his interactions with Martin Harris in February 1828 concerning a fragment of Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon. The fragment later came to be known as the Anthon Transcript. According to Harris, Anthon wrote Harris a letter of authenticity declaring the fragment to contain true Egyptian characters. Anthon also confirmed the translation of these characters as correct. When informed that an angel of God had revealed the characters to Joseph Smith, Anthon tore up the authentication, stating that there was no such thing as angels, and asked Harris to bring the plates to him for translation. Martin Harris went to Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill afterwards and received a letter of authenticity from him. Anthon, however, disagreed with Harris' version of their encounter and stated in a letter to Eber D. Howe on February 17, 1834, that the story of Anthon's authentication was false, that Anthon had identified the writings as a hoax, and that Anthon had told Harris that the writings were part of "a scheme to cheat the farmer [Martin Harris] of his money..." Anthon gave a second account in 1841 as to whether he gave Harris a written opinion about the document: "[Harris] requested me to give him my opinion in writing about the paper which he had shown to me. I did so without hesitation, partly for the man's sake, and partly to let the individual 'behind the curtain' see that his trick was discovered. The import of what I wrote was, as far as I can now recollect, simply this, that the marks in the paper appeared to be merely an imitation of various alphabetical characters, and had, in my opinion, no meaning at all connected with them." Acquaintance with Poe Dr. Anthon was a friend and correspondent of Edgar Allan Poe, who attempted to use their acquaintance to gain a national reputation in literature and journalism as well as publication in 1845 of his collected stories through Harper and Brothers. This was, at the time, unsuccessful due to a doubtful accusation of plagiarism against Poe; however, Poe went on to establish himself in the first rank of American letters. Publications Reference and instructional works Charles Anthon, Elements of Latin Prosody and Metre, New York: Swords (1824). online A classical dictionary: containing a copious account of all the proper names mentioned in ancient authors etc., by J. Lemprière, D.D., 5th American edition, corrected and