History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 137

By order of the Executive Committee.

MRS. HON. E. G. ROSS, MRS. GRIFFITH, MRS. EX GOV. ROBINSON, MRS. R. S. TENNEY, MRS. JUDGE THACHER, MRS. REV. W. A. STARRETT, MRS. JUDGE MILLER, MRS. REV. R. CORDLEY, MRS. JUDGE BURNETT, MRS. REV. G. S. DEARBORN, MRS. JUDGE HENDRY, MRS. REV. J. S. BROWN, MRS. H. M. SIMPSON, MRS. REV. GEORGE MEYER, MRS. ROBT. MORROW, MRS. J. H. LANE, MRS. MAJOR PLATT, MRS. JAMES HORTON, MRS. MAJOR WHITNEY, MRS. F. W. SPARR, MRS. S. DENMAN, MRS. JANE B. ARCHIBALD, MRS. HENDERSEN, MRS. CONE, MRS. J. O. ADAMS, MRS. WELSH, MRS. MARY WHITCOMB, MRS. MARSH, MRS. THERMUTIUS SUTHERLAND,

LAWRENCE, Sept. 24, 1867. _Committee on Address._

N. B.--Friends wis.h.i.+ng tracts on the subject of equal rights, should address Equal Rights Office, 77 Ma.s.sachusetts Street, Lawrence, Kansas.

THE HUTCHINSONS' KANSAS SUFFRAGE SONG.

Words By P. P. Fowler and J. W. H.

As sung at the meetings and concerts during ther grand campaign on the suffrage issue the season of 1867 in Kansas, and at the polls in Leavenworth, by the Tribe of John, on the day of election.

O, say what thrilling songs of fairies, Wafted o'er the Kansas prairies, Charm the ear while zephyrs speed 'em!

Woman's pleading for her freedom.

CHORUS--Clear the way, the songs are floating; Clear the way, the world is noting; Prepare the way, the right promoting, And ballots, too, for woman's voting.

We frankly say to fathers, brothers, Husbands, too, and several others, We're bound to win our right of voting, Don't you hear the music floating?

We come to take with you our station, Brave defenders of the nation, And aim by n.o.ble, just endeavor To elevate our s.e.x forever.

By this vote we'll rid our nation Of its vile intoxication.

Can't get rum? Oh, what a pity!

_Dram-shops_ closed in every city.

Fear not, we'll darn each worthy stocking, Duly keep the cradle rocking, And beg you heed the words we utter, The ballot wins our bread and b.u.t.ter.

All hail, brave Kansas! first in duty, Yours, the meed of praise and beauty, You'll n.o.bly crown your deeds of daring, Freedom to our s.e.x declaring.

CHAPTER XXV.

TRIALS AND DECISIONS.

LETTER FROM MISS ANTHONY ANNOUNCING HER HAVING VOTED.

ROCHESTER, November 5, 1872.

DEAR MRS. STANTON: Well, I have been and gone and done it! positively voted the Republican ticket--straight--this A.M. at seven o'clock, and _swore my vote in, at that_; was registered on Friday and fifteen other women followed suit in this ward, then in sundry other wards some twenty or thirty women _tried_ to _register_, but all save two were refused. All my three sisters voted--Rhoda De Garmo, too. Amy Post was rejected, and she will immediately bring action against the registrars; then another woman who was registered, but vote refused, will bring action for that--similar to the Was.h.i.+ngton action. Hon.

Henry R. Selden will be our counsel; he has read up the law and all of our arguments, and is satisfied that we are right, and ditto Judge Samuel Selden, his elder brother. So we are in for a fine agitation in Rochester on this question.

I hope the morning telegrams will tell of many women all over the country trying to vote. It is splendid that without any concert of action so many should have moved here.

Thanks for the Hartford papers. What a magnificent meeting you had!

Splendid climax of the campaign--the two ablest and most eloquent women on one platform and the Governor of the State by your side. I was with you in spirit that evening; the chairman of the Committee had both telegraphed and written me all about the arrangements.

Haven't we wedged ourselves into the work pretty fairly and fully, and now that the Republicans have taken our votes--for it _is the Republican members_ of the board; the Democratic paper is out _against us strong_, and that scared the Democrats on the registry boards.

How I wish you were here to write up the funny things said and done.

Rhoda De Garmo told them she wouldn't swear nor affirm, "but would tell them the truth," and they accepted that. When the Democrats said that my vote should _not_ go in the box, one Republican said to the other, "What do you say, Marsh?" "I say put it in." "So do I," said Jones; "and we'll fight it out on this line if it takes all winter."

Mary Hallowell was just here. She and Sarah Willis tried to register, but were refused; also Mrs. Mann, the Unitarian minister's wife, and Mary Curtis, sister of Catharine Stebbins. Not a jeer, not a word, not a look disrespectful has met a single woman.

If only now _all the Woman Suffrage women_ would work to _this_ end of _enforcing the existing Const.i.tutional supremacy of National law_ over State law, what strides we might make this very winter! But I'm awfully tired; for five days I have been on the constant run, but to splendid purpose; so all right. I hope you voted too.

Affectionately, SUSAN B. ANTHONY.

JUDGE SELDEN TO MISS ANTHONY.

