History of Woman Suffrage/Volume 3/Chapter 52
CHAPTER LII.
WYOMING.
After recording such a long succession of disappointments and humiliations for women in all the States in their worthy endeavors for higher education, for profitable employment in the trades and professions and for equal social, civil and political rights, it is with renewed self-respect and a stronger hope of better days to come that we turn to the magnificent territory of Wyoming, where the foundations of the first true republic were laid deep and strong in equal rights to all, and where for the first time in the history of the race woman has been recognized as a sovereign in her own right—an independent, responsible being—endowed with the capacity for self-government. This great event in the history of human progress transpired in 1869.
Neither the point nor the period for this experiment could have been more fitly chosen. Midway across this vast western continent, on the highest plane of land, rising from three to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, where gigantic mountain-peaks shooting still higher seem to touch the clouds, while at their feet flow the great rivers that traverse the State in all directions, emptying themselves after weary wanderings into the Pacific ocean at last; such was the grand point where woman was first crowned with the rights of citizenship. And the period was equally marked. To reach the goal of self-government the women of England and America seemed to be vicing with each other in the race, now one holding the advance position, now the other. And in many respects their struggles and failures were similar. When seeking the advantages of collegiate education, the women of England were compelled to go to France, Austria and Switzerland for the opportunities they could not enjoy in their own country. The women of our Eastern States followed their example, or went to Western institutions for such privileges, granted by Oberlin and Antioch in Ohio, Ann Arbor in Michigan, Washington University in Missouri, and refused in all the colleges of the East. For long years, alike they endured ridicule and bitter persecution to secure a foothold in their universites at home.
Our battles in Parliament and in the Congress of the United States were simultaneous. While nine senators,[1] staunch and true, voted in favor of woman suffrage in 1866, and women were rolling up their petitions for a constitutional amendment in '68 and '69, with Samuel C. Pomeroy in the Senate and George W. Julian in the House, the women of England, keeping step and time, found their champions in the House of Commons in John Stuart Mill and Jacob Bright in 1867-69, and no sooner were their mammoth petitions presented in parliament than ours were rolled into the halls of congress. At last we reached the goal, the women of England in 1869 and those of Wyoming in 1870. But what the former gained in time the latter far surpassed in privilege: While to the English woman only a limited suffrage was accorded, in the vast territory of Wyoming, larger than all Great Britain, all the rights of citizenship were fully and freely conferred by one act of the legislature —the right to vote at all elections on all questions and to hold any office in the gift of the people.
The successive steps by which this was accomplished are given us by Hon. J. W. Kingman, associate-justice in the territory for several years:
It is now sixteen years since the act was passed giving women the right to vote at all elections in this territory, including all the rights of an elector, with the right to hold office. The language of the statute is broad, and beyond the reach of evasion. It is as follows:
Section 1. That all the property, both real and personal, belonging to any married woman as her sole and separate property, or which any woman hereafter married, owns at the time of her marriage, or which any married woman during coverture acquires in good faith from any person other than her husband, by descent or otherwise, together with all the rents, issues, increase and profits thereof, shall, notwithstanding her marriage, be and remain during coverture, her sole and separate property, under her sole control, and be held, owned, possessed and enjoyed by her, the same as though she were sole and unmarried, and shall not be subject to the disposal, control or interference of her husband, and shall be exempt from execution or attachment for the debts of her husband.
Sec. 2. Any married woman may bargain, sell, and convey, her personal property, and enter into any contract in reference to the same, as if she were so/e.
Sec. 3. Any woman may, while married, sue and be sued in all matters having relation to her property, person or reputation, in the same manner as if she were sole.
Sec. 4. Any married woman may, while married, make a will the same as though she were sole,
Sec. 5. Any married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or service on her sole and separate account, and the earnings of any married woman from her trade, business, labor or services, shall be her sole and separate property, and may be used and invested by her in her own name; and she may sue and be sued, as if so/e, in regard to her trade, business, labor, services, and earnings. * * *
Sec. 9. The separate deed of the husband shall convey no interest in the wife's lands.
Under the statute for distributions, the wife is treated exactly as the husband is; each having the same right in the estate of the other. The provisions are so unusual and peculiar, that I venture to copy some of them:
* * * * If such intestate leave a husband or wife, and children, him or her surviving, one-half of such estate shall descend to such surviving husband or wife, and the residue thereof * * * * to the children; if such intestate leave a husband or wife and mo child, * * * * then the property shall descend as follows, to wit: three-fourths thereof to such remaining husband or wife, and one-fourth thereof to the father and mother of the intestate, or the survivor of them; provided that if the estate of such intestate, real and personal, does not exceed in volume the sum of ten thousand dollars, then the whole thereof shall descend to and rest in the surviving husband or wife as his or her absolute estate. Dower and the tenancy by the curtesy are abolished.The school law also provides:
Such are some of the radical enactments of the first legislature of Wyoming territory in reference to woman's rights; and to a person who has grown up under the common law and the usages of English-speaking people, they undoubtedly appear extravagant if not revolutionary, and well calculated to disturb or overthrow the very foundations of social order. Experience has not, however, justified any such apprehensions. The people of Wyoming have prospered under these laws, and are growing to like them better and better, and adapt themselves more and more to their provisions. The object of this sketch is to trace the progress and development of this new legislation, and gather up some of its consequences as they have been observed in our social and political relations.
The territory of Wyoming was first organized in May, 1869. The Union Pacific railroad was completed on the 9th of the month, and the transcontinental route opened to the public. There were but few people in the territory at that time, except such as had been brought hither in connection with the building of that road, and while some of them were good people, well-educated, and came to stay, many were reckless, wicked and wandering. The first election was held in September, 1869, for the election of a delegate in congress, and members of the Council and House of Representatives for the first territorial legislature. There was a good deal of party feeling developed, and election day witnessed a sharp and vigorous struggle. The candidates and their friends spent money freely, and every liquor shop was thrown open to all who would drink. I was about to say that any one could imagine the consequences; but in fact I do not believe that any one could picture to himself the mad follies, and frightful scenes of that drunken election. Peaceful people did not dare to walk the streets, in some of the towns, during the latter part of the day and evening. At South Pass City, some drunken fellows with large knives and loaded revolvers swaggered around the polls, and swore that no negro should vote. One man remarked quietly that he thought the negroes had as good a right to vote as any of them had. He was immediately knocked down, jumped on, kicked and pounded without mercy, and would have been killed, had not his friends rushed into the brutal crowd and dragged him out, bloody and insensible. It was a long time before the poor fellow recovered from his injuries. There were quite a number of colored men who wanted to vote, but did not dare approach the polls until the United States Marshal placed himself at their head and with revolver in hand escorted them through the crowd, saying he would shoot the first man that interfered with them. There was much quarreling and tumult, but the negroes voted. This was only a sample of the day's doings, and characteristic of the election all over the territory. The result was that every Republican was defeated, and every Democratic candidate elected; and the whisky shops had shown themselves to be the ruling power in Wyoming. From such an inspiration one could hardly expect a revelation of much value! Yet there were some fair men among those elected.
