From: press2@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (barry.o.olson)
Subject: McLellin Collection Suppressed PT 3 of 10
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 03:19:42 GMT
Keywords: Tanner Nov. Newsletter/Hoffman bombings/suppresion



This is the third article broken down into 10 parts from Gerald
and Sandra Tanner's November "Salt Lake City Messanger" newsletter.
For those who need this info and couldn't obtain by hard-copy.
This is an FYI only production. Critique as you like.



SALT LAKE CITY MESSENGER          (Issue #83 - November 1992)
Utah Lighthouse Ministry
Po Box 1884,
Salt Lake City, Utah 84110


        Mormon Leaders Suppress "Key" Item in Murder Case
  The True McLellin Documents Found in First Presidency's Vault!

        Curt Bench went on to say: "Steve told me that various
things could occur if Mark didn't make good and some of them were
he would certainly lose his credibility and credit with the
Church and with President Hinckley, that criminal action could be
taken, that he could conceivably go to jail, he could also be
sued by the bank or even by the Church if the Church was sued. He
could lose his membership in the Church.... It was very serious.
And Steve wanted me to convey that to Mark..." Bench also
testified that "Steve used the term crook" when referring to
Hofmann. (_Tracking the White Salamander_, page 24)

        Investigators did not believe that Mark Hofmann had the
McLellin collection to turn over to Mr. Christensen and felt that
this was Hofmann's motive for killing Christensen--by getting rid
of Christensen he could buy some time. They could not, however,
actually prove that Hofmann did not have the documents hidden
away some place. There was no way to know for certain. If Mr.
Hofmann should produce the collection at the time of his trial,
it would destroy the motive for murder and could ruin the murder
case. The Mormon Church, of course, had the vital information
needed by prosecutors in the First Presidency's vault. Church
leaders knew that there was no way that Mark Hofmann could
produce McLellin's diaries because they already had them. It is
plain, therefore, that Mormon Church leaders were suppressing
some of the most important evidence in the entire case!

        A close examination of Richard Turley' s book shows that
Mormon Church leaders were engaged in a conspiracy of silence
with regard to the McLellin collection to save the church's
image. The following quotations from Turley's book make this very
clear:

                "March 1986 brought a startling discovery.
        Historical Department personnel seeking information about
        William McLellin had contacted Dean Jessee.... Jessee
        visited the department and explained to Glenn Rowe that
        he had found some interesting information about McLellin
        in his research files. Jessee's notes referred to
        correspondence in the department's uncatalogued Joseph
        F. Smith collection. The correspondence mentioned
        McLellin's diaries and other belongings.... Rowe and his
        staff searched the collection and located letters that
        amazed church officials.

                "The first letter had been written by J. L.
        Traughber of Doucette, Texas... Dated January 13, 1908,
        and addressed to the librarian of the church, the letter
        explained that Traughber had an original copy of _A Book
        of Commandments_.... what Traughber offered next was even
        rarer. He wrote, 'I also have the Journal, in part, of
        Elder W.E. McLellin for the years 1831,2,3,4,5,6.'
        Traughber said he had tried to get more of the journal
        from McLellin's widow, but she had refused to give them
        up 'as she said she did not want some things to be
        known.' Traughber said he also had some manuscript books
        that McLellin had written.... and offered to sell them
        for fifty dollars.

                "On January 18, 1908, President Joseph F. Smith
        and his counselors wrote to President Samuel O. Bennion
        of the Central States Mission. The Presidency...
        instructed Bennion on how to handle the offer: 'While we
        have studiously avoided expressing any particular desire
        on our part to purchase the things mentioned by Mr.
        Traughber, we desire you to know that we would like very
        much to possess McClellan's [sic] Journal, if for no
        other reason than to prevent the writings of this
        unfortunate and erratic man, whose attitude after his
        apostacy was inimical to the Prophet Joseph Smith, from
        falling into unfriendly hands; and for this reason alone,
        we feel quite willing to pay the price asked for these
        things...' The Presidency also suggested that Bennion
        contact McLellin's widow to obtain the rest of the
        journals, even if their acquisition were to cost another
        fifty dollars.

                "The letter to Bennion mentioned an interview
        Joseph F. Smith and another church leader had had with
        McLellin in 78, when McLellin had told them he had
        writings he wished to publish. The Presidency wrote
        Bennion that the manuscripts... might be the same ones
        McLellin had mentioned in 1878. 'We hope they are,' the
        First Presidency wrote, 'as it would be an act of mercy
        on our part to purchase them, and thus prevent them from
        being published by unfriendly hands to the injury of
        innocent people.'

