Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-11-05
Women Cause Arrest Of
Election Inspector.
Suttragette Brings About the
Downfall Of Official
Who Endeavored to Have Her Arrest
ed Day Before.

New York, Nov 4--Thc Tribune
says:
1t was a busy day yesterday for the
women who want to vote, and for that
particular branch of them known as
the Suffragettes, otherwise the Ma
tional Progressive Woman's Suffrage
Union it vas Il day of triumph. They
were excluded, it is true, from the
poils-sha,n ones eXcepted-but they
Npcrienced the sweetness of revenge.
In short, they compassed the arrest, on
,ne en,,r2e uI Illegal voting. of Walter
u. BunEcli, the election inspector, VINO
wanted to call out the police reserves
to deal with Mrs. Sofia Loebinger the
day She tried to register in a bakery
on Eighth avenue, between 139th ana
l40th streets. Mr. Bunnell acted in
haste, presumably, and is now repent
ing Il leisure.
Mrs. LoehinseT was expected 20 act
as an election inspector herself at the
Colonial theatre. where women were
invited to vote by the management,
bat she sent Mrs. -. Wc!edinger in
ner place. with the message that she
haI an important business engage
ment. she was serving as q waitress in
the Bakery from which Mr.. Bulneil
had been so desirous Of ejecting her.
She Went there at 5.3D O'Clock in th';
.morninS with Elmer S. Davidson, one
Of the llale .sufragettes, who aided
and ahctted the women in their at
tempts TO register, and, finding the
proprietor short of help, she offered her
Services and was accepted. Thus she
'"'oairnd On guard in cap and apron
until 1915 o'clock, when Mr. Bunnell
.,,rtnptcu TO vote. Mrs. Loebinger then
directed Mr.. Davidson to challenge the
vote on the ground that Mr.. Bunnell
vas a resident Of Orange, n. j. The
police officer in attendance refused to
lrrest Mr. Runnell, and Mrs. Loebinger
was elected from the premises. But
she went to the Harlem police court,
made Il complaint against Mr.. Bunnell
md secured his arrest. \ new chair
man had to be sworn in while Mr.. Bun
lell went to court. Magistrate Greer
released him on parole. The sutfra-
settes said they could produce witness
IS to prove that Mr. Hunnell is not Il
esident of New York. He gave his ad-
lress as No. 81 West 136th street, Il
:anatOrlIim.
Loebinger proceeded to the Colonial thea
tre to do her part in guarding the polls
there. The voting had been very lively all
lay, and was taken with the utmost sPri-
BUSINESS by the voters. Some even
thought that they were indebted to IN
Gle sam for the opportunity to exercise
the franchise, instead of the American
suffragcttes END the management Of the
theatre. One woman thought il worth
while to dignify the ceremony hy con-
sulting her husband rs to her choice. and
a younger woman persisted in voting i'll
spite of the indignant protests Of her es-
'ort. Twelve negro women voted-one for
Bryan and the rest for Taft-ard a wy
omng woman, Mrs. j. w. Gates, cano
to seek such consolation as was open to
her for her exclusion from the real polls
She said it was the first time since she
was 4 that she had not cast a real vote
in a Presidential election.
At the Alhambra theatre. in Harlem,
where the suffr2 gettes were also in
charge, many of the women We're insti-
@ate( by their husbands. At the Gotham
theatre in Williamsburg. a band of 30 or
| 20 women marched to the polls in a body
| and. after depositing their ballots en-
relied as suffragettes.
At the polling place of the Harlan
Equal Rights League, 125th street and
Seycutb avenue. Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Gait narrowly escaped arrest for Illegal
voting. Having properly marked her bal
lot in one of the three booths provided,
She was about to deposit it in the ballot
box herself, when orc of the officials
pounced upon her and Informed ncr that
she, was breaking the law. Voters we're