One of the most interesting periods during the life of George Q. Cannon was while he was a fugitive and then prisoner of the law. It began while he was a member of the First Presidency of the Church, the First Counselor to President John Taylor. He was indicted for unlawful cohabitation and polygamy, and went into hiding to evade prosecution and punishment. It ended three and a half years later after he spent nearly six months in the Utah penitentiary. During this period: federal agents raided his farm seeking his arrest; wanted posters were issued and a $500 reward was offered for information leading to his arrest; two of his wives and children were subpoenaed to testify against him; two of his sons assaulted the U. S. Attorney who had questioned one of the wives and were prosecuted; he was arrested on a train in Nevada while fleeing to Mexico; he contemplated an escape after his arrest, then fell off a train and sustained injuries; a special train carrying 27 soldiers was sent to bring him back to Salt Lake; he failed to appear for trial after posting a $45,000 bond and forfeited the bond, going into hiding again; his sent his son back east to meet with the President of the United States to work out a deal where he would turn himself in if the President would appoint a more sympathetic judge; he then negotiated a plea and served five months in the Utah penitentiary.
This period of George’s life begins in January 1885, when George’s brother, Angus Cannon, was arrested and charged with polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. Around the same time, spotters were seen prowling around the house of Emily Hoagland Cannon, George’s post-Edmunds Act wife, who would be a key witness against him if he were arrested. Informants informed George a warrant was issued for his arrest and he and President John Taylor went into hiding on the underground.[1]
In a letter to his wife, Eliza Tenney Cannon, dated January 24, 1885, George said, “I am in Camp Solitary. My companion is Bro. L. John Nuttall. He makes our beds, the fire, and does other waiting upon us. Our visitors are one or two brethren occasionally whom I have to see on business. Our meals are brought to us by one of the brethren…Our enemies would like to get hold of me, so I am informed. They say…I am d-d sly and cover up my tracks well. I hope I do, and trust that they will always have this to complain of…”[2]
In Salt Lake, George worked in a specially constructed interior room of the Tithing Office. An adjacent barn had a stove and a bed. Later, he stayed in a room in the home of Hiram B. Clawson. Occasionally he would wear a disguise and visit his farm.[3]
On March 25, 1885, George wrote a letter to President Grover Cleveland, reviewing the history of legislation against polygamy and urging him to curb the extreme actions by appointees of the previous administration.[4]
In a letter to Eliza dated April 18, 1885, George wrote, “As you doubtless see by the papers the ‘deviltry’ marshals, as the children call them, are busy making arrests. The devil keeps his people actively employed. It is a good time to test the faith of the Saints. The Lord has said he would have a tried people, and he is fulfilling His Word.”[5]
On February 7, 1886, about 8 a.m. during “the serenity of the Sabbath,” Marshall Ireland and a posse raided the Cannon farm on the Jordan River. Deputies on horseback stationed themselves at the front and back of the four Cannon homes while Marshal Ireland and three assistants went through the houses. They had heard George was ill and would be found there, but were disappointed. However, they did serve subpoenas on his wives Martha and Sarah Jane and children Mary Alice and Hester.[6]
The next day, on February 8, 1886, a $500 reward was offered for information leading to George’s arrest. The reward was on a bulletin in the form of a handbill. It read: “$500.00 I will pay the above reward to any person for information leading to the arrest of George Q. Cannon, against whom an indictment is now pending in the third district of Utah. The names of any persons giving information will be held in strict confidence. [signed] E. A. Ireland. Salt Lake City, Feb. 8th 1886. U.S. Marshal.”[7] The handbill also had a photo and description of George: “About 55 years old; about 5 feet 8 inches in height; hair very gray; full chin whiskers, gray; no mustache; full round face; heavy build; walks very straight.”[8]
George believed it was unprecedented to offer a reward of $500 for the capture of a man who was accused of a misdemeanor for which the maximum fine was $300. He doubted “another case can be found like it in the history of jurisprudence either in this country or in England.”[9]
George realized that the potential reward would set “many human bloodhounds” on his track with an “incentive for hunting me out that they did not have previously.” For the safekeeping of George, as well as President Taylor, who was also hiding and exposed by George’s nearness, it was agreed that George should go to Mexico to close a land contract for the Church. George shaved off his beard[10] and with a small group, including Erastus Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve, Samuel H. Hill and Orson P. Arnold,[11] boarded a westward bound train on the Central Pacific Railroad. About midway through Nevada, Sheriff F. M. Fellows of Nevada, who had been advised of four men boarding a sleeper outside of Ogden, one of whom was suspected to be George Q. Cannon, boarded the train and found who he thought to be George Q. Cannon, but could not positively identify him. A former Nevada congressional delegate was on the train and Sheriff Fellows took him to George, but the Nevadan, a friend of George, would not identify him. Finally, after discovering some personal effects, the sheriff identified George and took him into custody at Humboldt station.[12]
Marshal Ireland and his assistants went to Nevada, along with some others, among them Brother A. E. Hyde and George’s son, Frank J. Cannon[13], to bring George back to Salt Lake City on the train. They met him at Winnemucca, Nevada.
Concurrently, about February 15, 1886, George’s wife, Martha Telle Cannon, was taken into court and interrogated. She refused to answer some of the questions, such as: “Are you not now a pregnant woman?” “Are you not now with child by your husband George Q. Cannon?” She could have been found guilty of contempt, but at the suggestion of U. S. Attorney Dickson, sentence was temporarily suspended.[14]
On the train back, Bro. Hyde whispered to George that a plan was being formulated by his friends to stop the train and rescue him. George didn’t have the opportunity to learn the particulars of the cyphered messages which had been telegraphed back and forth. But he was concerned, since the stopping of a mail train by a group of pretended highwaymen would have been dangerous and would have made outlaws of the men who undertook it. George had no way of communicating with those involved to prevent the plan to capture the train. After further thought he concluded that he “would get off the train, and that, as soon as it became known, would prevent the contemplated attack.” In traveling through the desolate country of northeastern Utah through the night, he kept alert to possibilities of escape. Although Marshal Ireland let him go to the “water closet” frequently through the night, most of the train stops were telegraph stops. He considered making a break at Kelton and trying to get to Grouse Creek, thirty miles distant, where he had many friends. But he knew his health at that time would not permit him to make such a journey on foot while others were likely in hot pursuit. “Promontory seemed to me the only place, and the last place, for me to get off, if I got off at all. It was hopeless to think that I could escape in such a country.”
