present to the legislature then in
session a petition for woman suffrage. The delegation consisted
of Laura DeForce Gordon, Caroline H. Spear and Laura Cuppy Smith,
who were accorded a hearing before a special committee of the
Senate, of which the venerable Judge Tweed, an able advocate of
woman suffrage, was chairman. The proceeding was without a
parallel in the history of the State. The novelty of women
addressing the legislature attracted universal attention, and the
newspapers were filled with reports of that important meeting.

During the year 1870 a general agitation was kept up. A number of
speakers[504] held meetings in various parts of the State. The
newspapers were constrained to notice this all-absorbing topic,
though most of them were opposed to the innovation, and
maintained a bitter war against its advocates. Prominent among
them was the sensational San Francisco _Chronicle_ followed by
the _Bulletin_, the _Call_, and in its usual negative style, the
_Alta_, while the _Examiner_ mildly ridiculed the subject, and a
score of lesser journalistic lights throughout the State
exhibited open hostility to woman suffrage, or simply mentioned
the fact of its agitation as a matter of news. But the brave
pioneers in this unpopular movement received kindly sympathy and
encouragement from some journals of influence, first among which
was the San Francisco _Post_, then under the management of that
popular journalist, Harry George, afterwards distinguished as the
author of "Progress and Poverty." The San Jose _Mercury_ was our
friend from the first, and its fearless and able editor, J. J.
Owen, accepted the office of president of the State woman
suffrage society to which he was elected in 1878. The Sacramento
_Bee_ also did valiant service in defending and advocating
woman's political equality, its veteran editor, James McClatchy,
being a man of liberal views and great breadth of thought, whose
powerful pen was wielded in advocacy of justice to all until his
death, which occurred in October, 1883. There were several county
journals that spoke kind words in our behalf, and occasionally
one under the editorial management of a woman would fearlessly
advocate political equality.

During the year of 1870, Mrs. Gordon traveled extensively over