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28 .°- MINUTES OF THE SUFFRAGE CONVENTION.
Later he brought a suit in a circuit court of Missouri in the
name of his wife and in his own name to test the truth of his
construction of the amendment. She applied for registration
and was denied the right to vote. The distinguished Judge
Crumm and Senator John B. Henderson were assigned with
him, rather as show or lay associates, but his arguments did
not meet with the proper appreciation in the courts. He
brought the case to the Supreme Court of the United States
and argued it there himself, with exactly the result that
I supposed would await him—the result which I antici-
pated when I was conducting similar cases—and withdrew
from the court because J did not care to have a decision of
the Supreme Court of the United States against me on that
question. Mr. Minor was perhaps braver than I. He argued
his case and got a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court
against him. I confess Iwas surprised, for I supposed that
Justice Miller, at least, would have been with him.
These were the leading services of Mr. Minor. He has
passed away within the last twelve months, which has gar-
nered so many great men who were advocates of this great
cause.
I will now read another resolution I have prepared:
In the advanced ranks of the advocates of woman suffrage
this convention recognizes the late Benjamin F. Butler, of
Massachusetts, as occupying a prominent place.
As a Representative from. Massachusetts in the Forty-first
Congress he occupied avery conspicuous place and had large
influence. As aleading member of the House Judiciary Com-
mittee he took part in the hearing of the ‘*Woodhull Me-
morial;’’ asserting the right of women to vote under the fourth
amendment, and united with the Hon. Wm. Loughridge,
of Iowa,,in a minority report sustaining that view.
Later he presented a memorial to the House, asking the
passage of a bill declaring that the fourth amendment in-
vested women with the elective franchise and sustained the
same with his usual marked ability and rendered much other
service to the cause.
feesolved, That the recent and sudden demise of General
Butler was a great shock to each and all the members of this’
body; that the convention profoundly deplores his passage
from the living, and deeply laments his loss from the sup-
porters of the cause it labors to advance.
It tenders its profoundest sympathy to his daughters and
the wide circle who mourns his departure.
The convention orders that its officers forward to Mrs.
Blanch Ames copies of this resolution duly attested.
. x