August 9, 1910 — The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
“The Woman Lawyer’s Hat
Supreme Court Justice Goff is a stickler for the dignity of the court, and the male lawyer who infringes on the court’s almost transmarine conception of that dignity is a very unlucky lawyer indeed. But when the Justice ordered a woman lawyer to take off her hat in the court room he went further than he has ever gone in the line of exact prescription of costume and manners for those who practice before him.
The right of a woman to wear her hat, anywhere and everywhere, in the dining room, at public euchres, in the theaters when it does not bar the view of others, in Women’s Club meetings and in the church at public worship, is socially conceded. The older ritual of the Jews, indeed, compels women in synagogues to bare their heads, and men to keep their hats on. But St. Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians gave a semi-ecclesiastical indorsement [sic] to our modern custom, at least so far as churches are concerned, saying:
Every man praying or, prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesyeth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head; for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
Whether, in the fact of custom built up on such authority, and practically universal, a judge has the right to demand the removal of a woman lawyer’s hat in court is a serious question. He has a right to make all reasonable regulations. But he would probably have no right to insist that every man appearing before him should wear a crimson necktie. Unfortunately Mrs. Sophia M. Mayer, at whom the Goff pronunciamento was aimed, obeyed at once and no test case will be made. Her hair was in perfect order and she chose not to raise the issue. Perhaps in the near future it will come up and be decided. Woman at the American bar has not fully established her status yet.”
August 11, 1910 — Mexico Missouri Message
“A woman lawyer, who had exhausted every other resource during the trial of a case, ended up by crying. That is an argument that no male attorney ever had been able to answer.”
August 14, 1910 — Atlanta Constitution
“The women lawyers of the country have lost their strongest pull with the juries. No more picture hats in the court rooms.”
[“A picture hat, also sometimes known as a Gainsborough hat, is an elaborate woman’s hat with a wide brim. It has been suggested that the name may be derived from the way the broad brim frames the face to create a ‘picture.’” For more, see http://thedreamstress.com/2011/12/terminology-what-is-a-picture-hat/%5D
August 16, 1910
“Mrs. Irene C. Buell of St. Paul, the thirty-sixth woman lawyer who has been admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court, does not believe women should vote. She believes in woman’s rights until the ballot and there she stops.
‘I don’t want to be classed with the suffragettes,’ said Mrs. Buell upon her return from Washington, following her interesting experience of being admitted to practice before the highest tribunal in the land. ‘I don’t believe any real good will be done the county by granting the right to vote to women. Of course, women have their rights, but I believe the laws of this State and the Union protect them sufficiently.’ . . . .”
August 19, 1910 — Coffeyville Weekly Journal
“Belva Lockwood LL.D. City’s Guest; Celebrated Woman Lawyer and Publicist Here; A Presidential Candidate; She is 80 Years Old and Was One of the Original Lawyers of the Cherokee Claimants
The special commission from the department of justice which is distributing the $5,000,000 allowed the descendants of the Eastern Cherokee Indians is being accompanied on its trip by a most distinguished personage. This important person is none other than Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, LL.D., of Washington, D.C., the celebrated woman lawyer and solicitor who was one of the attorneys of record in the case before the department of justice which resulted in securing the $5,000,000 for the descendants of the Cherokees. In fact, she was one of the original lawyers employed to prepare and present the Indians’ claim and her argument before the United States supreme court in the case stands out as one of the ablest pleas ever made by a woman lawyer.
Mrs. Lockwood is of national reputation, having made the race for president in the 1884 as the candidate of the Equal Rights party. . .
Mrs. Lockwood will be 80 years old if she lives until next November and there are no apparent signs of her immediate demise. She is hale and hearty, not as agile as a person of more tender years, yet her brain is as quick and active as at any time of her career. She dresses well plain and while opposed to rats and puffs wears some dandy little corkscrew curls. . . .”
August 10, 1911 — The Union Republican
“Mrs. Belle A. Mansfield, 65 years old, the first woman ever admitted to the practice of law in the United States, died suddenly at the home of her brother, Judge W. J. Babb, of Aurora, Ill., a few days ago. Mrs. Mansfield was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1868, two years after she had graduated from Iowa Wesleyan University. She was widely known as an educator. At the time of her death she was Dean of the college of arts at Depauw University, Green Castle, Ind. . . .
