Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-09-12
IN MEMORIAM.
Resolutions Of Respect, Adopted by the
Citizens Of Memphis and Rogers
vile, to the Memory of the
late Captain Sam R.
Cannon.

morning In the yard OF the Presby-
terian church.
Hon. w. A. Collier, of Memphis.
called the meeting to order, stated its
object and moved that Judge j. r.
Flippin, Of Memphis, be chosen chair
man-carried, and on motion of Mr.
W. w. Etter, Hon. j. Harvey Mathes
was elected secretary.
Judge Q. w. Heiskell moved that a
committee Of six be appointed to re-
port suitable resolutions, which car
ried and the chair appointed G. w
Heiskell, G. p. NJ. Turner and w. a.
Collier, of Memphis, and w. H. Wat
terson, Hugh G. Kyle and w. N.
Clarkson, Of Rogersville. The com-
mittee retired and subsequently re-
ported the following.
Friends-We have gathered here to
pay our tribute of respect to a loved
and loving friend. Fleeing from the
pestilence, and his home, he died, not
among strangers; but among those he
loved, and those who loved him. even
at the home of his childhood, among
those who watched his tender years of
youth and ever prayed for his pros
perity and happiness.
Samuel Rhea Cannon was born in
Blountsville, Sullivan county, Tenn.
January 26, 1887, and died on the 10th
of August, 1879, near Rogersville, in
the forty-third year of his age. His
childhood and early manhood were
spent in East Tennessee and South
western Virginia, where he was edu-
Gated. He was a graduate of the Leb.
anon law school, and commenced the
practice of his profession in the State
OF Arkansas, in partnership with
Major Ice Ramseur. At the outbreak
of the war ne enlisted in the Confed-
crate army at Fayetteville, Ark, and
was in the battle Of Springfield, Mo.
under General Mccullough. Some
time after this he came to his native
East Tennessee and raised company
Of infantry, in the Sixtieth Tennessee
regiment, where he served as captain
until taken prisoner at the battle of
Big Black, Miss, on the 18th day of
May, 1863, He remained in prison
until February %, 1865, when he
rejoined his command, and continued
in the service until the close of the
war. Soon after the close of the war
he sought home in Illinois, where he
taught a school, and in 1866 removed
to Memphis, where he has resided for
the last thirteen years, in the practice
Of his profession. Its highest honors
we're almost within his grasp when he
was utdown, and the accomplishments
of his life, substantial as they we're. were
earnests only of what his friends hoped
for him. In 1872 he was appointed
assistant attorney general of the Grim
inal Court of Shelby county. In this
capacity he had served six years with
faithfulness and eminent ability.
Upon the testimony of the then pre-.
siding judge of that court, we can
state that of the almost innumerable
indictments he then drew, scarcely
one was ever squashed. For the last
year he has been practicing his pro-
lession with the realization and conf
dent expectation of an ever increasing
practice. He was a man of fine sense.
sound judgment and clear views of
right. Asa speaker he was forcibleand
pointed, stating the facts of a case
without exaggeration, and arguing the
law with frmness and perspicuity. He
was a most admirable craftsman of
legal documents of all kinds, and
scarcely ever made a mistake in his
Office work. In the social walks of
like he shone with peculiar, yet soft
est luster A more genial soul the
human form never enshrined. No
kinder nature ever illumined human
face, and no more contagious mirth
ever beamed from human eve or burst
forth from human lips. "0f infinite
jest" he was, but no barb ever ranked
where his wit struck-no malice ever
pointed a joke. Without guile he
never had mean impulse, and his
native politeness never deserted him
even in the dolirium of congestion and
death.
What social gathering ever failed to
brighten when he came? and how
often over and over again has he set
us all roar by his palpable hits and
inimitably humorous remarks and
mellow wit. If each mirthful saving
of his life breathing the joys of his
exuberant nature wherever he went.
and scattering them to bless all around
him. were now to bloom, as flowers on
his grave, the scent of the roses would
cling around it forever. And if each
of us, who have a thousand times
laughed at his mirth-provoking humor
until our eyes ran tears, were to drop
a flower on his grave we would bury
him fathoms deep in immortelles
That he had faults is only to say he
was a man, but even these were
against himself more than Others
Leaving, then, his sins to his Sa-
yiour," let us hold in everlasting re-
membrance his forgiving spirit, his
gentleness Of nature, and enshrine in
our hearts forever his guilelessno.s
and nobility of soul; therefore. be nj
Resolved, |. That In the death ofI
Captain Samuel r. Cannon the legal
profession has lost useful, honorable
and most promising member, whose
life was cut off in the high noon of
ere he roaped the harvest
that he had sown, and his friends so
confidently hoped for him.
2. That all Of us have lost a loved
and loving friend, whose genial nature
was only equaled by his all-abounding
charity for the faults Of his fellow
men.
3, That the friends of his far off
home mingle our tears with those ofI
his childhood friends, and our sympa-
thy with theirs for his untimely death.
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