The train approached Promontory as the light dawn in the east was becoming visible. George knew this was his last chance. He went to the back platform as it slowly pulled out of Promontory. However, the porter and brakeman were there. So as the train speeded up, George gave up the idea of escape, but when the train was making “full headway” it lurched and “pitched” him off the platform.[15] He landed “at full length on the frozen ground,” breaking his nose, gashing his forehead, bruising and skinning the left side of his head, disabling his left arm and bruising his left thigh. He was missed by Marshal Ireland almost as soon as he fell, and a search was instituted through the train. After going about four miles, the train was stopped and Deputy Greenman got off and walked back. The train continued to Blue Creek, ten miles east of Promontory, with considerable anxiety among both the deputies and George’s friends.
Deputy Greenman found George “wandering listlessly” around in a dazed condition near the place he had fallen, with “his overcoat and pants badly torn and almost covered with blood.”[16] Deputy Greenman took George to Promontory and wired Marshal Ireland. Brother Hyde and Marshal Ireland stayed in Blue Creek, unable to find any immediate transportation back to Promontory. Frank J. Cannon decided to go on with the train into Corinne, where he hired a horse and returned immediately to Promontory. Deputy Greenman had bandaged George’s head and taken him to a hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, son Frank suggested an escape plan to his father. George believed the escape could be carried out easily, but he did not want to see his promising son (who later became one of Utah’s first two Senators) and the others who would be involved become hunted men for the rest of their lives. So he counseled submission.[17]
A group of 27 soldiers was sent from Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City on a special train to Promontory, as a special guard, to bring George back. Captain Penney had the soldiers clear out George’s railroad car of any of his friends, except his son, Frank, and put him under guard, with six soldiers stationed around him, refusing passage to newspaper reporters or others.[18] George asked if the military had taken precedence over the civil power, an important question to the Mormons. Marshal Ireland attempted to answer in the negative, but stated the Captain was “responsible for the safety of the train,” and Captain Penney continued to give the orders.[19] The Salt Lake Tribune account stated that “the train was then turned over to Captain Penney, who had absolute control and assumed responsibility for landing the prisoner safely in Salt Lake.” They described the bruised and disfigured Cannon “whose terrified gaze met nothing but grim soldiers and loaded muskets.”[20] George observed in his journal that he was a “wounded helpless prisoner” charged with a “simple misdemeanor,” yet the military display was as if he were “a conquered potentate or general, or the head of some great rebellion.”[21] The Butte Miner stated, “In the prosecution of George Q. Cannon, the head of the Mormons, the United States officials are making a ‘ten strike.’ Hit him fair ‘on the quarter’ and that will be the last of impudent Mormondom. There may be a few of the faith who will uphold its doctrines on the quiet, but with Cannon in jail there will be little open disregard of the law. George Q. Cannon is beyond doubt today the most potent power in the Mormon Church, and his arrest and punishment will do more to inspire the rank and file with a belief that the government is in earnest than any other event that could happen.”[22]
On February 17, 1886, the train arrived in Salt Lake City early in the morning and George was rushed down to Marshal Ireland’s office in the Wasatch Building. Judge Zane was brought in and called for $25,000 bail, giving his reasons that the prisoner had tried to bribe an officer at Winnemucca, had subsequently tried to escape from Marshal Ireland, and that he was a high Church dignitary with “immense influence among the people.” Former Mayor John Sharp and Feramorz Little were accepted as sureties after a rigid examination as to their financial fitness. However, two additional warrants were issued for cohabitation at different times, and $10,000 was charged in bonds for each of these cases. So this amounted to $45,000 worth of bonds for a misdemeanor charge. The Deseret News contrasted this treatment with that of Judge Powers in setting Reuben A. McBride’s bail at $10,000 when he was charged with first degree murder.[23] George’s trial was set for March 17, 1886 and he was allowed to go free.
