PRICE 10 CENTS
EXTRA CTS
from the lives of
Victoria Claflin Woodhull
Now MRS. JOHN BIDDULPH MARTIN
AND
Tennessee Claflin
Now LADY COOK



M- - -
INTRODUCTION
When perusing old files of American newspapers, I
have been so deeply touched by the work and terrible experi-
ences of two women, Victoria Claflin Woodhull and
Tennessee Claflin, that I at once made up my mind to write
their lives.
Their history, by what I read, is really the history of
women in America during the last half century, and is the
most remarkable and extraordinary existing to my knowl-
edge, even in fiction. The ups and downs, the popularity
and unpopularity, the applause and the persecution, the
utmost misery and fabulous riches are living in it; every-
thing, in fact, that can move the hearts, make them palpitate
with the deepest emotions.
Women! they have dared more than to go among the
jungles to chase lions and tigers, they have dared to go in-
to the human life of the world, and still more dangerous
has it been. They defied criticism. They have vanquished;
but they bear yet the horrible scars of the paws and teeth
of ferocious ignorance.
The following is only a short synopsis of what I pro-
pose to be a large work, and I publish it with the idea of
making known my intention to the public, and to beg per-
sons who may have any information or documents likely
to be useful to my publication, and to add interest to the
voluminous material I already possess, to be kind enough
to communicate them to me, addressed—
M. F. DARWIN,
c/o Caulon Press, 241 W. 37th St.,
New York City.
RUBIN BUCKMAN CLAFLIN, ESQ.
Born, 1796, Sandersfield, Mass., U. S. A.
Father of Mrs. Victoria cº ºnal and Miss Tennessee
-111

MRS. ANNA HUMMEL CLAFLIN
Born, 1804, Youngstown, Pa., U. S. A.
Mother of Mrs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and Miss Ten-
nessee Claflin

MRS. VICTORIA CLAFLIN WOODHULL
Now Mrs. John Biddulph Martin

Born, September 23, 1838, Homer, Ohio, U. S. A.
JOHN BIDDULPH MARTIN, ESQ.

MISS TENNESSEE CLAFLIN
Now Lady Cook

Born, October 26, 1845, Homer, Ohio, U. S. A.
Baronet (England)
-
Viscount of Montserrate (Portugal)
SIR FRANCIS COOK


ME MO:
BENEATH
THE WASHINGTON PEDIGREE,
AS ON THE CHART, READS AS FOLLOWS:
JOHN DANDRIDGE had two daughters.
King Robert III. of Scotland }
King James of England
from whom are descended
The Dukes of Hamilton,
to whom was related
Alexander Hamilton,
the friend of Washington
Thomas Hamilton married
Anna Underwood
Their grandson was
Rubin Buckman Claflin (born
in 1796, at Sandersfield,
* U. S. A.), the father
O
VICTORIA CLAFLIN
ODHULL and
Geo. Washington married
Martha Dandridge.
Penelope Dandridge married
Michael Biddulph,
who died in 1800.
Their son
John Biddulph married
Augusta Roberts
Their daughter
Mary Ann Biddulph married
Robert Martin.
Their son
John Biddulph Martin married
WO
TENNESSEE CLAFLIN.
VICTORIA WOODHULL.
The Claflin family are descended, on the maternal side
from the old German families of the Hummels and Moyers.
Anna Hummel was born in 1804, at Youngstown, Penn.,
U. S. A.
On the paternal side also, they are of royal blood, being
descended from the ducal house of Hamilton; their great-
grandfather having been a son of one of the Dukes of Ham-
ilton. Anna Underwood married Thomas Hamilton who
was the first Senator from Massachusetts, who was de-
scended from King Robert III. of Scotland, and King
James I. of England.
They are related likewise to the Underwoods, to the
Merrys, and to Washington's inseparable companion, the
famous American legislator, Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Ham-
ilton whose statue adorns the Central Park, New York City.
Miss Victoria Claflin was married, when quite young, to
Dr. Woodhull, a physician by whom she had two children,
8

a son, and a daughter. In England, she married John
Biddulph Martin, Esq., banker of Lombard Street.
Miss Tennessee Claflin married Sir Francis Cook, Baro-
net of England, and Viscount Montserrate of the Kingdom
of Portugal.
They were early impressed with the political and civil
inequality of the status of the sexes; and, searching into
the “Constitution of the United States,” discovered in the
XIVth and XVth “Articles of Amendment” that the elec-
toral right belongs to every American citizen without
reference to sex.
Mrs. Woodhull thereupon demanded that right for
American women; and in 1872, in recognition of the ser-
vices which she had rendered to her country-women, she
was nominated, by a Public National Convention, for the
Presidency of the United States, and was well supported.
They strove also to arouse the public mind to the
importance of intelligent maternity. They dwelt most
eloquently upon the terrible consequences of ignorant mar-
riages between the diseased, the morally imbecile, and the
otherwise unfit. The results of such marriages, they said,
were filling our prisons, our asylums, our hospitals and in-
deed, the whole social world, with criminals who never
come within the jurisdiction of the law. Their remedy was
the education of woman in her duties as wife and mother.
They taught that as long as ignorance was esteemed to be
purity, social evils would fester, and contaminate society.
In morals, also, they felt that the inequality in the
status of the sexes is a cruel injustice; man being wel-
comed in society, while the woman is ostracised forever.
This roused the indignation of the two sisters, and their
sympathy with the fallen.
The advocacy of such theories drew down terrible per-
secution on these devoted ladies; and, their health failing,
they went to England for rest; and there, after a course of
lectures delivered, the sisters married, as stated above, and
retired into private life for a time.
The lectures of Victoria C. Woodhull and Tennessee
Claflin still resound in our ears as the distant music sound-
9
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ing the charge, like the trumpet of the archangels of the
last judgment. Still we see the moved audiences crying at
their appeals. Still we feel their eloquence like a sea breeze,
refreshing our hearts. Still we hear the insults they calmly
receive, we see them cast in prison, and, at last, like some
wreckage thrown on the English shore, broken, dead!
In the lives of these two women we find the history of
woman's cause, and we are waiting for the last chapter, the
acknowledgment of the endured sufferings, the apotheosis.
It is extraordinary to see two young ladies of good
society, the daughters of an eminent lawyer, taking into
their heads to show the world what women—of then so
much despised aptitudes—can do. “What shall we begin
with?” says Tennie. “Bankers and brokers,” replied Vic-
toria. “People would never believe women could do any
such business.” And without any hesitation they took
offices at Hoffman House and began work. Seeing at once
their offices would be too small for the business that was
flowing in, the lady bankers arranged to have larger offices
fitted up at 44 Broad Street, New York City.
In six weeks they had made over 750,000 dollars net
profit, and the profits went on increasing day by day, every
penny of which was soon afterwards spent in their great
work. They were called the “Queens of Finance,” and
they were indeed so clever as really to lead the market.
The New York Evening Telegraph, of February, 1870,
shows us their position in finance in a sketch representing
them in a chariot, drawn by two bullocks and two bears,
with the heads of the largest financiers of the time. Ten-
nessee is holding the reins, and Victoria is whipping right
and left. Some doubtful financiers are crushed under the
wheels of the chariot, whilst others, embodied as ducks,
with crutches under their wings, are trying to fly away. In
fact all the press spoke highly about the revolution they
created.
It would take volumes to reproduce what was said on
that occasion, and space allows us to quote but little. The
New York Herald, of January 22nd, 1870, says that “a
couple of fashionably dressed ladies made their appear-
11
§

