma.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=103–104}}.</ref>

 

Once home in [[Manchester (town), New York|Manchester]], he said he walked to [[Cumorah]], removed the plates from their hiding place, and walked home through the woods and away from the road with the plates wrapped in a linen frock under his arm.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=104–06}}.</ref><!--

 

--> On the way, he said a man had sprung up from behind a log and struck him a "heavy blow with a gun." "Knocking the man down with a single punch, Joseph ran as fast as he could for about a half mile before he was attacked by a second man trying to get the plates.  After similarly overpowering the man, Joseph continued to run, but before he reached the house, a third man hit him with a gun. In striking the last man, Joseph said, he injured his thumb."<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Vogel|2004|p=99}}{{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}}; {{Harvtxt|Howe|1834|p=246}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=104–06}}; {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=166}}.</ref><!--

 

--> He returned home with a dislocated thumb and other minor injuries.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=104–06}} (mentioning the dislocated thumb); {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=166}} (mentioning an injury to his side); {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}} (mentioning the dislocated thumb and an injury to his arm).</ref><!--  

 

--> Smith sent his father, [[Joseph Knight, Sr.|Joseph Knight]], and Josiah Stowell to search for the pursuers, but they found no one.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=105–06}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}}.</ref>

 

Smith is said to have put the plates in a locked chest and hid them in his parents' home in Manchester.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=106}}; {{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}}.</ref><!--

 

--> He refused to allow anyone, including his family, to view the plates or the other artifacts he said he had in his possession, although some people were allowed to heft them or feel what were said to be the artifacts through a cloth.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Howe|1834|p=264}}; {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|169–70}}; {{Harvtxt|Smith|1884}}.</ref><!--

 

--> A few days after retrieving the plates, Smith brought home what he said was an ancient breastplate, which he said had been hidden in the box at Cumorah with the plates.  After letting his mother feel through a thin cloth what she said was the breastplate, he placed it in the locked chest.<!--

 

FOOTNORE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=107}} (saying she saw the glistening metal, and estimating the breastplate's value at over 500 dollars).</ref>

 

The Smith home was approached "nearly every night" by villagers hoping to find the chest where Smith said the plates were kept.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Salisbury|1895|p=15}}.</ref><!--

 

--> After hearing that a group of them would attempt to enter the house by force, Smith buried the chest under the hearth,<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=108}}; {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|pp=166–67}}.</ref><!--

 

--> and the family was able to scare away the intended intruders.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=108}}.</ref><!--

 

--> Fearing the chest might still be discovered, Smith hid it under the floor boards of his parents' old log home nearby, then being used as a [[cooper (profession)|cooper]] shop.<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref name="Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=167"/><!--

 

--> Later, Smith said he took the plates out of the chest, left the empty chest under the floor boards of the cooper shop, and hid the plates in a barrel of [[flax#flax seed|flax]].  Shortly thereafter the empty box was discovered and the place ransacked by Smith's former treasure-seeking associates,<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|pp=107–09}}; {{Harvtxt|Harris|1859|p=167}}.</ref><!--

 

--> who had enlisted one of the men's sisters to find the hiding place by looking in her [[Seer stones in Mormonism|seer stone]].<!--

 

FOOTNOTE--><ref>{{Harvtxt|Smith|1853|p=109}} The [[scrying|seer]] was the sister of Willard Chase who said she had "found a green glass, through which she could see many very wonderful things".</ref>