By Tom Collins
Carrie Stephens, the daughter of Arizona pioneer Varney Stephens, was married off to a scoundrel and poseur named W. Claude Jones when she was just 15 years old. Her groom, 49 years old, who had been Speaker of the House of Representatives for the First Territorial Arizona Legislature, deserted her after just a few months of marriage. Unbeknownst to the Stephens family, he absconded to Hawaii, where he wormed his way into politics and married a young Hawaiian girl descended from nobility.
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