About this Book

This collection of the prison memoirs and letters of the first Mormon
convicted of violating the Edmunds Law, which prohibited polygamy, provides
a unique perspective on this period of Utah history. Rudger Clawson (1857-1943)
was a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
serving as missionary, stake president, apostle, president of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles, and counselor in the First Presidency.
His memoirs of three years as a "cohab" in the Utah Territorial
Penitentiary are published here for the first time. They reflect the pride
Mormon polygamists felt at being "prisoners for conscience sake,"
and they include discussions of Mormon doctrines, accounts of daring prison
escapes, details of prison life, and the sense of a husband's frustration
at being separated from his plural wife.