The main interest of this election was centered in the fight between Huron and Pierre for the location of the capital. There never in any State was a more shameless and corrupt buying and selling of votes, and the woman suffrage amendment was one of the chief articles of barter. The bribers, the liquor dealers and gamblers, were reinforced here, as had been the case in other State campaigns, by their faithful allies, "the Remonstrants of Boston," who circulated their anonymous sheet through every nook and corner of the State.
All of the speakers who took any prominent part in the campaign were paid except Miss Anthony.[64] She contributed her services for over six months and refused during that time an offer of $500 from the State of Washington for ten lectures and a contract from one of the largest lecture bureaus in the country at $60 per night.[65] At the close of the canvass she gave from the national fund $100 each to Mrs. Wardall and Philena E. Johnson, who had worked so faithfully without pay. Then, lacking $300 of enough to settle all the bills, she drew that amount from her own small bank account and put it in as a contribution to the campaign.
At the annual meeting of the State W. C. T. U., September 26, a strong resolution was adopted endorsing Miss Anthony's work in South Dakota and she was made an honorary member. After the election the State suffrage committee unanimously passed the following resolution: "The earnest and heartfelt gratitude of all the suffragists of South Dakota is hereby extended to Susan B. Anthony, who has devoted her entire time, energy and experience for six months to the cause of liberty and justice."
Anna Shaw said that in all her years of preaching and lecturing she had never been so exhausted as at the close of that canvass. Mrs. Catt was prostrated with typhoid fever immediately upon reaching home, and hovered between life and death for many months, in her delirium constantly making speeches and talking of the campaign. Mary Anthony said, "When my sister returned from South Dakota I realized for the first time that she was indeed threescore and ten."
FOOTNOTES:
[59] "I am homesick already," she wrote Mrs. Spofford, "and have been every minute since I left Washington. My choice would be to live there most of the year, but no! Duty first, ease and comfort afterwards, even if they never come."
[60] Mrs. Wallace was kept at home by serious illness in her family. In a letter to Miss Anthony, August 18, expressing her deep regret, she said: "Money would be no object with me if I could overcome the other difficulties in the way, but as I can not, I fear I shall have to let you think I am unreliable. I regret this, as there is no woman (except Miss Willard) whose good opinion I value so highly as yours."
[61] In order to keep her next engagement, Miss Anthony was obliged to leave Huron at 7:30 a. m., drive sixteen miles in the face of a heavy northwest wind and rain, travel all day and speak that evening. "I did the best I could," she wrote in her journal.
[62] Then E. W. Miller took the floor, and in a disgusting manner and vile language berated the women present and all woman suffragists.... Miller disgraced the name of Democracy, disgraced his constituents, disgraced South Dakota, disgraced the name of man by his brutal and low remarks in the presence of ladies and gentlemen.—Aberdeen Pioneer.
[63] At one place where this happened, the Russian sheriff had locked the court house doors, but the women compelled him to open them. He was entirely converted by the addresses of the afternoon, and in the evening when the storm was approaching, he rushed to Miss Anthony and exclaimed, "Come, quick, and let me take you to the cellar, where you will be perfectly safe." "O, no, thank you," she replied, "a little thing like a cyclone does not frighten me."