The Scandal of a Spokane Millionaire's Secret Marriage
After his bank failed and his first wife passed away, A.M. Cannon's secret wedding to a divorced woman sparked a nationwide media sensation and accusations of insanity.
Anthony M. Cannon was one of the wealthiest men in Spokane—Dun's Mercantile Agency rated him at $3,500,000 two years ago. The bride is a granddaughter of the late William Noble Davis, of New York. Mr. Cannon and Mrs. Ward first met in Spokane about two years ago. On top of the affliction of his first wife's death came the failure of the Spokane Falls bank, a private institution of which Mr. Cannon was proprietor. The hard times made it very difficult for Mr. Cannon to put his affairs into proper shape, and his health finally succumbed to the strain of work. He began to feel that life would be a useless burden unless he could find somebody to sympathize with him sincerely. So he went to Helena and asked Mrs. Ward to marry him. Fearing that his creditors and other business associates might think him mentally deranged if they heard that he had married a woman much younger than himself so soon after the demise of his first wife, Mr. Cannon asked his bride to keep the match a secret for awhile. In a twinkling the people of both towns were treated to sensational stories of a multi-millionaire lured into matrimony by a wild adventuress.
“It would be strange indeed if the community of Spokane did not fall back on its better nature and its grateful instinct, at least far enough to admit that it has no right to complain if I have sought to brighten the few years which remain to me on earth.”
Cannon's public letter is a fascinating look at 19th-century 'spin,' where a wealthy man tries to frame his personal financial ruin and marital scandal as a noble pursuit of happiness against the unfair gossiping of the public.
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