The evening world., 1909-02-17
PELHAM WOMEN
CAST FIFTY VOTES,
TEN THROWN OUT
Cross Marks So Poorly Made
That Nobody Could Tell
What They Meant.
WHY BALLOT WAS LOST.
"Such a Crowd" at the Polls
That Mrs. Hurttig Would Not
Get Out of Carriage.
WHY BALLOT WAS LOST.
BY Ethel Lloyd Patterson.

Fifty women have voted In Pelham.
Ten Of the votes were thrown out be-
cause the ballots were incorrectly
marked, but aside from that every one
had perfectly lovely time.
While all Manhattan, from the Bat
terry to the Bronx. has been q seething
suffrage argument, the fair citizens Of
Pelham have been metaphorically Say
ing nothing but saving wood" Can
they vote? Well, should say so, and
not any Of your fake straw ballots,
either.
The momentous questions that were
placed before the skirted politicians
were, first: Whether a new Town Hall,
to cost $4,000. was to be built and Sec
ond. whether the additional purchase Of
a 5000 piece of property was necessary.
II voted In this township when no
other woman would take the trouble to
do IT," proclaimed Mrs. G. s. Hanback,,
who seemed to be the leading spirit OF
the polls. Not that Sinking respon-
siblity is necessarily feminine trait"
she added. ''The men are the same
way. They want to see a measure or
q resolution passed, but they won't take
the trouble to go down to the polls and
vote for it. Then. when things 80 diff
ferently from the way they wished,
they commence to complain about It.
Not New Experience.
ut Is nothing new, though, for the
women OF Pelham to vote" Mrs. Kar-
back continued. I'VE are nineteen years
ahead OF New York, for we have been
voting for that length OF time. You see,
all property owners here, whether men
or women. are permitted votes upon
subjects that concern their taxation.
Even the joint property ownership Of
husband and wife allows the woman a
vote. OF course, lot OF the Pelham
women are not Interested enough in
these things to bother to come down to
the polls, but have been preaching to
them lately. I ask them what they
would do If their husbands died and
they had to look after their own prop
erty alone. A lot more Of them turned
out this time than ever before. There
were about one hundred and fifty voters,
fifty OF whom were women, I should
say.
I'VE had regular printed ballots. The
questions they were asked to vote upon
werc printed above, and spaces opposite
the words Yes and NO were left. so
that a cross might be printed after
either one of them.
NO, you would not think that mis-
take was possible Mrs. Hanback,
agreed, but nevertheless ten women
did disqualIfy their votes. They printed
the crosses so poorly that nobody could
tell what they had attempted to signify
Then some OF them got the crosses ir
the wrong place. or else wrote com
ments on their ballots"
why OUC 6'uI NOlS.
81 did not vote" Mrs. F. Hurttig, an
other Pelham matron, admitted, but
went all the way down to the fire-hous'
on Fifth avenue, where the polls were,
II had not intended to go, but whel
Il was almost luncheon time somebod!
drove up for me and told me that m.
vote was needed for something or other
did not understand 1t at all, but the,
said that all l need do was Just driv
down to the frehouse and draw
cross opposite the word Yes on tn
ballot.
When got out OF the carriage ther
were SO many men around the fire
house that l thought would wait
little while before | went in. The crow
did not seem to thin any, and then
remembered that the children would b
coming home from school for thei
luncheon, so / did not say a word I
any one, but just quietly slipped HON
again. | would have liked to obl!g
them, but did not know whi
It was ell about, and, anyway, no or
knew whether voted or not"
Other prominent Pelham women WI
cast their ballots are: Mrs. Jacob Hell
ser, Mrs. John Godfrey, Mrs. Thomc
N,,rCa md Nrre Co rpuel To.ten