-

ance upon the busy trottoirs of Wall Street and are conspic-
uous for extensive purchases and sales of stocks, the trans-
actions in which they conduct with a savoir faire of the
routine of the Stock Exchange that could have been derived
only from an intimate familiarity with the intricacies of
operations in that moneyed region.”
The following is the conclusion of an article of the
New York Sunday News:– “Taking a well balanced view
of the whole subject, and putting aside prejudices which will
gradually die out in time, we must come to the conclusion
that the firm of Woodhull, Claflin & Co. will, in time, reach
the summit of its ambition, and have a standing equal to
some of the oldest firms in the “street.’”
Nearly all big firms were doing business with them.
Woodhull and Claflin's offices, arranged with all the latest
improvements, and comfortable, and all facilities of direct
communication with markets of all parts of the world by
wire, were the “great attraction,” and were receiving daily
the visit of the greatest financial men. The few following
lines from the New York World, Feb. 8th, 1870, will give
an idea of it:-"Outside on the walk there is gathered
throughout the day an assemblage of men, who look anx-
iously in at the windows, peer anxiously through the doors
and utter expressions of surprise and pleasure if they can
but catch a glimpse of one of the members of the firm.
A clarence remains in front of the door the greater part of
the day, as the ladies frequently have occasion to drive here
and there in pursuance of their business. Inside the office
door a doorkeeper has been placed who excludes all those
who have no real business with the firm. On the door of
the private office is a card, on which is written:-
“All Gentlemen
will state their business
and then
retire at once.”
Banking and Stockbroking had been a success. The
ladies had fought with the shrewdest men and gained the
victory. It was a sufficient evidence of the abilities of wo-
man, and as Victoria C. Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee
13


Claflin, did not at all care about making money for them-
selves, but had at heart their cause, the question was,
“What shall we do next?”
“We have proved women can organize and manage per-
sonally big firms; we will now prove that women can
manage as well as man the interests of the country, and,
above all, that they have a right to do it. To do the good
we wish to do, to be heard, we want a prominent position.
I shall put myself forward for the next election of the
Presidency,” declared Victoria. “And I shall run for
Congress,” declared Tennessee. “We shall try to go to the
White House. Anyhow we have money, and we will make
use of it for women's cause. First we will start a paper to
support the election, and this independent instrument will
allow us also to expose the large swindles that are going on
in the market.”
And the first number of the Woodhull and Claflin's
Weekly appeared May 14th, 1870, and was well received by
the public. It met another great success, over 50,000
copies being circulated every week. It did good work and
proved itself, in its independency and darings, of great
benefit to women, and to the public in general.
On the 12th of January, 1871, at the Senate, Washing-
ton, the House Judiciary Committee heard the argument of
Victoria C. Woodhull in favor of the enfranchisement of
women. The hall was crowded. Judge Bingham, Judge
Loughridge, General Butler, Messrs. Cook, Peters, Kerr,
Eldrige, Kellogg, of the committee, and most of the lead-
ing men were present to hear the Memorial that was to
attain such celebrity throughout the world.
[From The Congressional Globe, Dec. 22nd, 1870.]
“In the Senate:
“Mr. Harris presented the memorial of Victoria C.
Woodhull, praying for the passage of such laws as may
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the
right vested by the Constitution in the citizens of the
United States to vote without regard to sex; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to
be printed.”
15
From Frank Leslie's, Feb. 4th, 1871. Mrs. victoria clarlin wood Hull and Her sister, Miss Tennessex clarlin,
January 11th, 1871. Mrs. victoria claplin woodhull before the Judiciary committee, washington, d. c.,
Read Inc. H-R arcum-ents.


“In the House:
“Mr. Julian—I ask unanimous consent to present at this
time, and have printed in the Globe, the memorial of
Victoria C. Woodhull, claiming the right of suffrage under
the XIVth and XVth Articles of Amendments to the Con-
stitution of the United States, and asking for the enactment
of the necessary and appropriate legislation to guarantee
the exercise of that right to the women of the United States.
I also ask that the petition be referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary.”
“No objection was made, and it was ordered accord-
ingly.”
THE MEMORIAL OF VICTORIA C. WOODHULL
to
The Honourable the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States in Congress assembled,
respectfully showeth:
That she was born in the State of Ohio, and is above the
age of twenty-one years; that she has resided in the State
of New York during the past three years: that she is still
a resident thereof, and that she is a citizen of the United
States, as declared by Article XIV. of the Amendments to
the Constitution of the United States:
That since the adoption of Article XV. of the Amend-
ments to the Constitution neither the State of New York
nor any other State, nor any Territory, has passed any law
to abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to
vote, as established by said article, neither on account of
sex or otherwise:
That, nevertheless, the right to vote is denied to women
citizens of the United States, by the operation of Election
Laws in the several States and Territories, which laws were
enacted prior to the adoption of the said Article XV., and
which are inconsistent with the Constitution as amended,
and therefore are void and of no effect; but which, being
still enforced by the said States and Territories, render
17

the Constitution inoperative as regards the right of women
citizens to vote:
And whereas, Article VI., section 2, declares “That this
Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall
be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or
which shall be made under the authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and all judges
in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Con-
stitution and laws of any State to the contrary notwith-
standing:”
And whereas, no distinction between citizens is made in
the Constitution of the United States on account of sex;
but Article XV. of the Amendments to it provides that “No
State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United
States, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws:” -
And whereas, Congress has power to make laws which
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution
all powers vested by the Constitution in the Government
of the United States, and to make or alter all regulations
in relation to holding elections for senators or representa-
tives, and especially to enforce by appropriate legislation
the provisions of the said Article XIV.;
And whereas, the continuance of the enforcement of
said local election laws, denying and abridging the right
of citizens to vote on account of sex, is a grievance to your
Memorialist and to various other persons, citizens of the
United States, being women—
Therefore, your Memorialist would most respectfully
petition your Honourable Bodies to make such laws
as in the wisdom of Congress shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution the right vested by
the Constitution in the Citizens of the United States
to vote, without regard to sex.
And your Memorialist will ever pray.
VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.
Dated New York City,
December 19th, 1870.
18

