Joseph Conway Hemingray

HOT SHOT FROM CANNON.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE UXOBIOUS

UTAH DELEGATE.

Mormon Persecutors Pilloried - His Opinion of Maxwell,

Hemingray, and Young - Plunder at the Bottom - The

Wives He Acknowledges and the Girls He Denies -

The Future of the Mormon Church.

A representative of THE POST called upon Hon. Geo. Q. Cannon, of Utah, at his residence, No. 611 Thirteenth street, yesterday, for the purpose of talking with that distinguished gentleman concerning Mormon matters in Congress, for the benefit of the innumerable readers of the best paper published in Washington.

The reporter, who had never before had the pleasure of seeing the Representative of the Latter Day Saints in Congress, was rather surprised when a benevolent-looking gentleman, a little past middle age, entered the room, and cordially extending his hand, invited the newspaper intruder to a seat. If this, thought our hired man, is the polygamous person so often described by the Salt Lake Gentiles as the very embodiment of all wickedness, certainly the earthly tabernacle gives but little outward token of the blackness of the soul within. Stating the object of his call, the reporter referred to recent interviews published in THE POST with General Maxwell and Delegate Fenn, of Idaho. Mr. Cannon replied that he had read the interview with Mr. Fenn, and thought it a very fair and impartial statement of affairs in the Territory of Idaho. As for Maxwell, he had not seen his talk, and didn't think anything he had said or might say worthy of notice. As Andy Johnson said of Forney, he (Maxwell) was a dead duck He had fought and beaten him and his gang, and didn't now consider them of any more consequence than flies on a bull's horn. Maxwell had contested his seat in the Forty-third Congress, and resorted to everything mean and disreputable to gain his point. He (Cannon) had conquered his enemies and slanderers by a square stand-up fight on the merits of the case, and beaten them then, as he expected, by the same method of warfare, to defeat this new lot in the contest now pending.

"Do you know anything of the antecedents of Judge Hemingray, the gentleman who is now here conducting the fight against the Mormons?" asked the reporter.

"No, sir; I have heard of him at Salt Lake, but never knew him until he came to Washington this winter."

"What do you know of John C. Young?"

"That he is utterly beneath the contempt of an honorable man. A man who will not only sit by and hear his own father abused and slandered, but join in the attack himself, is, in my opinion, a 'snoop.' [We are not certain of the orthography or meaning of this word, but, judging from the tone in which it was uttered, a snoop must be a very mean sort of thing in the opinion of Mr. Cannon. - Rep.] I consider the fellow without character, who deserves kicking and who would not resent the insult if kicked. He and his gang have been slandering me in their paper at Salt Lake for years, and though a journalist myself, I have never replied, for the simple reason that they were not worthy of it. This fellow, Young, got his position on their paper out there because of the facilities his relationship to Mormons gave for acting the part of spy on his own kindred. My main reason for not defending myself in the papers here, and my reluctance to appear in print, even in this way, arises from my contempt for this fellow, who only wants some one to do so in order to give him an opportunity to make himself prominent by replying. I don't like to gratify him. He is beneath contempt."

"What, in your opinion, is the main object of this anti-Mormon crusade?"

"It means plunder - nothing else. The combined effect of the three bills now before Congress will be to disfranchise nine-tenths of the people of the Territory, and place all political power and all control of the revenue in the hands of the minority. Already they labor under disadvantage such as the people of no other Territory are troubled with. Take the jury law, for instance. Although the Mormons constitute, as I have said, nine-tenths of the population, the law requires an equal number of Mormon and non-Mormon names to be put in the box; and so it may happen, as it came very nearly doing at one time, that a full jury of anti-Mormons may be drawn. Not long since, by some 'shenanigan,' as we thought, thirteen out of fifteen jurors drawn were anti-Mormons."

"They claim that already over forty millions of Gentile capital as been invested in mining enterprises in Utah, and that they are as much interested in the welfare of the Territory as the Mormons."

"Do you know that there is no law for the taxation of mines in Utah, and that, in consequence, all of this Gentile mining property escapes its just share of taxation?"

"Why are the mines not taxed as other property?"

"Because the Governor of Utah, unlike any other Governor of any State or Territory, has the power of absolute veto."

"How did he acquire it?"

"By the organic act of Congress.""

"Have efforts been made by the Mormon Legislature to tax mining property, and has the Governor interfered?"

