Category: Forgeries
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New Hofmann Book
Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts have recently completed their long-awaited book [Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders] on Mark Hofmann, the man who murdered two people and forged Mormon documents. Although we feel that it is unfortunate that the authors have preserved some improper language used by investigators in the case, that…
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State of New York vs. Joseph Smith
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In 1945 Fawn M. Brodie first published her book No Man Knows My History. In Appendix A of that work she included what she claimed was a “Record of the trial of Joseph Smith for disorderly conduct, Bainbridge, New York, March 20, 1826” (1971 edition, page 491). This document, which…
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Hofmann Talks!
Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks Upset With His Confession By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In earlier issues of the Salt Lake City Messenger we have printed a great deal of information concerning Mark Hofmann and his attempt to embarrass the Mormon Church with his forgeries. Hofmann, of course, finally admitted that he had murdered two people…
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Mormonism and Plagiarism
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner For almost thirty years the editors of this newsletter have studied the contents of LDS documents in an attempt to determine the truth about Mormon history. Over the years we have found a number of documents (both Mormon and anti-Mormon) that bear all the earmarks of forgery. The Mormon scholar…
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Hofmann Confesses
Mark Hofmann admits he killed two people and forged Mormon documents. His father also pleaded that he submit to execution to atone for his wrongs, based on the LDS teaching of blood atonement.
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Forged LDS Documents and Cracked Ink
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner After two and a half years of investigation into the documents and activities of the Mormon document dealer Mark Hofmann, we are now able to offer a book on the Salamandergate scandal which rocked Utah and the Mormon Church. This new book is entitled, Tracking the White Salamander—The Story of…
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Lawsuit Over: Unfair Verdict Is Overturned (Clayton Diaries copyright suit)
By Jerald and Sandra Tanner On April 28, 1983, the Mormon scholar Andrew Ehat filed a lawsuit against us (Jerald and Sandra Tanner) in an attempt to stop publication of some extracts from the diaries of Joseph Smith’s private secretary, William Clayton. Because these diaries contain embarrassing material on the origin of polygamy and other…
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The Mormon Document Scandal
Hofmann Charged With Murder and Selling Forgeries By Jerald and Sandra Tanner In the last issue of the Messenger we reported that Mormon document dealer Mark Hofmann was not only a suspect in the October 15th Salt Lake City bombing’s case but that police were also investigating the possibility that Mr. Hofmann had been selling…
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LDS Documents and Murder
By Jerald Tanner As I left the Salt Lake City Post Office on October 15, 1985, I noticed that the east side of Main Street was blocked off by the police. Later I was to learn that a murder had been committed at the Judge Building—less than a block from where I obtained my mail.…
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1826 Trial Record Recovered
By Wesley P. Walters [At our request Wesley P. Walters has prepared the following.] On March 20, 1826, four years before he published the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jr. was hauled before the local court in Bainbridge, New York. He was accused of being “a disorderly person and an imposter” because of his claim…