Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-04-27
CANNON'S TRIAL.
An Entire Day Spent in Impaneling a
Jury.
POlygamists Express All
Shades of Belief.
One Man FOund Not Intelligent Enough
to Sit on Any Jury.

The trial, for unlawful Capitalization, OF
Angus NJ Cannon, president OF the center
stake of Zion, commenced in the Third
District Court this morning. The official
prominence of the defendant, and his
defiant attitude and utterances since his
Indictment, have invested the case with
unusual interest and a large body OF
spectators, both Mormon and Gentle,
were present, and watched the proceed
ings with the keenest interest. Messrs.
Dickson and Varian prosecuted the case.
Bennett, Hardness & Kirkpatrick, Suther-
land & Mcbride, Arthur Brown and f. S.
Richards appeared for the defense and it
is hard to understand why the few re-
naming members OF the Salt Lake bar
were not called upon. The defendant
entered the court room shortly after 10
o'clock and innocently sat down next to
Tribune reporter whose presence was no
sooner discovered than Cannon found it
convenient to change his seat.
The names of the following witnesses
for the prosecution were called: Rachel
NJ. Cannon. Clara G. Cannon, Angus
NJ. Cannon, Jr, Mrs. Angus NJ. Cannon,
Jr., Louis NJ Cannon, George NJ. Can
non and Amanda NJ. Cannon. The at
torneys for both sides then announced
they were ready to proceed and twelve
Jurors were called to the box and sub
iected to the rigid examination usual in
such cases. They were first examined
by Mr. Arthur Brown, who seems to have
been selected to engineer the case for the
defense.
A. w. Carlson, book-keeper at the
Coop, had formed an unqualified
opinion, but as he was a Mormon, the
defense thought it pretty safe to take
chances on his opinion and passed him.
After consulting with his half dozen col
leagues Mr.. Brown concluded to chal-
lenge Mr.. Clute for his unqualified
opinion and the prosecution challenged
Carlson for the same cause. The other
Jurors were accepted by the defense.
Mr.. Dickson then took the jurors in
hand and questioned them in regard to
their belief in the right of a man to have
more than one wife.
Messrs. Mackey, Beattie and J. T.
Smith all believed polygamy to be the
proper thing, and their seats were speed
ily vacated. G. D. Brinton was also
ordered to "stand aside' for the same
reason.
Archibald G.. Shields believed in the
doctrines of the Mormon church and the
revelations.
Mr. Dickson DO you believe in the
practice of plural marriage?
Il l. I L II. -
for the protection of female virtue.
Q.-You believe it right, then?
Ayes; l believe it is better than
prostitution.
Dickson-We challenge this juror.
Mr.. Brown Ito the juror)-Do you be-
lieve it right in view of the laws against
it?
Al believe it right to sustain the
laws of the country.
Mr.. Brown-We deny the challenge.
Mr. Dickson-Do you believe it is right
for man to obey the laws of God when
they conflict those of man?
A-Well, it is because l amt solid on
that point that | amt bona fide mem
Der of the church. | think those who
go into polygamy thinking it right ought
to go unmolested
Quite a fight ensued between the at
torneys over this Juror, but he was finally
excluded by the court for actual bias.
NJ. S. Simons, ]. NJ. Richardson, Phil
Ripple, Peter Claws and w. d. Palmer
were accepted by the prosecution, and
they were sworn Seven more Jurors
were called to fill up the empty chairs,
and were examined by Mr.. Brown.
+. L. Kessler had formed an unquali-
fed opinion. Mr.. Brown created con-
siderable establishment and amusement
by asking him if he believed in cohabit-
ing with more than one woman.
He replied that he did not, and Mr.
Brown finally concluded to accept all of
these jurors, and turned them over to
Mr. Dickson
Willard PiXton was a Mormon. He
had never cohabited with more than one
woman, but believed it right for a man to
have several wives. He was "fired"
from the jury box.
George Openshaw was taken up next
He was member of the Mormon
Church.
Mr.. Dickson-Do you believe in the
revelations given to the Church?
Openshaw-Which one?
Dickson-All of them.
A.-Well, believe some of them as
far as l understand them and the others
don't know nothing about.
Q.-You have heard of the revelation
concerning polygamy?
Ayes, / have heard of it.
Q.-Do you believe it was genuine or
spurious revelation.
Al don't believe nothing about it.
| don't know.
Q.-Do you believe that revelation was
given to the Church.
A.-Sometimes | do and sometimes /
don't. didn't see it given.
Q.-Don't you believe in the existence
of anything you don't see?
A.-No.
Q.-Do you believe there is city called
New York?
Ayes, because l have heard the tes-
timony of those who have seen it.
Q-Haven't you heard the testimony of
others that the revelation concerning
polygamy was given?
Ayes, but I've heard lots of testi-
mony that it wasn't given. daughter
Nearly everybody outside the church says
it wasn't given. was never taught that
it was the duty of members to practice
plural marriage.
After some further examination it was
discovered that the Juror believed the
revelation "might have been given, and
then again it mightn't."
The juror was challenged by the prose
cution and excused by the court, Judge
Zane expressing the opinion that the
juror evidently did not possess sufficient
intelligence to sit on any jury.
VIM. Groesbeck thought his friendship
for defendant would prevent him from
acting as an impartial juror, and he was
excused.