[282] The other State officers have been, recording secretaries, Dr. Sarah M. Siewers; Mesdames Mary Ritchie McKee, Mary Muggeridge, Mary R. Patterson, Sarah Hardin Sawyer, Kate Rose Wiggins; Misses Anna M. Deane, Mary Susan Hamilton, Mary E. Light; third vice-presidents, Mesdames Sallie H. Chenault, S. M. Hubbard, Mary H. Johnson, Thomas L. Jones, N. S. McLaughlin; Miss Belle Harris Bennett; superintendents of press, Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain, Mrs. Sarah G. Humphreys; superintendent of legislative work, Mrs. Josephine K. Henry.
[283] This bill, drawn up with legal precision and clearness, was practically the one passed four years later (1894), which raised Kentucky's property laws for wives to a just and honorable plane.
[284] On the night of March 8 Mrs. Josephine K. Henry spoke in Frankfort on the subject of American Citizenship. The Legislative Hall was voted unanimously and the Senate, which was holding night sessions, adjourned to hear her address. The Property Rights Bill was on this night virtually dead. Mrs. Henry in her speech never alluded to this bill, but plainly asked the Legislature to create a power to which she could apply and receive her papers of citizenship, claiming that she had every qualification save that of sex. The speech did not procure for her the right to vote, but the next morning, amid the greatest tumult, the dead Property Rights Bill was resurrected and passed.
Minutes of Kentucky E. R. A., 1894.
[285] The wife can not dispose of real estate without the husband's signature. He can convey real estate without her signature but it is subject to her dower.
[286] This year the E. R. A., the W. C. T. U. and the Woman's Club of Central Kentucky petitioned Governor Bradley to appoint a woman physician for the insane asylum at Lexington. He did appoint one, Dr. Kathryn Houser, but placed her in the Hopkinsville asylum.
[287] A notable feature of this act is that none shall be appointed who has not been recommended by a committee composed of one woman selected by each of the following organizations: Home of Friendless Women, Flower Mission, Free Kindergarten Association, Humane Society, Charity Organization Society, City Federation of Women's Clubs, Kentucky Children's Home Society, W. C. T. U. and Women's Christian Association.
[288] This Act was repealed in 1902 because more colored than white women voted in Lexington at the spring election. This is the only instance where the suffrage has been taken from women after being conferred by a Legislature. [Eds.
[289] This college was opened to women in 1902.