perpetrators with lasting shame. We will state briefly the facts as we have heard them.
The bill giving woman the right to vote came up at 11 o'clock, by a special order of the House. A number of ladies entered the hall to listen to the proceedings, General Larimer spoke eloquently and ably in favor of the bill, making, perhaps, the best speech that could be made on that side of the question. On the vote being taken, it stood—ayes 14, nays 11. The bill was then sent to the Council, where it was referred to the Committee on Elections, Its passage by the House of Representatives created a great deal of talk, and several members threatened to resign. At the evening session J. S. Morton, W. E. Moore, A. F. Salisbury and L. L. Bowen came into the House and proposed to present General Larimer with a petticoat, which did not tend much to allay the excitement. The General, of course, was justly indignant at such treatment, as were also the other members. The proposal was characteristic of the prime mover in it, and we are astonished that the other gentlemen named should have been willing to associate themselves with him in offering this indignity to the oldest and most respected member of the body—a man who was elected to the station he has so ably filled by the unanimous vote of the people of Douglas county. General Larimer had a perfect right to advocate or oppose the bill according to his own sense of duty, and any man, or set of men, who would attempt to cast insult or ridicule upon him for so doing, is worthy only of the contempt of decent people. In saying this we, of course, express no opinion on the merits of the bill itself.The bill was taken up in the Council, read twice, and referred to the Committee on Elections, whose chairman, Mr. Cowles, reported it back without amendment, and recommended its passage. This being the last day of the session, the bill could not come up again. The Chronotype, after the adjournment, commented as follows:
Mrs. Bloomer says that assurance was given by members of the Council that the bill would have passed that body triumphantly had more time been allowed, or had it been introduced earlier in the session. The general sentiment was in favor of it, and the gentlemen who talked the last hours away to kill other bills were alone responsible for its defeat. Mrs. Bloomer followed up her work by lectures in Omaha and Nebraska City two years later.
The exigencies attending the settlement of the territory and the absorbing interests of the civil war occupied the next decade. The character of the settlers may be inferred from the fact that, with only about 5,000 voters, Nebraska gave over 3,000 soldiers for the defense of the Union and of their home borders, where the Indians had seized the occasion to break out into active hostilities. The war over, Nebraska sought to be admitted as a State, and a constitution was prepared on the old