The 'Deep, Dark, Damnable Conspiracy' Against Women’s Votes
In 1887, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer mocked the 'absurd' suspicion that the Territorial Supreme Court, the President, and local newspapers were conspiring to disenfranchise women through judicial appointments.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It was announced that the Territorial Supreme Court decided the Women’s Suffrage law was invalid. That was proof of a deep, dark, damnable conspiracy to disenfranchise the women of Washington. On the day succeeding that on which the decision was rendered, however, the President appointed Judges Greene and Hoyt. This, we presume, is proof positive that President Cleveland is also in the plot—that the Post-Intelligencer, the Supreme Court, and President Cleveland are banded together in some fearful deed to which this is merely a prelude. So great a change in the personnel of the Territorial judiciary seems not to be looked for. Both Judge Greene and Judge Hoyt have been on the bench for many years, and both have been respected judges. They retire with the entire confidence of the people of the Territory.
“That was proof of a deep, dark, damnable conspiracy to disenfranchise the women of Washington.”
This 1887 report captures the volatile intersection of judicial power and voting rights that defined late-territorial Washington. Just as the paper sarcastically framed the suffragists' fears as a 'conspiracy,' modern Seattle politics remains obsessed with the delicate balance between legislative intent and judicial interpretation of democratic rights.
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