The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-12-17
RAKE Up SKELETON
ON IDAHO MAYOR
Brother of His First Wife Ac-
cuses Him of DESERVING Her
and Children.
OFFICIAL MAKES REPLY
Declares That No Shadow
Rests ON His Divorce and
Remarriage.
Snenial 70 The 'Tribune.

Special 10 The Tribune.
ROISE. Ida. Dec 1s.-Confronted with
a family skeleton resurtccted from events
of thirty wears ago wherein he Is charged
with The desertion Of his former Vic,
leaving her destitute with several ch'i-
dren and in delicate condition, ana
then marrying the wife OF another ma1l'
wreckins his domestic happiness -. j.
Brannock, mayor OF The city Of Foyetc,
Ida has been subjected TO bitter at
tack in his home city which has created
= statewide sensation. due 10 MS Pronh-
ncnsa Mayor Brsnnock admits the seps
ration from his first wife and his mar
riaEe with The second, but denies that his
actions were unlawful or that he has
committed any wrong.
Brother Is Accuser.
The charge Of wife desertion laid st
the door of Mayor Brannock is contained
In a letter written 10 the authorities IN
Paye,te bv A. \. Hodges, brother of the
FIRST wife. In his letter Hodges says
in part:
''H. j. Brannock about the year 1866
married my sister. Sarah Hodges. and
lived with her number of years. About
1880 they were living in Johnson county,
Tennessee, and he sent his wife, Sarah
Hodges. and the two children (they had
6ye) TO her relatives living In Virginia
for a visit and then deserted her and ,the
Two children in Virginia aud the tnfee
children who were in Tennessee. and ran
away with Mrs. Lou Mollcr, the wife OF
Joe Molcr, causing her 10 desert her
husband and two children. lie LEFT MS
wife and fivc children destitute and PEN
nIless and without means OF gaining a
living except the charity OF relatives. Al
that time his lawful. respectable wife,
Sarah Hodges Brannock. was pregnant
and afterwards gave birth 10 The sixth
child. The relatives and children OF thus
deserted woman want people TO know
Just what kind OF man this Brannock is:
for We believe that the law-ahiding and
respectable citizens do not want such
man TO govern them.
Desertion Without Cause, They Say.
The letter is written from Galax. Va,
and the affidavits properly sworn Ia are
by c. e. and w w. Gillespie residents
OF that city. In them they state they
der which BrannoclS deserted his wife
and family and that the desertion was
without cause. with the additional charge
that when Mr. BrannoclS married Mrs.
NTolIcr. neither the latter nor BrsnDoct
had secured n legal separation.
Mayor Brannock regards the public dis
closures as attemnt 10 oust him from
In an open letter he gives MS side OF the
story. saving In part as follows:
~ had hoped that tho unfortunate OK
perieuco OF my first marriage would re-
main TO nv latter years only an I'M
pleasant memory, and that my last days
congenial surroundings, Such docs not
seem 10 he the case, and the human
hyenas and jaclsals who would deIve into
tho grave in an effort To satisfy their ap
petite for slime and fifth are busy In
their efforts. Men who have ceased 10
blush from having TOO much io blush
for arc on my trail and determined to
drag DIy misfortuncs TO light,
Says He Will Keep Secret,
In his letter Hodges makes The
statement that I abandoned wife and
left with the wife Of another man in Ten
nessee IN 1850. This is barefaced and
uumitiesled lie. My first wife and I did
not get along happily together. ! make
Tho unqualified assertion that | was the
wrongcd and injured member of the
family There are things I will not dis
close for the sake OF the children. My
wife abandoned mo- taking one Of our
three children with her TO brother In
eral months she wrote me that she
wanted TO come back. / never answered
the letter.
Weds Eight Years Later
Il made arrangements with a sister
who lived III TsylorviIle, Tenn. 10 care
for the Two children. and went into
North Carolina with man named Bow
ers. Willie OH this trip ] met Mrs. Mar
ley who had gone TO her people In
Wautauga COUNTY, Her husband who
drunken and dissoiute man, had
loft her with two children. There was
bond OF sympathy between us on &C
was in 1880. left there in the spring
Of 1881 and started for Pueblo. but
stopped at Kansas city and remained
in tho state about n year. and then went
respondencc with Mrs. Marley. who lived
near Memphis. Tenn. My first wife Sc
cured divorce on November 80, 1852
in The circuit court of Jackson county
Tenn.
After living in Bloomington for sey-
ersl years and corresponding with Mrs
in Cincinnati and we're married In Gov
lnston, Ky. December 81. 1855, by thC
Rev, A. G. Davidson, pastor OF the Firs
hHnis dlzie eTrG payisson IN and ng TrFsS%s1 onr
This man Hodges Is disreputabl'
and illiteraic man from the lakewood,
of Virginia. The whole affair is ahmed
by my political enemies 20 undo me anc
ruin me In the city OF Payette and Ida
hc refuse 10 he intImidated II Il
with the greatest regret bare these
events nf my life TO the public
~ those depraved beings who arr
satisfied with nothing but morsel @
scaEdal TO feed upon think TO intimdat'
M into running under fire. they hav
runther chance AZ 81. I have committed
no crime and shall stand firm IN tn
consciousness OF our own uprightncs
and integrity.
IT H. o nlalevolent and malicious spiri
Of hatred that would impel men TO 81
hack thirty-one years In a mans life 4
rcsNrrect skeleton OF the past Their
are perhaps In rhe lives OF all me,
things they would fain forget. but ther
are also ghouls and wretches who's
subsistence is obtained by muckr5kin,
and delviug into slime and nth. VIII
OF The present men now bounding m
shall cast the first stone?''
Arrange Special Services.
Special 10 The Tribune.
OGDEN. Dee. l5.-The Rt. Rev Frank
lin SnalG ling L d hlshor o. "a