The Mahoning Dispatch (Canfield), August 16, 1912

SUFFRAGISTS ARE MOBBED

Women Flee After Banana Skins, Chicken Bones, Lemon Rinds and Other Garbage Are Hurled.

     Dayton, O., Aug. 14. - Dayton policemen and firemen, on their annual outing, mobbed five women suffragists who attempted to talk to the men on the question of votes for women.

     Miss Margaret Foley of Boston mounted a table and was in full swing when a loaf of bread knocked off her hat. She continued to speak, but the noise about her became so loud that she could not be heard. Then a ham sandwich landed on her cheek. She talked on. Finally banana skins, chicken bones, lemon rinds and other refuse from the table came in a regular torrent. That was too much for even an ardent suffragist of the militant brand. She retired.

 
The Mahoning Dispatch first debuted in 1877 and was based in Canfield, a rural area around Youngstown. The paper was originally created out of concern that the growing industrial city of Youngstown would fail to notice the largely rural area of Mahoning county. For this reason, The Mahoning Dispatch focused on local issues, and maintained a rural demeanor. When Henry Manning Fowler first published the paper, he stated that The Mahoning Dispatch would be non-partisan in politics and would not be associated with any political faction or religion.

The women suffragists mentioned in the article had asked to speak to the policemen and firemen about supporting the right for woman suffrage. The women had even waited until after the main events of the picnic had concluded. According to another article on the event, as soon as Miss Margaret Foley began talking the policemen and firemen began yelling and throwing garbage at Miss Foley, with the chiefs watching. Margaret Foley was a prominent Irish Catholic suffragist from Boston, Massachusetts. She was a member of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association and after speaking in front many audiences, Foley earned the nickname, “The Grand Heckler”. She traveled to many states in 1912, including Ohio, in order to continue promoting suffrage.

After the events of the article, Harriet Taylor Upton, the current president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association in 1912, commented on the policemen and firemen's attack on the women suffragists. Upton, a prominent suffragist from Ravenna, Ohio, stated that the event was a stigma on the city of Dayton’s honor. She also pointed out that the policemen and firemen were attacking honorable women whose taxes pay their salaries, adding to the dishonor of the officers actions.

Written by Katrina Neff, Class of 2022

Fulton County Tribune (Wauseon), October 15, 1915

OHIO WOMAN SUFFRAGE PARTY CONVENTION

Call For Meeting to be Held in Cleveland Thursday and Friday, November Eleventh and Twelfth

Western Newspaper Union News Service.

     Cleveland.- Upon the invitation of the Woman Suffrage party of Greater Cleveland, the Ohio Woman Suffrage association will hold its 30th annual convention Thursday and Friday, Nov. 11 and 12, at Hotel Hollenden. The executive committee will be in session on the evening of the 10th, but the convention proper will begin at 10 a. m. on the 11th. At 1 p. m. a luncheon will be served to delegates, visitors and friends, the delegates being the guests of the Woman Suffrage party. Mrs. Ethel Snowden, the wife of the Liberal member of the English parliament, will be the only speaker at the luncheon. Mrs. Snowden is a brilliant, beautiful woman of great oratorieal powers. One hour on the 12th will be set aside in memory of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was born Nov. 12, 1815. and who was responsible largely for the calling of the first woman’s rights convention in 1848.

Ohio speakers and workers now in the campaign states will tell of their experiences.

All suffrage associations are urged to send delegates, and attention is called to the following articles of the bylaws, article 2. section 1: “Local dues paying societies may become auxiliary to the state association by paying into the treasury annually 25 cents for each of their paid-up members. Such local auxiliary societies shall be entitled to three delegates by virture of such auxiliaryship, and to one additional delegate for every 25 members. Section 2. Non-dues paying local societies, such as campaign committees, men’s leagues, woman suffrage parties, etc., may become auxiliary to the state association by the payment of a fee of $2 annually into the state treasury. Such auxiliaryship shall entitle such societies to two delegates in the state convention.” All delegates signifying their intention of attending the convention before Nov. 6 will be entertained by Cleveland people. Those wanting further particulars in regard to the convention generally should address Mrs. Upton, state headquarters. Warren, O. Those wanting information in regards to local matters address Mrs. Rufus P. Ranney, general local chairman convention committee, 1706 Euelid-av, Cleveland. The call is signed by Mrs. Francis M. Casement, Painesville; Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, Warren; Miss Zara Dupont, Cleveland; Mrs. Dora Sandoe Bachman, Columbus; Mrs. Helen Wise Molony, Cincinnati; Mrs. Ethel R. Vorce, Cleveland; Mrs. Zell Hart Deming, Warren; Mrs. O. F. Davisson, Dayton.

 
The Fulton County Tribune was created in 1883, after sentiments divided for the local Republican Party. The newspaper typically covered local events and interests. 

