The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999 Page: 58
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
women and the cultivated wife and daughters of our own race, shouting
... in our streets and at our country voting places." Only a decade be-
fore, "especially in our dear South-land, women but seldom appeared in
the pulpit and on the platform; now ... they travel the whole country
over on lecturing tours, and make speeches in court-houses; and public
halls." These women may be well meaning, but the inevitable result of
this sort of behavior was social disorder, and the appearance of "female
infidels," "female sleight-of-hand performers," "female gamblers," and
"female horsejockeys."26
The dangers of too close an association with the likes of Willard and
her organization was demonstrated to the prohibitionists when three
years after her tour the citizens of McLennan County fought a bitter
campaign over local option. The election was seen as a test case for the
cause. The state Grand Council of the United Friends of Temperance
was organized at Waco, the county seat, in 1870. Waco University would
soon become the flagship institution for the denomination, with the
closing of Baylor College at Independence and the removal of its faculty
and students to Waco. The evangelist Sam Jones had recently held a re-
vival in Waco and his attacks on the saloons had been reported across
the state. Both sides drew on the assistance of prominent political lead-
ers to hold rallies in the contest. The antiprohibitionist forces enlisted
the aid of Sen. Richard Coke. He delivered a speech at Waco, reprinted
in a number of newspapers and in pamphlet form, in which he de-
nounced interlopers from the North meddling in the affairs of Texas.
Later, in an interview with a reporter for the Waco Examiner, he asserted
that the ultimate goal of the prohibitionists was female suffrage: "Our
noble women are being familiarized with the idea from the stump, the
pulpit, and the lectures of strong-minded women sent to do missionary
work." The Reverend Dr. B. H. Carroll expressed his frustration with the
antiprohibitionist tactics, insisting that there were neither outside influ-
ences nor hidden agendas in the prohibition campaign. However, the
antiprohibitionist strategy paid off when the voters of the county chose
to continue licensing saloons.7 Fearing that their opponents would
again successfully use this strategy during the statewide campaign two
years later in 1887, the prohibitionists scrambled to distance themselves
from visiting speakers associated with the W.C.T.U. The prohibitionist
Dallas Herald assured readers that "female speakers have not been im-
ported from abroad by the prohibitionists." The confusion arose from
26 Texas Baptist, Mar. g9, 1882.
2 Waco Daily Examiner, Sept. 18, 1885 (quotation). B. H. Carroll, Prohibition: Dr. B. H. Carroll's
Reply to Senator Coke (pamphlet, n.p.), (Center for American History, University of Texas at
Austin; cited hereafter as CAH).July
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999, periodical, 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101219/m1/83/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.