turned to the
House for the Speaker to sign. Mrs. Peters thus relates what happened
after he had done so:

By the merest accident, Senator Thomas Miller, a friend, obeyed
an impression to examine the bill to see if it were all right,
when lo and behold! he discovered that the true bill had been
stolen during the short recess and an absolutely worthless bill
engrossed and signed. Senator Miller at once made the fraud
public and Speaker Cline tore his signature from the bill. On
Thursday morning, the last day, a certified copy of the true bill
was sent to the House, where it was ratified and returned to the
Senate. I then requested the President of the Senate to make me a
special messenger to take the bill to the Governor for his
signature. As I happened to hold the peculiar position of having
voted (at the State convention) for both those gentlemen, and as
I had taken pains to remind them of that fact, and as both the
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor were suffragists, I found no
difficulty in having my request granted. I said that the bill had
been delayed, deformed, pigeon-holed and stolen, and I would not
feel safe until it was made law by the Governor's signature.

I was duly sworn in as special messenger, and very proudly
carried the bill to the office, where Gov. John R. Rogers
affixed his signature to it and declared it law.

The history of the campaign which followed, as condensed by the
president, Mrs. Hill, shows that active work did not begin until the
convention held at Seattle in January, 1898. The executive committee
was called together after its adjournment and the situation thoroughly
canvassed. A resolution which welcomed work for the amendment by other
societies under their own auspices was unanimously passed, as it was
realized that there was not time in which to bring all suffragists
into line under one management. Money was scarce and hard to obtain,
and public attention was divided between the Spanish-American War and
the gold excitement in Alaska. The association at once turned its
attention to the obtaining of funds, the securing of the favorable
attitude of the press and the formal indorsement of the amendment by
other organizations.

Clubs were formed in wards and precincts to hold meetings, assist the
State association financially, distribute literature and circulate a
petition for signatures