[Angus M. Cannon]
... I called upon Pres[ident]. [Heber J.] Grant, in his bedroom, before he was up and talked matters over with him relating to the ordination of 2 additional members of the 'Twelve.' ... I feel that the two brethren [i.e., John W. Taylor and Matthias F. Cowley] who have been supplanted have only been suspended, temporarily, from necessity to keep the Church from persecution. He said:'I feel they have proved refractory after taking upon themselves the responsibility to marry people, if not to take wives themselves, without God's justification,'as witness: Abraham H. Cannon, A[braham]. O[wen]. Woodruff & M[arriner]. W[ood]. Merrill's early death, who evidently did take upon themselves, to do that which we agreed should not be done. I replied:'Bro[ther]. Grant,'the late President Brigham Young, once said:'Hansen Walker, a Bishop who lived at Pleasant Grove, Utah, had eaten so much stolen beef he could not talk and that is how I am situated. I know so much, that I cannot talk hence I will not say more, than that I cannot understand, knowing what I do, how brethren can vote to suspend those two brethren from their positions perm[a]n[e]ntly. He replied:''I do not blame brethren who have gone into that principle, through these two mens instrumentality or ministrations, for they cannot be held to be equally guilty, but I know: I could not get liberty to do what I wished without committing a breach of good faith, when I hoped to have a son to bear my name,'and now it appears as if I must have my name blotted out from the earth.' I dare say no more but realized he did not take in the scope of my thoughts. Hence I changed the subject.
[Angus M. Cannon Diary, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
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