October 2010 marks 25 years since the residents of Salt Lake City were horrified by the murders of two devout members of the Mormon Church. On October 15, 1985, Steven F. Christensen, a Mormon bishop and local businessman, was killed outside his office by a bomb concealed in a package left for him. Later that morning, Kathleen Sheets, the wife of another Mormon bishop, J. Gary Sheets, was killed in the same manner when she picked up a package addressed to her husband which had been left on a walkway outside their house. Speculation initially focused on revenge over a failing business in which both men were principals, CFS Financial.
The following day, Mark W. Hofmann, a well-known collector and seller of rare documents, was severely injured by another bomb in his car. He had been involved in negotiations with Christensen over the sale of the "McLellin Collection," a series of documents supposedly written by an early Mormon apostle who had left the Mormon Church. Hofmann did not have any such documents in his possession and police quickly zeroed in on him not as a victim, but as the perpetrator. Hofmann was deeply in debt, had no way of providing the documents he had promised, and had decided on murder as a way to divert attention from his difficulties.
The tragic incidents turned into a serious public-relations problem for the Mormon Church. Either directly or through church intermediaries, it had already purchased numerous documents from Mark Hofmann which had been declared authentic by a wide range of authorities. All of them were forgeries and several of them contained material which seemed to run counter to Mormon claims about the origins of the Church.
The Anthon Transcript
Hofmann's first major "find" was a document referred to as the "Anthon Transcript." Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the LDS Church, claimed to have translated the Book of Mormon from ancient gold plates written in "Reformed Egyptian." In 1828, he copied some of the characters from the plates on a slip of paper, gave them to the first convert outside of his immediate family, Martin Harris (who funded the first printing of the Book of Mormon), and sent him to New York City to seek out a prominent classical scholar named Charles Anthon to have him render his opinion.
The account of that meeting in the History of the Church varies sharply with Anthon's later recollections of the meeting. The church version claims that Anthon provided a certificate as to the authenticity of the characters which he then tore up when Harris related the story of Joseph Smith finding and translating the plates under the guidance of an angel.
In statements taken some years later, Anthon claimed he immediately told Harris the characters were an imposture. Perhaps these conflicts can never be satisfactorily resolved, but Harris returned more convinced of Joseph Smith's prophetic mission. The "Caractors" as they were called, were reproduced in later church publications. It should be noted that even modern scholars can not translate the document nor correlate it with any known language, so how Professor Anthon could have verified it in any manner is problematic.
Hofmann's document seemed to support Anthon's accounts, because it closely matched the description he gave in a letter in 1834, which claimed the characters were arranged in columns and ended in a "rude delineation of a circle" fashioned in the likeness of a Mayan Zodiac. A widely-circulated photograph showed the President of the Mormon Church, Spencer Kimball, studying the document through a magnifying glass with Hofmann standing by his side as well as other church authorities.
The Salamander Letter
Hofmann produced another document which caused an even greater stir. Known as the "Salamander Letter" it was apparently written by Martin Harris to a local newspaper editor and describes the finding of the gold plates in very different terms than in official church accounts. It connects Joseph Smith with folk-magic practices of the time, including treasure-hunting with "seerstones" and claims that Joseph Smith stated, "the spirit transfigured himself from a white salamander in the bottom of the hole & struck me 3 times" to prevent him from obtaining the gold plates immediately.
Some Mormon scholars immediately began adapting this unusual account into historical perspectives because it was supported from numerous other sources, Mormon and non-Mormon alike, including an 1826 trial in which the young Joseph Smith was convicted of a misdemeanor for his treasure hunting activities. Hofmann, well-versed in Mormon history and theology, seemed to take particular delight in producing forgeries that would be embarrassing to the church.
There has been some speculation that Hofmann's ultimate goal was to forge a manuscript of the original 116 pages of the Book of Mormon, dictated by Joseph Smith to Martin Harris and which had been lost, much to Smith's dismay. They likely were taken by Harris' wife, who was opposed to his involvement with the new faith. If Hoffman had been able to carry out such a scheme, not only would the financial reward have been huge, it would have offered him ample opportunity to further damage Mormon doctrinal and scriptural claims.
Hofmann's Legacy
Mark Hofmann's forgeries did have a significant impact on Mormon culture. Mormon scholars began to examine "official" accounts more critically, sometimes with a backlash from church authorities. All of the documents Hofmann sold to the church were found to be bogus. In the collecting world at large, Hofmann also produced numerous other items, including a poem attributed to Emily Dickinson. Strangely enough, a market for Hofmann forgeries has emerged.
Hofmann never expressed regret nor remorse over his actions, including the brutal murders. He is living out his natural life in Utah State Prison and regularly receives visits from his children. He has never granted an interview to the press, so many questions remain unanswered.
Sources:
"Salamander Letter transcript", En.Academic.Ru. Accessed October 25, 2010.
Naifeh, Steven and Smith, Gregory White The Mormon Murders. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2005.
Joseph Carrieres - Joseph Carrieres received a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Following a tour of duty in the Army ...
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