Susan B. Anthony should have a place in history," and the Chicago
_Tribune_ venturing to suggest that she ought to hold public office.
The cartoonists, however, reveling in a new and tempting subject,
caricatured her unmercifully, the New York Graphic setting the tone.
Some Democratic papers condemned her, following the line of the
Rochester _Union and Advertiser_ which flaunted the headline, "Female
Lawlessness," and declared that Miss Anthony's lawlessness had proved
women unfit for the ballot.

Before she voted, Susan had taken the precaution of consulting Judge
Henry R. Selden, a former judge of the Court of Appeals. After
listening with interest to her story and examining the arguments of
Benjamin Butler, Francis Minor, and Albert G. Riddle in support of the
claim that women had a right to vote under the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments, he was convinced that women had a good case and
consented to advise her and defend her if necessary. Judge Selden, now
retired from the bench because of ill health, was practicing law in
Rochester where he was highly respected. A Republican, he had served
as lieutenant governor, member of the Assembly, and state senator.
Susan had known him as one of the city's active abolitionists, a
friend of Frederick Douglass who had warned him to flee the country
after the raid on Harper's Ferry and the capture of John Brown. Such
a man she felt she could trust.

All was quiet for about two weeks after the election and it looked as
if the episode might be forgotten in the jubilation over Grant's
election. Then, on November 18, the United States deputy marshal rang
the doorbell at 7 Madison Street and asked for Miss Susan B. Anthony.
When she greeted him, he announced with embarrassment that he had come
to arrest her.

"Is this your usual manner of serving a warrant?" she asked in
surprise.[292]

He then handed her papers, charging that she had voted in violation of
Section 19 of an Act of Congress, which stipulated that anyone voting
knowingly without having the lawful right to vote was guilty of a
crime, and on conviction would be punished by a fine not exceeding
$500, or by imprisonment not exceeding three years.

This was a serious development. It had never occurred to Susan that
this law, passed in 1870 to halt the voting of southern rebels, could
actually be applicable to her. In fact, she had expected to bring suit
against election inspectors for refusing to accept the ballots