She contended the Constitution of the United States
made woman a citizen, with the right to vote, and desired
to know by what ethics any free government imposes taxes
on woman without giving her a voice upon the subject or
participation in the public declaration as to how and by
whom these taxes shall be applied for the common public
use. Women constituted a majority of the people of this
country and were entrusted with the most vital responsi-
bilities of society. They bear, rear, and educate men, train
and mould their characters, inspire the noblest impulses in
rmen, and often hold the accumulated fortunes of a man's
life for the safety of the family and as guardians of the in-
fants, and yet they are debarred from uttering any opinion
by public vote. Women had the right to vote, and it was
by usurpation only that they were debarred. In her ad-
dress she quoted from many legal authorities in support of
her argument.
This was her debut as orator. Her speech was reckoned
one of the finest forensic pleadings ever listened to. It
won over to her view of the constitutional law General
Butler and Judge Loughridge; and, ultimately, the Judi-
ciary Committee issued a minority report in its favour.
According to American papers we can conclude it is from
that moment that she was considered the official leader of
---
the cause. .
From that time they went on lecturing in favour of
woman's cause, and the wonderful success they obtained has
no precedents. The halls where they were delivered were
always crowded, and they seemd to have such powerful
influence over the minds of all those who heard them that
after a few moments they carried away with them the most
skeptical to their cause.
Even General Grant was gained. He said women were
right in pushing their franchise, and he believed with Vic-
toria Claflin Woodhull that the 15th Amendment, as it
stands, confers the right of suffrage upon women as well
as men, their legal status as citizens not being denied before
any court of record.
19
MISS TENNNESSEE CLAFLIN
Now Lady Cook
As she appeared for Congressional honours in the Eighth

District, New York City

ARTICLE XIV.
of the
Constitution of THE UNITED STATEs.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside. No
State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge
the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United
States. Nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny
to any person within its jurisdictions the equal protection
of the law.
ARTICLE XV.
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any
State, on account of race, colour, or previous condition of
servitude.
New York Herald, Jan. 12th, 1872.
The New York Herald said:—“Miss Anthony is proud
that Victoria Claflin Woodhull presented her memorial be-
fore the Judiciary Committee, and the youth, beauty, and
wealth of Mrs. Woodhull carried the day, and the grave
legislators, even Ben. Butler, bowed before these com-
bined attractions. No one made a leader of Mrs. Woodhull;
like all great leaders, she made herself.”
Tennessee Claflin did not remain a stranger to the plat-
form, for she did also her part of lecturing for the cause.
On August 11th, 1871, she made a speech in German, when
she appeared as a candidate of the German-American Pro-
gressive Association for Congressional honours in the
Eighth district. In this district was situated the beautiful
mansion, 15 East 38th Street, New York, in which she lived,
She, also, obtained great success, and was greatly cheered,
in the evening of that day she was serenaded at her re-
sidence, and from her balcony, had to make another speech.
New York Sun, Aug. 12, 1871
Miss Claflin appeared, last evening at Irving Hall.
21

Smiling her acknowledgements of the vociferous cheers
and deafening applause that greeted her. Her hair, which
she wears short, hung loose and bushy about her forehead
and temples. She wore no jewellery or ornaments. As
soon as the applause had subsided, she proceeded to
speak in a clear, strong voice, using the German language,
from which we translate her remarks as follows:
Miss Claflin's speech: “Are Women Citizens? The
law under which I–and with me all women, in whose
behalf I know that you are all interested—claim the rights
of a citizen of the State of New York, reads as follows:
Article first, section first, of the Fourteenth Amendment:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdictions thereof, are citizens of the
United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
“I fulfill the necessary conditions. I was born in
the United States, and am therefore a native citizen of the
same, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Why, then,
I ask you, should I not be allowed to vote? And if I
am allowed to vote; why may I not hold an office?
(Applause.) -
“Is a woman capable of holding office? Do you believe
that a woman, for no other reason than because she is a
woman, must necessarily lack the energy to perform the
duties of an office? Or do you believe that things could
go worse in the administration of our national affairs
than they now do? Try the experiment merely of en-
trusting a woman with the performance of official duties,
and if you find that your interests suffer by so doing, the
power will still be retained by you to retrieve your mistake.
“But do not imagine that you can entirely ignore
a movement which does not rest merely on the law, but
which also brings into the contest the best and soundest
cosmopolitan ideas.
“Will She be Admitted if Elected?–Neither need
you entertain any apprehension that Congress will with-
hold my seat from me if I receive a majority of the votes.
It is a part of my object to make this a test; and there
22

is, up to this date, no law which either forbids the people
to elect a woman to an office, or which forbids her to
accept it.
“Corruption and bribery, if not indeed foreign to the
nature of women generally, are in any event foreign to my
nature. And, without having to resort to means which
are prevalent among politicians, who stuff the ballot-box
and pay repeaters, I shall step into the arena as a candi-
date for the office of Representative of the Eighth Dis-
trict in Congress, commending myself entirely and ex-
clusively to your favorable regards.”
At the conclusion of the speach, the hall rang again
with cheers and applause, in the midst of which Miss
Claflin was presented with an elegant basket of flowers,
arranged with exquisite taste, the initials “T. C. C.” being
formed in monogram in the center, with “M. C. 8th Dist.”
around the outside. On receiving this beautiful token,
which was understood to be a gift of her Wall Street
friends, Miss Claflin retired from the stand.
Had she been a man she would certainly have been
elected.
As an acknowledgment for her public services, she was
asked, after the death of Jim Fisk (of the firm of Jay
Gould), who was colonel of the 9th Regiment, one of the
finest regiments of the States, to accept the place vacant.
To give another example of the ability of woman, and so
continue the work of their cause—she accepted the post of
colonel of the 61st Regiment (Coloured), which was one
of the poorest and required to be improved, which she did,
and at her own expense. Often she was seen going to the
drill.
Articles and sonnets were written about her, songs were
sung, and caricatures were made. But all was not serene
in the profession of defender of the country, and for this
breach of the rules society had made for women, she got
the doors of her hotel, The Gilsey House, closed on her, and
her luggage turned into the street.
After a few weeks of this work she tendered her resig-
23

