Book summary “Salamander”: summary

Introduction

You often view historical documents and religious artifacts as stable testaments to the past. Yet you might wonder how easily a determined forger can manufacture sacred history.

A chilling exploration of how forged early Mormon documents and mounting financial desperation drove a master forger to commit brutal bombings in Salt Lake City.

Linda Sillitoe reveals the dark underbelly of rare manuscript collecting and the devastating human cost of deception. You will examine the mechanics of historical forgery, the pressures of mounting debt, and the violent fallout of a compromised archive market.

• How did a quiet collector construct lethal pipe bombs to silence his creditors?
• What flaws exposed the forged documents before the final legal reckoning?
• How did religious institutions navigate the acquisition of threatening historical artifacts?

1. Pipe Bombs in the City of the Saints

Two deadly package explosions shook Salt Lake City, instantly disrupting high-stakes document deals and triggering an unprecedented multi-agency law enforcement investigation. You enter a tense religious capital where historical manuscripts can shift faith foundations overnight.

Steven F. Christensen purchased the salamander letter in January 1984 for $40,000 and subsequently donated it to church archives.

The 1830 document signed by Martin Harris described Joseph Smith being thwarted from taking gold plates by a white salamander that transformed into an old spirit. Christensen acquired and authenticated the artifact before donating it to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which made its text public and triggered rumors of hidden sensitive documents. At the pinnacle of the church pyramid stands the president and his two counselors forming the First Presidency, assisted by the Council of Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators.

Bruce and Hal Passey saw a young man carrying a package labeled "To Steve Christensen" into the Judge Building elevator just before the 8:00 a.m. blast on October 15, 1985. The motion-sensitive pipe bomb concealed in a cardboard box exploded with shrapnel and nails, instantly killing Christensen and injuring a neighboring office worker.

Hours later, a second motion-sensitive pipe bomb exploded at the home of J. Gary Sheets in Holladay, killing his wife, Kathleen Sheets. Kathy Sheets picked up a brown box addressed to her husband while heading out from her Holladay home around 9:30 a.m., triggering the fatal blast and extensive damage to the garage structure.

The murders disrupted a confidential transaction involving the controversial collection of renegade apostle William McLellin. Mark Hofmann brokered the sale of lost diaries, affidavits, and papers belonging to William McLellin to a buyer intended to donate them to the church.

Prosecutor Gerry D’Elia and investigator David Biggs worked with detectives Ken Farnsworth and Jim Bell to secure evidence and subpoena documents from Christensen's office. The Salt Lake City Police Department, Salt Lake County Attorney's Office, FBI, ATF, and county sheriff's deputies combined efforts to process evidence.

Bruce Passey and Ernest and Jeff Salt recognized details of a green letterman's jacket and physical demeanor that pointed toward Mark Hofmann, though initial disbelief kept them questioning the connection. CFS Financial Corp., where Christensen was a vice president under J. Gary Sheets, struggled deeply with debt, leading investigators to initially suspect business failures.

2. The Third Bomb and the Suspect

A third explosion critically injured document dealer Mark Hofmann, shifting police focus toward his involvement and uncovering secret church-backed loans.

On October 16, 1985, at 2:41 p.m., a third package detonated inside Mark Hofmann's blue Toyota MR2 sports car near 200 North Main, close to the McCune Mansion and Deseret Gym. Witnesses reported seeing Hofmann open the car door before an object fell or started to fall. The blast damaged the console and severely injured Hofmann, forcing investigators to re-evaluate the murder scenario and connect the bombings to the controversial salamander letter.

Flower shop owner Brad Christensen witnessed the blast from across Main Street, rushed to help the injured victim, and performed a Mormon priesthood healing ordinance using a vial of consecrated olive oil.

Jerry Taylor, western regional officer for the ATF, examined physical damage at the Judge Building and at the scene of the car explosion. Taylor calculated the exact center of the blasts based on damage patterns and fragments, noting differences between the devices such as the presence or absence of concrete nails. At the blue sports car explosion, Taylor and detective Ken Farnsworth inspected the trunk and noted various items including old papers, negatives, a plastic-encased papyrus piece, and a pipe elbow.