George admired his wife Martha’s willingness to go to the penitentiary for contempt if necessary, but he told her attorney to advise her to answer the questions she was asked, angry though he was at those who were interrogating her. “She has been on the rack for three days and had not slept, and her condition was pitiable and ought to have moved the hearts of savages. But these men are dead to every human sympathy; they are as pitiless as the most abandoned and wicked pirates, and seem to take delight in the torture which they inflict upon women and children.”[24]
About February 22, 1886, Hugh J. Cannon, age 16, “reputed” the strongest boy in Utah “if not the whole world,” got his brother, Frank J. Cannon and cousin Angus, Jr., and went to the Continental Hotel, where Hugh was going to hit U. S. Attorney William H. Dickson. The others were going to have a carriage ready, pulled by their horses, Warfield and Topsy, who were supposed to be the fastest team in the territory. While Dickson was walking by the newsstand in the Hotel, he spied the three youths looking at him and asked if they wanted to see him. Receiving an affirmative reply he walked up to them and Hugh gave Dickson a blow beneath his left eye and disappeared, shortly thereafter turning himself over to the municipal officials, convinced that the punishment would be much less harsh than that from the federal officials. Dickson grabbed Frank J. by the throat and turned him over to a local policeman named Smith, who turned him over to municipal authorities. Angus, Jr., who had a pistol with him, was turned over to federal authorities. Bail was set for Hugh at $200 in Justice Pyper’s court and he had to default bail. George was so annoyed with his sons that he instructed friends not to put up bail for them. [25]
Frank J. Cannon (in a later, retrospective account) wrote that they did not go armed, and that he should not have taken his younger brother Hugh, implying the visit to see Dickson was his idea. Frank states he asked Dickson to step out onto the porch where he could speak with him in private. They had barely exchanged a couple of sentences when Hugh hit Dickson. “Dickson grappled with me, a little blinded, and I called to the boy to run-which he very wisely did. Dickson and I were at once surrounded, and I was arrested.” He refers to his cousin, Angus, who “happened to be in another part of the hotel at the time of the attack.” Several weeks later, Frank went to the U. S. Attorney’s office and arranged with his assistant, Mr. Varian, that the indictments against his brother [Hugh] who had escaped from Utah and his cousin [Angus] who was innocent should be quashed and he would plead guilty to assault and battery. Varian, after talking with Dickson, learned that Frank had not struck the blow and suggested to Justice Zane that the charge be suspended. Frank objected as he was a newspaper writer and felt that if he criticized the court for harshness he could be silenced by imposition of a suspended sentence and if he failed to criticize, he would be false to what he considered his duty. Judge Zane sentenced him to three months in County Jail and a fine of $150. He was confined most of the time in a room in the County Court House.[26]
By February 28, 1886, John Taylor had become convinced that it was vital that George not be lost for life to the Church. U. S. Attorney Dickson had expressed a determination to “fasten something upon Pres. George Q. Cannon that will sentence him to protracted imprisonment.”[27] Taylor was worried about how to cover the $45,000 bonds, but one morning indicated that a plan for financial arrangements which would not involve either the Church or individuals had been revealed to him. President Taylor indicated that about 2 ½ years previously he had received manifestations concerning investments to be made for the creation of a fund under his sole control, apart from tithing, which would be available for emergencies. “Upon the strength of these manifestations we had purchased an interest in the Bullion, Beck and Champion Mining Company, and he now felt that the shares which we had set apart at the time of the purchase, out of which to create the fund, could now be used with perfect propriety. He had been offered twice as much as he had paid for it, and therefore felt that there would be no difficulty in raising the sum necessary to meet any obligations that others might be under on my account.”[28] On March 2, 1886, President Taylor obtained the agreement of the Quorum of the Twelve on his plan.[29]
George had previously taught that men who married more wives than one should be prepared to “bear the penalty.” Men should be willing to die for Gospel principles as men did in ancient days. If it became necessary to go to prison, there should be no need for “crying.” “Round up your shoulders and bear it like men.”[30] George recorded in his journal that he was perfectly resigned to go to prison and “to have the same pleasure in doing so that I have always had in taking missions.” If it was God’s will for him not to go to prison, he implored his Heavenly Father “that it may not endanger any of His servants, or throw any discredit upon His work, or injure any of its interests in the least degree, or be the means of casting any reflection upon me by the faithful Saints or honest people, or detract from my influence as a servant of God.”[31] Years later, George recalled that President Taylor’s counsel for him to jump bond was the greatest trial of his life. Even “the last night before I was to appear in court, I was strongly inclined to arise from my bed to go to President Taylor’s bed and tell him I must keep that appointment in court, but I did not.” He feared he would be looked upon as a dishonorable “coward.”[32]
On March 17, 1886, George was scheduled to appear in court. It was great grief to him “to be suspected of cowardice, or to have any act of mine bring discredit upon the work, or jeopardise its interests, or endanger any of my brethren, …my conscience is now clear. There was a packed courthouse, with most of the Cannon family subpoenaed there as witnesses under bond. There was in the air an almost electric suspense as to whether George would appear. Abraham Cannon[33], George’s son, came up for sentencing first. Abraham said he couldn’t “sacrifice principle, even to procure life or liberty,” and Judge Zane lectured him. He was sentenced to the full penalty for a single cohabitation offense, six months in prison, $300 and costs of the court. The witnesses were called and all responded. The court ordered the name of “George Q. Cannon” called three times by the bailiff with no response. The court declared the $25,000 bond forfeit, with the provision that if the defendant appeared at 2 p.m. the forfeiture should be set aside.[34]
U. S. Attorney Dickson entered the marshal’s office and exclaimed: “That cur! God damn him! He hasn’t got the courage to stand his trial.” Then discovering that George’s sons John Q. and Abraham were in the room, he hastily retreated. At 2 p.m. the court was again packed, with a crowd outside. The full $45,000 bond was declared forfeit.[35]
George’s friends and associates were more surprised than his enemies at his failure to appear. The jumping of bond “was a new thing here, and that the departure should have been made by a gentleman occupying the position that Mr. Cannon holds in the community was for the moment startling.” The Salt Lake Herald rehearsed the evidences that he had been singled out for special attack because he “was regarded as the leading spirit in the Mormon Church,” and to his influence was charged the fact that the Church remains intact and unyielding, notwithstanding the vigorous assaults against it.” The paper was convinced that the zealous disregard for equal protection of the laws justified Cannon’s disappearance “until justice can be had by him, until he can be fairly tried for what he has done.”[36]