The legislature met October 12, 1869. Wm. H. Bright was elected president of the Council. As he was the author of the woman suffrage bill, and did more than all others to secure its passage, some account of him may be of interest. He was a man of much energy and of good natural endowments, but entirely without school education. He said frankly, "I have never been to school a day in my life, and where I learned to read and write I do not know." His character was not above reproach, account of him may be of interest. He was a man of much energy and of good natural endowments, but entirely without school education. He said frankly, "I have never been to school a day in my life, and where I learned to read and write I do not know." His character was not above reproach,[Pg 730] but he had an excellent, well-informed wife, and he was a kind, indulgent husband. In fact, he venerated his wife, and submitted to her judgment and influence more willingly than one could have supposed; and she was in favor of woman suffrage.[2] There were a few other men in that legislature, whose wives exercised a similar influence; but Mr. Bright found it up-hill work to get a majority for his bill, and it dragged along until near the close of the session. The character of the arguments he used, and the means he employed to win success are perhaps worthy of notice, as showing the men he had to deal with. I ought to say distinctly, that Mr. Bright was himself fully and firmly convinced of the justice and policy of his bill, and gave his whole energy and influence to secure its passage; he secured some members by arguing to support their pet schemes in return, and some he won over by even less creditable means. He got some votes by admitting that the governor would veto the bill (and it was generally understood that he would), insisting at the same time, that it would give the Democrats an advantage in future elections by showing that they were in favor of liberal measures while the Republican governor and the Republican party were opposed to them. The favorite argument, however, and by far the most effective, was this: it would prove a great advertisement, would make a great deal of talk, and attract attention to the legislature, and the territory, more effectually than anything else. The bill was finally passed and sent to the governor. I must add, however, that many letters were written from different parts of the territory, and particularly by the women, to members of the legislature, urging its passage and approving its object.
On receipt of the bill, the governor was in great doubt what course to take. He was inclined to veto it, and had so expressed himself; but he did not like to take the responsibility of offending the women in the territory, or of placing the Republican party in open hostility to a measure which he saw might become of political force and importance. I remember well an interview that Chief-Justice Howe and myself had with him at that time, in which we discussed the policy of the bill, and both of us urged him to sign it with all the arguments we could command. After a protracted consultation we left him still doubtful what he would do.[3] But in the end he signed it, and drew upon himself the bitter curses of those Democrats who had voted for the bill with the expectation that he would veto it. From this time onward, the measure became rather a Republican than a Democratic principle, and found more of its friends in the former party, and more of its enemies in the latter.
Soon after the passage of the bill, a vacancy occurred in the office of justice of the peace, at South Pass City, the county seat of Sweetwater county, and the home of Mr. Bright and of Mrs. Esther Morris. At the request of the county attorney—who favored woman suffrage—the commissioners, two of whom also approved of it, appointed Mrs. Morris to fill the vacancy. The legislature had vested the appointment of officers, in case of a vacancy, in the county commissioners, but the organic act of congress, creating the territory, provided that the governor "shall commission all officers who shall be appointed under the laws of said territory." Governor Campbell being absent from the territory at the time, the secretary, acting as governor, sent Mrs. Morris her commission. It is due to Secretary Lee to say that he was an earnest advocate of woman's enfranchisement, and labored for the passage of the bill, and gladly embraced the opportunity to confirm a woman in office. The important fact is, however, that Mrs. Morris' neighbors first suggested the appointment that secured her the office, and manfully sustained her during her whole term. She tried between thirty and forty cases, and decided them so acceptably that not one of them was appealed to a higher court; and I know of no one who has held the office of justice of the peace in this territory, who has left a more acceptable record, in all respects, than has Mrs. Esther Morris. Some other appointments of women to office were made, but I do not find that any of them entered upon its duties.
The first term of the District Court, under the statutes passed by the first legislature, was to be held at Laramie City, on the first Monday of March, 1870. When the jurors were drawn, a large number of women were selected, for both grand and petit jurors. As this was not done by the friends of woman suffrage, there was evidently an intention of making the whole subject odious and ridiculous, and giving it a death-blow at the outset. A great deal of feeling was excited among the people, and some effort made to prejudice the women against acting as jurors, and even threats, ridicule and abuse, in some cases, were indulged in. Their husbands were more pestered and badgered than the women, and some of them were so much inflamed that they declared they would never live with their wives again if they served on the jury. The fact that women[Pg 732] were drawn as jurors was telegraphed all over the country, and the newspapers came loaded with hostile and uncomplimentary were drawn as jurors was telegraphed all over the country, and the newspapers came loaded with hostile and uncomplimentary criticisms. At this stage of the case Col. Downey, the prosecuting attorney for the county, wrote to Judge Howe for advice and direction as to the eligibility of the women as jurors, and what course should be taken in the premises. At first Judge Howe was much inclined to order the women discharged, and new juries drawn; and it certainly required no small amount of moral courage to face the storm of ridicule and abuse that was blowing from all quarters. We had a long consultation, and came to the conclusion that since the law had clearly given all the rights of electors to the women of the territory, they must be protected in the exercise of these rights if they chose to assume them; that under no circumstances could the judges permit popular clamor to deprive the women of their legal rights in the very presence of the courts themselves. The result was that Judge Howe wrote the county attorney the following letter:
S. W. Downey—My Dear Sir: I have your favor of yesterday, and have carefully considered the question of the eligibility of women who are "citizens," to serve on juries. Mr. Justice Kingman has also considered the question, and we concur in the opinion that such women are eligible. My reason for this opinion will be given at length, if occasion requires. I will thank you to make it known to those ladies who have been summoned on the juries, that they will be received, protected, and treated with all the respect and courtesy due, and ever paid, by true American gentlemen to true American ladies, and that the Court, in all the power of government, will secure to them all that deference, security from insult, or anything which ought to offend the most refined woman, which is accorded in any walks of life in which the good and true women of our country have heretofore been accustomed to move. Thus, whatever may have been, or may now be thought of the policy of admitting women to the right of suffrage and to hold office, they will have a fair opportunity, at least in my Court, to demonstrate their ability in this new field, and prove the policy or impolicy of occupying it. Of their right to try it I have no doubt. I hope they will succeed, and the Court will certainly aid them in all lawful and proper ways. Very respectfully,
When the time came to hold the court, Judge Howe, whose duty it was to preside, requested me to go with him to Laramie City, and sit with him during the term. I gladly availed myself of the opportunity. As soon as we arrived there, Judge Howe was waited on by a number of gentlemen who endeavored to induce him to order the discharge of the female jurors without calling them into court. Some spoke of the impolicy of the proceeding, and said the women all objected to it and wished to be excused; while some were cross, and demanded the discharge of their wives, saying that it was an intentional insult and they would not submit to it. But Judge Howe told them all firmly, that the women must come into court, and if, after the whole question was fairly explained to them, they chose to decline, they should be excused. At the opening of the court next morning, the house was crowded, and the female jurors were all there. After the usual preliminaries, an attorney arose and moved that all the women summoned as jurors be excused, saying he made the motion at the request of the women themselves; and that he was assured they did not wish to serve. Judge Howe then requested me to express my opinion and make some remarks to the women on the duties devolving on them. I said:
It was a real pleasure to me to see ladies in the court-room, with the right to take a responsible part in the proceedings, as grand and petit jurors; that no one knew so well as they did, the evils our community suffered from lawless and wicked people; and no one better understood the difficulties the court labored under in its efforts to administer justice and punish crime; that the time had come when the good women of the territory could give us substantial aid, and we looked to them especially, as the power which should make the court efficient in the discharge of its duties; that the new law had conferred on them important rights, and corresponding duties necessarily devolved upon them; that I hoped and believed they would not shrink when so many influences were calling on them for noble and worthy action; that if they failed us now, the cause of equal rights would suffer at their hands, not only in our territory, but in every land where its advocates were struggling for its recognition; that if they would remain, their presence would secure a degree of decorum in the court-room and add a dignity to the proceedings, which the judges had been unable to command; that we required the assistance of good women all over the territory, and I begged them to help us.