In 1915, Cleveland held the 30th annual Ohio Woman Suffrage association convention after being invited by the Woman Suffrage party of Greater Cleveland, now called the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland. The Ohio Woman Suffrage association was organized May of 1885 in Painesville with the goal of changing laws preventing women from voting. 

The guest lecturer mentioned to be speaking on the 11th was Mrs. Ethel Snowden. Snowden is the wife of Philip Snowden, a British Labour Party politician and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924 and between 1929-1931. Ethel Snowden was active in the support of woman suffrage and later became a speaker for the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. 

An hour was set aside in the memory of Elizabeth Cady Stanton because she was a prominent supporter of woman suffrage who passed away in 1902. Harriet Taylor Upton and she was an important member of the National Women’s Suffrage Association, she even served as treasurer of the Association from 1894 to 1910. From 1899 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1920, Upton also served as the president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. 

Mrs. Rufus P. Ranney could be the wife or relative of Democratic Ohio politician, Rufus Putnam Ranney. Francis M. Casement was a suffragist from Painesville, Ohio, who has been inducted in the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame. Mrs. O. F. Davisson was the president of Dayton and Montgomery county Woman Suffrage Association. The remaining women were suffragist that helped organize and promote the cause for suffrage. 

Written by Katrina Neff, Class of 2022

The Democratic Banner, (Mount Vernon), May 15, 1917

LOCAL SUFFRAGISTS ARE URGED TO BE PRESENT

Mississippi Valley Suffrage Conference To Be Held In Columbus This Week At The Hotel Deshler

Suffragists are planning an enthusiastic celebration when the Mississippi Valley conference meets in Columbus May 12-14. It is expected that there will be 20 states represented. The general topic of the conference will be “Victory—How, Why, When, Where?” Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, international and national president of the suffrage movement, will be present and make several addresses. This is the most important suffrage event of the year, lasting three days, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On Saturday evening there will be a dinner, accommodating 300 guests, at Hotel Deshler. Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, president of the Ohio Woman’s Suffrage association, will be toastmaster. On Sunday afternoon there will be a mass meeting at Memorial hall, which will be addressed by Governor James M. Cox, James M. Reynolds of Cleveland, who managed the presidential suffrage bill, Judge Littleford of Cincinnati, Judge Frank M. Gorman and other distinguished men and women. Monday (all sessions at the Deshler) will be devoted to legislative work, with especial celebration of victories in North Dakota, Indiana, Arkansas and Ohio.All women of Mt. Vernon interested in the cause are urged to go to Columbus and attend some of these meetings.

  

The Mississippi Valley Conference was held in 1913, 1915, 1916, and 1917 (cancelled in 1918) in various cities. It convened members of the Mississippi Valley Suffrage Association, which was a regional part of the National Suffrage Association. 

One of the speakers at the event in Columbus in 1917 was Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, a former teacher who left the classroom to work as a suffragist and peace activist. A talented speaker and political strategist, she was elected president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1900 after Susan B. Anthony retired. In 1902, she founded the International Women Suffrage Alliance. In 1915, she helped to create the Woman’s Peace Party. After traveling the world, she was re-elected president of NAWSA and served from 1915 to 1920. Her “Winning Plan” of a state-by-state suffrage effort led to the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920. With female suffrage secured, she founded the League of Women Voters.

 Hotel Deshler, where the conference was held, was opened in 1916; at the time of the conference, it was one of the most extravagant places in the city of Columbus. The mass meeting mentioned in the article at Memorial Hall, where the Columbus’s 1912 suffrage parade and other events were planned.

Mrs. Harriett Taylor Upton joined NAWSA in 1890; the next year, she started Ohio Women in Convention, a group that worked toward gender equality. From 1894 to 1910, she served as NAWSA’s treasurer and urged the group to move its national headquarters to Warren, Ohio where she lived. From 1899 to 1908 and then from 1911 to 1920, Upton served as president of the Ohio Women’s Suffrage Association. Among other achievements, she served on the Republic National Executive Committee as the first woman to do so.

Governor James M. Cox was Ohio’s 46th and 48th governor and was the first governor to serve three full terms. A Democrat (the conservative party at the time), Cox was known to support progressive reform measures. He was chosen in 1920 as the Democratic party’s presidential nominee and later lost. Through his whole career, he was known as a supporter of women’s suffrage in Ohio. His third term as governor ended in 1921 during which he helped give women the right to vote in the 1920 presidential election by signing into law the suffrage bill that James M. Reynolds wrote after it passed both houses of the Legislature.

Judge Frank M. Gorman served as judge on the Ohio Court of Appeals 1st District bench from 1915-1918. Judge Littleford was the president of the Ohio Men’s League for Equal Suffrage.

The 21 states that were members of the Mississippi Valley Conference were: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

The Democratic Banner, founded in 1838, was a progressive newspaper published in Mt. Vernon.