AUTHOR’S NOTE

I have wanted to write this story ever since I first came up with the idea for the Counterfeit Lady Series in 2011. I became interested in the Woman Suffrage movement when I was researching the early twentieth century and happened to read Jailed for Freedom by Doris Stevens. This amazing book provided the research for the first book in the series, City of Lies. Later, I read The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss, which tells the thrilling story of how Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment. This book proved to be a gold mine of information about this momentous event, and I owe Ms. Weiss a debt of gratitude.

The first question I’m sure you’re going to ask is, “Did all of this really happen?” The answer is a resounding YES. Almost. As far as I know, no one was trying to con the legislators at the Hermitage Hotel, although how would we ever know? Also, Elizabeth and her crew weren’t really there because—and I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to anyone—they didn’t really exist. However, almost everything they did participate in did happen, although to someone else.

Yes, Harry Burn’s mother did write him a letter, and he did receive it on that Wednesday morning just before the session started, but she had mailed it, and it was delivered to him by a page after it arrived at the Capitol. If you do an internet search for “Harry Burn letter” you can see the actual letter and envelope which are stored in the East Tennessee History Center as part of the McClung Historical Collection in Knoxville, Tennessee. You will notice that Mrs. Burn asks Harry twice in this letter to vote for suffrage.

It is a long, newsy letter, written in pencil on lined tablet paper, and on page two she says, “Hurrah and vote for suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt. I noticed Chandlers [sic] speech. It was very bitter. I’ve been waiting to see how you stood but have not seen anything yet.” Then again, at the end of the letter, just above her signature, she writes, “Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Thomas [sic] Catt with her ‘Rats.’ Is she the one who put rat in ratification? Ha!” Did someone encourage her to add the second admonition? Not that we know of, but let’s just say it could have happened!

When I was studying the letter, I noticed that it was postmarked in Nashville at 2:30 A.M. on Tuesday, August 17, although Harry did not receive it until around 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, August 18. If the Antis had allowed the vote to take place on Tuesday, as originally planned, Harry would not yet have received the letter. Would he still have changed his vote? Would the amendment still have been ratified? We will never know.

Harry Burn did face a lot of backlash from his vote, and he did escape from the Capitol that day just as I described, only without Gideon’s help. Later he gave the speech in the chamber exactly as I described, and he gave five reasons for changing his vote, only one of which mentioned the letter from his mother. The Antis did hold an “indignation” meeting in his district and campaigned vigorously against him, but he won reelection and had a long, successful career in public service.

Governor Roberts was not so lucky. He lost the election. As you probably guessed, Governor Cox also lost his election for president to Warren G. Harding who, oddly enough, attracted a lot of the female vote. Sadly, he wasn’t the honorable man Seth Walker imagined.

The Old Man’s con is based on a real enterprise run by a Chicago lawyer, George Remus, during Prohibition. He bought fourteen distilleries and obtained permits to produce medicinal and industrial alcohol. And yes, back in the early twentieth century, doctors did prescribe alcohol as a remedy. Drugstores would carry it and use it to fill the prescriptions. After Prohibition became law, doctors wrote many more prescriptions to thirsty patients. Drugstores also began selling phony prescriptions to those who didn’t want to bother seeing a doctor. Then they just started selling liquor out the back door to anyone who wanted it. Remus produced much more liquor than he was authorized to, and eventually the authorities caught up with him. He had made millions, but he lost it all. You have to admit he was clever, though.

The Antis continued to fight against Woman Suffrage for a few more years. They filed an injunction immediately, as I said. Governor Roberts was finally able to sign the bill on the following Tuesday and sent it special delivery to Washington. There U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby signed it in the early morning hours of Thursday, August 26 with only his secretary as witness. The Antis still kept up their legal maneuvers, but women were allowed to vote in the November 1920 elections except in two states that refused to change their voter registration deadlines in time to accommodate the new law. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court ruled in 1922 that they brought an end to the Antis’ efforts to nullify the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.

Sadly, women weren’t able to purify politics, and the amendment didn’t immediately grant women all the rights of men. That fight is still going on, over a hundred years later. The National American Woman Suffrage Association and the National Woman’s Party never mended their differences, and each felt they had not received the proper amount of recognition for the parts they played in the Cause. Alice Paul continued to fight for women’s rights for the rest of her life. Carrie Chapman Catt founded the League of Women Voters and worked for international Woman Suffrage after the Nineteenth Amendment passed.

The Hermitage Hotel is still going strong, and now the street running beside it is named Anne Dallas Dudley Boulevard. Their website features an article about the part the hotel played in ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment.

So, the answer to all your questions, is, “Yes, this really happened.” Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Please let me know how you enjoyed this book. You can sign up on my website to receive notices when my new books are released so you don’t have to miss a single one! You can contact me at victoriathompson.com or follow me on Facebook at Victoria .Thompson.Author or on Twitter @gaslightvt.