An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony | Page 5

was not a male citizen.
Q. That she was a woman?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did the Board consider that and decide that she was entitled to
register?
Objected to. Objection overruled.
Q. Did the Board consider the question of her right to registry, and
decide that she was entitled to registry as a voter?

A. Yes, sir.
Q. And she was registered accordingly?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. When she offered her vote, was the same objection brought up in the
Board of Inspectors, or question made of her right to vote as a woman?
A. She was challenged previous to election day.
Q. It was canvassed previous to election day between them?
A. Yes, sir; she was challenged on the second day of registering names.
Q. At the time of the registry, when her name was registered, was the
Supervisor of Election present at the Board?
A. He was.
Q. Was he consulted upon the question of whether she was entitled to
registry, or did he express an opinion on the subject to the inspectors?
MR. CROWLEY: I submit that it is of no consequence whether he did
or not.
JUDGE SELDEN: He was the Government Supervisor under this act of
Congress.
MR. CROWLEY: The Board of Inspectors, under the State law,
constitute the Board of Registry, and they are the only persons to pass
upon that question.
THE COURT: You may take it.
A. Yes, sir; there was a United States Supervisor of Elections, two of
them.
By JUDGE SELDEN:

Q. Did they advise the registry, or did they not?
A. One of them did.
Q. And on that advice the registry was made with the judgment of the
inspectors.
A. It had a great deal of weight with the inspectors, I have no doubt.
Re-direct Examination by MR. CROWLEY:
Q. Was Miss Anthony challenged before the Board of Registry?
A. Not at the time she offered her name.
Q. Was she challenged at any time?
A. Yes, sir; the second day of the meeting of the Board.
Q. Was the preliminary and the general oath administered?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Won't you state what Miss Anthony said, if she said anything, when
she came there and offered her name for registration?
A. She stated that she did not claim any rights under the constitution of
the State of New York; she claimed her right under the constitution of
the United States.
Q. Did she name any particular amendment?
A. Yes, sir; she cited the 14th amendment.
Q. Under that she claimed her right to vote?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did the other Federal Supervisor who was present, state it as his

opinion that she was entitled to vote under that amendment, or did he
protest, claiming that she did not have the right to vote?
A. One of them said that there was no way for the inspectors to get
around placing the name upon the register; the other one, when she
came in, left the room.
Q. Did this one who said that there was no way to get around placing
the name upon the register, state that she had her right to register but
did not have the right to vote?
A. I didn't hear him make any such statement.
Q. You didn't hear any such statement as that?
A. No, sir.
Q. Was there a poll list kept of the voters of the first election district of
the 8th ward on the day of election?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. (Handing witness two books.) State whether that is the poll list of
voters kept upon the day of election in the first election district of the
8th ward, of the city of Rochester?
A. This is the poll list, and also the register.
Q. Turn to the name of Susan B. Anthony, if it is upon that poll list?
A. I have it.
Q. What number is it?
A. Number 22.
Q. From that poll list what tickets does it purport to show that she voted
upon that occasion?

A. Electoral, State, Congress and Assembly.
United States rests.
JUDGE SELDEN opened the case in behalf of the defendant, as
follows:
If the Court please, Gentlemen of the Jury:
This is a case of no ordinary magnitude, although many might regard it
as one of very little importance. The question whether my client here
has done anything to justify her being consigned to a felon's prison or
not, is one that interests her very essentially, and that interests the
people also essentially. I claim and shall endeavor to establish before
you that when she offered to have her name registered as a voter, and
when she offered her vote for Member of Congress, she was as much
entitled to vote as any man that voted at that election, according to