Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/867

 annual meeting took place at Butte in November. Mrs. Harriet P. Sanders, wife of Senator Sanders, having declined re-election, was unanimously made honorary president, and Mrs. Ella Knowles Haskell succeeded her in the presidency. Nearly 300 members were reported.

A large and successful convention met at Helena in November, 1897, when a State central committee was appointed, with Mrs. Haskell as chairman and members in nearly every county. Madame F. Rowena Medini was made president, but she left the State before her year of office had expired and Dr. Mary B. Atwater filled her place. No convention being held in 1897 or 1898 she acted as president until that of October, 1899, when Dr. Maria M. Dean was elected. Mrs. Chapman Catt was present.

To Mrs. P. A. Dann of Great Falls, a contemporary of Miss Susan B. Anthony, too much honor can not be given for her years of service and financial help. U.S. Senator Wilbur F. Sanders has been a loyal friend. Foremost among the early workers for woman suffrage in Montana was Mrs. Clara L. McAdow, whose energy and business talent made the Spotted Horse, a mine owned by herself and husband, a valuable property.

In July, 1889, Henry B. Blackwell, corresponding secretary of the American W. S. A., came to Montana to present the question to the Constitutional Convention. His address was received with warm applause but the convention refused to adopt a woman suffrage amendment by 34 yeas, 29 nays. A resolution was presented that the Legislature might extend the franchise to women whenever it should be deemed expedient, thus putting the matter out of the hands of its proverbial enemies. The measure had able champions in B. F. Carpenter, W. M. Bickford, J. E. Rickards, Hiram Knowles, P. W. McAdow, J. A. Callaway, Peter Breen, T. E. Collis, W. A. Burleigh, W. R. Ramsdell, Francis E. Sargeant, William A. Clark (now U. S. Senator), its president, and others. Prominent among those opposed were Martin Maginnis and Allen Joy. It was lost by a tie vote, July 30. A proposal to submit the question separately to the electors was defeated by the same vote, August 12. The constitution conferred School Suffrage, which women already possessed under