Judge Howe then spoke as follows:
It is an innovation and a great novelty to see, as we do to-day, ladies summoned to serve as jurors. The extension of political rights and franchise to women is a subject that is agitating the whole country. I have never taken an active part in these discussions, but I have long seen that woman is a victim to the vices, crimes and immoralities of man, with no power to protect and defend herself from these evils. I have long felt that such powers of protection should be conferred upon woman, and it has fallen to our lot here to act as the pioneers in the movement and to test the question. The eyes of the whole world are to-day fixed upon this jury of Albany county. There is not the slightest impropriety in any lady occupying this position, and I wish to assure you that the fullest protection of the court shall be accorded to you. It would be a most shameful scandal that in our temple of justice and in our courts of law, anything should be permitted which the most sensitive lady might not hear with propriety and witness. And here let me add that it will be a sorry day for any man who shall so far forget the courtesy due and paid by every American gentleman to every American lady as to ever by word or act endeavor to deter you from the exercise of those rights with which the law has invested you. I conclude with the remark that this is a question for you to decide for yourselves. No man has any right to interfere. It seems to me to be eminently proper for women to sit upon grand juries, which will give them the best possible opportunities to aid in suppressing the dens of infamy which curse the country. I shall be glad of your assistance in the accomplishment of this object. I do not make these remarks from distrust of any of the gentlemen. On the contrary, I am exceedingly pleased and gratified with the indication of intelligence, love of law and good order, and the gentlemanly deportment which I see manifested here.
The ladies were then told that those who could not conveniently serve, and those who insisted on being excused, might rise and they should be discharged. Only one rose and she was excused. But a victory had been won of no small moment. Seeing the earnestness of the judges and the dignified character they had given to the affair, the women were encouraged and pleased, and the enemies of equal rights, who had planned, as they thought, a stunning blow to further progress, were silenced and defeated. The current set rapidly in the other direction and applause, as usual, followed success. The business of the court proceeded with marked improvement. The court-room, always crowded, was quiet and decorous in the extreme. The bar in particular was always on its good behavior, and wrangling, abuse and buncome speeches were not heard. When men moved about they walked quietly, on tip-toe, so as to make no noise, and forbore to whisper or make any demonstrations in or around the court-room. The women when called took their chairs in the jury-box with the men, as they do their seats in church,[4] and no annoyance or reluctance was visible from the bench. They gave close and intelligent attention to the details of every case, and the men who sat with them evidently acted with more conscientious care than usual. The verdicts were generally satisfactory, except to convicted criminals. They did not convict every one they tried, but "no guilty man escaped," if there was sufficient evidence to hold him. The lawyers soon found out that the usual tricks and subterfuges in criminal cases would not procure acquittal, and they began to challenge off all the women called. The court checkmated this move by directing the sheriff to summon other women in their places, instead of men, and then came motions for continuances. The result was a great success and was so acknowledged by all disinterested persons. On the grand jury were six women and nine men, and they became such a terror to evil-doers that a stampede began among them and very many left the town forever. Certainly there was never more fearless or efficient work performed by a grand jury.
The legislature copied most of the statutes which it enacted from the laws of Nebraska, and among others the following clauses in the crimes act, to wit.:
If any person shall keep open any tippling or gaming-house on the Sabbath day or night, * * * he shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six months.
Any person who shall hereafter knowingly disturb the peace and good order of society by labor on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday (works of necessity and charity excepted), shall be fined, on conviction thereof, in any sum not exceeding fifty dollars.
No attention whatever had been paid to these statutes, and Sunday was generally the great drinking day of the whole week; the saloons sold more whiskey and made more money that day than any other. The women on that grand jury determined to put a stop to it and enforce these laws. They therefore indicted every liquor saloon in town. This made a great outcry, not only among the liquor-sellers but among their customers also. They were all arrested, brought into court and gave bail; but Judge Howe told them as this was a new law recently passed, and as it was quite probable that most of them were ignorant of its provisions, he would continue the cases with this express understanding, that if they would strictly obey the law in future these cases should be dismissed; but most of them were ignorant of its provisions, he would continue the cases with this express understanding, that if they would strictly obey the law in future these cases should be dismissed; but[Pg 735] if any of them violated it, these cases would be tried and the full penalty inflicted. They all agreed to this, and the "Sunday Law," as it was called, was carefully observed afterwards in Laramie City; and so great has been the change in that town in the habits of the people and the quiet appearance of the streets on Sunday, as compared with other towns in the territory, that it has been nick-named the "Puritan town" of Wyoming, and, I may add, rejoices in its singularity.
And how was this most successful experiment in equal rights received and treated by the press and the people out of the territory? The New York illustrated papers made themselves funny with caricatures of female juries, and cheap scribblers invented all sorts of scandals and misrepresentations about them. The newspapers were overflowing with abuse and adverse criticism, and only here and there was a manly voice heard in apology or defense. I copy these extracts as a sample of the rest.
"Lady Jurors."—Under this head the New Orleans Times, the ablest and largest paper in the South, said:
Confusion is becoming worse confounded by the hurried march of events. Mad theorizings take the form of every-day realities, and in the confusion of rights and the confusion of dress, all distinctions of sex are threatened with swift obliteration. When Anna Dickinson holds forth as the teacher of strange doctrines in which the masculinity of woman is preposterously asserted as a true warrant for equality with man in all his political and industrial relations; when Susan B. Anthony flashes defiance from lips and eyes which refuse the blandishment and soft dalliance that in the past have been so potent with "the sex"; when, in fine, the women of Wyoming are called from their domestic firesides to serve as jurors in a court of justice, a question of the day, and one, too, of the strangest kind, is forced on our attention. From a careful review of all the surroundings, we think the Wyoming experiment will lead to beneficial results. By proving that lady jurors are altogether impracticable—that they cannot sit as the peers of men without setting at defiance all the laws of delicacy and propriety—the conclusion may be reached that it will be far better to let nature alone in regulating the relations of the sexes.
The Philadelphia Press had the following:
Women as Jurors.—Now one of the adjuncts of female citizenship is about to be tested in Wyoming. Eleven women have been drawn as jurors to serve at the March term of the Albany County Court. It is stated that immense excitement has been created thereby, but the nature of the aforesaid excitement does not transpire. Will women revolutionize justice? What is female justice, or what is it likely to be? Would twelve women return the same verdict as twelve men, supposing that each twelve had heard the same case? Is it possible for a jury of women, carrying with them all their sensitiveness, sympathies, predilections, jealousies, prejudices, hatreds, to reach an impartial verdict? Would not every criminal be a monster, provided not a female? Can the sex, ordinarily so quick to pronounce pre-judgments, divest itself of them sufficiently to enter the jury-box with unbiased minds? Perhaps it were best to trust the answer to events. Women may learn to be jurymen, but in so doing they have a great deal to learn.
Dear Madam: I am in receipt of your favor of March 26, in which you request me to "give you a truthful statement, over my own signature, for publication in your paper, of the history of, and my observations in regard to, women as grand and petit jurors in Wyoming." I will comply with your request, with this qualification, that it be not published over my own signature, as I do not covet newspaper publicity, and have already, without any agency or fault of my own, been subjected to an amount of it which I never anticipated nor conceived of, and which has been far from agreeable to me.
I had no agency in the enactment of the law in Wyoming conferring legal equality upon women. I found it upon the statute-book of that territory, and in accordance with its provisions several women were legally drawn by the proper officers on the grand and petit juries of Albany county, and were duly summoned by the sheriff without any agency of mine. On being apprised of these facts, I conceived it to be my plain duty to fairly enforce this law, as I would any other; and more than this, I resolved at once that, as it had fallen to my lot to have the experiment tried under my administration, it should have a fair trial, and I therefore assured these women that they could serve or not, as they chose; that if they chose to serve, the Court would secure to them the most respectful consideration and deference, and protect them from insult in word or gesture, and from everything which might offend a modest and virtuous woman in any of the walks of life in which the good and true women of our country have been accustomed to move.