The Deseret News defended George, “that he [Cannon] would not be ‘cur’ enough to force a respectable woman into a room with fifteen other jeering, tobacco-smoking males, and try to make her tell them how often her husband slept in the same bed with her. That he would not be ‘cur’ enough to force a fourteen year old girl to disclose her thoughts and ideas about her own mother.”[37] “Boasts were made, freely stated as having come from the prosecuting attorney, that President Cannon would be held for the term of his natural life,” and that “he would be sent to a distant prison,” where his condition would be “unbearable.” Since the system of segregating offenses had not yet been overthrown by the Supreme Court, there was no limit to the length of imprisonment to which Cannon might be sentenced.[38] “Until packed juries, prejudiced judges, spiteful attorneys, and special arrangements for the conviction of the innocent and the multiplication of penalties upon persons only technically guilty, are things of the past in Utah, our fervent prayer will be that President George Q. Cannon may be safe from contact with the minions of the law whose ears are closed against the pleadings of justice.”[39]
The Salt Lake Tribune stated, “The brethren at the Pen, who had been counseled by George Q. Cannon and other leaders to ‘stand firm,’ go to prison and suffer for ‘conscience sake,’ were doubtless greatly comforted by the intelligence that one of the heads of the Church had left his bondsmen to pay $45,000 rather than ‘stand firm’ himself.” “Had he appeared to answer, they would have applauded his nerve and bravery, and hooted to scorn the base insinuations and slanderous reports that he would flee. Indeed, it may well be believed that each of the Mormon offices had two separate articles written up, and numbered them one and two, the first dealing with Cannon in a heroic vein for coming up boldly and facing his accusers, and the second the sort of thing that was actually printed. It was no doubt a source of sadness and grief to everyone of the scribes who had the slightest spark of manhood in his breast to be obliged to shout through the speaking tube, ‘No. 2 goes.’”[40]
On March 20, 1886, Salt Lake Stake President Angus Cannon, George’s brother, wrote John Sharp and Feramorz Little, sureties, saying that to pay the bond would “defeat our object as a people, wherein we desire to test this question of excessive bail.” Brothers Sharp and Little responded that “our attorneys inform us that we have no legal grounds to stand upon in Court when the Bail is legally due.” President Taylor also dictated a letter urging a refusal to pay since this was the only “opportunity that now presents itself to obtain redress.” The sureties, however, paid the bond.[41] The sureties were later recompensed for their payments and after the Church and federal government became reconciled, Congress appropriated the $45,000 as reimbursement for the amount paid as bonds.[42]
Judge Charles S. Zane, in a prosecution against Lorenzo Snow for unlawful cohabitation, introduced a method of increasing punishment by the process of “segregation.” By subdividing a period of unlawful cohabitation into separate periods, punishments could be multiplied into many years’ imprisonment and heavy fines. Lorenzo Snow had received three sentences of six months imprisonment and a fine of $300 each. The Poland Act of 1874 which authorized appeals to the Supreme Court for polygamy cases made no reference to unlawful cohabitation. On May 10, 1886, in Snow v. U.S., 118 U.S. 340 (1885), the U. S. Supreme Court determined it had no jurisdiction over the case.[43]
George continued on the move in hiding. Among other places, he spent time at the Henry Day home in Draper, a tent in Little Cottonwood Canyon, the home of James Godfrey in Cottonwood, Isaac M. Stewart’s home in Draper and T. F. Rouche’s home in Kaysville.[44]
On September 7, 1886, Edwin Quayle Cannon, the 30th child of George Q. Cannon, was born to Eliza Lamercia Tenney Cannon, in Salt Lake City, while his father was in hiding from federal and civil authorities. Eliza was the only wife of George to avoid being subpoenaed. On several occasions, with Edwin in her arms, she had to hide among the willows that grew thick along the Jordan River, while federal agents looked for her.[45] In November 1886, George wrote Eliza, “I missed seeing you and Edwin Q. on my last visit. I kept on talking and did not notice the lapse of time until Bro. C.[harles] H. W.[ilken] called for me…and I concluded I had not time then to make a call. This I have regretted ever since…Every time I awoke in the night, and that was often, I was reproached in my thoughts for not taking time to see you and Edwin. It is this that calls forth this letter of apology. I hope you will forgive me for this.”[46]
Another reward was posted for the arrest of George: “$800 Reward! To be Paid for the Arrest of John Taylor and George Q. Cannon. The above Reward will be paid for the delivery to me, or for information that will lead to the arrest of John Taylor, President of the Mormon Church, and George Q. Cannon, His Counselor, or $500 will be paid for Cannon alone, and $300 for Taylor. All Conferences or Letters kept strictly secret. S. H. Gilson, 22 and 23 Wasatch Building,…Salt Lake City, Jan. 31, 1887”.[47]
This period of George’s life begins in January 1885, when George’s brother, Angus Cannon, was arrested and charged with polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. Around the same time, spotters were seen prowling around the house of Emily Hoagland Cannon, George’s post-Edmunds Act wife, who would be a key witness against him if he were arrested. Informants informed George a warrant was issued for his arrest and he and President John Taylor went into hiding on the underground.[1]
In a letter to his wife, Eliza Tenney Cannon, dated January 24, 1885, George said, “I am in Camp Solitary. My companion is Bro. L. John Nuttall. He makes our beds, the fire, and does other waiting upon us. Our visitors are one or two brethren occasionally whom I have to see on business. Our meals are brought to us by one of the brethren…Our enemies would like to get hold of me, so I am informed. They say…I am d-d sly and cover up my tracks well. I hope I do, and trust that they will always have this to complain of…”[2]
In Salt Lake, George worked in a specially constructed interior room of the Tithing Office. An adjacent barn had a stove and a bed. Later, he stayed in a room in the home of Hiram B. Clawson. Occasionally he would wear a disguise and visit his farm.[3]
On March 25, 1885, George wrote a letter to President Grover Cleveland, reviewing the history of legislation against polygamy and urging him to curb the extreme actions by appointees of the previous administration.[4]
In a letter to Eliza dated April 18, 1885, George wrote, “As you doubtless see by the papers the ‘deviltry’ marshals, as the children call them, are busy making arrests. The devil keeps his people actively employed. It is a good time to test the faith of the Saints. The Lord has said he would have a tried people, and he is fulfilling His Word.”[5]
On February 7, 1886, about 8 a.m. during “the serenity of the Sabbath,” Marshall Ireland and a posse raided the Cannon farm on the Jordan River. Deputies on horseback stationed themselves at the front and back of the four Cannon homes while Marshal Ireland and three assistants went through the houses. They had heard George was ill and would be found there, but were disappointed. However, they did serve subpoenas on his wives Martha and Sarah Jane and children Mary Alice and Hester.[6]
The next day, on February 8, 1886, a $500 reward was offered for information leading to George’s arrest. The reward was on a bulletin in the form of a handbill. It read: “$500.00 I will pay the above reward to any person for information leading to the arrest of George Q. Cannon, against whom an indictment is now pending in the third district of Utah. The names of any persons giving information will be held in strict confidence. [signed] E. A. Ireland. Salt Lake City, Feb. 8th 1886. U.S. Marshal.”[7] The handbill also had a photo and description of George: “About 55 years old; about 5 feet 8 inches in height; hair very gray; full chin whiskers, gray; no mustache; full round face; heavy build; walks very straight.”[8]
