n his activity. In the
course of their investigations they discovered that he did not know the
persons whom he married. They would come to his house, in the evening,
wearing handkerchiefs over their faces; he sat hidden behind a screen in
his parlor; and under these circumstances the two were declared man
and wife, and were sealed up to everlasting bliss to rule over
principalities and kingdoms, with power of endless increase and
progression. He refused to tell the hierarchy from which one of the
authorities he had received his endowment to perpetrate these crimes.
He refused to give the names of any of the victims, claiming that he did
not know them!

It is probable that for a long time plural marriage ceremonies were not
solemnized within the Salt Lake temple. Now, we know that there have
lately been such marriages in it, and at Manti, and at Logan, and
perhaps also in the temple at St. George. There are cases on record
where a man has a wife on one side of the Utah-Colorado line and another
wife across the border. No prosecutions are possible in Utah; for, as
Joseph F. Smith told the Senate committee, the officers of the law
have too much "respect" for the ecclesiastical rulers of the state.
Similarly, in the surrounding states, the officers show exactly the
same sort of "respect" and for the same reason. They not only know
the Church's power in local politics, but they see the national
administration allowing the polygamists and priests of the Church
to select the Federal officials, and they are not eager to rouse a
resentment against themselves, at Washington as well as at home, by
prosecuting polygamous Mormons.

Some few years ago, Irving Sayford, then representing the Los Angeles
Times, asked Mr. P. H. Lannan, of the Salt Lake Tribune, why someone did
not swear out warrants against President Smith for his offenses against
the law. Mr. Lannan said: "You mean why don't I do it?"

"Oh, no," Mr. Sayford explained, "I don't mean you particularly."

"Oh, yes, you do," Mr. Lannan said. "You mean me if you mean anybody. If
it's not my duty, it's no one's duty.... Well, I'll tell you why.... I
don't make a complaint, because neither the district attorney nor the
prosecuting attorney would entertain it. If he did entertain it and
issued a warrant, the sheriff would refuse to serve the warrant. If the
sheriff served the warrant, there would be no witnesses unless I got
them. If I could get the witnesses, they wouldn't