August 12, 1911 — Springfield Missouri Republican
“Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, the woman lawyer of Washington, is preparing a synopsis of State laws pertaining to women, and will expound the rights of her sex under the law in the International Council of Women, which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on next September.”
August 9, 1912 — The Inter Ocean
“ONE SMALL BAT ROUTS THREE WOMEN LAWYERS
Their Screams Bring Brave Male Colleague, Who Slays Terror and Throws it Out of Window
Kansas City, MO., — An entire law firm of women was routed by a bat, and fair Portias for whom the stern visage of courts has no terror fled with shrieks from a mild little chiroptera.
Tenants on the eighth floor of the New York Life building heard loud shrieks emanating from the west corridor. They found Miss Anna Donahue and Miss Tiera Farrow in the hallway calling for help.
‘What’s the matter, is there a fire?’ asked the other tenants, interrupting the cries of the women lawyers.
‘No, a bat,’ they managed to say.
Rescuers then entered the law office, only to find Miss Carey M. Carroll, the third member of the firm, sitting on a desk with her feet straight in front of her. Finally A. S. Hill, an attorney, killed the bat and threw it out of the window.
Bats are hereby warned that a perpetual injunction against their invading the law office of Donahue & Farrow will be asked if there is a second offense.”
August 23, 1912 — Ottawa Journal
“Women Jurors To Try Women; State Attorney Complains that Men are Affected by Emotional Displays
‘We must have women jurors to try women. Men will not convict the opposite sex of crimes like murder. If we must have equal suffrage to let women on juries, then I favor it.’
This was the statement of State Attorney John E. Wayman, today, commenting on the verdict of not guilty returned late yesterday in the case of Mrs. Florence Bernstein, accused of the murder of her husband.
The Bernstein case was the fourth husband-murder trial here this year with no conviction.
‘Only a woman can pass judgment on a woman,’ said Wayman. ‘A tear-stained face, white lips and trembling hands unnerve men juries. Only a woman can read a woman’s heart and tell when her emotional display is true or false. Unless we get women juries, if these travesties on justice continue in our courts, Illinois will be the laughing stock of the nation.”
August 11, 1913 — The Allentown Democrat
“New York — The formation of a society for the extermination of men flirts and the reformation of woman’s clothing to a less attractive standard than at present obtains, is the intention of Miss Anna Moscowitz, a woman lawyer of this city whose offices are at 26 Cedar street. On Wednesday morning Miss Moscowitz successfully argued a case in the court against a young man, who had tried to flirt with her on the street. The man was fined $10, but Miss Moscowitz says he should be given a jail sentence. The present mode of female dress, according to this modern Portia, is largely responsible for men flirts, who are attracted by the extra attire worn by women on the streets.”
August 27, 1913 — The San Francisco Call
“Lawyer Rebuked by Woman Juror
‘Personal views on Suffrage Have No Bearing on Case,’ is Foreman’s Statement'”
“The first woman’s jury in Cook county, except those hearing insanity cases, today gave Prosecuting Attorney William R. Morse of Oak Park a few lessons in the conduct of his office. The jurywomen were called to try a neighborhood case.
While waiting for witnesses, Morse addressed them on anti-suffrage lines, protesting that a woman’s place in in her home.
Mrs. W. J. Loomis, foreman, interrupted him. ‘I understand it is no part of the duty of the prosecuting attorney to inflict the jury with his personal views,’ she said. ‘We are not interested in them and they have no bearing on the cases we are hearing.'”
August 11, 1914 — The Washington Post
“Among women workers there are today 30 times as many bookkeepers, clerks, and office workers as there were a generation ago, 50 times as many saleswomen, 60 times as many journalists, and 100 times as many packers, shippers and agents, and no less than 200 as many woman lawyers.”
August 17, 1915 — Daily Notes
“Miss A. Florence Yerger, Philadelphia’s most successful woman lawyer, has more business than she can handle herself and has been compelled to open three offices in different parts of the city.”
August 19, 1915 — Indianapolis News
“Women Lawyers Cause of Debate; Membership Application to Bar Association is Disputed
The question of admitting women attorneys to membership in the American Bar Association, which created a lively session of the association’s general council yesterday, was threshed out on the floor of the main convention today.