nation, having shown that women were, in case of urgency,
as good soldiers as men.
Several times she and her sister had opportunities of
making use of their great influence over the masses. The
following is one instance of them.
After the death in Paris in 1871 of the celebrated com-
munards, Flourens and Dombrowski, a funeral service and
a colossal procession, as a homage to them by the working
people of New York, and the exiled communards, were being
organized. The authorities and the police, seeing the danger
of such demonstrations, refused to allow their taking place.
This refusal irritated the spirits of the working people, and
still greater dangers were entertained as the result.
Tennessee Claflin and her sister, who were then at the
head of the 12th section of the International Working party
of New York, and were justly considered the leaders of the
whole working people, undertook to settle the difficulty.
They went to see the chief-inspector of the police and asked
him to grant the authorization of the demonstration, and
they would guarantee its being carried out peacefully. Con-
fident in their great power, he granted it, but on the con-
dition that strong forces of policemen and soldiers should
be hidden at different points during the passing of the pro-
cession.
Next, the sisters went to the working party which was
assembled to discuss the question, and said they would
accept the offer that had been made to them to lead the
procession, and would also carry the flags, if it was solemnly
promised that all would behave peacefully, carry no arms,
or give rise to the slightest disorder. The promise was
made and kept. The procession, consisting of about fifty
thousand people, passed quietly, headed by Tennessee Claflin
and Victoria Claflin Woodhull, who, loaded with huge
flags, walked the whole distance, which was more than
five miles. Both sides of the passage were crowded with
hundreds of thousands of spectators applauding at every
step. On the arrival of the column at its destination, the
two sisters had to disappear to avoid the ovations that
awaited them. That day, said the papers, Victoria Claflin
24
scene in Delmonico's, 1871.


Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin had once more deserved
well of their country.
Tennessee Claflin and her sister also started the first
clubhouse for women in America, which created a great
deal of stir, but which was to be, later on, the instrument of
much slander. Nevertheless, these institutions are so gen-
eralized all over the country that to-day they can be counted
by the thousands. -
Insults and odium almost beyond belief were theirs
because they championed the cause of the downtrodden and
oppressed. A strange incident illustrates this. Having
been accustomed to frequently dine with their parents at
Delmonico's, the famous New York restaurant on the cor-
ner of Fourteenth Street and Fifth Avenue, one of the
most expensive places in the world for a meal, Tennessee
Claflin and her sister, leaving their office at the bank rather
later than usual one day, drove to this restaurant for a
meal just after seven o’clock. Soup was ordered. None
came. The order was repeated, and at last, becoming
impatient, Miss Claflin called the waiter rather sharply,
and asked him what he meant by not obeying her orders.
“Miss Claflin,” he said, apologetically, “the rules are, not
to serve ladies after seven in the evening unless accom-
panied by a gentleman.” “Fetch Mr. Delmonico,” said
Miss Claflin, furious at such treatment in a restaurant
where they and their parents were familiar visitors. Mr.
Delmonico came and in an apologetic voice said, “It was
the rule,” and could not be broken before his waiters.
“We might be having any women coming in from the
street if I did.” “You know very well that not half a dozen
women outside in Fifth Avenue could pay your charges for
a dinner, and your rule shall be obeyed,” was Miss Claflin's
retort. The world-famed proprietor went back to his office,
and Miss Claflin with a brief, “Stay here,” to her sister
went outside and saying to her coachman, “Come with me,”
piloted him to the dining room and reaching her table gave
the order in a clear voice “SOUP FOR THREE.”
That incident proved the beginning of the breakdown
26
New York arrald, now, 8th, 1871-MRs, victoria clarlin woodhull and HER sister, Miss TENNEssee.
cLarlin, PR-3-NTING THEIR BALLots at THE POLLs on ELECTION DAY, BUT ARE DENIED THE
exercise or Tri--Rancais-


of the unwritten social law that deemed a woman an outcast
and a pariah, who sought to take an evening meal in a
restaurant unaccompanied by a man.
Yet a woman who sought to earn her living at a profes-
sion held by the masculine sex was deemed equally beyond
the social pale. There are still a few avenues of work and
learning that deny their big prizes to woman, but she is
not a social pariah because she treads those avenues.
Thanks to Lady Cook (Tennessee Claflin) and her sister
in those forgotten days. To-day a woman's reputation is
not so easily stripped from her.
The next move for women's cause by Victoria and
her sister, Tennessee, was to present their ballots at the poll.
New York Herald, Nov. 8, 1871.
They would have been accepted by the Republicans, but
the Democrats refused them. After a good deal of argu-
ment, and a show of great indignation, the ladies went
away, but only to commence a suit against the inspectors of
the polling place for illegally preventing legitimate voters
from exercising the right of suffrage. The writs for a
counter-suit for illegally attempting to vote, were served
on them by the public prosecutor, as an answer to their
attack. But the action did not come off, as such step would
have given such a great stir to the woman movement, that
the only issue to it must have been a complete victory for
women's rights.
Thus Victoria Claflin Woodhull was keeping herself
constantly before the public for her election for the Presi-
dency in 1872. She lectured and distributed her celebrated
Memorial and Argument all over the country, from Maine
to California, from Minnesota to Texas. And through her
great exertions she succeeded in forming a political party,
called the “Equal Rights party,” which was distinct from
the Republicans and the Democrats. This party named
with the greatest enthusiasm Victoria Claflin Woodhull
for the Presidency, a nomination which was supported by
500 delegates, representing 26 states and 4 territories. This
important demonstration drove the Republican party in its
Cincinnati convention to profess, as part of its creed, “that
28
---
º


