Today -100: February 14, 1913: Of bribes, strikes, and the next best thing to making laws

Col. William Seymour Edwards, a candidate for US senator for West Virginia, is arrested for attempted bribery of a state legislator to vote for him. This is the same Edwards who set up the sting against other bribe-seeking legislators, resulting in the arrests of five of them two days ago, so I’m not sure what’s going on here. The Legislature held its 7th inconclusive ballot for senator; one of the legislators under indictment showed up to vote.

After striking miners invade the West Virginia State Building to demand that Gov. Glasscock recall the soldiers he sent into the mining districts, Mother Jones and others are arrested for conspiracy in the death of Fred Bobbett during a strike-related riot.

British suffrage-leader-in-exile Christabel Pankhurst, in an editorial in The Suffragette, says that while women can’t make laws, “they have done the next best thing by raising themselves above the law.” This refers less to militancy than to the ability of suffragettes to escape imprisonment through hunger striking.

Don't see comments? Click on the post title to view or post comments.