ved, routed the rioters, and rescued
the colonel.

[Illustration: Several hundred men.]
Inciting miners to attack Fort Anderson.
The grove between Briceville and Coal Creek.

[Illustration: Train.]
State troops and miners at Briceville, Tenn.

[1891]

The year 1891 formed a crisis in the history of Mormonism in America.
For a long time after their settlement in the "Great American Desert,"
as it was then called, Mormons repudiated United States authority.
Gentile pioneers and recreant saints they dealt with summarily, witness
the Mountain Meadow massacre of 1857, where 120 victims were murdered in
cold blood after surrendering their arms.

[Illustration]
The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City.

Anti-polygamy bills were introduced in Congress in 1855 and 1859. In
1862 such a bill was made law. Seven years later the enforcement of it
became possible by the building of a trans-continental railroad and the
influx of gentiles drawn by the discovery of precious metals in Utah. In
1874 the Poland Act, and in 1882 the Edmunds Act, introduced reforms.
Criminal law was now much more efficiently executed against Mormons. In
1891 the Mormon officials pledged their church's obedience to the laws
against plural marriages and unlawful cohabitation.

America was quick and generous in her response to the famine cry that in
1891 rose from 30,000,000 people in Russia. Over a domain of nearly a
half million square miles in that land there was no cow or goat for
milk, nor a horse left strong enough to draw a hearse. Old grain stores
were exhausted, crops a failure, and land a waste. Typhus, scurvy, and
smallpox were awfully prevalent. To relieve this misery, our people,
besides individual gifts, despatched four ship-loads of supplies
gathered from twenty-five States. In values given New York led,
Minnesota was a close second, and Nebraska third. America became a
household word among the Russians even to the remotest interior.

CHAPTER V.

THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION

[Illustration: Large parade.]
Columbian Celebration, New York, April 28, 1893.
Parade passing Fifth Avenue Hotel.

[1892-1893]

The thought of celebrating by a world's fair the third centennial of
Columbus's immortal deed anticipated the anniversary by several years.
Congress organized the exposition so early as 1890, fixing Chicago as
its seat. That city was commodious, central, typically American. A
National Commission was appointed; also an