Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net AN AMERICAN SUFFRAGETTE A NOVEL By ISAAC N. STEVENS Author of "The Liberators," "Popular Government Essays," etc. New York William Rickey & Company 1911 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, 1911, by William Rickey & Company Registered at Stationers' Hall, London (All Rights Reserved) Printed in the United States of America PRESS OF WILLIAM G. HEWITT, 61-67 NAVY ST., BROOKLYN, N. Y. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEDICATION To those noble and courageous women of England and America who are trying to demonstrate to the world that Civilization cannot reach the supreme heights of progress without giving freedom to the mental, spiritual and physical energies of women, and that government will always lack a vital element in its functions, so long as women are deprived of equal participation in its operations--THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "But life shall on and upward go; Th' eternal step of Progress beats To that great anthem, calm and slow, Which God repeats." --Whittier. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A DOCTOR RETURNS FROM INDIA 1 II. A MYSTICAL PARADE 15 III. THE MYSTERIOUS YOUNG WOMAN 22 IV. A SUFFRAGE BAZAAR AND BALL 33 V. HYPNOTISM USED FOR AN ANAESTHETIC 46 VI. SOME STRENUOUS ANTI-SUFFRAGISTS 56 VII. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND SURGERY 61 VIII. THE OMNIPRESENT EYES OF FIFTH AVENUE 74 IX. LOVE, JEALOUSY AND MUSIC 82 X. A DISCUSSION OF PROGRESSIVE WOMEN 91 XI. THE ADVANCING COLUMN OF DEMOCRACY 99 XII. A TUBERCULAR KNEE AND A WORRIED SURGEON 117 XIII. AN ANTI-SUFFRAGE MEETING 125 XIV. FAITH IS THE BASIS OF ALL PROGRESS 140 XV. AN EVIL PROPHECY BEGINS TO BEAR FRUIT 154 XVI. THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF EMMA BELL 164 XVII. THE ARREST OF DR. JOHN EARL 180 XVIII. DR. EARL IS INDICTED FOR MURDER 194 XIX. A GREAT MURDER TRIAL BEGINS 199 XX. A WOMAN AND SPOOKS FIND A LETTER 211 XXI. SILVIA HOLLAND'S GREAT PLEA TO THE JURY 225