While I had never been an advocate for the law, I felt that thousands of good men and women had been, and that they had a right to see it fairly administered; and I was resolved that it should not be sneered down if I had to employ the whole power of the court to prevent it. I felt that even those who were opposed to the policy of admitting women to the right of suffrage and to hold office would condemn me if I did not do this. It was also sufficient for me that my own judgment approved this course.
With such assurances these women chose to serve and were duly impanelled as jurors. They were educated, cultivated eastern ladies, who are an honor to their sex. They have, with true womanly devotion, left their homes of comfort in the States to share the fortunes of their husbands and brothers in the far West and to aid them in founding a new State beyond the Missouri.
And now as to the results. With all my prejudices against the policy, I am under conscientious obligations to say that these women acquitted themselves with such dignity, decorum, propriety of conduct and intelligence as to win the admiration of every fair-minded citizen of Wyoming. They were careful, pains-taking, intelligent and conscientious. They were firm and resolute for the right as established by the law and the testimony. Their verdicts were right, and, after three or four criminal trials, the lawyers engaged in defending persons accused of crime began to avail themselves of the right of peremptory challenge to get rid of the female jurors, who were too much in favor of enforcing the laws and punishing crime to suit the interests of their clients. After the grand jury had been in session two days, the dance-house keepers, gamblers and demi-monde fled out of the city in dismay, to escape the indictment of women grand jurors! In short I have never, in twenty-five years of constant experience in the courts of the country, seen more faithful, intelligent and resolutely honest grand and petit juries than these.
A contemptibly lying and silly dispatch went over the wires to the effect that during the trial of A. W. Howie for homicide (in which the jury consisted of six women and six men) the men and women were kept locked up together all night for four nights. Only two nights intervened during the trial, and on these nights, by my order, the jury was taken to the parlor of the large, commodious and well-furnished hotel of the Union Pacific Railroad, in charge of the sheriff and a woman bailiff, where they were supplied with meals and every comfort, and at 10 o'clock the women were conducted by the bailiff to a large and suitable apartment where beds were prepared for them, A contemptibly lying and silly dispatch went over the wires to the effect that during the trial of A. W. Howie for homicide (in which the jury consisted of six women and six men) the men and women were kept locked up together all night for four nights. Only two nights intervened during the trial, and on these nights, by my order, the jury was taken to the parlor of the large, commodious and well-furnished hotel of the Union Pacific Railroad, in charge of the sheriff and a woman bailiff, where they were supplied with meals and every comfort, and at 10 o'clock the women were conducted by the bailiff to a large and suitable apartment where beds were prepared for them,[Pg 737] and the men to another adjoining, where beds were prepared for them, and where they remained in charge of sworn officers until morning, when they were again all conducted to the parlor and from thence in a body to breakfast, and thence to the jury-room, which was a clean and comfortable one, carpeted and heated, and furnished with all proper conveniences.
The cause was submitted to the jury for their decision about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, and they agreed upon their verdict, which was received by the court between 11 and 12 o'clock at night of the same day, when they were discharged.
Everybody commended the conduct of this jury and was satisfied with the verdict, except the individual who was convicted of murder in the second degree. The presence of these ladies in court secured the most perfect decorum and propriety of conduct, and the gentlemen of the bar and others vied with each other in their courteous and respectful demeanor toward the ladies and the court. Nothing occurred to offend the most refined lady (if she was a sensible lady) and the universal judgment of every intelligent and fair-minded man present was and is, that the experiment was a success.
I dislike the notoriety this matter has given me, but I do not shrink from it. I never sought it nor expected it, and have only performed what I regarded as a plain duty, neither seeking nor desiring any praise, and quite indifferent to any censure or criticism which my conduct may have invoked.
Thanking you for your friendly and complimentary expressions, I am very respectfully yours,
As showing how the matter was received at home, in Laramie City, I copy the following from the Laramie Sentinel of April 7, 1870:
If we should neglect to give some idea of the results of our jury experiment, the world would say we were afraid or ashamed of it. For our own part we are inclined to admit that it succeeded beyond all our expectations. We naturally wished it to succeed; still we scarcely wished it to demonstrate a theory that women were better qualified for these duties than men. Hence, when Chief-Justice Howe said, "In eighteen years' experience I have never had as fair, candid, impartial and able a jury in court, as in this term in Albany county," and when Associate-Justice Kingman said, "For twenty-five years it has been an anxious study with me, both on the bench and at the bar, how we are to prevent jury trials from degenerating into a perfect burlesque, and it has remained for Albany county to point out the remedy and demonstrate the cure for this threatened evil," we confess to having been more than satisfied with the result. It may be safely stated as the unanimous verdict of bench, bar and public opinion, that the jurors of Albany county did well and faithfully discharge their duties, with honor and credit to themselves and to the satisfaction of the public.
Among the few exceptions to the general abuse of the press, the following from the Cincinnati Gazette of April 14, 1870, is well worth preserving:
Now, in the name of the inalienable right of every person to the pursuit of happiness, we have to ask: Are not these women competent to decide for themselves whether their households, their children or their husbands are of more importance than their public duties? And having the best means for deciding this question, have they not the right to decide? Who has the right to pick out the females of a jury and challenge them with the question whether they are not neglecting their households or their husbands? Who challenges a male juror and demands whether he left his family well provided, and his wife well cherished? or if, through his detention in court, the cupboard will be bare, the wife neglected, or the children with holes in their trousers? This is simply the crack of the familiar whip of man's absolute domination over women. It means nothing short of their complete subjection. Not to use rights is to abandon them. There are inconveniences and cares in all possessions; but who argues that therefore they should be abandoned? It would much promote the convenience of man if he would let his political rights and duties be performed by a few willing persons; but he would soon find that he had no rights left. And what is this family impediment which is thus set up as a female disability? The family obligation is just as strong in man as in woman. It is much stronger, for the manners which compel woman to be the passive waiter on the male providence leave to him the real responsibility. Yet many men forego marriage and homes and children, and nobody imagines that it disqualifies them for public duties. Nobody challenges them as jurors, and demands if they have discharged the family obligation. Rather it is held wise in them to give themselves wholly to their pursuits, without the distraction of conjugal joys, until they have achieved success. Why should the family requirement, which man throws off so easily, be made a yoke for woman? There is something more fundamental than nursing babies or coddling the appetites of husbands. The sentiment, "Give me liberty, or give me death," is the American instinct. Breathes there a woman with soul so dead that she would bring forth slaves? Babes had better not be born if they are not to have their rights. It is the duty of women to first provide the state of freedom for their progeny. Then they may consent to become wives and mothers. Liberty and the exercise of all political rights are so bound together, that to neglect one is to abandon all. Trial by a jury of one's peers is the essential principle of the administration of justice. To be a peer on a jury involves the whole principle of equal rights. To abandon this to man, is to accept subjection to man.
For women to neglect jury duty is to give men the exclusive privilege to judge women, and to abandon the right to be tried by a jury of their peers. How can men justly judge a woman? They cannot have that knowledge of her peculiar physical and mental organization which is requisite to the judgment of motives and temptations. They cannot comprehend the variable moods and emotions, nor the power of her impulses. It is monstrous injustice to judge women by the same rules as men. And men lack that intuitive charity and tender sympathy which women always feel for an exposed, erring sister. Furthermore, many of the crimes of men are against women. How can men appreciate their injury? That which is her ruin, they call, as Anna Dickinson says, sowing their wild oats. How can justice be expected from those who instinctively combine to preserve their privilege to abuse women? For the administration of justice to women who are accused, and to men who have wronged women, judges and jurors of their own sex are indispensable.