                "Rowe and his staff also found a February 12,
        1908, response from Bennion to the First Presidency.
        Bennion reported that he... had acquired the proffered
        materials from Traughber.... He said he would send all
        the acquired items to the First Presidency that day by
        registered mail.

                "Rowe had kept his new supervisor, Richard
        Turley, informed about Jessee's clue and the letters to
        which it led. Turley told Dean Larsen about the letters,
        and Larsen informed [apostles] Packer and Oaks, who in
        turn contacted the First Presidency. When Gordon Hinckley
        learned of the letters, he asked Francis Gibbons if the
        First Presidency's vault contained the items the letters
        mentioned. Gibbons searched the Vault. Hinckley and the
        other church officials then learned to their
        astonishment, that the church had owned McLellin's
        journals and manuscripts all along.

                "The journals... revealed a man deeply dedicated
        to his religion....

                "The little manuscript books, on the other hand,
        typified the later McLellin, an avowed enemy of the
        church....

                "Like the materials the Tribune had discovered,
        the McLellin items found in church possession were not
        the McLellin collection touted by Hofmann.... Unlike the
        Tribune's discovery, however, the church's McLellin
        materials included a key item from the collection Hofmann
        claimed to have bought. That item, McLellin's early
        journals, confirmed to church officials that Hofmann was
        a fraud.

                "The discovered documents did not fall within any
        of the subpoenas issued to the church, and thus officials
        were not legally obligated to mention them to anyone.
        Still, it was apparent they were relevant to the case,
        and those involved in the discovery felt the documents'
        existence should be revealed. Yet disclosing them would
        not come without a cost. Church officials had sought to
        dispel the notion that they were buying documents to hide
        them. Disclosure of the newly discovered McLellin
        materials, however, would reinforce notions of church
        suppression because those documents had in fact been
        bought at the direction of the First Presidency and
        locked away nearly eight decades earlier, eventually to
        be forgotten.... Alluding in his journal to the day's
        remarkable discovery, [Apostle] Oaks wrote, 'Today [Boyd
        K. Packer] & I learned that the Church has some documents
        that have been unknown until now, but will be of great
        intrest when they are revealed, as they should be prior
        to the Hoffmann trial (in my opinion).'

                "What church officials did not know was that
        there would be no trial." (-Victims: The LDS Church and
        the Mark Hofmann Case_, pages 248-251)

        This is a shocking disclosure to be coming from the pen
of Richard Turley, managing director of the LDS Church Historical
Department. As the reader will see from the quotation above, Mr.
Turley acknowledges that he himself became aware of the fact that
the church had the McLellin collection in March 1986. Although
Turley practiced law before becoming a historian, he obvious felt
it was more important to protect the church than to tell
investigators working on the Hofmann case about this important
matter. The church continued to suppress knowledge of the
collection for six years after it was rediscovered.

        Why Turley would reveal the matter at this time is a
matter of speculation. It could be that Mr. Turley was bothered
by his role in the matter and felt compelled to bring out the
truth. On the other hand, there could have been concern that too
many people knew what had happened and that the "enemies of the
church" would eventually find out about the cover-up and publish
the facts to the world. When Mormon leaders are convinced that
something embarrassing is about to leak out, they sometimes try
to get the information out first. For example, the Mormon Church
at first denied that the 1825 letter existed, but then rushed to
print it when it was discovered that scholars were preparing to
release it to the press. In any case, we are very pleased that
Mr. Turley has revealed this information.

        After Mormon historian Dean Jessee reported the existence
of the correspondence mentioning the McLellin collection, a
number of people became aware of the fact that the church had
obtained the collection. Church archivist Glenn Rowe received the
information from Jessee. Rowe, in turn, reported the matter to
Richard Turley and Turley relayed the information to Dean Larsen.
Larsen then informed apostles Boyd K Packer and Dallin H. Oaks
about the matter. These two apostles "contacted the First
Presidency." The First Presidency is composed of President Ezra
Taft Benson (the Prophet, Seer and Revelator of the church),
President Gordon B. Hinckley and President Thomas S. Monson.
Francis Gibbons was the one who finally found the McLellin
collection in the vault. In addition, members of Glenn Rowe's
staff also knew about the matter.

        Although at least a dozen people knew about the McLellin
collection, no one seems to have reported the matter to
investigators. Those on the lower levels may have felt that
church leaders would tell police that the McLellin collection
had been found. Instead, the highest leaders of the church
chose to remain silent and put the church in a cover-up
situation. Since the church is supposed to have a "living
prophet," one would think that he would point out that the
information must be reported to investigators.

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