Financial investigations revealed that high-ranking LDS church officials covertly authorized large loans for Mark Hofmann's document transactions. Bank officials at First Interstate Bank disclosed that LDS leader Hugh Pinnock had authorized a $185,000 loan for Mark Hofmann and Steven Christensen. The loan bypassed normal collateral requirements because bank officers trusted that the church stood behind it, creating a complex web of hidden financial liabilities tied to acquisitions like the McLellin collection and the 'Oath of a Freeman.'

Coin dealer Alvin Rust, who had lent Hofmann $150,000 for the McLellin collection, discovered that church security and leaders were intimately aware of the confidential document deals. Hofmann had repaid $17,000 to Rust, made a deposit of $26,000, and made a payment of $20,000 via check on October 4.

Law enforcement officers searched Hofmann's red brick split-level house named 'Haus Hofmann.' In the back corner of a closet, they found a green and gray letterman's jacket turned inside out and wadded into a ball, matching witness descriptions of a suspect from the Judge Building bombing. County prosecutor Gerry D’Elia reviewed the recovered jacket outside the house and remarked that the suspect was not as smart as they had previously thought.

Detectives interviewing Hofmann at the hospital noted his evasive answers regarding his whereabouts earlier in the day, such as driving around Emigration Canyon. Combined with forensic analysis suggesting bombers often blow themselves up and the discovery of the letterman's jacket, police chief Bud Willoughby announced on live television that Mark W. Hofmann was the prime suspect in the bombings.

3. The Roots of Deception

Mark Hofmann cultivated an early obsession with secrets, chemistry experiments, magic, and explosives, coupled with a detached and competitive demeanor.

Growing up in a devout Salt Lake City family, Mark conducted secret chemical experiments and coin tricks with his cousin Mike Woolley. The pair claimed to know 150 different burning substances and once paid 10 dollars for a double-headed buffalo nickel trick.

Mark and his cousin Mike attempted to make nitroglycerine and distill it in a furnace room, resulting in a fire that burned Hofmann's shirt and skin.

Paternal grandfather Karl Edward Hofmann embodied strict obedience, architectural skill under extreme hardship, and absolute faith rewarded by tithing. When army doctors suggested a crutch, Karl Edward refused, stating he wanted an artificial limb that would permit him to earn his living as an architect. His family included 14 children and accumulated 13,000 German marks or about 3,000 dollars saved before his mission. A deeply hidden family secret regarding post-manifesto polygamous marriage fueled Mark's critical historical inquiries. His maternal grandmother, Athelia Call, married William Gailey Sears after the 1904 church pronouncement forbidding plural marriage. Mark brought up controversial historical topics like evolution and polygamy at the dinner table to debate his father and expose what he considered naive orthodox views.

During his mission in England, Hofmann developed an intense fixation on anti-Mormon literature, rare books, and historical artifacts. While serving in Bath, Hofmann visited a local library where he located six nineteenth-century vintage metal plates and a scroll created by a nineteenth-century hoaxer named William Saunders Parrott.

Hofmann viewed Mormon founder Joseph Smith not as a prophet, but as the ultimate con artist and a charismatic fraud. Influenced by Fawn Brodie's book No Man Knows My History, Hofmann was fascinated by Smith's ability to create history and inspire intense loyalty. During college discussions with Jeff Salt, Hofmann talked at length about Joseph Smith as a hero of deception rather than a church founder.

Engagement to Kate Reid collapsed after he confessed his disbelief in Mormonism and God, leading him to marry Doralee Olds instead. Hofmann traded in the $10,000 diamond ring he had given Kate Reid for a smaller one for Dori Olds so people would not recognize it as the same ring. He maintained a facade of active church membership to secure trust and access to restricted archival materials.

A. J. Simmonds built an extensive Mormon history collection at Utah State University and welcomed Hofmann as an avid researcher. Simmonds paid $60 for a document brought in by Hofmann that purported to be a secret second anointing temple ritual letter.

Hofmann drafted a seven-page, single-spaced letter addressed to his mother in April 1979 arguing that the church should be honest about its history. He described a visit to Church Historian Leonard Arrington where he requested a restricted volume from the Manuscript History of the Church and was told Arrington's hands were tied. Extensive archival research ultimately resolved the personal mystery surrounding his grandparents' marriage. Hofmann documented in his notes on March 1, 1980, that Joseph Summerhays married William Gailey Sears to Athelia Call in Juarez, Mexico, on February 21, 1906.