As long as Judge Howe remained on the bench he had women on his juries.[5] His first term at Cheyenne, after the law was passed, several women were among the jurors, and they did fully as well, and exerted quite as good an influence there, as the women had recently at Laramie City.
The first election under the woman suffrage law was held in September 1870, for the election of a delegate in congress, and county officers. There was an exciting canvass, and both parties applied to the whisky shops, as before, supposing they would wield the political power of the territory, and that not enough women would vote to influence the result. The morning of election came, but did not bring the usual scenes around the polls. A few women came out early to vote, and the crowd kept entirely out of sight. There was plenty of drinking and noise at the saloons, but the men would not remain, after voting, around the polls. It seemed more like Sunday than election day. Even the negro men and women voted without objection or disturbance. Quite a number of women voted during the day, at least in all the larger towns, but apprehension of a repetition of the scenes of the former election, and doubt as to the proper course for them to pursue, kept very many from voting. The result was a great disappointment all around. The election had passed off with unexpected quiet, and order had everywhere prevailed. The whisky shops had been beaten, and their favorite candidate for congress, although he had spent several thousand dollars to secure an election, was left out in the cold. I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting at length the following letter of the Rev. D. J. Pierce, at that time a resident of Laramie City, and a very wealthy man, to show the powerful influence that was exerted on the mind of a New England clergyman by that first exhibition of women at the polls, and as evidence of the singular and beneficial change in the character of the election, and the conduct of the men:
Editor Laramie Sentinel: I am pleased to notice your action in printing testimonials of different classes to the influence of woman suffrage in Wyoming. With the apathy of conservatism and prejudice of party spirit arrayed against the idea in America, it is the duty of the residents in Wyoming to note the simple facts of their noted experiment, and lay them before the world for its consideration. I came from the vicinity of Boston, arriving in Laramie two weeks before the first regular election of 1870. I had never sympathized with the extreme theories of the woman's rights platform, to the advocates of which I had often listened in Boston. But I had never been able to learn just why a woman is naturally excluded from the privilege of franchise, and I sometimes argued in favor in lyceum debates. Still the question of her degradation stared me in the face, and I came to Wyoming unsettled in the matter, determined to be an impartial judge. I was early at the polls, but too late to witness the polling of the first female vote—by "Grandma" Swain, a much-esteemed Quaker lady of 75 summers, who determined by her words and influence to rally her sex to defend the cause of morality and justice.
I saw the rough mountaineers maintaining the most respectful decorum whenever the women approached the polls, and heard the timely warning of one of the leading canvassers as he silenced an incipient quarrel with uplifted finger, saying, "Hist! Be quiet! A woman is coming!"
And I was compelled to allow that in this new country, supposed at that time to be infested by hordes of cut-throats, gamblers and abandoned characters, I had witnessed a more quiet election than it had been my fortune to see in the quiet towns of Vermont. I saw ladies attended by their husbands, brothers, or sweethearts, ride to the places of voting, and alight in the midst of a silent crowd, and pass through an open space to the polls, depositing their votes with no more exposure to insult or injury than they would expect on visiting a grocery store or meat-market. Indeed, they were much safer here, every man of their party was pledged to shield them, while every member of the other party feared the influence of any signs of disrespect.
And the next day I sent my impressions to an eastern paper, declaring myself convinced that woman's presence at the polls would elevate the tone of public sentiment there as it does in churches, the social hall, or any other place, while her own robes are unspotted by the transient association with evil characters which she is daily obliged to meet in the street or dry-goods store. My observation at subsequent annual elections has only confirmed my opinion in this respect.
Without reference to party issues, I noticed that a majority of women voted for men of the most temperate habits, thus insuring success to the party of law and order.
After three years' absence from my old home, I could not fail to notice in the elections of 1877 and 1878 that both parties had been led to nominate men of better standing in moral character, in order to secure the female vote.
I confess that I believe in the idea of aristocracy—i. e. "the rule of the best ones"—not by blood or position, but the aristocracy of character, to which our laws point when they declare that prison characters shall not vote.
The ballot of any community cannot rise above its character. A town full of abandoned women would be cursed by the application of woman suffrage.
We need to intrust our State interests to the class most noted for true character. As a class, women are more moral and upright in their character than men. Hence America would profit by their voting.
The next general election occurred in September, 1871, for members of the second territorial legislature. The usual tactics were employed and considerable sums of money were given to the drinking saloons to secure their influence and furnish free drinks and cigars for the voters. But no one thought of trying to buy up the women, nor was it ever supposed that a woman's vote could be secured with whiskey and cigars! Election day passed off with entire quiet and good order around the polling-places; the noise and bustle were confined to the bar-rooms. The streets presented no change from an ordinary business day, except that a large number of wagons and carriages were driven about with the watch-words and banners of different parties, or different candidates, conspicuously posted on them. A much larger number of women voted at this election than at the former one, but quite a number failed or refused to take part in it. The result was again a surprise, and to many a disappointment. Some candidates were unexpectedly elected, and some who had spent large amounts of money and worked hard around the drinking saloons, and were ready to bet largely on being elected, were defeated. The Republicans had shown an unexpected strength and had returned several members to each House, although it was quite certain that some of the Democrats were indebted to the women for their success. It was admitted, however, that their votes had generally gone against the favorites of the whiskey shops and that the power of the saloons had been largely neutralized and in some cases entirely overthrown. Some remarkable instances of woman's independence and moral character occurred at this election which I cannot help recording, but must not mention names.
As above stated in reference to the grand jury in Laramie City, the "Sunday law" had there been put into vigorous operation. The evening before the election, and after both the political parties had nominated their candidates for the legislature, the saloon-keepers got together very secretly and nominated a ticket of their own number, pledged to repeal the "Sunday law." This move was not discovered until they began to vote that ticket at the polls next day. Then it was found that the saloons were pushing it with all their influence and giving free drinks to all who would vote it. This aroused the women and they came out in force; many who had declined to vote before not only voted, but went round and induced others to do the same. At noon the rum-sellers' ticket was far ahead and it looked as though it would be elected by a large majority; at the close of the polls at night it was overwhelmingly defeated. In one case the wife of a saloon-keeper who was a candidate on that ticket, told her husband that she would defeat him if she could. He was beaten, and he was man enough to say he was glad of it—glad he had a wife so much better than he was, and who had so much more influence in town than he had.
Another candidate on that ticket was a saloon-keeper who had grown rich in the traffic, but whose private character was much above the morals of his business. He had recently married a very nice young lady in the East, and she was much excited when she learned how matters were progressing. She told her husband she was ashamed of him and would vote against him, and would enlist all the members of her church against him if she could; and she went to work in earnest and was a most efficient cause of the defeat of the ticket. Her husband also was proud of her, and said it served him right and he was glad of it. I have never heard that the domestic harmony of either of these families was in anyway disturbed by these events, but I know that they have prospered and are still successful and happy.
Still the legislature was strongly Democratic. There were four Republicans and five Democrats in the Council, and four Republicans and nine Democrats in the House. When they met in November, 1871, many Democrats were found to be bitterly opposed to woman suffrage and determined to repeal the act; they said it was evident they were losing ground and the Republicans gaining by reason of the women voting, and that it must be stopped. The Republicans were all inclined to sustain the law. Several caucuses were held by the Democrats to determine on their course of action and overcome the opposition in their own ranks. These caucuses were held in one of the largest drinking saloons in Cheyenne and all the power of whiskey was brought to bear on the members to secure a repeal of the woman suffrage act. It required considerable time and a large amount of whiskey, but at last the opposition was stifled and the Democratic party was brought up solid for repeal. A bill was introduced in the House for the purpose, but was warmly resisted by the Republicans and a long discussion followed. It was finally carried by a strict party vote and sent to the Council, where it met with the same opposition and the same result followed. It then went to the governor for his approval. There was no doubt in his mind as to the course he ought to take. He had seen the effects produced by the act of enfranchisement, and unhesitatingly approved all of them. He promptly returned the bill with his veto; and the accompanying message is such an able paper and so fully sets forth the reasons in favor of the original act, and the good results of its operation, that at least a few extracts well deserve a prominent place in this record:
I return herewith to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, a bill for "An Act to repeal Chapter XXXI. of the Laws of the First Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wyoming."
