Oneida County History Center

Utica’s Ward Hunt and his Clash with Susan B. Anthony By Lou Parrotta City of Utica Historian & History Center Volunteer

The City of Utica has had many prominent politicians and connections to key events in American history throughout its nearly 200-year existence. A fine example of this occurred in the late 1800s during the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Former Utican and sitting United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ward Hunt clashed with, arguably, the face of the women’s right to vote effort, Susan B. Anthony in 1873. Hunt was also a former mayor, state assemblyman, and Commissioner of Appeals in New York State.

Ward Hunt was a close ally of powerful United States Senator Roscoe Conkling, a fellow Utican, and without question, the leader of the Republican Party in New York State. Senator Conkling was also a close friend and confidant of President Ulysses S. Grant. Associate Justice Samuel Nelson resigned his seat in 1872, and Senator Conkling recommended Hunt to President Grant as a replacement. Grant concurred, nominated Hunt, and the United States Senate confirmed him to the bench on December 11, 1872.

In that era of United States jurisprudence, Supreme Court Justices were required to “ride the circuit” to hear cases. Each Justice was assigned an area (circuit) in which to hear cases. It was on one of these circuit rides that Justice Hunt crossed paths with suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

On November 1, 1872, in a barbershop in Rochester, New York, Anthony and her three sisters demanded to be allowed to register to vote under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution that guaranteed citizenship and the rights afforded to such citizens, and through an article of the New York

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Susan B. Anthony was arrested on November 18, 1872 for voting

Utica Republican Ward Hunt crossed paths with Susan B. Anthony on his circuit ride

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State constitution that put no sex qualification on voting rights. After various legal threats made by Anthony to the three young, male registrars, it was decided to allow the women to properly register to vote. Outrage ensued as a total of fourteen women registered to vote that day.

On November 5, 1872, Anthony and several of the newly registered women cast votes in the congressional race of that year. After voting, she proudly wrote to her dear friend and fellow suffragist, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, about her actions. That glee was short-lived as a warrant for her arrest was issued by US Commissioner William C. Storrs charging Anthony with casting a ballot “without a lawful right to vote,” and being in violation of the 1870 Enforcement Act. Anthony was arrested on November 18, 1872, and assigned a preliminary hearing in court on November 29th. After a few weeks of hearings and examination of witnesses, Storrs was convinced Anthony violated the law and scheduled a grand jury review for January. He set her bail, which she refused to pay, and he remanded her to the custody of a deputy marshal until the grand jury proceedings.

Anthony was elated to be held, thinking this would be her ticket to the US Supreme Court for being held in violation of habeas corpus (being unlawfully detained). After some time passed, however, one of Anthony’s lawyers, Henry Selden, paid her bail. And even though she knew her path to the Supreme Court had dissipated as she wasn’t falsely imprisoned any longer, she readied herself for her trial on January 24, 1873.

The trial moved from Monroe County to Canandaigua County due to overexposure as a result of Anthony’s continued stump speeches espousing her innocence and was rescheduled to June

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17th. The trial opened with the newly seated Supreme Court Associate Justice Ward Hunt presiding.

Several questionable actions by Justice Hunt occurred during the trial including his refusal to allow Anthony to take the stand as a witness on her own behalf, his taking out a paper with his opinion apparently pre-written declaring “The Fourteenth Amendment (gave) no right to a woman to vote and the voting by Miss Anthony was in violation of the law,” his stating of his belief that she was fully aware her act of voting was illegal and “subject to the penalty of the law,” and finally his direction to the jury to render a final “verdict of guilty” without deliberation.

Anthony was finally allowed time to speak after the verdict was given by Justice Hunt, and she spent much time in a lengthy discourse denouncing his actions and why she was correct in casting a vote. Hunt tried to cut her off several times to no avail; she was going to say her piece. When Anthony finally sat down, Hunt made her rise again as he sentenced her to a fine of $100 plus court costs. Anthony refused payment, hoping to be returned to jail to try another attempt at a habeas corpus appeal. Hunt, who foresaw this move by Anthony, declared “Madam, the Court will not order you committed until the fine is paid.” She would not see the inside of a jail cell again as, true to her word, Anthony never paid her bail and therefore, was never locked up. •

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Demonstrators hold a rally for women’s suffrage in Seneca Falls, NY, 1848

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