George believed it was unprecedented to offer a reward of $500 for the capture of a man who was accused of a misdemeanor for which the maximum fine was $300. He doubted “another case can be found like it in the history of jurisprudence either in this country or in England.”[9]
George realized that the potential reward would set “many human bloodhounds” on his track with an “incentive for hunting me out that they did not have previously.” For the safekeeping of George, as well as President Taylor, who was also hiding and exposed by George’s nearness, it was agreed that George should go to Mexico to close a land contract for the Church. George shaved off his beard[10] and with a small group, including Erastus Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve, Samuel H. Hill and Orson P. Arnold,[11] boarded a westward bound train on the Central Pacific Railroad. About midway through Nevada, Sheriff F. M. Fellows of Nevada, who had been advised of four men boarding a sleeper outside of Ogden, one of whom was suspected to be George Q. Cannon, boarded the train and found who he thought to be George Q. Cannon, but could not positively identify him. A former Nevada congressional delegate was on the train and Sheriff Fellows took him to George, but the Nevadan, a friend of George, would not identify him. Finally, after discovering some personal effects, the sheriff identified George and took him into custody at Humboldt station.[12]
Marshal Ireland and his assistants went to Nevada, along with some others, among them Brother A. E. Hyde and George’s son, Frank J. Cannon[13], to bring George back to Salt Lake City on the train. They met him at Winnemucca, Nevada.
Concurrently, about February 15, 1886, George’s wife, Martha Telle Cannon, was taken into court and interrogated. She refused to answer some of the questions, such as: “Are you not now a pregnant woman?” “Are you not now with child by your husband George Q. Cannon?” She could have been found guilty of contempt, but at the suggestion of U. S. Attorney Dickson, sentence was temporarily suspended.[14]
On the train back, Bro. Hyde whispered to George that a plan was being formulated by his friends to stop the train and rescue him. George didn’t have the opportunity to learn the particulars of the cyphered messages which had been telegraphed back and forth. But he was concerned, since the stopping of a mail train by a group of pretended highwaymen would have been dangerous and would have made outlaws of the men who undertook it. George had no way of communicating with those involved to prevent the plan to capture the train. After further thought he concluded that he “would get off the train, and that, as soon as it became known, would prevent the contemplated attack.” In traveling through the desolate country of northeastern Utah through the night, he kept alert to possibilities of escape. Although Marshal Ireland let him go to the “water closet” frequently through the night, most of the train stops were telegraph stops. He considered making a break at Kelton and trying to get to Grouse Creek, thirty miles distant, where he had many friends. But he knew his health at that time would not permit him to make such a journey on foot while others were likely in hot pursuit. “Promontory seemed to me the only place, and the last place, for me to get off, if I got off at all. It was hopeless to think that I could escape in such a country.”
The train approached Promontory as the light dawn in the east was becoming visible. George knew this was his last chance. He went to the back platform as it slowly pulled out of Promontory. However, the porter and brakeman were there. So as the train speeded up, George gave up the idea of escape, but when the train was making “full headway” it lurched and “pitched” him off the platform.[15] He landed “at full length on the frozen ground,” breaking his nose, gashing his forehead, bruising and skinning the left side of his head, disabling his left arm and bruising his left thigh. He was missed by Marshal Ireland almost as soon as he fell, and a search was instituted through the train. After going about four miles, the train was stopped and Deputy Greenman got off and walked back. The train continued to Blue Creek, ten miles east of Promontory, with considerable anxiety among both the deputies and George’s friends.
Deputy Greenman found George “wandering listlessly” around in a dazed condition near the place he had fallen, with “his overcoat and pants badly torn and almost covered with blood.”[16] Deputy Greenman took George to Promontory and wired Marshal Ireland. Brother Hyde and Marshal Ireland stayed in Blue Creek, unable to find any immediate transportation back to Promontory. Frank J. Cannon decided to go on with the train into Corinne, where he hired a horse and returned immediately to Promontory. Deputy Greenman had bandaged George’s head and taken him to a hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, son Frank suggested an escape plan to his father. George believed the escape could be carried out easily, but he did not want to see his promising son (who later became one of Utah’s first two Senators) and the others who would be involved become hunted men for the rest of their lives. So he counseled submission.[17]
A group of 27 soldiers was sent from Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City on a special train to Promontory, as a special guard, to bring George back. Captain Penney had the soldiers clear out George’s railroad car of any of his friends, except his son, Frank, and put him under guard, with six soldiers stationed around him, refusing passage to newspaper reporters or others.[18] George asked if the military had taken precedence over the civil power, an important question to the Mormons. Marshal Ireland attempted to answer in the negative, but stated the Captain was “responsible for the safety of the train,” and Captain Penney continued to give the orders.[19] The Salt Lake Tribune account stated that “the train was then turned over to Captain Penney, who had absolute control and assumed responsibility for landing the prisoner safely in Salt Lake.” They described the bruised and disfigured Cannon “whose terrified gaze met nothing but grim soldiers and loaded muskets.”[20] George observed in his journal that he was a “wounded helpless prisoner” charged with a “simple misdemeanor,” yet the military display was as if he were “a conquered potentate or general, or the head of some great rebellion.”[21] The Butte Miner stated, “In the prosecution of George Q. Cannon, the head of the Mormons, the United States officials are making a ‘ten strike.’ Hit him fair ‘on the quarter’ and that will be the last of impudent Mormondom. There may be a few of the faith who will uphold its doctrines on the quiet, but with Cannon in jail there will be little open disregard of the law. George Q. Cannon is beyond doubt today the most potent power in the Mormon Church, and his arrest and punishment will do more to inspire the rank and file with a belief that the government is in earnest than any other event that could happen.”[22]
On February 17, 1886, the train arrived in Salt Lake City early in the morning and George was rushed down to Marshal Ireland’s office in the Wasatch Building. Judge Zane was brought in and called for $25,000 bail, giving his reasons that the prisoner had tried to bribe an officer at Winnemucca, had subsequently tried to escape from Marshal Ireland, and that he was a high Church dignitary with “immense influence among the people.” Former Mayor John Sharp and Feramorz Little were accepted as sureties after a rigid examination as to their financial fitness. However, two additional warrants were issued for cohabitation at different times, and $10,000 was charged in bonds for each of these cases. So this amounted to $45,000 worth of bonds for a misdemeanor charge. The Deseret News contrasted this treatment with that of Judge Powers in setting Reuben A. McBride’s bail at $10,000 when he was charged with first degree murder.[23] George’s trial was set for March 17, 1886 and he was allowed to go free.