I regret that a sense of duty compels me to dissent from your honorable body with regard to any contemplated measure of public policy. It would certainly be more in accordance with the desire I have to secure and preserve the most harmonious relations among all the branches of our territorial government, to approve the bill. A regard, however, for the rights of those whose interests are to be affected by it, and for what I believe to be the best interests of the territory, will not allow me to do so. The consideration, besides, that the passage of this bill would be, on the part of those instrumental in bringing it about, a declaration that the principles upon which the enfranchisement of women is urged are false and untenable, and that our experience demonstrates this, influences me not a little in my present action.
While I fully appreciate the great danger of too much attention to abstract speculation or metaphysical reasoning in political affairs, I cannot but perceive that there are times and circumstances when it is not only proper but absolutely necessary to appeal to principles somewhat general and abstract, when they alone can point out the way and they alone can guide our conduct. So it was when, two years ago, the act which this bill is designed to repeal was presented for my approval. There was at that time no experience to which I might refer and test by its results the conclusions to which the application of certain universally admitted principles led me. In the absence of all such experience I was driven to the application of principles which through the whole course of our national history have been powerfully and beneficially operative in making our institutions more and more popular, in framing laws more and more just and in securing amendments to our federal constitution. If the ballot be an expression of the wish, or a declaration of the will, of the tax-payer as to the manner in which taxes should be levied and collected and revenues disbursed, why should those who hold in their own right a large proportion of the wealth of the country be excluded from a voice in making the laws which regulate this whole subject? If, again, the ballot be for the physically weak a guarantee of protection against the aggression and violence of the strong, upon what ground can the delicate bodily organism of woman be forbidden this shelter for her protection? If, once more, each ballot be the declaration of the individual will of the person casting it, as to the relative merit of opposed measures or men, surely the ability to judge and determine—the power of choice—does not depend upon sex, nor does womanhood deprive of personality. If these principles are too general to be free from criticism, and if this reasoning be too abstract to be always practically applicable, neither the principles nor the reasoning can fail of approbation when contrasted with the gloomy misgivings for the future and the dark forebodings of evils, imaginary, vague and undefined, by dwelling upon which the opponents of this reform endeavor to stay its progress. Aggressive reasoning and positive principles like these must be met with something more than mere doubtful conjectures, must be resisted by something more than popular prejudices, and overthrown—if overthrown at all—by something stronger than the force of inert conservatism; yet what is there but conjecture, prejudice and conservatism opposing this reform? ********
The law granting to women the right to vote and to hold office in this territory was a natural and logical sequence to the other laws upon our statute-book. Our laws give to the widow the guardianship of her minor children. Will you take from her all voice in relation to the public schools established for the education of those children? Our laws permit women to acquire and possess property. Will you forbid them having any voice in relation to the taxation of that property? This bill says too little or too much. Too little, if you legislate upon the assumption that woman is an inferior who should be kept in a subordinate position, for in that case the other laws affecting her should be repealed or amended; and too much, if she is, as no one will deny, the equal of man in heart and mind, for in that case we cannot afford to dispense with her counsel and assistance in the government of the territory.
I need only instance section 9 of the school act, which declares that, "In the employment of teachers no discrimination shall be made in the question of pay on account of sex when the persons are equally qualified." What is more natural than that the men who thought that women were competent to instruct the future voters and legislators of our land, should take the one step in advance of the public sentiment of yesterday and give to her equal wages for equal work? And when this step had been taken, what more natural than that they should again move forward—this time perhaps a little in advance of the public sentiment of to-day—and give to those whom they consider competent to instruct voters, the right to vote.
To the statement, so often made, that the law which this bill is intended to repeal was passed thoughtlessly and without proper consideration, I oppose the fact to which I have adverted, that the law perfectly conforms to all the other laws in relation to women upon our statute-book. Studied in connection with the other laws it would seem to have grown naturally from them. It harmonizes entirely with them, and forms a fitting apex to the grand pyramid which is being built up as broadly and as surely throughout all the States of the Union as it has been built up and capped in Wyoming.
The world does not stand still. The dawn of Christianity was the dawn of light for woman. For eighteen centuries she has been gradually but slowly rising from the condition of drudge and servant for man, to become his helpmeet, counselor and companion. As she has been advanced in the social scale, our laws have kept pace with that advancement and conferred upon her rights and privileges with accompanying duties and responsibilities. She has not abused those privileges, and has been found equal to the duties and responsibilities. And the day is not far distant when the refining and elevating influence of women will be as clearly manifested in the political as it now is in the social world.
Urged by all these considerations of right, and justice, and expediency, and the strong conviction of duty, I approved that act of which this bill contemplates the repeal, and it became a law. To warrant my reconsidering that action, there ought to be in the experience of the last two years something to show that the reasons upon which it was founded were unsound, or that the law itself was wrong or at least unwise and inexpedient. My view of the teachings of this experience is the very reverse of this. Women have voted, and have the officers chosen been less faithful and zealous and the legislature less able and upright? They have sat as jurors, and have the laws been less faithfully and justly administered, and criminals less promptly and adequately punished? Indeed the lessons of this two years' experience fully confirm all that has been claimed by the most ardent advocate of this innovation.
In this territory women have manifested for its highest interests a devotion strong, ardent, and intelligent. They have brought to public affairs a clearness of understanding and a soundness of judgment, which, considering their exclusion hitherto from practical participation in political agitations and movements, are worthy of the greatest admiration and above all praise. The conscience of women is in all things more discriminating and sensitive than that of men; their sense of justice, not compromising or time-serving, but pure and exacting; their love of order, not spasmodic or sentimental merely, but springing from the heart; all these,—the better conscience, the exalted sense of justice, and the abiding love of order, have been made by the enfranchisement of women to contribute to the good government and well-being of our territory. To the plain teachings of these two years' experience I cannot close my eyes. I cannot forget the benefits that have already resulted to our territory from woman suffrage, nor can I permit myself even to seem to do so by approving this bill.
There is another, and in my judgment, a serious objection to this bill, which I submit for the consideration and action of your honorable body. It involves a reference to that most difficult of questions, the limitations of legislative power. High and transcendent as that power undoubtedly and wisely is, there are limits which not even it can pass. Two years ago the legislature of this territory conferred upon certain of its citizens valuable rights and franchises. Can a future legislature, by the passage of a law not liable to the objection, that it violates the obligation of contracts, take away those rights? It is not claimed, so far as I have been informed, that the persons upon whom these franchises were conferred have forfeited or failed to take advantage of them. But even if such were the case it would be rather a matter for judicial determination than for legislative action. What that determination would be is clearly indicated in the opinion of Associate-justice Story in the celebrated case of Trustees of Dartmouth College vs. Woodward: "The right to be a freeman of a corporation is a valuable temporal right. * * It is founded on the same basis as the right of voting in public elections; it is as sacred a right; and whatever might have been the prevalence of former doubts, since the time of Lord Holt, such a right has always been deemed a valuable franchise or privilege." But even if we concede that these rights once acquired may be taken away, the passage of this bill would be, in my judgment, a most dangerous precedent. Once admit the right of a representative body to disfranchise its own constituents, and who can establish the limits to which that right may not be carried? If this legislature takes from women their franchises or privileges, what is to prevent a future legislature from depriving certain men, or classes of men, that, from any consideration they desire to disfranchise, of the same rights? We should be careful how we inaugurate precedents which may "return to plague the inventors," and be used as a pretext for taking away our liberties.
