Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-05-09
MARTIN HARRIS AND ANrnoN.


Christian Standard, a paper publlshe
at Cincinnati. Ohio, in which contrib
utor has an article on THE Book o
Mormon 'Caractors. II appears un
der the caption, AN Old Mormon Lii
Cornered and Slaughtered" a not yer!
elegant heading for christian" peri
odical. The writer, who, by the way
professes to love the sport of killing
an opponent. and, who concludes his
Christian" literary effort by boast
ans that he has mot only knitted tc
the heart but twisted the blade In the
wound" the claim that the Book OF
Mormon makes, undertakes to prove
that Professor Anthem has been gross
ly msrepre scented IN Mormon" ac-
counts of the famous interview with
Martin Harris. But he only succeeds
in adding to the confusion that already
exists among non" Mormon" writer's
on that topic.
II is customary with such writer's to
present what they claim to be fac
smile of the "Caractors" that Martin
Harris took to Professor Anthem. But
these facslmiles differ considerably. An
early reproduction of the characters is
found in The Prophet, publication OF
which Farley +. Pratt was the editor.
II there is genuine copy In exist
ence, this would naturally be the one
But the Mormon" reproductions
are. as a rule, different from IT. The
copy reproduced from The Prophet
TIL.
called fac-simile in the Standard CON
tains five lines, and the alleged fac
smile in THE Founder of Mormonism"
by Mr.. Riley. has seven lines. And
that is not all. on a closer examine
ton II will be found that the lines
that are supposed to correspond with
each other are quite different. They do
not contain the same number of LETT
ters, or signs, And the form of some
the signs supposed to be the same, Is
not the same. There is n marked diff
ference in several of them.
Nor does non Mormon" testimony
agree az to other particulars concern
ing the paper in the possession of Mar
tin Harris. Mr.. Riley tells us that the
copy was first submitted to "a local
pundit," who described 1t as "a slip OF
paper which contained three or four
lines of characters, as unlike letters or
hieroglyphics OF any sort as we'll could
be produced were ono to shut up his
eyes and play off the most antlc move
ments with his pen upon paper" This
was the Impression of the expert whom
Mr., Riley deslgnates the local pun
dit" But when Professor Anthem saw
the paper he got another impression.
He says, as quoted by Mr.. Riley; ut
consisted OF all kinds OF crooked char
acters, disposed of in columns. and had
evidently been prepared by some per-
son who had before him at the time
book containing various alphabets.
Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and
fiourishes Roman letters. inverted or
placed sideways, We're arranged and
placed in perpendicular columns"
Here are two alleged accounts, both
by eye witnesses, one saw that
the paper contained three or four lines
of scrawls, unlike any letter or hero
glyphic. The other found that Il had
Greek, Hebrew and Roman letters
placed in vertical columns. But ev-
cry facsimile we have seen has con-
trndicted this latter statement by
showing horizontal lines instead Of
vertical columns. In a letter OF Feb,
II, 1884, 20 the Independent. quoted
by Mr. Riley. Prof Anthem says the
characters We're a singular medley
OF Greek. Hebrew. and all sorts OF
letters more or less distorted. ..,.
and the whole ending in a rude repre-
sentatiou Of the Mexican Zodiac, evi-
IDENTIFY copied from Humboldt" But
I'm none of the alleged facsimles we
have seen has this feature appeared.
The writer i'm tho Christian stand
ard differs both with tho local pun
dit" who declares that the characters
resemble nothing. and the New York
professor who pronounces them imi-
tatlons Of various alphnbets He
claims that they are mere variations
OF our common figures and letters.
Such Is the evidence unu-"Mor-
mons" offer us. II is n mass NJ con-
tradlctions And on such confused
evidence they expect us 10 focl con-
WINGED OF error
Let us take Professor Anthon's ac-
count az the text for a question or
two. Surprising thar the paper shown
TO him by Martin Harris contained
Greek, Hebrew, and other letters writ
ten IA perpendicular columns, as The
Egyptians sometimes wrote, whore
did the Prophet Joseph, at that age,
get those lettors2 The dictionaries
Of that date do not give various alpha
bets, as they do now and even II they
had Il Is doubtful whether Joseph
had ever seen one And whore would
he have got an idea OF the Mexican
calendar? II seems 90 us that Pro-
fossor Anthon's letter Is itself q re-
markable Confederation OF the claim
that mo Prophet Joseph was nm IN
spired instrument in the hand OF the
Almighty
This conviction rs deepened by a
closer study of the proper nouns given
IN the Book Of Mormon Tho word
"Liahona' for Instance rs the name
given % the wonderful instrument
which pointed the way TO the wan-
derers IN the wilderness. ~ Jan on"
viii DE recognized as moaning ITO
God is strength" or, God Is the
source OF strength" "a most hitting
name Tor thar instrument The word