4. The Golden Age of Discoveries

Mark Hofmann discovered the missing Anthon transcript while looking through a seventeenth-century Cambridge Bible. He and Jeff Simmonds found a glued-down folded paper containing columns of hieroglyphs and a circle.

Hofmann and Simmonds used a scalpel and solvent to open the fragile paper in Simmonds's office at Utah State University, eventually showing it to LDS historian Dean Jessee and church leaders. The characters matched Charles Anthon's 1834 affidavit description and bore the signature of Joseph Smith, Jr. You can see how this artifact provided physical evidence matching historical accounts of characters copied directly from the golden plates.

Hofmann flooded the market with sensational early Mormon artifacts, exploiting institutional fears and amassing fortunes through rapid turnover.

Collector Brent Ashworth acquired a letter written by Joseph Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, in exchange for expensive historical items. Ashworth traded an original copy of the 13th Amendment, a Benjamin Franklin item, an 1857 John Brown letter, an 1820 Andrew Jackson letter, a book belonging to Solomon Mack, and a Lorenzo Snow history to get the letter valued at around $33,000.

Mark Hofmann operated his document business with a strategy focused on rapid turnover and continuous reinvestment. He explained that his goal was to sell material as fast as possible to acquire more capital for finding rare items. You might notice he treated the work like being a detective driven by the thrill of unearthing unknown original material.

Hofmann sold a crucial 1825 letter from Joseph Smith to Josiah Stowell to LDS leader Gordon B. Hinckley for $15,000 on January 11, 1983. The document established Smith as a treasure digger and introduced occult methods for finding buried treasure. Hinckley placed it securely in the First Presidency's vault to prevent public exposure.

The emergence of the Martin Harris letter described a magical white salamander guardian and challenged traditional accounts of the origin of the Book of Mormon. Michael Marquardt frantically took notes over the phone as Hofmann read the letter detailing how a spirit transformed from a white salamander in the bottom of a treasure hole. Steve Christensen acquired the letter for an $18,000 cashier's check after it circulated through intermediaries like Lyn Jacobs and Mark Hofmann.

5. The Oath and the Debt Spiral

As ambitious frauds like the Oath of a Freeman stalled and debts accumulated, Hofmann relied on unbacked checks and panicked investor schemes.

Mark Hofmann purchased a rare colonial broadside from Argosy Books in New York for $25. Justin Schiller and Ray Wapner verified its significance as a 1638 printing by Stephen Daye and offered it to the Library of Congress for an asking price that eventually reached $1.5 million. When the Library of Congress declined purchase of the Oath on July 30, Hofmann took out a second mortgage of around $26,000 on his house. Later, his IRS checks and employee payroll disbursements bounced.

Gene Taylor invested $50,000 for a Daniel Boone collection and added $124,000 toward a rare book collection from Schiller. Taylor flew to New York expecting an auction at Sotheby's and a meeting with a buyer named Mr. Fleming, only to discover from Sotheby's staff that no such auction was scheduled. Hofmann issued an $180,000 bounced personal check to Taylor and scrambled to cover past obligations.

Steve Christensen investigated banking transactions on behalf of a general authority who had recommended a $185,000 bank loan intended for acquiring the McLellin collection. Christensen also faced CFS financial collapse after spending $300,000 on travel alone in 1984 while managing high-overhead real estate syndications at 300 South State Street.

Christensen systematically prepared for personal insolvency by divesting assets and seeking legal counsel from attorneys Alan Smith and Franklin Johnson. You can apply these survival steps when facing ruin:

• Go down to nothing so creditors have fewer assets to pursue.
• Divest of research commitments and cancel subscriptions.
• Explore legal options for personal versus corporate bankruptcy.

Elder Hugh Pinnock consulted with Apostle Dallin Oaks, who consented to bank loan facilitation provided the church was not directly linked to suppressing documents. Pinnock arranged an $185,000 signature loan through First Interstate Bank, offering Mark Hofmann four weekend telephone numbers, an armored car, and a prop-jet. Hofmann renamed the transaction the Sorenson collection while continuing to issue unbacked checks to avoid immediate exposure.

6. Forensic Exposé and Legal Proceedings

Forensic experts uncovered microscopic ink cracking and printing negative matches while prosecutors built a solid capital murder case.