the just powers of a government are derived from the
consent of all governed, and that the honest demands of
women should be treated with respectful consideration”—
which is admitting the whole question of Equal Rights and
Equal Suffrage.
If this was not altogether the great success desired, it
was notwithstanding a great victory, a victory much greater
than could ever have been expected.
The many jealousies that Victoria Claflin Woodhull had
to contend with, jealousies of persons who ought to have
been really her friends, were nevertheless a cause of impedi-
ment to her work. But she had got so popular that there is
no wonder at her success, and if she did not go to the White
House on that occasion, it was often expected she would
be carried there by voir populi.
We give the following, quoted from the Evening Tele-
gram of Louisville (Ky.), July 8th, 1872, as one of the many
instances of that popularity: “The Hon. Samuel Cassey,
ex-member of Congress from the Thirty-second district of
Kentucky, arrived in this city yesterday, and declares that
Kentucky would give Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull twenty
thousand majority over either Grant or Greeley."
Still indefatigable, they went on their work of lecturing.
But as their teachings had taken another form, a great
outcry was raised.
What could have been found in their new teaching to
give such an alarm? -
They said that “the vice of government, the vice of edu-
cation, the vice of religion is one with that of private life—
it does not hold men sacred—that is, man and woman. All
worthy reform of a people must begin with their domestic
life; and, since almost all the diseases of Society have their
root either in the ignorance or abuse of the true relations
of man and woman, so must their eradication proceed from
a recognition and readjustment of those relations.”
Their appeals were most stirring. We quote from
the Boston Herald:—“Who that boasts an acquaintance
with the matter, will dare deny the fact, that one-half
of our young men are dying of disease, induced by igno-
30

rance of the axiom, “Know thyself'; seven-tenths of our
girls arrive at maternity unfit, totally and entirely unfit, for
the functions of a woman and a mother. The evil began and
perhaps reached fruition at a boarding-school. We inquire,
‘Is this so?' and receive the answer, “Yes, but don't speak
of it, and thus it goes on. How many intelligent parents
dare tell their children the truth about the first question
that a child thinks of asking?' The speakers then pictured
a child asking its mother the question, ‘Who made me?’
and being told to ‘Hush, and never talk so again, how that
child learns the fact upon the street, and acts upon it
secretly, and learns to conceal its knowledge from the par-
ent who taught it concealment. Then drawing another
picture of the child's receiving the information it sought,
from a holy woman, a pure mother—‘Who made you, dar-
ling? Mamma carried you under her heart days, weeks,
and weary months, and at last went into the Garden of
Gethsemane to bear you into the world. Now my precious
child you can see why mamma loves you so; why she should
give her life to save yours'—and basing its whole after-life
and the current of its thoughts and actions on that frank
avowal, that child would never commit an act of which it
would not dare tell its mother, because its mother had ren-
dered concealment unnecessary and out of the question.
When people understand this mighty problem of proper
generation, all the mock modesty will die.”
All that was called respectable, moral, all that was con-
sidered good, was shaken in its foundation. Never before
had anybody dared to speak about these things in public,
never had the people listened to such things. The revolu-
tion was great.
Victoria Claflin Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin had
raised the thunderstorm. But in comparison with the
enemies they had thus created themselves, they were weak.
They were first to be struck; then crushed.
The following article was printed in Woodhull and
Claflin's Weekly, Nov. 2, 1872, and caused the writer,
Tennessee Claflin, now Lady Cook, and the entire staff
of Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, to be arrested for
31

obscenity. The government tried to convict them and
send them to prison, but despite all their indictments and
trials they were never convicted.
It must be remembered that when the following
article was written, not only were all hotels and places of
public resort closed to women—no matter how respect-
able they might be—when unaccompanied by a man, but
also that the employments then open to women were
limited to some ten or twelve in number. It is a remark-
able fact, too, that at the period in question no women
who desired to preserve their characters for respectability,
no matter what their age or station in life, could venture
on crossing the Atlantic without placing themselves in
the captain's special charge, or under the escort of some
man passenger.
BEGINNING OF THE BATTLE.
BY TENNessee CLAFLIN, Now Lady Cook.
With the causes which have led to the subordination and
abuse of women we have little to do beyond the aid they
may afford in reversing the present order and restoring to
one-half the race the rights which belong to them by virtue
of their individuality, responsibility and relation to the com-
mon laws of nature. It is our business to deal with the
remedies, and thus, if possible, effect a radical cure. To
do this well we may be compelled to probe the social and
evil gangrene to the very core. Of course society, and
especially upper tendom, will be shocked, and some persons
will be seriously hurt.
Nothing is plainer than that the whole social and civil
fabrics are rotten from base to capital—that society has
utterly failed to accomplish its legitimate purposes, and that
one-half of the whole mass is not only disabled politically,
but robbed, oppressed, abused and slandered without remedy
or redress.
We pause then to say, that the religions of the world
are HE religions. They have all masculine gods—priests
and services; the mother or woman element has no recogni-
tion; even the angels are all of the masculine gender, usually
32

endowed with wings, the countenance of women and enrobed
in feminine habiliments that they appear more becoming
ideals of what angels should be.
The various forms of civil government, theocratic, auto-
cratic and democratic, are all built on the idea of masculine
entity and feminine non-entity. The woman is for the man,
and not the two for each other, equal in all that is common
and independent in all not common. These are the parents
of the spawn we are trying to strangle, and shall as surely
succeed as that the citadels we attack are weak from sheer
rottenness.
One little mistake must be corrected before we proceed
further. The lords of creation have assumed that in all
that pertains to virtue (continence of passion) woman is the
weaker vessel. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Woman's power over men, as well as over herself, is greater
than man's.
Perhaps to this we owe the laws for the protection of
weak young men, and still weaker old men who lack the
power of continence and bow down at the shrine of Venus,
where her altars are served by the debris of our rotten
civilization, and are thus liable to the infections with which
respectable men have inoculated the currents of their life,
poisoned the sources of existence and added physical degen-
eration to social and civil rottenness. -
Instead, then, of protection for men, we demand pro-
tection against men—men without principle or self-govern-
ment, who take risks solely for the gratification of the physi-
cal senses, without one noble or manly impulse, without any
regard for society or posterity—and after they have become
constitutionally diseased with a virus that is never eradicated,
consort with pure, respectable women, and give to the world
a progeny fit only for the slums of society, diseased in
muscle, brain and morals.
What we ask and demand is equality everywhere. We
plead no weakness on the ground of sex. We demand the
justice of equality on the grounds of individuality and sov-
ereignty, and require that this standard shall rule in church,
33

