elegates giving her their support. The New York _World_, very
fair in its coverage of the heated debates, declared, "Of her devotion
to the cause of workingwomen, there can be no question."[231]

* * * * *

The activities of the Workingwomen's Association had by this time
begun to irk employers, and some of them threatened instant dismissal
of any employee who reported her wages or hours to these meddling
women. Fear of losing their jobs now hung over many while others were
forbidden by their fathers, husbands, and brothers to have anything to
do with strong-minded Susan B. Anthony.

To counteract this disintegrating influence and to bring all classes
of women together in their fight for equal rights, Susan persuaded the
popular lecturer, Anna E. Dickinson, to speak for the Workingwomen's
Association at Cooper Union. This, however, only added fuel to the
flames, for Anna, in an emotional speech, "A Struggle for Life," told
the tragic story of Hester Vaughn, a workingwoman who had been accused
of murdering her illegitimate child. Found in a critical condition
with her dead baby beside her, Hester Vaughn had been charged with
infanticide, tried without proper defense, and convicted by a
prejudiced court, although there was no proof that she had
deliberately killed her child. At Susan's instigation, the
Workingwomen's Association sent a woman physician, Dr. Clemence
Lozier, and the well-known author, Eleanor Kirk, to Philadelphia to
investigate the case. Both were convinced of Hester Vaughn's
innocence.

With the aid of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's courageous editorials in _The
Revolution_, Susan made such an issue of the conviction of Hester
Vaughn that many newspapers accused her of obstructing justice and
advocating free love, and this provided a moral weapon for her critics
to use in their fight against the growing independence of women.
Eventually her efforts and those of her colleagues won a pardon for
Hester Vaughn. At the same time the publicity given this case served
to educate women on a subject heretofore taboo, showing them that
poverty and a double standard of morals made victims of young women
like Hester Vaughn. Susan also made use of this case to point out the
need for women jurors to insure an unprejudiced trial. She even
suggested that Columbia University Law School open its doors to women
so that a few of them might be able to understand their rights under
the law and brin