They purchased large quantities of Lithuanian publications in East Prussia, smuggled them across the Prussia–Russia border, and distributed across Lithuania reaching as far as Riga and Jelgava in present-day Latvia.

Active as a book smuggler for 32 years, Bielinis was arrested five times[2] but never tried or sentenced and developed a folk hero reputation for his ability to outsmart the police.

His newborn son and wife died in late 1867 or early 1868, and Bielinis decided to rent part of his farm and use the money to pursue primary education in Šiauliai, Mitau (Jelgava), Riga.

He obtained them in Kaunas via bishop Motiejus Valančius and his assistants or in Vilnius from the Józef Zawadzki printing shop which still had a permit to sell off pre-1864 Lithuanian books.

[12] He still wanted to complete his primary education and then study at the Kaunas Priest Seminary, but lack of funds and his 30 years of age forced him to return to his farm in 1876.

[15] Bielinis began visiting Martynas Jankus in Bitėnai and Otto von Mauderode in Tilsit, East Prussia.

When the demolition started, locals attacked Russian officials leading to a large trial and a search of Bielinis' home in 1890.

[22] Bielinis, likely introduced through a Lithuanian organization Želmuo, participated in a Polish émigré congress in Paris as a representative from Lithuania.

They hired Antanas Bružys, who had a legal permit to cross the Prussia–Russia border, to transport large quantities of books and other publications.

Bielinis distributed the publications to Joniškėlis, Linkuva, Pasvalys, Pumpėnai, Pušalotas, Rozalimas, Smilgiai, Vaškai, even reached Riga and Mitau (Jelgava) in present-day Latvia where his son Kipras attended a school.

[31] In February 1894, Bružys, Ūdra, and Bielinis were caught transporting two cart loads worth of publications (total of 4,068 copies) near Raseiniai.

The police launched an investigation and organized a wide search, including several ambushes, but by February 1897 was forced to conclude that they were unable to conclusively prove that the escaped man was Bielinis.

[37] He brought books to some of the noted Lithuanian figures, including Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Petras Avižonis, Vladas Požela [lt], Jonas Jablonskis, Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis.

[40] He relied on a network of trusted associates who helped to procure, hide, and distribute books as well as with food, sleeping quarters, or a space to write and rest.

[43] Such nomadic lifestyle negatively affected Bielinis' health and in 1902 he published an appeal to Lithuanian Americans asking for personal financial aid.

He was sent back to Pasvalys to determine his true identity, but he managed to escape – dressed only in a shirt during the winter, he ran barefoot in a stream to cover his tracks to a nearby acquaintance.

[47] The Garšviai Book Smuggling Society started organizing its own printing press in late 1894 by purchasing equipment and supplies through Martynas Jankus.

The last page discussed the coronation of Nicholas II of Russia and how a Lithuanian noble spent 10,000 rubles on the festivities and expressed belief that if the nobility could spend so frivolously on a foreign Tsar, they would give money to a new international newspaper (echoing the announcement published in June 1895).

Vaclovas Biržiška believed that Bielinis transferred it to the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania which wanted to publish a newspaper in Vilnius, but that press was confiscated by the police in 1899.

[55] According to Jankus, Bielinis realized a 4,000 ruble profit from publishing 5,000 copies of a book on Catholic saints that his brother Andrius organized before his exile to Siberia.

[55] In 1899, Bielinis commissioned Jankus to publish 3,000 copies of his 64-page booklet Istoriszki pritikimai isz ukininku gyvenimo Lietuvoje (Stories from the Lives of Farmers in Lithuania).

For example, elimination of the nobility social class, Lithuania's involvement in foreign affairs of Austria-Hungary, France, and Germany, public removal and whipping of the statue of Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky, etc.

[58] In 1902, Bilienis published another 72-page booklet Lietuvos adminitsracija (Administration of Lithuania) in which Bielinis retold fiction texts by Eliza Orzeszkowa (novel Niziny), Stasys Matulaitis, Kazimieras Pakalniškis [lt], articles published in Tėvynės sargas as well as personal experiences of injustice and listed other instances of discrimination by the Karp and von der Ropp families.

[59] On 22 March 1902, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia issued an order to create a commission that would suggest ways to improve peasants' conditions in the Northwestern Krai.

[60] In 1903, he published a second proclamation agitating for the Lithuanian commission and offering to write a book in German on the poor conditions in Lithuania for the International Socialist Congress to be held in August 1904.

[61] In May 1904, just after the Lithuanian press ban was lifted, Bielinis published a 16-page booklet with seven protocols with accusations against local landowners and advice to peasants on how to recover seized property.

[64] Another son Juozas was elected representative of the local community in Suostas and organized a public speech by Ernestas Galvanauskas to explain the resolutions adopted at the Great Seimas of Vilnius.

He published excerpts from his work written for Draugija, his thoughts on a discussion that started in Viltis about collecting memoirs on the serfdom in Lithuania, five petitions on specific injustices suffered by peasants addressed to the State Duma.

[72] Lithuanian newspapers Vienybė lietuvninkų, Viltis, Lietuvos žinios ridiculed Baltasis erelis for its brief references to Bielinis as the king of Lithuania.

[83] In 1932, Lithuanian youth organizations (Scouts, Pavasaris, Riflemen) decorated the grave of Bielinis and built a pyramid of field stones with an ornate metal cross.