state and society in all their phases; and this we will have
if we should in the effort uproot all foundations, and pre-
cipitate revolution and chaos.
If equality and justice result in these things, then they
must be right. We want no expediency, no compromise,
no sheltering of the guilty—let justice be done though the
heavens fall.
If the loss of virginity is a disgrace to unmarried women,
then the same should be held of men; if the mother of a
child out of legal wedlock is ostracised, then the father
should share the same fate; if it is wrong to mother such a
child, it is equally wrong to father it; if a life of female
prostitution is wrong, a life of male prostitution is equally
wrong; if Contagious Diseases Acts are passed, they should
operate equally on both sexes; if women are inspected, men
should be inspected; if the names of women are recorded
and open to inspection, the names of men should stand on
the same record, that respectable women may know the
character of the pretended male virgins; if women are taxed,
let the men be taxed the same rate.
On the other hand, if the male debauchee is allowed to
circulate in respectable society and marry women with un-
soiled robes, then the female debauchee should be allowed
the same privileges and be treated in the same manner.
This is justice—not mercy, not charity! Away with such
stuff! We flaunt it in the face of the male prostitutes who
have the power, and having it use it to trample under their
feet, into the dust of civil and social degradation, the com-
panions of their vices, and curse society by the methods we
have already described.
There is but one way to reach the justice of this case,
and that we are now ready to adopt. We shall proceed to
detail facts with more particularity than will be pleasant to
the parties who are to make the great atonement for the
wrongs done women in all the past and present.
We are now prepared to state the facts on which we
demand a change in the existing status of woman, and claim
for her equal protection, by law, with the corresponding
34

male offender, who now deems her his lawful prey, and
makes her person, property and rights pay loot to his passion,
thereby incurring little or no legal responsibility.
We select, as examples, first of all—the common prosti-
tutes. This class are, all of them, at the mercy of policemen
in all cities; are used by them and compelled to pay tribute
both in personal favors and money, for the privilege of
escaping arrest. In this way, large sums of money are
drawn from them by men whose sworn duty it is to protect
society.
We need only cite the case of LOTTIE STANTON,
whose wrongs would never have reached the light of day
but for the fact that her life was in imminent danger. The
cowardly ruffian who struck her down with a piano stool
and beat and kicked her nearly out of life, would back
down from any equal combat; but a woman of the town
can lift no hand or voice of defence. Should she recover
and be maimed for life, as is likely, who will redress her
wrongs? Echo answers: “Who?” Already, while she lies
still in a precarious condition, the brute who felled her walks
gaily abroad, under bail. Had it been a man, his equal,
whom he had assaulted, he would have been held at the
Tombs, to await the result of the injuries.
If such an one as this Mrs. Stanton makes complaint,
the courts treat her with harshness, and contempt is the
justice she receives.
Even Judge Garvin impugnes the testimony of Mrs.
Mansfield, because she traded on her virtue. We wonder
if Judge Garvin never struck any bargains with women who
sold their wares!
But we pass on to another phase of the social evil and
public injustice represented by a gentleman of great wealth
and high standing in respectable society and business circles.
For years this man lived with a mistress, who was to him
both mother and wife in her devotion. Not this alone, but
he lived on the proceeds of her business. Having by the
assistance of his paramour arisen to position and the accu-
mulation of property, he came in contact with a young,
beautiful and pure woman, whom he married.
35

Friends of the bride were apprised of his life and char-
acter and yet permitted this villainy to be consummated.
The prostitute has no rights any one is bound to respect,
but the “whoremonger” may marry a pure woman, move in
good society, and be generally respected.
Another case, Mr. , is now a man of wealth.
There are many who remember when he was poor. He had
a mistress who kept a “respectable” house of prostitution.
The business of this miserable varlet was to solicit
at hotels and reap the harvest. One of his resorts was the
Fifth Avenue Hotel. Here he had an ample field for his
peculiar calling. Strangers visiting the city were regaled
with laudations of the superior accommodations of her
house. Now this fellow of the baser sort, this procurer and
steward of vile hospitalities, is allowed to loaf around all
hotels, and the men who are known to patronize her place
and similar ones are entertained unquestioned at them.
Again, it is a well known fact that a certain rich man
who married a woman with a blemished reputation, was
denied hotel accommodation when his wife was with him,
and was obliged to rent a house in order to be free from
proscription.
Thus, the sins of the woman are made to follow her into
every path she enters, and even legal wedlock does not
exempt her husband from discourteous treatment on her
account when she accompanies him.
Thus, it is plain that society is determined that she shall
on no account rise out of the ruin into which that sham
society has precipitated her. -
While this state of things exists, there can be no peace
and no permanent improvement. Women must come up, or
men must come down. Our mission is but commenced; the
battle is opened. We ask no quarter and take no prisoners.
Having set our hands to the plow, we will not look back,
nor turn aside until our work is done.
The world shall know the wrongs women suffer, and the
men who inflect them.
We propose to tear off the hypocritical mask and expose
their moral deformity to the gaze of all eyes.
36
：
the arrest of Mrs. victoria claflin wood hvill and tennessee claflin, nov. 2nd, 1872.


We know who they are and what they are and shall not
hesitate to write and publish their history so definitely that
all men shall know them.
- - -
Another circumstance also is said to have contributed
to their persecution. Every opportunity offered was always
seized by them to show off the rotten state of society and
prove the necessity of a reform. The Beecher scandal was
one of them.
Then began a series of persecutions of such intensity
that would have killed anybody but a Woodhull and a
Claflin.
Once, twice, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times, the
prisons open their doors to close upon the ladies. Every
means was used to paralyze them. And when finally they
were released it was only on giving heavy bail.
The indignation of the working people at such treat-
ment was very great, and was to be feared. One day, Vic-
toria Claflin Woodhull had called at the offices of several
newspaper to beg their support in postponing their trial, and
to allow them to bring forward their evidence. She was
heartlessly refused. On reaching home she fell down in a
state of unconsciousness. She was believed dead. The edi-
tor of the Sun, who heard this, announced in his paper the
death of Victoria C. Woodhull; the news spread like wild-
fire among the press and people, who said Victoria had been
killed by the persecution, and roused their spirits to such an
extent that masses of men and women went about and
threatened to pull down and burn the government offices,
the prisons and the churches. But after a few days Victoria
C. Woodhull recovered and the fury abated. Through this
incident six months passed before the judges dared to call
their trial. -
During the imprisonment of the sisters, their bank,
which had been undermined, was closed, and the publica-
tion of their paper stopped.
All this damage to arrive at this only possible conclu-
sion of the learned Judge of the United States District
Court.
38
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---
--
- -
--
º
victoria CLAFLIN wood Hull and TENNESSEE CLAFLIN IN Counsel witH THEIR Law-
yer in Ludlow street Jail, 1873.


