pose of testing the
question?--Yes, sir; I had been resolved for three years to vote at
the first election when I had been at home for thirty days before.

It is an incident worthy of note that this examination took place and
the commissioner's decision was rendered in the same dingy little room
where, in the olden days, fugitive slaves were examined and returned to
their masters. While the attorneys were endeavoring to agree upon a
date for the hearing of arguments, Miss Anthony remarked that she
should be engaged lecturing in central Ohio until December 10. "But you
are supposed to be in custody all this time," said the
district-attorney. "Oh, is that so? I had forgotten all about that,"
she replied. That night she wrote in her diary: "A hard day and a sad
anniversary! Ten years ago our dear father was laid to rest. This
evening at 7 o'clock my old friend Horace Greeley died. A giant
intellect suddenly gone out!"

The second hearing took place December 23 in the common council
chamber, in the presence of a large audience which included many
ladies, the newspapers stating that it had rather the appearance of a
social gathering than an arraignment of criminals. Of those on trial
one paper said: "The majority of these law-breakers were elderly,
matronly-looking women with thoughtful faces, just the sort one would
like to see in charge of one's sick-room, considerate, patient,
kindly."

At Judge Selden's request, Hon. John Van Voorhis, one of the ablest
lawyers in Rochester, had been associated with himself for the defense.
Both made strong, logical arguments, and Miss Anthony herself spoke
most earnestly in behalf of the three inspectors, who also had been
arrested. The commissioner held all of them guilty, fixed their bail at
$500 each, and gave them until the following Monday to furnish it. All
did so except Miss Anthony, who refused to give bail and applied for a
writ of habeas corpus from U. S. District-Judge N. K. Hall. The
Rochester Express, which stood nobly by her through this ordeal, said
editorially:

Miss Anthony had a loftier end in view than the making of a
sensation when she registered her name and cast her vote. The act
was in harmony with a life steadily consecrated to a high purpose
from which she has never wavered, though she has met a storm of
invective, personal taunt and false accusation, more than enough to
justify any person less courageous than she in giving up