ROCHESTER, November 27, 1872.

MISS ANTHONY--DEAR MADAM: The District Attorney says he can not attend to your case on any day but Friday. So it will be indispensable for you to be ready Friday morning, and I will do the best I can to attend to it.

I suppose the Commissioner will, as a matter of course, hold you for trial at the Circuit Court, _whatever your rights may be in the matter_.

In my opinion, however, the idea that you can be charged with a _crime_ on account of voting, or offering to vote, when you honestly believed yourself to be a voter, is simply preposterous, whether your belief _was right or wrong_.

However, the learned (!) gentlemen engaged in this movement seem to suppose they can make a crime out of your honest deposit of your ballot, and _perhaps_ they can find a respectable court or jury that will be of their opinion. If they do so I shall be greatly disappointed.

Yours, truly, H. R. SELDEN.

(_Boston Transcript._)

The last work came on the New York Calender; a person is discovered to have voted who had no right to; this is believed to be the first case of the kind ever heard of in New York, and its heinousness is perhaps aggravated by the fact that the perpetrator is a woman, who, in the vigorous language of the Court, "must have known when she did it that she was a woman." We await in breathless suspense the impending sentence.

The Rochester _Evening Express_ of Friday, May 23, 1873, under the heading of "An Amiable Consideration of Miss Anthony's Case," said: United States District Attorney Crowley is a gallant gentleman, as gallant indeed as District Attorneys can afford to be, but he confesses himself no match for Miss Anthony. That lady has stumped Monroe County in behalf of impartial suffrage, and it appears that the Government very prudently declines to give her case to the jury in this county. The fact is, it is morally certain that no jury could be obtained in Monroe that would convict the lady of wrongdoing in voting, while it is highly probable that four juries out of five would acquit her. It is understood, of course, that the Court and prosecuting officers are merely fulfilling their official functions in recognizing this departure from ordinary practice at the polls, but would feel as deeply astonished at a verdict of guilty as the general public. The District Attorney is fortunate in having as a contestant (defendant, he would professionally call her) in this friendly little duel, a lady who is the embodiment of American common sense, courage, and ability; and we are certain that after this tournament is adjourned he will accept, with his usual urbanity, the aid of ladies'

ballots to lift him to some other place where his conceded abilities shall be more widely known.

The New York _Commercial Advertiser_, under the heading, "Miss Anthony and the Jury of her Peers," said: There is perplexity in the Northern District of New York. It was in that jurisdiction that Miss Susan B.

Anthony and sundry "erring sisters" voted at the November election.

For this they were arrested and indicted. The venue was laid in Monroe County and there the trial was to take place. Miss Anthony then proceeded to stump Monroe County and every town and village thereof, asking her bucolic hearers the solemn conundrum, "Is it a crime for a United States citizen to vote?" The answer is supposed generally to be in the negative, and so convincing is Sister Anthony's rhetoric regarded that it is supposed no jury can be found to convict her. Her case has gone to the jurymen of Monroe in her own persuasive pleadings before they are summoned. The District Attorney has, therefore, postponed the trial to another term of the Court, and changed the place thereof to Ontario County; whereupon the brave Susan takes the stump in Ontario, and personally makes known her woes and wants. It is a regular St. Anthony's dance she leads the District Attorney; and, in spite of winter cold or summer heat, she will carry her case from county to county precisely as fast as the venue is changed. One must rise very early in the morning to get the start of this active apostle of the sisterhood.

Rochester _Democrat and Chronicle_: If Miss Anthony has converted every man in Monroe County to her views of the Suffrage question, as the District Attorney intimates in his recent efforts to have her case adjourned, it is pretty good evidence--unless every man in Monroe County is a fool--that the lady has done no wrong. "Her case," remarks the Auburn _Bulletin_, "will probably be carried over to another term, and all she has to do is to canva.s.s and convert another county. A shrewd woman that! Again we say, she ought to vote."

The Syracuse _Standard_ said: Miss S. B. Anthony is sharp enough for a successful politician. She is under arrest in Rochester for voting illegally, and she is conducting her case in a way that beats even lawyers. She stumped the county of Monroe and spoke in every school district so powerfully that she has actually converted nearly the entire male population to the Woman Suffrage doctrine. The sentiment is so universal that the United States District Attorney dare not trust his case to a jury drawn from that county, and has changed the venue to Ontario County. Now Miss Anthony proposes to stump Ontario immediately, and has procured the services of Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, of Fayetteville, to a.s.sist her. By the time the case comes on Miss Anthony will have Ontario County converted to her doctrines.

The Rochester _Union and Advertiser_ quoted the above and commented as follows: We give in another column to-day, from a legal friend, a communication which shows very clearly that Miss Anthony is engaged in a work that will be likely to bring her to grief. It is nothing more nor less than an attempt to corrupt the source of that justice, under law, which flows from trial by jury. Miss Anthony's case has pa.s.sed from its gayest to its gravest character. United States Courts are not stages for the enactment of comedy or farce, and the promptness and decision of their judges in sentencing to prison culprits convicted before them shows that they are no respecters of persons.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY AS A CORRUPTIONIST.

_To the Editors of the Union and Advertiser:_