It will be remembered that in my message to the legislature at the commencement of the present session I said: "There is upon our statue book an act granting to the women of Wyoming territory the right of suffrage and to hold office which has now been in force two years. Under its liberal provisions women have voted in the territory, served on juries, and held office. It is simple justice to say that the women, entering for the first time in the history of the country upon these new and untried duties, have conducted themselves with as much tact, sound judgment, and good sense as the men. While it would be claiming more than the facts justify, to say that this experiment, in a limited field, has demonstrated beyond a doubt the perfect fitness of woman, at all times and under all circumstances, for taking a part in the government, it furnishes at least reasonable presumptive evidence in her favor, and she has a right to claim that, so long as none but good results are made manifest, the law should remain unrepealed."
These were no hastily formed conclusions, but the result of deliberation and conviction, and my judgment to-day approves the language I then used. For the first time in the history of our country we have a government to which the noble words of our Magna Charta of freedom may be applied,—not as a mere figure of speech, but as expressing a simple grand truth,—for it is a government which "derives all its just powers from the consent of the governed." We should pause long and weigh carefully the probable results of our action before consenting to change this government. A regard for the genius of our institutions, for the fundamental principles of American autonomy, and for the immutable principles of right and justice, will not permit me to sanction this change.
These reasons for declining to give my consent to the bill, I submit with all deference for the consideration and judgment of your honorable body.
The Republicans in the House made an ineffectual effort to sustain the veto, but the party whip and the power of the saloons were too strong for them, and the bill was passed over the veto by a vote of 9 to 4. It met a different and better fate, however, in the Council, where it was sustained by a vote of 4 to 5, a strict party vote in each case. Mr. Corlett, a rising young lawyer, at that time in the Council and since then a delegate in congress, made an able defense of the suffrage act and resisted its repeal, sustaining the veto with much skill and final success. And there was much need, for the Democrats had made overtures to one of the Republican members of the Council (they lacked one vote) and had obtained a promise from him to vote against the veto; but Mr. Corlett, finding out the fraud in season, reclaimed the fallen Republican and saved the law. It is due to Mr. Corlett to say that he has always been an able and consistent supporter of woman's rights and universal suffrage. He is now the leading lawyer of the territory.
Since that time the suffrage act has grown rapidly in popular favor, and has never been made a party question. The leading men of both parties, seeing its beneficial action, have given it an unqualified approval; and most, if not all, of its former enemies have become its friends and advocates. Most of the new settlers in the territory, though coming here with impressions or prejudices against it, soon learn to respect its operation, and admire its beneficial results. There is nowhere in the territory a voice raised against it, and it would be impossible to get up a party for its repeal.
The women uniformly vote at all our elections, and are exerting every year a more potent influence over the character of the candidates selected by each party for office, by quietly defeating those most objectionable in point of morals. It is true they are not now summoned to serve on juries, nor are they elected to office; and there are some obvious reasons for this. In the first place, they never push themselves forward for such positions, as the men invariably do; and in the second place, the judges who have been sent to the territory, since the first ones, have not insisted on respecting the women's rights as jurors, and in some cases have objected to their being summoned as such. But these matters will find a remedy by and by. It used to be an important question in the nominating caucuses, "Will this candidate put up money enough to buy the saloons, and catch the loafers and drinkers that they control?" Now the question is, "Will the women vote for this man, if we nominate him?" There have been some very remarkable instances where men, knowing themselves to be justly obnoxious to the women, have forced a nomination in caucus, relying on their money and the drinking shops and party strength to secure an election, who have been taught most valuable lessons by signal defeat at the polls. It would be invidious to call names or describe individual cases, and could answer no necessary purpose. But I would ask particular attention to the following articles, taken from recent newspapers, as full and satisfactory evidence of the truth of these statements, and of the wisdom of granting universal suffrage and equal rights to the citizens of Wyoming territory.
The Laramie City Daily Sentinel of December 16, 1878, J. H. Hayford, editor, has the following leading editorial:
For about eight years now, the women of Wyoming territory have enjoyed the same political rights and privileges as the men, and all the novelties of this new departure, all the shock it carried to the sensibilities of the old conservatives, have long since passed away. For a long time—even for years past—we have frequently received letters asking for information as to its practical results here, and still more frequently have received copies of eastern papers with marked articles which purported to be written by persons who resided here, or had visited the territory and witnessed the awful results or the total failure of the experiment. We have usually paid no attention to these false and anonymous scribblers, who took this method to display their shallow wit at the sacrifice of truth and decency. But recently we have received more than the usual number of such missives, and more letters, and from a more respectable source than before, and we take this occasion and method to answer them all at once, and once for always, and do it through the columns of the Sentinel, one of the oldest and most widely circulated papers in the territory, because it will be readily conceded that we would not publish here at home, false statements and misrepresentations upon a matter with which all our readers are familiar, and which, if false, could be easily refuted.
We assert here, then, that woman suffrage in Wyoming has been in every particular a complete success. That the women of Wyoming value as highly the political franchise, and as generally exercise it, as do the men of the territory.
That being more helpless, more dependent and more in need of the protection of good laws and good government than are men, they naturally use the power put into their hands to secure these results.
That they are controlled more by principle and less by party ties than men, and generally cast their votes for the best candidates and the best measures.
That while women in this territory frequently vote contrary to their husbands, we have never heard of a case where the family ties or domestic relations were disturbed thereby, and we believe that among the pioneers of the West there is more honor and manhood than to abuse a wife because she does not think with her husband about politics or religion.
We have never seen any of the evil results growing out of woman suffrage which we have heard predicted for it by its opponents. On the contrary, its results have been only good, and that continually. Our elections have come to be conducted as quietly, orderly and civilly as our religious meetings, or any of our social gatherings, and the best men are generally selected to make and enforce our laws. We have long ago generally come to the conclusion that woman's influence is as wholesome and as much needed in the government of the State as in the government of the family. We do not know of a respectable woman in the territory who objects to or neglects to use her political power, and we do not know of a decent man in the territory who wishes it abolished, or who is not even glad to have woman's help in our government.
Our laws were never respected or enforced, and crime was never punished, or life or property protected until we had woman's help in the jury box and at the polls, and we unhesitatingly say here at home that we do not believe a man can be found who wishes to see her deprived of voice and power, unless it is the one "who fears not God nor regards man," who wants to pursue a life of vice or crime, and consequently fears woman's influence and power in the government. We assert further that the anonymous scribblers who write slanders on our women and our territory to the eastern press, are either fools, who know nothing about what they write, or else belong to that class of whom the poet says:
With good opinion of the law."
We took some pains to track up and find out the author of one of the articles against woman suffrage to which our attention was called, and found him working on the streets of Cheyenne, with a ball and chain to his leg. We think he was probably an average specimen of these writers. And, finally, we challenge residents in Wyoming who disagree with the foregoing sentiments, and who endorse the vile slanders to which we refer, to come out over their own signature and in their own local papers and take issue with us, and our columns shall be freely opened to them.
There are some obvious inferences to be drawn and some rather remarkable lessons to be learned, from the foregoing narrative. In the first place, the responsibilities of self government, with the necessity of making their own laws, was delegated to a people, strangers to each other, with very little experience or knowledge in such matters, and composed of various nationalities, with a very large percentage of the criminal classes. It is a matter of surprise that they should have so soon settled themselves into an orderly community, where all the rights of person and property are well protected, and as carefully guarded and fully respected as in any of our old eastern commonwealths. It is a still greater surprise that a legislature selected by such a constituency, under such circumstances as characterized our first election, and composed of such men as were in fact elected, should have been able to enact a body of laws conso much that was good and practicable, and so little that was injudicious, unwise or vicious.
