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Dear Sir,
I received this morning your favor
of the 9th instant and lose no time in making a reply. The whole
story about my having pronounced the Mormonite inscription to be "reformed
Egyptian hieroglyphics" is perfectly false.
Some years ago, a plain and apparently
simple-hearted farmer called upon me with a note from Dr. Mitchell of our
city, now deceased, requesting me to decipher, if possible, a paper which
the farmer would hand me, and which Dr. Mitchell confessed he had been
unable to understand. Upon examining the paper in question, I soon
came to the conclusion that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax.
When I asked the person who brought
it how he obtained the writing, he gave me, as far I can now recollect,
the following account: A "gold book," consisting of a number of plates
of gold, fastened together in the shape of a book by wires of the same
metal, had been dug up on the northern part of the state of New York, and
along with the book an enormous pair of "gold spectacles." These
spectacles were so large, that if a person attempted to look through them,
his two eyes would have to be turned towards one of the glasses merely,
the spectacles being altogether too large for the breadth of the human
face. Whoever examined the plates through the spectacles was enabled not
only to read them, but fully to understand their meaning.
All this knowledge however was
confined at that time to a young man, who had the trunk containing the
book and spectacles in his sole possession. This young man was placed behind
a curtain, in the garret of a farm house, and being thus concealed from
view, put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather looked through one
of the glasses, deciphered the characters in the book, and having committed
some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain to those who
stood on the outside. Not a word, however, was said about the plates having
been deciphered "by the gift of God." Everything, in his way, was effected
by the large pair of spectacles.
The farmer added that he had been
requested to contribute a sum of money towards the publication of the "golden
book," the contents of which would, as he had been assured, produce an
entire change in the world and save it from ruin. So urgent had been these
solicitations, that he intended selling his farm and handing over the amount
received to those who wished to publish the plates. As a last precautionary
step, however, he had resolved to come to New York and obtain the opinion
of the learned about the meaning of the paper which he had brought with
him and which had been given him as a part of the contents of the book,
although no translation had been furnished at the time by the young man
with the spectacles.
On hearing this odd story, I changed
my opinion about the paper, and instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax
upon the learned, I began to regard it as part of a scheme to cheat the
farmer of his money and I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him
to beware of rogues. He requested an opinion in writing, which of course
I declined giving, and he took his leave carrying the paper with him. This
paper was in fact a singular scrawl. It consisted of crooked characters
disposed in columns and had evidently been prepared by some person who
had before him at the time a book containing various alphabets. Greek and
Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters inverted or placed
sideways, were arranged in perpendicular columns, and the whole ended in
a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, decked
with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar
given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source
whence it was derived.
I am thus particular as to the
contents of the paper, inasmuch as I have frequently conversed with my
friends on the subject, since the Mormonite excitement began, and well
remember that the paper contained anything else but "Egyptian Hieroglyphics."...
I have thus given you a full statement
of all that I know respecting the origin of Mormonism, and must be you,
as a personal favor, to publish this letter immediately should you find
my name mentioned again by these wretched fanatics.
Yours respectfully,
Charles Anthon, L.L.D.
Columbia University
©1998,1999 Carol
Melton Jones--All Rights Reserved.
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