COLORADO.[188]
After the campaign of 1877, when a woman suffrage amendment was defeated in Colorado, the first really important step forward was the organization at Denver, in 1890, of a little club to aid the campaign in South Dakota. In April Miss Matilda Hindman, who was working there, came from that State to ask assistance and formed a committee of six, who pledged themselves to raise $100. They were Miss Georgiana Watson, president; Mrs. Susan Sharman, secretary; Mrs. Mary J. Nichols, treasurer; and Mesdames Amy K. Cornwall, Jennie P. Root and Lavinia C. Dwelle.
Shortly afterward Mrs. Louise M. Tyler removed from Boston to Denver, bearing a letter from Lucy Stone urging Colorado suffragists to unite in an organization auxiliary to the National Woman Suffrage Association. Mrs. Tyler heard of this small band, called with Mrs. Elizabeth P. Ensley, delivered her message, and their names were added to the list of members. The organization was completed and became an auxiliary.
About this time Mrs. Leonora Barry Lake followed her lecture, delivered under the auspices of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union by an appeal to the women of the audience to join the suffrage association; and among those who responded were two whose ears had longed for such a gospel sound, Mrs. Emily R. Meredith and her daughter Ellis. Temperance women who repeatedly had found their work defeated by the lack of "the right preservative of rights," such women as Mrs. Anna Steele, Mrs. Ella L. Benton, Mrs. Eliza J. Patrick and others, thought truly that a society whose sole aim should be the ballot was a necessity. At this time the meetings were held in Mrs. Tyler's parlor. Miss Watson was much occupied with school duties, and in the fall of 1890 Mrs. Tyler was chosen president in her stead.
In 1891 a petition for the right of suffrage by constitutional amendment was presented to the Legislature, but the bill not being introduced within the specific time it went by default. Ashamed of their lack of political acumen, the women then persuaded Representative F. F. O'Mahoney, who had a bill prohibiting foreigners from voting on their first naturalization papers, to strike the word "male" from his measure, thus making it an equal suffrage enactment, but bill and rider were defeated. The ladies who worked for suffrage were treated with such scant courtesy by some of the legislators, and the general sentiment was so adverse, that ultimate success looked very distant to the most sanguine friends.
Some of the club even questioned the advisability of giving an afternoon a week, as they had been doing, to the study of a government in which they had no part and might never hope to have. Mrs. Sharman, a small, delicate woman, who already had passed four-score years, was its inspiration. She advised the members to remain united, ready for active effort when opportunity offered, and in the meantime to continue as seed-sowers and students of citizenship in the preparatory department.
The membership slowly increased. Mrs. Tyler served as president until 1892, when Mrs. Olive Hogle was elected. Mrs. Benton (Adams) had given the use of her rooms in the central part of Denver, and the society remained with her until, having outgrown its quarters, it accepted the hospitality of Dr. Minnie C. T. Love early in 1893.
In the spring of 1891 a small majority of its members had put up a woman candidate for the East Denver school board and tried their "prentice hands" at voting. It is a settled fact that a partial suffrage seldom awakens much interest. The school ballot had been given to women by the constitution when Colorado became a State, but here, as elsewhere, they exercised it only when aroused by some especial occasion. Mrs. Scott Saxton was the candidate selected. The wiser of the suffragists thought the work should have been undertaken sooner, if at all, as there was not then sufficient time for canvassing, and the result proved they were right. More women voted than ever before, but the men opposed to women on the school board came out in still greater numbers. Twelve hundred ballots were cast—by far the largest school vote ever polled in the district. Of these about 300 were for Mrs. Saxton.
Two years later this effort was repeated and other organizations of women aided the suffragists. Mrs. Ione T. Hanna was the candidate. There were four tickets in the field and over 6,000 votes were cast. This time both men and women voted in favor and, in the face of bitter opposition, Mrs. Hanna was elected by 1,900 majority.
A bill providing that the question of full suffrage for women should be submitted to the voters at the next general election was drawn by J. Warner Mills and presented in the House early in 1893 by J. T. Heath. On this, and all other occasions when advice or assistance was needed, Mr. Mills gave his legal services without charge.