In the next place, it is evident that there was no public sentiment demanding the passage of the woman suffrage law, and but few advocates of it at that time in the territory; that its adoption, under such circumstances, was not calculated to give it a fair chance to exert a favorable influence in the community, or even maintain itself among the permanent customs and laws of the territory. The prospect was, that it would either remain a dead letter, or be swept away under the ridicule and abuse of the press, and the open attacks of its enemies. But it has withstood all these adverse forces, and from small beginnings has grown to be a permanent power in our politics, a vital institution, satisfactory to all our people. The far-reaching benefits it will yet accomplish can be easily foreseen. To make either individuals or classes respected and induce them to respect themselves, you must give them power and influence, a fair field and full enjoyment of the results of their labors. We have made a very creditable beginning in this direction, so far as woman is concerned, and we have no doubts about the outcome of it. Wyoming treats all her citizens alike, and offers full protection, equal rewards, and equal power, to both men and women.
Again it is very evident that while our women take no active part in the primary nomination of candidates for office, they exercise a most potent influence by the independent manner in which they vote, and the signal defeat they inflict on many unworthy candidates. Their successful opposition to the power of the bar-rooms is a notable and praiseworthy instance of the wise use of newly-acquired rights. The saloon-keepers used to sell themselves to that party, or that man, who would pay the most, and while robbing the candidates, degraded the elections and debauched the electors. So long as it was understood that in order to secure an election it was necessary to secure the rum-shops, good men were left out of the field, and unscrupulous ones were sought after as candidates. The women have already greatly modified this state of affairs and are likely to change it entirely in the end.
Another wonderful consequence which has attended the presence of women at the polls, is the uniform quiet and good order on election day. All the police that could be mustered, could not insure half the decorum that their simple presence has everywhere secured. No man, not even a drunken one, is willing to act like a rowdy when he knows the women will see him. Nor is he at all anxious to expose himself in their presence when he knows he has drank too much. Such men quit the polls, and slink out of the streets, to hide themselves from the eyes of the women in the obscurity of the drinking shops.
Another fact of great importance is the uniform testimony as to woman's success as a juror. It is true that there has been but a limited opportunity, thus far, to establish this as a fact beyond all doubt. But a good beginning has been made, a favorable impression produced, and no bad results have accompanied or followed the experiment. If our jury system of trying cases is to be preserved, as a tolerable method of settling disputes and administering justice in our courts, every one will admit that a great improvement in the character of the jurors must be speedily found. At present, a jury trial is generally regarded as a farce, or something worse. The proof of this is seen in the fact that in most of our courts the judges are required to try all cases without a jury, where the parties to the action consent, and that in a great portion of the cases the parties do consent.
Another notable observation is the rapid growth of opinion in favor of woman suffrage among our people, after its first adoption; but more particularly the change effected in the minds of the new settlers, who come to the territory with old prejudices and fixed notions against it. Neither early education, nor personal bias, nor party rancor, has been able to withstand the overwhelming evidence of its good effects, and of its elevating and purifying influence in our political and social organization.
I must add, in conclusion, that the seventh legislature of our territory has just closed its session of sixty days. It was composed of more members than the earlier legislatures were, there being thirteen in the Council and twenty-six in the House. Many important questions came up for consideration, and a wide field of discussion was traveled over, but not one word was at any time spoken by any member against woman suffrage.
Hon. M. C. Brown, district-attorney for the territory, confirms the testimony given by the judges and Governor Campbell, in a letter to the National Suffrage Convention held in Washington in 1884, which will be found in the pamphlet report of that year.
- ↑ Messrs. Wade, Anthony, Gratz Brown, Buckalew, Cowan, Foster, Nesmith, Patterson, Riddle. See Vol. II., Chapter XVII.
- ↑ Ex-Governor Hoyt in his public speeches frequently gives this bird's-eye view of Bright's domestic and political discussions: "Betty, it's a shame that I should be a member of the legislature and make laws for such a woman as you. You are a great deal better than I am; you know a great deal more, and you would make a better member of the Assembly than I, and you know it. I have been thinking about it and have made up my mind that I will go to work and do everything in my power to give you the ballot. Then you may work out the rest in your own way." So he went over and talked with other members of the legislature. They smiled. But he got one of the lawyers to help him draw up a short bill, which he introduced. It was considered and discussed. People smiled generally. There was not much expectation that anything of that sort would be done; but this was a shrewd fellow, who managed the party card in such a way as to get, as he believed, enough votes to carry the measure before it was brought to the test. I will show you a little behind the curtain, so far as I can draw it. Thus he said to the Democrats: "We have a Republican governor and a Democratic Assembly. Now, then, if we can carry this bill through the Assembly and the governor vetoes it, we shall have made a point, you know; we shall have shown our liberality and lost nothing. But keep still; don't say anything about it." They promised. He then went to the Republicans and told them that the Democrats were going to support his measure, and that if they did not want to lose capital they had better vote for it too. He didn't think there would be enough of them to carry it, but the vote would be on record and thus defeat the game of the other party. And they likewise agreed to vote for it. So when the bill came to a vote it went right through! The members looked at, each other in astonishment, for they hadn't intended to do it, quite. Then they laughed and said it was a good joke, but they had "got the governor in a fix." So the bill went, in the course of time, to John A. Campbell, who was then governor—the first governor of the territory of Wyoming—and he promptly signed it! His heart was right. He saw that it was long-deferred justice, and so signed it as gladly as Abraham Lincoln wrote his name to the Proclamation of Emancipation of the slaves. Of course the women were astounded! If a whole troop of angels had come down with flaming swords for their vindication, they would not have been much more astonished than they were when that bill became a law and the women of Wyoming were thus clothed with the habiliments of citizenship.
- ↑ No sooner had these gentlemen left than Mrs. Post and Mrs. Arnold had a long interview with the governor, urging him to sign the bill on the highest moral grounds; not only to protect the personal rights of the women of the territory but to compel the men to observe the decencies of life and to elevate the social and political status of the people.—[E. C. S.
- ↑ In the summer of 1871 Mrs. Stanton and myself, en route for California, visited Wyoming and met the women who were most active in the exercise of their rights of citizenship. At Cheyenne we were the guests of Mrs. M. B. Arnold and Mrs. Amalia B. Post. Mrs. Arnold had a large cattle-ranch and Mrs. Post an equally large sheep-ranch a few miles out of the city, which they superintended, and from which each received an independent income. They had not only served as jurors, but acted as foremen. At Laramie we were the guests of Mr. J. H. Hayford, editor of the Laramie Sentinel, and met Grandma Swain, who was the first woman to cast her ballot in that city. We also met Judges Howe and Kingman and Governor Campbell, and heard from them of the wonderful changes wrought in the court-room and at the polls by the presence of enfranchised women. We spoke in the very court-room in which women had sat as jurors and felt an added inspiration from that fact.—[S. B. A.
- ↑ The following is the list of the first grand jury at Laramie City, composed of nine men and six women, as impanneled and sworn: C. H. Bussard, foreman; Mrs. Jane E. Hilton, T. W. DeKay, Jeremiah Boies, Mrs. H. C. Swain. Joseph DeMars, M. N. Merrill, Mrs. M. A. Pierce, Mrs. C. Blake, Richard Turpin, G. W. Cardwell, Mrs. S. L. Larimer, N. C. Worth, Mrs. Jane Mackle, W. H. Mitchell