Who Knows wrote:
But Ray, you know that's impossible, and, unnecessary. You can evaluate his claims - did they, or did they not happen? And if they did not happen, could Joseph Smith have innocently believed that they did happen?
Have a look at the case of William Miller (Wiki):
Between 1831 and 1844, William Miller, a Baptist preacher, played a notable role in what historians have called the Second Great Awakening. The Millerite movement , named for William Miller, had significant influence on popular views of biblical prophecy, including upon the movement that later consolidated as the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Miller preached a set of fourteen rules for the interpretation of the Bible.[1] Based on his study of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to Earth sometime between 21 March 1843 and 21 March 1844.[2] After the latter date came and went, the date was revised and set as October 22, 1844 based on the yearly Day of Atonement in Karaite Judaism.
When Jesus did not appear, Miller's followers experienced what came to be called "the Great Disappointment". Most of the thousands of followers left the movement. A few, however, went back to their Bibles to find out why they had been disappointed. A group of the remaining followers concluded that the prophecy predicted not that Jesus would return in 1844, but that the investigative judgment in heaven would begin in that year.
Miller recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: "Were I to live my life over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and man, I should have to do as I have done. I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment."[3] Miller continued to wait for the second coming until his death in 1849.
I wouldn't call Miller a fraud, just deluded. Joseph made a similar remark about 1890, which has now been reinterpreted by LDS. But many LDS expected the second coming in 1890. Of course many of Joseph's claims failed. Jackson County never eventuated, and even in the 1870s Orson Pratt was preaching that the Saints
will "soon" return because it was a written prophecy. This is not fraud - this is self-delusion.