“Let me recount the events of the past few days that I have only hinted at in my letters.  It will make you glad that you were born a woman.

“When I reached Milwaukee, ten days ago,” continues Trueman, “I found that the committee of coercion had anticipated my arrival and had issued its edict against the citizens turning out to see me.  The police had received their instructions to keep the streets clear, and they were untiring in their efforts to earn the approbation of their masters.  The train arrived at one-thirty in the afternoon.  Ordinarily there would have been a large crowd at the depot; to our surprise we found the depot and the adjoining streets practically deserted.

“As our party moved in the direction of the hotel, I noticed that a woman was keeping pace with us on the opposite side of the street.  She was dressed in a modest gown and would not have attracted attention had she not continually turned her head to look behind her.

“Yielding to an impulse of curiosity I turned my head and saw that at the distance of a block a squad of police was following us.  Then it dawned upon me that the woman was endeavoring to give our party the cue.  When the steps of the hotel were reached I felt impelled to see where the woman would go.  She stood on the corner of the street for half a minute and then disappeared around the corner.

“Half an hour later I was handed the card of a ‘Mrs. Walton.’  Upon going to the reception room I found that the strange woman had come to see me.

“Her first words, ‘Are we alone?’ made me feel that I should have a new element to meet.  I suspected a trap of the enemy.  When I assured her that she was at liberty to speak, Mrs. Walton went directly to the point.

“‘I have come to offer you the support of the women of Milwaukee,’ she began, ’and that means a great deal at a time when the men are afraid to say their souls are their own.

“’The women of this city are not under the yoke and they trust to you to put off the day of their subjugation, if you cannot put them in safety for all time.

“’We have realized that the hour for woman to assert her power has come; she cannot vote, nor does she aspire to that questionable right, but she can influence the votes of the men with whom she comes in contact.

“’You have come to a city that is as effectually closed to you as if it were walled and the gates were shut in your face.  The press, the police, the labor organizations, every power has been subsidized to work against you.  I know every move that has been made.  For there’s not a word uttered that is not brought to the council of women’s clubs.

“’The moment it was known that you were to visit this city the order went forth that you were not to be permitted to hold a public meeting.  You were not to be refused the right to speak; that would have been too bold and brazen an act for even the Plutocrats to carry out.  It was decided that the same ends could be accomplished by preventing the army of mercenaries and wage-slaves to parade the streets.  The corps of “spotters” were sent out.