al
outrages which have been committed in the United States in the
determination to prevent the enfranchisement of women:

Women voted in Washington Territory for the first time in 1884,
and were disfranchised by its Supreme Court in 1887.

Equal suffrage was granted by the Legislature in October, 1883.
The women at once began to distinguish themselves there, as in
Wyoming and elsewhere, by voting for the best man, irrespective
of party. The old files of the Washington newspapers bear ample
evidence to this fact. The first chance they had to vote was at
the municipal elections of July, 1884. The Seattle _Mirror_ said:

"The city election of last Monday was for more reasons than one
the most important ever held in Seattle. The presence of women at
the voting-places had the effect of preventing the disgraceful
proceedings usually seen. It was the first election in the city
where the women could vote, and the first where the gambling and
liquor fraternity, which had so long controlled the municipal
government to an enormous extent, suffered defeat."

The _Post-Intelligencer_ said:

"After the experience of the late election it will not do for any
one here to say the women do not want to vote. They displayed as
much interest as the men, and, if anything, more.... The result
insures Seattle a first-class municipal administration. It is a
warning to that undesirable class of the community who subsist
upon the weaknesses and vices of society that disregard of law
and the decencies of civilization will not be tolerated."

Quotations might be multiplied from the papers of other towns,
testifying to the independent voting of the women, the large size
of their vote, the courtesy with which they were treated, and the
greater quiet and order produced by their presence at the polls.

Next came the general election of November, 1884. Again the
newspapers were practically unanimous as to the result. The
Olympia _Transcript_, which was opposed to equal suffrage, said:
"The result shows that all parties must put up good men if they
expect to elect them. They can not do as they have in the
past--nominate any candidates, and elect them by the force of the
party lash."

The _Democratic State Journal_ said: "No one could fail to see
that hereafter more atte