Can someone show me documented proof that the trial acutally took place? Something that TBMs won't question? Thanks :)

and wasn't there a similar trial in 1830? What happened in both of those cases?

Yes, lots of documentation here: http://www.mormonthink.com/transbomweb.htm#josephwasatreasureseeker

Don't forget to watch the excellent Dan Vogel videos at the end.

The sources don't seem TBM friendly - are there any of those?

Oh, the videos have primary sources.

The trial actually took place. See this official LDS website link:

http://josephsmithpapers.org/person/josiah-stowell-sr
"Hired JS to dig for Spanish silver in Harmony (later in Oakland), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania, 1825.9 Witness for JS’s defense at court proceedings in South Bainbridge (later Afton), Chenango Co., 1826, 1830.10"

Notice that footnote 10 gives this source:

“The Original Prophet. By a Visitor to Salt Lake City.” Fraser’s Magazine 7, no. 28 (Feb. 1873): 225–235.

Here is a link to that Magazine article:

http://books.google.com/books?id=rOARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA229&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false

The above are TBM friendly, sourced right from an official LDS website.

oh, okay :)

No commentary for or against, just documents:

http://www.fullerconsideration.com/sources.php?cat=GP-T26

cool good stuff

[While the Mormon church officially confirms the trial, they (of course) put their own spin on it.]

"20 Mar. 1826: Tried and acquitted on fanciful charge of being a 'disorderly person,' South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York. New York law defined a disorderly person as, among other things, a vagrant or a seeker of 'lost goods.' The Prophet had been accused of both: the first charge was false and was made simply to cause trouble; Joseph’s use of a seer stone to see things that others could not see with the naked eye brought the second charge. Those who brought the charges were apparently concerned that Joseph might bilk his employer, Josiah Stowell, out of some money. Mr. Stowell’s testimony clearly said this was not so and that he trusted Joseph Smith.2"

https://www.lds.org/ensign/print/1994/06/highlights-in-the-prophets-life?lang=eng&clang=eng#footnote2-94906_000_006



The footnote (2) at the end of the above citation references the following article which can be downloaded (PDF format) for free from BYU:

https://byustudies.byu.edu/PDFViewer.aspx?title=5978&linkURL=30.2MadsenJosephSmiths-12a5c181-05a1-4e48-b7a4-2d039c4c16f0.pdf

...published on April 9, 1831, and was written by one Abram Benton, who apparently attended the trial.

http://www.olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1877Purp.htm#040931

This article is referred to in the link Satan Claus provided.

Benton's article is very important because all of the other reports of the 1826 trial were either written years later or came to light years later. Mormon apologists have used the lateness of such documents to attack the idea that the 1826 court appearance even occurred. Until the last couple of decades, most Mormon apologists denied that Joseph Smith was involved in any folk-magic/treasure-digging, and asserted that all such reports were anti-Mormon lies.

But Benton's article, published during Mormonism's infancy, demolishes the apologists' line of reasoning, and because of such documentation, most apologists now accept the fact of Smith's 1820's folk-magic activities. However, most apologists continue to assert that Smith wasn't convicted in that court appearance, so in their minds they can continue to believe that Smith's activities weren't illegal or improper.