THE SILVER ISSUE 167 



Populist sympathizers now besieged the assembly 

 chamber, immuring the luckless Republicans and 

 incidentally a few women who had come in as mem- 

 bers of the suffrage lobby and were now getting 

 more of political equality than they had antici- 

 pated. Food had to be sent through the Populist 

 lines in baskets, or drawn up to the windows of 

 the chamber while the Populist mob sat on the 

 main stairway within. Towards evening, the Pop- 

 ulist janitor turned off the heat; and the Republi- 

 cans shivered until oil stoves were fetched by their 

 followers outside and hoisted through the windows. 

 The Republican sheriff swore in men of his party as 

 special deputies; the Populist governor called out 

 the militia. 



The situation was at once too absurd and too 

 grave to be permitted to continue. "Sockless" 

 Jerry Simpson now counseled the Populists to let 

 the decision go to the courts. The judges, to be 

 sure, were Republican; but Simpson, ever resource- 

 ful, argued that if they decided against the Popu- 

 lists, the house and senate could then impeach 

 them. Mrs. Lease, however, was sure that the 

 Populists would not have the courage to take up 

 impeachment proceedings, and the event proved 

 her judgment correct. When the struggle was 