The application is Miss Helen Hamilton of Grand Forks, N. D. The council agreed by a vote of 37 to 6 to recommend the application, following the report of a special committee that no agreement had been reached regarding the application of Miss Hamilton and one other woman applicant. A question of procedure arose, in the course of which a resolution was proposed denying admission to women as ‘undesirable.’ The resolution provoked an uproar and was not seconded. A motion to adjourn was lost by a tie vote and efforts were then made to lay the matter over until tomorrow.
‘It seems as though we are trying to dodge the matter,’ shouted a delegate.
‘We are always dodging the women,’ commented George T. Page of Peoria, president of the council.
The vote in favor of the application was then taken and immediately afterward U. S. G. Cherry of South Dakota moved a reconsideration . . . . The motion to reconsider was carried 26 to 7 and the issue will probably come up again.
The association has never admitted a woman to membership.”
August 16, 1916 — Atlanta Constitution
“Annuity Fund for Mrs. Lockwood
The friends of Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood are engaged in raising a fund of $5,000 to purchase an annuity for her support during the remainder of her life. At the age of 84 years Mrs. Lockwood finds herself in necessitous circumstances, and practically forced to start life anew. As one-time candidate for President of the United States, as pioneer woman lawyer, and in more recent years as an advocate of universal peace, her services to the American people, her friends say, merit the consideration and respect of all public-spirited citizens.
Andrew Carnegie has signified his intention of subscribing to this fund, and Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey and Miss Emma M. Gillett, members of the Washington bar, have already made generous contributions.”
August 16, 1916 — Atlanta Constitution
“Women Lawyers in Georgia Favored by Heavy Vote in Senate
After a lengthy debate, the senate yesterday morning passed the Cooper bill allowing women to practice law in the state of Georgia. The high pedestal upon which the women of the south stand was urged by the advocates of the measure as a potent reason why it should pass, while the opponents of the bill argued along the same line for the defeat of the measure. The vote was 26 to 12.
Senator Pickett, of the eleventh, in opposing the bill, stated that he would take more pleasure in voting against it than any other bill that had been before the legislature this year. He argued that because the west had granted women this right was no reason why Georgia should grant its women the right to practice law, since the people were of such a different temperament.
Senator T. R. Turner, of the twenty-first, made an elaborate speech, urging that the legislature should allow the women to practice law, but he wanted it understood that he did not mean by this that he was in favor of woman suffrage. . . .”
August 19, 1916 — Chicago Daily Tribune
“Last year in New York state a farmer and his wife were found brutally murdered. A farm hand, an illiterate German, not bright mentally, and unable to understand English perfectly, was arrested for the crime. There was no real evidence against him, but a private detective put him through the ‘third degree,’ and produced what was claimed as a confession of guilt. The document was signed by the prisoner with a thumb mark, he being unable to write. He was convicted on this confession and sentenced to death.
Then and ever afterward he asserted his innocence and said that he did not understand the ‘confession’ when read to him. He has added that it was extorted from him by violence on the part of the police.
After he was sent to the penitentiary to await his doom a woman lawyer in New York city interested herself in the man’s case and no less than four times succeeded in having the execution postponed. After her plea for a pardon had been refused a man was found who confessed that he and another man, not the one convicted, killed and robbed the old couple. This man has now denied his confession, but the woman lawyer charges that this was brought about by the detective who got the reward for securing the conviction of the German now in prison.
The confession of the second man, she says, was voluntary and made in the presence of a number of officials who did the questioning. He several times acknowledged full knowledge of what the results of his act would be. The fact that the detective accompanied the second man to jail after his confession and that she was refused access to the prisoner leads her to suspect the latter’s repudiation. . . .”
August 10, 1918 — San Bernardino News
“FEAR THE DEAD WILL RISE
Leavenworth, Kan., — Fear of an Indian curse may interfere with work on the improvement of the Huron cemetery, many workman, especially those of Indian origin, dreading to undertake a task which they rear will cause the dead aborigines to return and take vengeance.
Miss Lida Conley, a woman lawyer, tried to enjoin work on the proposed improvements, claiming that it would be a desecration of the graves of her Wyandotte ancestors. When the court refused to grant the injunction Miss Conley said she would wish Indian curses on all workers engaged in the undertaking.”
Montana's Early Women Lawyers: Trail-blazing, Big Sky Sisters-in-Law 