N. Y. Sun, June 30, 1873.
ACQUITTAL.
“Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Claflin were arrested some
time ago, charged with offence against the United States,
and finally released on giving heavy bail.
“Their business is broken up, and they were put to much
inconvenience and subjected to many indignities.
“The prosecution opens—it proceeds—it closes; then
what? Why, then, the learned Judge of the United States
District Court who presides at the trials, informs the
accused that there is no occasion for them to introduce any
evidence in their defense; that no case has been proved
against them; and he instructs the jury to render a verdict
of not guilty, which they immediately do without leaving
their seats. -
“For the wrong which has been done to these women,
they have no redress. THE INJURY IS IRREMEDI-
ABLE.” -
There is none legal. A demand of 500,000 dollars com-
pensation was asked of the Senate, but it was of no avail.
For a long time weak and sick, they were obliged to
find repose, and it was only in 1874 that they could resume
their hard work. They lectured again in the chief towns of
the United States, and were received with acclamations and
tears. Many of the noblest eminent men and women of the
country, deeply touched by their admirable courage and per-
severance, came forward in the support of Victoria C.
Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee Claflin. The poet
William Cullen Bryant addressed a touching sonnet.
The venerable lady, Lucretia Mott, embraced them in the
midst of public enthusiasm. The well-known Mrs. Stanton
declared: “I have worked thirty years for woman suffrage,
now I am made to feel that woman suffrage is but the vesti-
bule of woman's emancipation. Victoria C. Woodhull and
Tennessee Claflin have done a work for women that none of
us could have done.” And Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker,
sister of the Rev. H. Ward Beecher, said: “Mrs. Woodhull
40
THE acquittal of victoria clariix woodhull and TENNEssee claflin, 1873.


and Miss Tennessee Claflin have, with their prostrate bodies,
bridged a chasm over which womanhood shall walk to free-
dom.”
And during these trying times, when their lives were
constantly in danger, when their fortunes were being swept
away and even their fair names attacked, there remained
an element, a saving bulwark. It was the faith and love
of their real friends. It required more than ordinary
courage in those days to profess or even to secretly main-
tain a friendship with Victoria Claflin Woodhull and her
sister, Tennessee Claflin.
From hundreds of letters received during that period,
one letter has been selected. The selection was made for sev-
eral reasons. First it seems to express the combined sentiment
of all the others and secondly it shows that even the staunch-
est of their friends recognized the need for secrecy. The
following letter is from the wife of United States Senator
from Rhode Island, Davis:
Providence, R. I., U. S. A.
Dearest Victoria,
Sweet, loving, beautiful as your two letters have been
to me, I can only say just a word in reply, and that is, you
stand in my heart foremost among the living. I have been
with you in prison, in bondage, and in sickness. My heart
yearns over you with more than a mother's tenderness, but
I am a helpless invalid, waiting for my hour of departure;
then, when I have laid aside the worn body, then I shall
be near to help you; till then let me have rest. Believe
in me, believe that I never bertayed a trust, never was false
to a friend, and that at times truth is dearer to me than
aught else in this life, but there are times when silence is
all there is for me. My heart turns to you with tender,
longing love. I remember you in the bitter Gethsemane
in Philadelphia; then I saw that you and your sister must
tred the wine press alone. You must not publish this till
I have passed beyond the veil, for I can not enter into
controversy and can not endure letters.
Lovingly yours, PAULINA WRIGHT Davis.
42

This letter was written to Mrs. Woodhull a few months
before the death of Senator Davis’ wife.
N. Y. Sunday Mercury, Nov. 17, 1872.
“Cell No. 11, now well known as the residence of Wood-
hull & Claflin was a perfect camp meeting yesterday. On
a small table was an appetizing dinner served for Mrs.
Woodhull and Miss Claflin, who had eaten no breakfast.
Just as they began their dinner a woman entered and
whispered, ‘Your food is being poisoned,’ and their appetite
fled.”
Brooklyn (N. Y.) Chronicle, Dec. 1, 1872.
“Yesterday morning Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Claflin,
accompanied by two deputy sheriffs, were driven in a closed
carriage from the Ludlow Street Jail to the United States
Attorney's office to meet their bondsmen, who, on the
previous day, executed bonds in $16,000 each for the
release of Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Claflin; they were
there awaiting the decision of the District Attorney as to
their capability to become sureties. In a short time the
bondsmen were informed that they had been accepted.
“While the women-brokers were in the District Attor-
ney's office a gentleman stepped up to Mrs. Woodhull and
told her that it was his duty to tell her that there was a con-
spiracy against her and her sister. He said that it was
understood between certain officials and prosecuting parties
that Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Claflin should be forced into
Jefferson Market Prison and while there, the prison would
be fired and they left to perish in the flames. He added
that the parties referred to were determined to be rid of
them at any cost.
“The women-brokers then entered their coach, and an
officer of the Jefferson Market Police Court stepped up
to the door and placed his hand on Miss Claflin's shoulder,
said in a loud tone, “Stop!’ A gentleman hastened to the
rescue, and pushing the officer aside said, ‘No, you don't.
Mrs. Woodhull and Miss Claflin are still United States
prisoners, and you can not arrest them again, as they have
been warned of your infamous plot.’
43

“The officer wilted. The women-brokers were then taken
back to their old quarters in Ludlow Street Jail. To-
morrow they will probably take their departure from that
jail and procure bail in the other suits.
“The authorities seem determined to do their utmost by
placing every obstacle in their way, to prevent them from
obtaining their freedom.”
New York Herald, Dec. 1, 1872.
“Mesdames Woodhull and Claflin were taken again to-
day from the County Jail to the Federal Building, pre-
paratory to giving bail. They were accompanied by their
counsel. Soon after their arrival they were conducted to
the office of Commissioner Shields, where the bail bonds
were prepared. When the case was called, the counsel said
they were prepared to give unexceptionable bail, but it
would be useless for them to do so, as an officer of the
Jefferson Market Court was outside in the hall, waiting
to re-arrest them. He thought it would be better that his
clients remain in the County Jail than to go to a cell in the
Jefferson Market Prison. He had heard that the judge had
been spirited away for the purpose of preventing the pris-
oners from being bailed.”
New York Times, July, 1875.
“Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton says “Mrs. Woodhull and
Miss Claflin's acquaintance would be refining to any man.
In their characters and persons there is never anything but
refinement in word or movement. The ideal of spirituality.
They have done a work for women that none of us could
have done. They have faced and dared men to call them
the names that make women shudder. They have risked
and realized the sort of ignominy that would have paralyzed
any of us who have longer been called strong minded.
Leaping into the brambles that were too high for us to see
over them, they broke a path into their close and thorny
interstices, with steadfast faith that glorious principle would
triumph at last over conspicuous ignominy, although their
lives might be sacrificed; and then, with a meteor's dash,
44

