The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-05-03
told STORY ( J I
ONLY. J !. AS S JOKE
Angus Cannon Declares on the
Sand That What He Had
Said Was Untrue.
TIL: MARRIAGE ON 9 A BOAT
Asserts That l:l: He Related the
Yarn Merelystto, Deceive
the Gentiles.
fBy Associated Press)


WASHINGTON, D.. c. May 2.-Angus
NJ. Cannon. il. son Of Angus NJ. Can
moi. former president for the Salt Lake
Stake Of Morrnons in Utah, Travelled from
Sail Lake to Washington to inform the
sen,te Committee oil Privileges and Elec-
ton. that he made false statements In
informing prominent Gentilcs in Utah
that Prcsidett Joseph F. Smith, Of the
Mormon Church, had performed plural
narrilge..
Mr.. Cannon, Jr., was a witness In the
#smoGt investigation to-day. He said he
had told false stories in regard TO Presl-
dent Smith nnrrying his cousin. Abram
II Cannon, ID Lillian Hamlin, a fourth
wife. His onl excuse was that he had
been drinking, and conceived the idea
that to tell s1ch story would be
good joke on the Gentiles referred to,
..as anything against thesdormons ticAlcd
them all over $g 53s
The witness said he knew Abram II.
Cannon intimatly. as they had been as
socated togcthr in business He said
Abrarn had thne wives at the time Of
shIs death, in tie fall OF 1896. but there
was another wife he knew about. He
gave tho narnes Of the three wives as.
Sarah NJ. Jenkiis, Wilhelmina H. Can
non, sister OF ,tft witness. and Mary E.
Croxall. Abram Fl. Cannon had children
by all of them.
The StGy He Told.
b In response to qlestioris. answered with
the briefest of adilissionS,i 1t was drawn
from the witness that l,e. had told u. ".
Wilson, a Salt Late bank cashier, and
others within thes nst two weeks that
In 1896. In Los Anseles, ten or twelve
people chartered a vessel for the Catalina
Islands. and that inAthe party. in addi-
+ tion to himself, were Joseph j.. Smith
and one or his wives I. Al,.aSn II. Cannon
and his wife, Nilhelnnila ter to wit
ness; a man named Langfordf and Lillian
Hamlin. After the boat had gone sor1e
distance from Los Angeles, members OF
the party, with two or three exceptions,
retired to thetcabn. and there Joseph y.
Smith married Cannon and Lillian Ham-s
lin. The witness said that after his
sister, Cannon's second wife, heard what
was going on, she "go. angry and left
the cabin" ff;
When asked how he happened to tell
the story in regard to the marriage. the
witness said: "Well, | had read the tes-
timony which MI. Smith gave in Wash
lngton, and told Mr.. Wilson that knew
that Smith did know OF polySamous
marriages since the manifesto, because
he had performed one himself"
Still Thinks He Did.
Are you s,ill satisfied that Smith
married them?" asked Senator Dubois.
"Of course, don't know that he mar
ried them, but l think that he did" was
the answer.
/ Witness said Lillian Hamlin had q
daughter named Marva Cannon, and that
Marva was recognized as Abram II.
Cannons child.
Tho witness, in reply to questions by
Senator McComas. said he had been
drinking when he told the story about
the marriage on the boat. and that he did
1t as a joke. When the subpoena came
he said he told his brother-in-law that
what he had been telling was all .hot
air."
AT the afternoon session Mr.. Cannon
said he arrived here early to-day, and
that he met Senator Smoot and talked
over what he (Cannon) was to testify to
at the hearing.
The committee adjourned subject to
call.