had accumulated a large fortune and
owned much real estate. Her memorial, signed by a few others,
represented $9,000,000. The committee bearing these waited on many
members of the legislature to secure their influence when such a
bill should be presented, which was done March 11, by Col. Alfred
Wagstaff, with warm recommendations. He was followed by Senator
McCarthy of Onondaga, who also introduced a bill for an amendment
to the constitution to secure to women the right of suffrage. Both
these bills called out the determined opposition of Thomas C.
Ecclesine, senator from the eleventh district, and the ridicule of
others. The delegation of ladies, sitting there as representatives
of half the people of the State, felt insulted to have their
demands thus sneered at; it was for them a moment of bitter
humiliation. In the evening, however, their time for retaliation
came, as they had a hearing in the Senate chamber, before the
Judiciary Committee, where an immense crowd assembled at an early
hour. The chairman of the committee Hon. William H. Robertson,
presided. Each of the ladies, in the course of her speech, referred
to the insulting remarks of Mr. Hughes of Washington county. That
gentleman, being present, looked as if he regretted his unfortunate
jokes, and winced under the sarcasm of the ladies.

Soon after this, great excitement was created by the close of
Stewart's Home for Working Women. This fine building, on the corner
of Thirty-second street and Fourth avenue, had been erected by the
merchant prince for the use of working women, who could there find
a home at a moderate expense. The millionaire dead, his large
fortune passed into other hands. The building was completed and
furnished in a style of elegance far beyond what was appropriated
to that purpose. On April 2, with a great flourish, the immense
building was thrown open for public inspection. A large number of
women applied at once for admission, but encountered a set of rules
that drove most of them away. This gave Judge Hilton an excuse for
violating his obligation to carry out the plan of his dead
benefactor, and in a few weeks he closed the house to working women
and opened it as the Park Hotel, for which it was so admirably
furnished and fitted that it was the general opinion that it was
intended for this from the beginning. Great indignation was felt in
the community, the women calling a meeting to express their
disappointment and dissatisfaction.