511 CHAPTER 29.
1886.
THE year 1886 opened with conditions surrounding the work which may be reviewed briefly with profit to present and future generations. The prosecutions and convictions under the Edmunds law were increasing in Utah to such an extent that the historian, Andrew Jensen, in his "Church Chronology," paints this somber picture of the scene:
The prosecutions under the Edmunds law for polygamy and unlawful cohabitation were continued, and nearly every settlement of the Saints were [was] raided by United States deputy marshals, in search of polygamists. Fearing the impossibility of a fair trial, hundreds of the brethren and many families went into exile, some of whom sought refuge in Mexico and others in Canada. Nearly all the leaders of the church were in hiding, and the situation throughout Utah was truly critical.-Page 127.
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