Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/604

 HISTORY OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE tricts for campaign purposes. Mrs. May Billinghurst of Pierre was chairman for the northeast; Miss Susie Bird of Belle Fourche for the northwest; Mrs. Edith M. Fitch of Hurley for the southeast and the Rev. Katherine Powell of Custer for the southwest, to organize branch leagues in their districts. Their stories of trying to organize, especially in the western, thinly populated sections of the State would make an interesting volume. Miss Bird, with a horse and buggy, drove hundreds of miles, sometimes forty from one house to the next. There were almost no railroad facilities after leaving the Black Hills district but armed with suffrage literature she drove her trusty steed from place to place, spreading the gospel of suffrage at school houses, private homes or wherever the opportunity pre- sented and organizing little groups. In July, 1912, Mrs. Pyle called a convention at Huron, where the decision was made to ask the Legislature of 1913 to submit a full suffrage amendment. Officers were re-elected, Mrs. Nina Pettigrew of Belle Fourche took charge of the northwest dis- trict in place of Miss Bird, who had resigned, and the presi- dent was directed to select her Legislative Committee. It con- sisted of the Rev. Katherine Powell, Mrs. Billinghurst, Mrs. Ruth B. Hippie of Pierre, Miss Bird for the State Franchise League and Mrs. Simmons of Faulkton ; the State president, Mrs. Ruby Jackson of Ipswich, and Miss Rose Bower of Rapid City for the W. C. T. U. In January, 1913, Mrs. Pyle and her lieutenants met at Pierre, the capital, prepared for action. The hard work, the deep devo- tion to the cause of the men and women of preceding years had begun to bear fruit and instead of finding a lone member here and there in favor of woman suffrage, now there were many. Hitherto it had been solely a woman's campaign, aided by only a few loyal men who dared brave the ridicule of their brothers. The years of education had begun to change public opinion and the president felt that the time for women to be buttonholing unwilling men in the lobbies in an apologetic man- ner was past. She called a conference of leading men from both Houses to meet with the Legislative Committee in the office of Attorney General Royal C. Johnson. This call met