On July 21, 1879, Clawson and his missionary companion were standing at Varnell Station, Georgia, when they were surrounded by an angry mob of anti-Mormons.

He brought the body of his deceased missionary companion back to Salt Lake City, where a public funeral was held in the Tabernacle.

August 1882 was a difficult time for Clawson, as he became the first practicing polygamist to be convicted and serve a sentence after the passage of the Edmunds Act.

Judge Charles S. Zane sentenced Clawson to the maximum possible penalty—he was punished with 31⁄2 years in prison and a $1500 fine.

Clawson was pardoned in 1887 by President Grover Cleveland mere months before his sentence was to expire.

[3][4][5][6][7] Because they married after then-church president Joseph F. Smith issued a manifesto expressly prohibiting plural marriage among Latter-day Saints,[8] their relationship was a "clandestine marriage of secret meetings and long absences", and they never shared a home.