[249] To the Women of the State of New York:
The undersigned urge you to exert yourselves to turn every vote possible against Leslie W. Russell's reëlection as attorney-general. His official acts prove him the unscrupulous foe of your liberties. By informing the legislature that you have no right to vote at common law, he has denied your sacred rights and misrepresented the law to your hurt. By stating that you have no natural right to vote, he has denied your title to freedom and sought to keep your rights at the mercy of those in power. By informing the legislature that the bill to repeal the statutes which keep you from voting was unconstitutional he misled the legislature and kept you disfranchised. By thus continuing your disfranchisement, he has subjected you to many misfortunes and wrongs which the repeal of your disfranchisement would cure, and is personally responsible for these sufferings. He has also sought to rob the mothers of this State of their votes at school elections, and thus to deprive them of the power to control their children's education.
[Signed:] Clemence S. Lozier, M. D., New York; Mary R. Pell, Queens; Lillie Devereux Blake, New York; Caroline A. Bassett, Erie; Susan A. King, New York; Lucy Shawler, Chenango; Mary E. Tallman, Oneida; Hannah M. Angel, Allegany; Ida Louise Dildine, Broome; Zerivah L. Watkeys, Onondaga; Asenath C. Coolidge, Jefferson; Sarah H. Hallock, Ulster; N. W. Cooper, Jefferson, and others.
To the Republican and Independent Voters of the State of New York:
The undersigned earnestly ask you to cast your votes against Leslie W. Russell, the present attorney-general. When the legislature last year was about to repeal the election laws which prevent women from exercising the right of suffrage, Leslie W. Russell stated to that body that women had no right at common law to vote, and that this bill was unconstitutional. By these misstatements he misled the legislature, defeated this most righteous bill and prolonged the disfranchisement of women. Thus he inflicted on a majority of our adult citizens, who had committed no offense, the penalty of disfranchisement and the great mischiefs which flow thence, and, like Judge Taney in the Dred-Scott decision, perverted law and constitution to justify injustice and continue wrong. A vote for Leslie W. Russell is a vote to keep these women disfranchised and to prolong these mischiefs. He who thus blocks the way of freedom should be removed from the place which enables him to do this. You can vote at this election for fifteen or more officers. It is but a small thing to ask, that each of you cast one-fifteenth part of his vote to represent women's interest at the polls.
[Signed:] Clemence S. Lozier, M. D., Bronson Murray, Susan A. King, Hamilton Wilcox, Lillie Devereux Blake, Albert O. Wilcox.
[250] Abigail Scott Duniway, editor New Northwest, Oregon; Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, editor "Woman's Kingdom," Chicago Inter-Ocean; Helen M. Gougar, editor Our Herald, Indiana.
[251] On the evening of March 8 the New York city society gave a reception in honor of the delegates to the National Convention, recently held at Washington, in the elegant parlors of the Hoffman House.
[252] Mrs. Gage, Mrs. Howell, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Duniway and Mrs. Gougar.
[253] Imprisonment for not more than five years, or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both.