d that it became my
humiliating duty to ask pardon in the evening for the speech in
advocacy of the illustrious candidate which in my ignorance I had
made in the morning. That Mr. Greeley owed his defeat in part to
the opposition of women in that memorable campaign, I have never
doubted. But he builded better than he knew in earlier years, for
he planted many a tree of liberty that shall live through the
ages to come, overshadowing in a measure his failure to recognize
the divine right of political equality for woman in his later
days.

The first annual convention of the Oregon State Association met
in Portland, February 9, 1873. Many ladies and several
gentlemen[510] of more or less local prominence assisted at this
convention, but we were able to prevail upon but one gentleman,
Col. C. A. Reed of Salem, to occupy the platform with us. This
convention received favorable notice from the respectable press
of the State, and was largely attended by the best elements of
the city and country. Delegates were chosen to attend the
forthcoming State Temperance Alliance which held its second
annual meeting February 20, and to which a dozen of us went
bearing credentials. It was evident from the first that trouble
was brewing. The enemy had had a whole year to prepare an
ambuscade of which our party had no suspicion. A Committee on
Credentials was appointed with instructions to rule the woman
suffrage delegation out of the Alliance as a "disturbing
element." Hon J. Quinn Thornton was chairman of that committee.
In his report he declared all delegations to be satisfactory
(including those from the penitentiary) except the women whom he
styled "setting hens," "belligerent females," etc., after which
he subsided with pompous gravity. All eyes were turned upon me,
and I felt as I fancy a general must when the success or failure
of an army in battle depends upon his word. "Mr. President," I
exclaimed, as soon as I could get the floor, "I move to so amend
the report of the committee as to admit the suffrage delegation."
The motion was seconded by a half-dozen voices. Then followed a
scene which beggars description. It was pandemonium broken loose.
When I arose again to address the chair that worthy ordered my
arrest by the sergeant-at-arms, saying: "Take