Advanced laboratory testing exposes fabricated historical manuscripts through physical and chemical anomalies.

Document examiners George Throckmorton and William Flynn analyzed hundreds of documents attributed to Mark Hofmann. They discovered that artificial aging of iron gallotannate ink produced a distinctive alligator-skin cracking pattern under magnification. You can trace how forgers manufactured fake stampless cover letters using specific steps:

• Obtain historical letters for legitimate purposes.
• Erase original pencil marks.
• Cut off half of the letter.
• Add new dates and text.

Examiners also matched hairline emulsion flaws on printing negatives seized from engravers directly to printed artifacts like the Oath of a Freeman and Deseret Currency.

On February 4, 1986, the State of Utah filed thirty-two felony charges against Mark Hofmann across four cases, including first-degree murder, theft by deception, and communication fraud. Judge Grant formally bound Hofmann over to the Third District Court following a comprehensive preliminary hearing.

George Throckmorton examined a letter purportedly written by Joseph Smith from Carthage Jail and compared it to other jail letters, noting impossible variations in handwriting and paper.

7. Plea Bargain and Prison Realities

Faced with overwhelming forensic evidence, Hofmann pleaded guilty to murder and fraud, receiving a life sentence after a chilling parole hearing.

On January 23, 1987, Mark Hofmann walked to the Metropolitan Hall of Justice and pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two second-degree frauds. Judge Rigtrup sentenced him and stated he should spend the rest of his life in prison.

Mac Christensen crossed the courtroom to embrace Bill Hofmann in a bear hug, while Gary Sheets shook his hand and expressed a lack of ill will.

During the hearing on January 29, 1988, Victoria Palacios asked Hofmann why he did not ensure the bomb placed at the Sheets home was a dud. Hofmann replied that it was a game and he did not consider whether it would explode.

Captain Thomas Bona compared Hofmann's inscrutable personality to Dale Pierre Selby, perpetrator of the 1974 Hi-Fi murders. Investigators later uncovered that Hofmann had offered inmates thousands of dollars to assassinate Board of Pardons members and maintained a coded correspondence with his wife. Gary Sheets was acquitted of all 34 felony fraud counts on April 8, 1989.

10 Key Ideas

1. Two deadly package explosions in Salt Lake City disrupted high-stakes manuscript deals and launched an investigation into the murder of Steven F. Christensen and Kathleen Sheets, who were killed by motion-sensitive pipe bombs linked to controversial document broker Mark Hofmann.
2. A third package explosion critically injured document dealer Mark Hofmann inside his car, shifting police focus toward his involvement and uncovering secret church-backed loans that exposed complex financial liabilities tied to acquisitions like the McLellin collection.
3. Growing up in a devout Salt Lake City family, Mark Hofmann developed an early obsession with secrets, chemistry experiments, magic, and explosives, which fueled his view of Mormon founder Joseph Smith as a charismatic fraud and master of deception.
4. Mark Hofmann flooded the artifact market with sensational early Mormon documents, such as the Anthon transcript and a letter by Joseph Smith's mother, exploiting institutional fears and amassing fortunes through rapid turnover.
5. As ambitious frauds like the Oath of a Freeman stalled and his debts accumulated to unsustainable levels, Mark Hofmann relied on unbacked checks, fraudulent investor schemes, and second mortgages to keep his document business afloat.
6. Advanced laboratory testing by forensic experts George Throckmorton and William Flynn exposed fabricated historical manuscripts by discovering microscopic ink cracking patterns and matching hairline emulsion flaws on printing negatives.
7. Following the forensic exposé, the State of Utah filed thirty-two felony charges against Mark Hofmann across four cases, including first-degree murder, theft by deception, and communication fraud.
8. Faced with overwhelming forensic evidence, Mark Hofmann pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two second-degree frauds, receiving a life sentence from Judge Rigtrup.
9. During a chilling parole hearing in 1988, Mark Hofmann callously revealed to Victoria Palacios that placing the fatal bomb at the Sheets home was merely a game where he did not consider whether it would explode.
10. Investigators later uncovered that Mark Hofmann had offered inmates thousands of dollars to assassinate Board of Pardons members and maintained a coded correspondence with his wife while serving his life sentence.