Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/931

 Mrs. Almy and Mrs. Mary H. Hunt replied in its behalf. For the third time the resolution was reported favorably by the Senate Committee, and April 18 the vote was taken. Senators Pound, Coggeshall and Bradley spoke in favor, and Jacob H. Cantor in opposition. It was carried by 20 ayes, 5 noes.

When the resolution went to the Revision Committee it was found that in one section there was a period where there should have been a comma. Mrs. Almy was obliged to remain two weeks and get an amendment through both Houses to correct this error. Finally the resolution was declared perfect, and was ordered published throughout the State, etc. Then it was discovered that the word "resident"? was used instead of "citizen," and the entire work of the winter was void. As it is not required that copies of original bills shall be preserved, the responsibility for the mistake never can be located.

The Senate of 1896, by a change in the term of office, was to sit three years instead of two; and a concurrent resolution, in order to pass two successive Legislatures, would have to be deferred still another year, so no work was attempted.

On Jan. 4, 1897, when the Legislature assembled, every member found on his desk a personally addressed letter appealing for the right of women citizens to representation, signed by all the officers of the State Suffrage Association and by the presidents of all the local societies. The resolution asking for a suffrage amendment was introduced in the Senate by Joseph Mullen, in the Assembly by W. W. Armstrong, and was referred to the Judiciary Committees. Repeated interviews by Mrs. Mariana W. Chapman, Mrs. Mary E. Craigie, chairman of the legislative committee, and other members were not sufficient to secure a favorable vote even from the committees, as they were frightened by the action of the preceding Legislature.

The New York Society Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women was at work on the spot, and every legislator received a letter urging him not to consider any kind of a bill for woman suffrage. Finally a hearing was appointed by the Senate Committee for March 24. In the midst of a snowstorm, all the way from Rochester came the National president, Miss Anthony; from New York City, the State president, Mrs. Chap-