they sank into a dismal swamp, we could not lift them out
of the mire or buoy them through the deadly waters. They
will be as famous as they have been infamous, made so
by benighted or cowardly men and women. In the annals
of emancipation the names of Victoria C. Woodhull and
Tennessee Claflin will have their own high places as
---
deliverers.
Mrs. E. A. Meriwether wrote:– “Mrs. Woodhull has
driven everything else for the nonce away. She is grand!
she is great! she is good! She has wonderfully improved
since I heard her in '72; then she was at bay with the world,
and threw her gauntlet down and dared it to battle. The
battle has been waged, the most unequal battle ever fought
on earth.
“On one side, the prejudiced world; on the other, a
woman! And a woman has conquered! Never was so tre-
mendous a revolution! I will send you the Memphis Appeal
with its plaudits. The theatre was crowded from pit to
dome; she held them spellbound for two hours. I saw
men and women weep, so passionate are her pleadings for
the downcast.”
Their lectures on the “Human Body the Temple of God”
has been repeated over many thousand times.
But this new success over a certain class of the people
was the cause of the other persecutions, and the history of
the battles fought by Victoria C. Woodhull and Tennessee
Claflin becomes thrilling, so thrilling indeed that the fic-
tion of the story of a heroine of romance could not bear
comparison. All the halls, all public places were closed to
them, so much so that lecturing became almost impossible.
And to be heard by the people they had to resort to strata-
gems, as they were continually in fear of being rearrested.
Jan. 9th, 1873 it was announced that they were to lecture
at the Cooper's Institute, but in the evening the policemen
were awaiting at the door, and scores of detectives were
watching if they could perceive them to arrest them. The
hall was crowded with people up to its summit, but there
was no Woodhull or Claflin there. A lady came on the
platform to announce that Victoria C. Woodhull or her
45

sister could not come to deliver the lecture that night, as
there was an order of arrest for them, and to apologize
for their absence. Among the audience an old Quaker
lady, of the style of Rip Van Winkle, got up from her
seat, and with an unsteady step walked on the platform,
to the general amusement and wonder of the public, and
disappeared behind one of the big pillars supporting the
roof of the hall. The speaker proceeded, saying that
although Victoria C. Woodhull could not appear, she had
succeeded so far as to get the lecture read to them. At
that moment, with the celerity of a flash of lightning, the
old Quaker lady dashed from behind the pillar. Old age,
coal-scuttle bonnet, and gray dress disappeared like magic.
Had a thunderbolt fallen upon the audience, they could
not have been more surprised and astonished. There stood
Victoria C. Woodhull, an overwhelming inspirational fire
scintillating from her eyes and beaming from her face.
William Cullen Bryant writes of this occasion: “Her look
and voice came unexpected and sudden as the lightning's
scathe; ‘’twas as fire to heather set, igniting with an
animated and undefined surprise to each and every heart
present. It was Otis in the fire of revolution; Garrison
breaking the shackles of the slaves; Phillips in the alarm of
labour; a Parker in the throes of religious despotism. The
heroism, bravery, and truth of the woman swept with
inspired credentials into all the hearts; and, half in awe and
admiration, the audience listened spell-bound to the great
persecuted.”
Then the thunders came, peal after peal, of joyous
applause and intense delight. People saw nothing, knew
nothing but Woodhull, and only Victoria C. Woodhull!
She had so captivated the minds that the policemen and the
detectives forgot their duty until the “Naked Truth” was
told. Only then they remembered the order of arrest, and
Victoria C. Woodhull left the rostrum to join her sister,
who was also under arrest and waiting in a carriage outside.
Persecution grew stronger and stronger. It got so per-
sistent, so intense that it would be impossible to find another
such instance in the whole history of the world. There
46

is no crime of which Victoria C. Woodhull and Tennessee
Claflin were not accused; and so ostracized were they by
the people that they could not get a room, a bed to lay
their heads upon; they could not get a meal served to them.
The persons that were known to have the slightest rela-
tion with them were treated the same, and through it lost
what they possessed. Even the little child of Victoria
C. Woodhull received no pity. She had to be sent to
school under an assumed name.
Driven from everywhere, broken down, ill and dying,
they had to fly from the country for which they fought so
hard, and which they loved so much. They reached Eng-
land, where they found good friends. For a long time they
lingered between life and death; but their robust constitu-
tions got the better of their illness, and they survived.
In 1877, they delivered lectures in St. James's Hall, in
London, on the “Human Body the Temple of God,” which
were listened to with astonishment by large and fashion-
able audiences. Other lectures were successfully given in
several large towns of England.
And, if we find now such ideas getting root in the minds
of many leading people, it can be said that the example of
purity and greatness of soul of the two American women
leaders is not stranger to it.
Yet such great devotion and love for the people was not
to remain without touching deeply many hearts who have
confidence in the greatness of these martyrs.
In fact, if we look at the position of Women in America
fifty years ago and compare it with the present, we cannot
be astonished at the wonderful progress made. Women
then could die of hunger with money in their pockets;
they would not be served a meal at a restaurant after a
certain hour of the day; they could not walk alone in
the street, go to a shop, to a theatre, to an hotel, or,
in fact, anywhere without being accompanied by a gen-
tleman; a woman had not even a moral way of earning her
living. One can easily imagine the amount of mischief
that must have arisen from this state of things—mischief
of which immorality had its large share. The revolution
47

in the principles ruling the customs of the country is
great indeed when we see now women free of all ridiculous
prejudice, treated with more respect, doing their own busi-
ness, going about with as much liberty as men, and employed
in every trade and profession where men are employed.
Do women know to-day to whom they owe this liberty?
And will the generous abnegation, the self-sacrifice of
the persons who have given them this liberty ever be
acknowledged?
Will people for the welfare of whom so much was
wanted and so much has been done, ever have hearts noble
enough to understand that such a work must not remain
unappreciated?
48


IN THE PRESS
The Life of Tennessee Claflin
NOW LADY COOK
Together zwith her ESSAYS, LECTURES
and other WORKS
Applications for above and those published
can be obtained through your local NEWS-
AGENT, BOOKSELLERS or
From M. F. DARWIN
care CAULON PRESS
241 West 37th Street NEW YORK CITY
191
M. F. DARWIN, Esq.
care of Caulon Press
241 West 37th Street
New York City
Dear Sir:
Please advise me of the works of Lady Cook (published)
and when her LIFE and other WORKS will be ready.
Yours truly,
pºinted by canon press, ºu wºn st. N. × city