George admired his wife Martha’s willingness to go to the penitentiary for contempt if necessary, but he told her attorney to advise her to answer the questions she was asked, angry though he was at those who were interrogating her. “She has been on the rack for three days and had not slept, and her condition was pitiable and ought to have moved the hearts of savages. But these men are dead to every human sympathy; they are as pitiless as the most abandoned and wicked pirates, and seem to take delight in the torture which they inflict upon women and children.”[24]
About February 22, 1886, Hugh J. Cannon, age 16, “reputed” the strongest boy in Utah “if not the whole world,” got his brother, Frank J. Cannon and cousin Angus, Jr., and went to the Continental Hotel, where Hugh was going to hit U. S. Attorney William H. Dickson. The others were going to have a carriage ready, pulled by their horses, Warfield and Topsy, who were supposed to be the fastest team in the territory. While Dickson was walking by the newsstand in the Hotel, he spied the three youths looking at him and asked if they wanted to see him. Receiving an affirmative reply he walked up to them and Hugh gave Dickson a blow beneath his left eye and disappeared, shortly thereafter turning himself over to the municipal officials, convinced that the punishment would be much less harsh than that from the federal officials. Dickson grabbed Frank J. by the throat and turned him over to a local policeman named Smith, who turned him over to municipal authorities. Angus, Jr., who had a pistol with him, was turned over to federal authorities. Bail was set for Hugh at $200 in Justice Pyper’s court and he had to default bail. George was so annoyed with his sons that he instructed friends not to put up bail for them. [25]
Frank J. Cannon (in a later, retrospective account) wrote that they did not go armed, and that he should not have taken his younger brother Hugh, implying the visit to see Dickson was his idea. Frank states he asked Dickson to step out onto the porch where he could speak with him in private. They had barely exchanged a couple of sentences when Hugh hit Dickson. “Dickson grappled with me, a little blinded, and I called to the boy to run-which he very wisely did. Dickson and I were at once surrounded, and I was arrested.” He refers to his cousin, Angus, who “happened to be in another part of the hotel at the time of the attack.” Several weeks later, Frank went to the U. S. Attorney’s office and arranged with his assistant, Mr. Varian, that the indictments against his brother [Hugh] who had escaped from Utah and his cousin [Angus] who was innocent should be quashed and he would plead guilty to assault and battery. Varian, after talking with Dickson, learned that Frank had not struck the blow and suggested to Justice Zane that the charge be suspended. Frank objected as he was a newspaper writer and felt that if he criticized the court for harshness he could be silenced by imposition of a suspended sentence and if he failed to criticize, he would be false to what he considered his duty. Judge Zane sentenced him to three months in County Jail and a fine of $150. He was confined most of the time in a room in the County Court House.[26]
By February 28, 1886, John Taylor had become convinced that it was vital that George not be lost for life to the Church. U. S. Attorney Dickson had expressed a determination to “fasten something upon Pres. George Q. Cannon that will sentence him to protracted imprisonment.”[27] Taylor was worried about how to cover the $45,000 bonds, but one morning indicated that a plan for financial arrangements which would not involve either the Church or individuals had been revealed to him. President Taylor indicated that about 2 ½ years previously he had received manifestations concerning investments to be made for the creation of a fund under his sole control, apart from tithing, which would be available for emergencies. “Upon the strength of these manifestations we had purchased an interest in the Bullion, Beck and Champion Mining Company, and he now felt that the shares which we had set apart at the time of the purchase, out of which to create the fund, could now be used with perfect propriety. He had been offered twice as much as he had paid for it, and therefore felt that there would be no difficulty in raising the sum necessary to meet any obligations that others might be under on my account.”[28] On March 2, 1886, President Taylor obtained the agreement of the Quorum of the Twelve on his plan.[29]
George had previously taught that men who married more wives than one should be prepared to “bear the penalty.” Men should be willing to die for Gospel principles as men did in ancient days. If it became necessary to go to prison, there should be no need for “crying.” “Round up your shoulders and bear it like men.”[30] George recorded in his journal that he was perfectly resigned to go to prison and “to have the same pleasure in doing so that I have always had in taking missions.” If it was God’s will for him not to go to prison, he implored his Heavenly Father “that it may not endanger any of His servants, or throw any discredit upon His work, or injure any of its interests in the least degree, or be the means of casting any reflection upon me by the faithful Saints or honest people, or detract from my influence as a servant of God.”[31] Years later, George recalled that President Taylor’s counsel for him to jump bond was the greatest trial of his life. Even “the last night before I was to appear in court, I was strongly inclined to arise from my bed to go to President Taylor’s bed and tell him I must keep that appointment in court, but I did not.” He feared he would be looked upon as a dishonorable “coward.”[32]
On March 17, 1886, George was scheduled to appear in court. It was great grief to him “to be suspected of cowardice, or to have any act of mine bring discredit upon the work, or jeopardise its interests, or endanger any of my brethren, …my conscience is now clear. There was a packed courthouse, with most of the Cannon family subpoenaed there as witnesses under bond. There was in the air an almost electric suspense as to whether George would appear. Abraham Cannon[33], George’s son, came up for sentencing first. Abraham said he couldn’t “sacrifice principle, even to procure life or liberty,” and Judge Zane lectured him. He was sentenced to the full penalty for a single cohabitation offense, six months in prison, $300 and costs of the court. The witnesses were called and all responded. The court ordered the name of “George Q. Cannon” called three times by the bailiff with no response. The court declared the $25,000 bond forfeit, with the provision that if the defendant appeared at 2 p.m. the forfeiture should be set aside.[34]
