n the
continuance of polygamous cohabitation by polygamists who had married
before 1890; but it was contended that to understand this acquiescence
it was "necessary to recall some historical facts, among which are
some that indicate that the United States government is not free from
responsibility for these violations of the law."

In short, although Reed Smoot was one of a confessed band of
law-breaking traitors, he was of "irreproachable" private character.
Although the band had been guilty of every treachery, none of the band
had admitted that Smoot had encouraged them in their villainies. Smoot
had only "silently acquiesced"--and in this he had been no guiltier
than the intimidated bystanders and the gagged victims of the outrages.
Although the gang had stolen the machinery of elections and used it to
print a Senatorial certificate for Smoot, there was nothing to show that
the form of the certificate was not correct. Moreover, the band operated
in politics as a religious organization, and the constitution of the
United States protects a man in his right of religious freedom!

Chapter XIV. Treason Triumphant

While these disclosures of the Smoot investigation were shocking the
sentiment of the whole nation, the Prophets carried on the conspiracy of
their defense with all the boldness of defiant guilt. In Salt Lake City,
the office of the United States Marshal and even the post-office were
watched for the arrival of subpoenas from Washington; men were posted
in the streets to give the alarm whenever the Marshal should attempt to
serve papers; and before he entered the front door of a Mormon's house,
the Church sentry had entered by the back door to warn the inmates. If
the Federal power had been moving in a foreign land, it could not
have been more determinedly opposed by local authority. Notorious
polygamists, wanted as witnesses before the Senate committee, made a
public flight through Utah, couriered, flanked and rear-guarded by the
power of the hierarchy. One of these law-breakers (who, it was known,
had been subpoenaed) went from Salt Lake City to take secret employment
in one of the Church's sugar factories in Idaho. When he was discovered
there and served with the Senate requisition, he gave his word that he
would appear at Washington, and then he fled with his new polygamous
wife to a polygamous Mormon settlement in Alberta, Canada--a fugitive,
honored because he was a fugitive, and officially