"Yes, sir; movements in that direction have been made, and that is one thing that accounts for the milk in the cocoanut. Why, sir, to show you the spirit that actuates them, it is not only necessary to state that one of the most serious accusations they have filed against Governor Emory is the charge that he cannot be depended upon to veto the bills taxing mines. This talk about the superior property interests of the Gentiles in Utah is all nonsense. No interest is suffering from excessive taxation in that Territory, and certainly the great bulk of the people are quite as much interested in that question as these gentlemen are. Why, this man Hemingray, I was told in Salt Lake, has only paid seventy-five cents in taxes since he has been a resident of the Territory, and that has been a good while. I do not vouch for this; I tell it as it was told to me."

"Is it true that the Church exercises such influences over the Mormon voters as the anti-Mormons claim?"

"The stories about the influence brought to bear are utterly unfounded. Of course we, like all other organizations, use all legitimate influences on our people to cause them to vote for what we believe to be the best interests of the whole people. But all stories about espionage and coercion are wholly without foundation in fact."

"What about all this talk of marked tickets? I saw one of these covered with some sort of hieroglyphics?"

"I'll tell you all about that. The idea originated with Mr. Melton Musser, a gentleman who acted as manager of our election affairs, just as chairmen of political committees do everywhere. For several elections the opposition had been imitating our tickets, and placing names of their own among our nominees, for the purpose of deceiving ignorant or careless voters. Even Orson Pratt, smart as he is, was taken in by the trick. To defeat this Musser, in his zeal, got up the ticket you saw. It was done in my absence, and as quick as I heard of it I protested, for I knew it would be seized upon by our enemies for purposes of misrepresentation. That was the only time that these phonetic signs were placed on the outside of the ticket, and, of course, it was charged that it was done for the purpose of identifying persons who voted against us for future punishment. We now print, for our protection against fraud, a portion of the inside of the ticket in these phonetic signs, and warn our people of it, in order that they may not be deceived."

"Everything there in politics in Mormon or anti-Mormon, is it not?"

"Yes, sir, in all local issues we divide in that way; some non-Mormon, however, vote with us sometimes because of the superior character of our candidates, or from other causes, such as usually occasion scratching in elections everywhere. The Mormons generally on National issues are inclined to be Democratic, and all other things being equal, in the respective candidates of the parties, would vote the Democratic ticket."

"Pardon my apparent impertinence, Mr. Cannon, but I have heard that ii is reported that the Mrs. Cannon here with you is not your first or legal wife as it is put, and it is further charged that there is an effort on your part to conceal from the public her identity, in order to shield both you and her from the consequences of prosecution."

"This has not been published, has it?"

"No, sir, not that I know of; but is certainly circulated on the streets, as is also the rumor that you are to be arrested under the District laws."

"This whole story is utterly false. She's my . . . [illegible text] . . . engaged five years and married in 1854. She is the mother of eleven children, one of whom, her oldest son, was with me in Washington last winter acting as my private secretary."

[Mr. Cannon didn't seem to be very much terrified at the threatened arrest - in fact, laughed at the idea, and said he defied them to make the attempt.]

Resuming, the reporter remarked: "They also accuse you of marrying two wives since your election to Congress?"

"Yes, they accuse me of having six in all, two of which, I know they say, I married after my election. Both charges are utterly false, as I told Hemingray, the other day, before the committee." If I had taken additional wives I would have had the good sense to select young ones. One of the women they accuse me of taking is sixty years old, and has children grown. Even if I had had the disposition - and I have not had - I would have subordinated it to the interests of my constitutes. I could not have the law of "62 without affecting my standing in Congress, to the detriment of myself and my people. Nothing would have pleased our enemies better than to have had the opportunity to raise that issue on me."

'Pardon me, but may I inquire how many wives you acknowledge?"

"Yes, sir; I have four. If I was disposed to treat the subject lightly, I would say I have enough to keep me from meddling with the wives and daughters of other men."

"What has been the effect on contact with the Gentiles on the church membership? Has it been productive of much apostasy?"

"Yes, sir; and, viewing from a natural, a non-Mormon stand-point, the influences now surrounding the church must ultimately destroy it. With a free hostile press constantly attacking the church, with the railroads, the telegraphs, the various proselytizing efforts of all the different denominations, through their free schools and other agencies, working against it, nothing but the interposition of divine power can prevent the ultimate downfall of the system. This will, as anyone can see, be the natural result, but as a Mormon, firmly believing in the faith, I have no doubt of divine succor, and, in common with my fellow-religionists, I look for the promised protection from above."

This and much more of interest Mr. Cannon said during the conversation, but lack of space precludes the publication of all but the substance of the more essential points at this time.