U. S. Attorney Dickson entered the marshal’s office and exclaimed: “That cur! God damn him! He hasn’t got the courage to stand his trial.” Then discovering that George’s sons John Q. and Abraham were in the room, he hastily retreated. At 2 p.m. the court was again packed, with a crowd outside. The full $45,000 bond was declared forfeit.[35]
George’s friends and associates were more surprised than his enemies at his failure to appear. The jumping of bond “was a new thing here, and that the departure should have been made by a gentleman occupying the position that Mr. Cannon holds in the community was for the moment startling.” The Salt Lake Herald rehearsed the evidences that he had been singled out for special attack because he “was regarded as the leading spirit in the Mormon Church,” and to his influence was charged the fact that the Church remains intact and unyielding, notwithstanding the vigorous assaults against it.” The paper was convinced that the zealous disregard for equal protection of the laws justified Cannon’s disappearance “until justice can be had by him, until he can be fairly tried for what he has done.”[36]
The Deseret News defended George, “that he [Cannon] would not be ‘cur’ enough to force a respectable woman into a room with fifteen other jeering, tobacco-smoking males, and try to make her tell them how often her husband slept in the same bed with her. That he would not be ‘cur’ enough to force a fourteen year old girl to disclose her thoughts and ideas about her own mother.”[37] “Boasts were made, freely stated as having come from the prosecuting attorney, that President Cannon would be held for the term of his natural life,” and that “he would be sent to a distant prison,” where his condition would be “unbearable.” Since the system of segregating offenses had not yet been overthrown by the Supreme Court, there was no limit to the length of imprisonment to which Cannon might be sentenced.[38] “Until packed juries, prejudiced judges, spiteful attorneys, and special arrangements for the conviction of the innocent and the multiplication of penalties upon persons only technically guilty, are things of the past in Utah, our fervent prayer will be that President George Q. Cannon may be safe from contact with the minions of the law whose ears are closed against the pleadings of justice.”[39]
The Salt Lake Tribune stated, “The brethren at the Pen, who had been counseled by George Q. Cannon and other leaders to ‘stand firm,’ go to prison and suffer for ‘conscience sake,’ were doubtless greatly comforted by the intelligence that one of the heads of the Church had left his bondsmen to pay $45,000 rather than ‘stand firm’ himself.” “Had he appeared to answer, they would have applauded his nerve and bravery, and hooted to scorn the base insinuations and slanderous reports that he would flee. Indeed, it may well be believed that each of the Mormon offices had two separate articles written up, and numbered them one and two, the first dealing with Cannon in a heroic vein for coming up boldly and facing his accusers, and the second the sort of thing that was actually printed. It was no doubt a source of sadness and grief to everyone of the scribes who had the slightest spark of manhood in his breast to be obliged to shout through the speaking tube, ‘No. 2 goes.’”[40]
On March 20, 1886, Salt Lake Stake President Angus Cannon, George’s brother, wrote John Sharp and Feramorz Little, sureties, saying that to pay the bond would “defeat our object as a people, wherein we desire to test this question of excessive bail.” Brothers Sharp and Little responded that “our attorneys inform us that we have no legal grounds to stand upon in Court when the Bail is legally due.” President Taylor also dictated a letter urging a refusal to pay since this was the only “opportunity that now presents itself to obtain redress.” The sureties, however, paid the bond.[41] The sureties were later recompensed for their payments and after the Church and federal government became reconciled, Congress appropriated the $45,000 as reimbursement for the amount paid as bonds.[42]
Judge Charles S. Zane, in a prosecution against Lorenzo Snow for unlawful cohabitation, introduced a method of increasing punishment by the process of “segregation.” By subdividing a period of unlawful cohabitation into separate periods, punishments could be multiplied into many years’ imprisonment and heavy fines. Lorenzo Snow had received three sentences of six months imprisonment and a fine of $300 each. The Poland Act of 1874 which authorized appeals to the Supreme Court for polygamy cases made no reference to unlawful cohabitation. On May 10, 1886, in Snow v. U.S., 118 U.S. 340 (1885), the U. S. Supreme Court determined it had no jurisdiction over the case.[43]
George continued on the move in hiding. Among other places, he spent time at the Henry Day home in Draper, a tent in Little Cottonwood Canyon, the home of James Godfrey in Cottonwood, Isaac M. Stewart’s home in Draper and T. F. Rouche’s home in Kaysville.[44]
On September 7, 1886, Edwin Quayle Cannon, the 30th child of George Q. Cannon, was born to Eliza Lamercia Tenney Cannon, in Salt Lake City, while his father was in hiding from federal and civil authorities. Eliza was the only wife of George to avoid being subpoenaed. On several occasions, with Edwin in her arms, she had to hide among the willows that grew thick along the Jordan River, while federal agents looked for her.[45] In November 1886, George wrote Eliza, “I missed seeing you and Edwin Q. on my last visit. I kept on talking and did not notice the lapse of time until Bro. C.[harles] H. W.[ilken] called for me…and I concluded I had not time then to make a call. This I have regretted ever since…Every time I awoke in the night, and that was often, I was reproached in my thoughts for not taking time to see you and Edwin. It is this that calls forth this letter of apology. I hope you will forgive me for this.”[46]
Another reward was posted for the arrest of George: “$800 Reward! To be Paid for the Arrest of John Taylor and George Q. Cannon. The above Reward will be paid for the delivery to me, or for information that will lead to the arrest of John Taylor, President of the Mormon Church, and George Q. Cannon, His Counselor, or $500 will be paid for Cannon alone, and $300 for Taylor. All Conferences or Letters kept strictly secret. S. H. Gilson, 22 and 23 Wasatch Building,…Salt Lake City, Jan. 31, 1887”.[47]
The larger reward for George was a reflection of the perception by many people that he was the power behind the Church. For example, the Salt Lake Tribune editorialized that if Utah was granted statehood, “George Q. Cannon would be the law which would govern it. There is no doubt of this…He would nominate any officer of the state, he would dictate what laws should be passed…he would, in short, be the absolute dictator of Utah.”[48]ENDNOTES:
[1] Davis Bitton, George Q. Cannon: A Biography, Deseret Book Company (1999), p. 270 (Bitton).
