What is this thing anyway? Nothing but a piece of cotton with a little paint on it, and some other marks in the corner there. I will not kiss that thing. It might be covered with microbes.

Remarks in response to mob demands to kiss the United States Flag (24 March 1918), as quoted in his profile page at the Montana Sedition Project, and "American Flag Timeline: Flag Desecration, Flag Burning, Pledge of Allegiance" at About.com. On 27 September 1918, he was tried for sedition, and convicted in a jury trial on the grounds that the above statement constituted "contemptuous and slurring language about the flag and language calculated to bring the flag into contempt and disrepute", sentenced to 10–20 years of hard labour in a state penitentiary, and fined $500 plus court costs. His habeas corpus petitions were denied by both the Montana Supreme Court and a U. S. District Court. His sentence was commuted by Governor Joseph M. Dixon on 4 June 1921 to 5–20 years making him immediately eligible for parole. He served thirty-five months of his sentence and was released on 18 September 1921. No member of the mob that harassed him were ever punished for their unlawful or disorderly c