[2] Bitton, p. 270. L. John Nuttall was the Secretary to the First Presidency.
[3] Bitton, p. 270.
[4] Bitton, p. 275.
[5] Letters to Eliza Tenney Canon From her husband George Q. Cannon, put together by Mary Alice Barnes Pearson.
[6] Cannon, Mark W., The Mormon Issue in Congress, 1872-1882, Drawing on the Experience of Territorial Delegate George Q. Cannon, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1960, p. 217 (Harvard), citing the Deseret Evening News, February 8, 1886.
[7] B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols., Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930 (CHC), vol. 6, p. 126.
[8] Bitton, p. 276.
[9] Harvard, p. 218, citing Cannon journal (Mark W. Cannon had permission to access George Q. Cannon’s journals for his dissertation); Deseret Evening News story dated February 11, 1886.
[10] Bitton, p. 276, citing the journal of Abraham H. Cannon, dated February 10, 1886.
[11] CHC, vol. 6, p. 126.
[12] Harvard, pp. 218-219; CHC, vol. 6, p. 126.
[13] Frank was the oldest child of George Q. Cannon and Sarah Jenne Cannon. He was originally a compositor in the Juvenile Instructor office, later was a reporter for the Deseret News, became editor of the Ogden Herald in 1887, established the Ogden Standard in 1888, was elected to Congress in 1895 as a delegate for Utah Territory and then to the Senate after Utah became a state, from 1896 to 1899, was editor of the Salt Lake Tribune, then worked for the Rocky Mountain News and died in Denver, Colorado on July 25, 1933. (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Utah History Encyclopedia)
[14] Harvard, p. 224, citing Deseret Evening News of February 15, 1886.
[15] Harvard, pp. 219-220, citing George’s journal.
[16] Harvard, p. 220, citing Deseret Evening News, February 17, 1886.
[17] Harvard, p. 221, citing Cannon journal.
[18] Harvard, p. 221, citing Deseret Evening News of February 19, 1886; CHC vol. 6, p. 126.
[19] Harvard, p. 221, citing Cannon journal.
[20] Harvard, p. 222, citing Deseret Evening News.
[21] Harvard, p. 222, citing Cannon journal.
[22] Harvard, pp. 222-223, citing the Deseret Evening News of February 19, 1886.
[23] Harvard, pp. 223-224.
[24] Harvard, p. 224, citing Cannon journal.
[25] Harvard, pp. 225-226, citing Deseret Evening News of February 23, 1886; Bitton, p. 278.
[26] Cannon, Frank J. and Harvey O'Higgins, Under The Prophet In Utah, C.M. Clark Publishing Co., Boston, Mass., 1911, pp. 47-49 (Under the Prophet)
[27] Bitton, p. 279
[28] Harvard, pp. 227-228, citing Cannon journal.
[29] Harvard, p. 228, citing Cannon journal; Quinn, D. Michael. The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of
of Power. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997, p. 785 (QuinnMH)
[30] Journal of Discourses, 20:77 (1880).
[31] Harvard, p. 229, citing Cannon journal for March 4, 1886.
[32] Harvard, p. 229, citing Cannon journal of November 12, 1895.
[33] Abraham H. Cannon was the second child born to George Q. Cannon and Elizabeth Hoagland. In 1882, at age 23, after returning from the Swiss German Mission, he was called as one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventy and assumed business control of the Juvenile Instructor. He was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1889 until his death on July 19, 1896, from an apparent infection following ear surgery. (Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biograhical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 1, p. 167).
[34] Harvard, pp. 229-230, citing Cannon journal.
[35] Harvard, p. 230, citing Deseret Evening News of March 17, 1886; Bitton p. 279.
[36] Harvard, pp. 230-231, citing the Salt Lake Herald of March 17, 1886.
[37] Harvard, p. 231.
[38] Harvard, p. 227, citing Deseret Evening News of March 17, 1884.
[39] Harvard, p. 231.
[40] Harvard, pp. 231-232, citing the Salt Lake Daily Tribune of March 18, 1886.
[41] Harvard, p. 233, citing Cannon journal of March 19 and 20.
[42] Harvard, p. 233, citing Deseret Evening News of April 12, 1901, George’s date of death.
[43] Harvard, p. 92.
[44] Bitton, p. 281
[45] Beatrice Cannon Evans and Janath Russell Cannon, Cannon Family Historical Treasury, George Cannon Family Association, 1967, pp. 130-131.
[46] Letters to Eliza Tenney Cannon From Her Husband George Q. Cannon, put together by Mary Alice Barnes Pearson.
[47] Bitton, p. 283.
[48] Bitton, p 285, quoting the May 11, 1887 Salt Lake Tribune.
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