George Francis Train addresses Leavenworth, 1867
By Bernadette Cahill
On October 21, 1867, “A tall handsome man with curly brown hair and keen gray eyes”[1] dressed in “lavender kid [gloves], black pants, closely buttoned blue coat with brass buttons, and patent leather boots,” stepped up to speak at Laing’s Hall, here in Leavenworth.[2]
This was George Francis Train – long famous as a successful world-wide businessman, shipping magnate, author and journalist – who was now a railroad and real estate promoter with presidential aspirations.
That day, he was in town to support women, for Republicans, with black male support – for they hoped to win the vote in a referendum – were sidelining another referendum then before the white male electorate for women’s right to vote. Train would campaign with Susan B. Anthony to try to win Democratic support for women.
Ahead of Train’s appearances, newspapers advised readers not to miss him. “He is one of the sights of this showy country, and his visit here … will constitute an agreeable episode in the hum-drum of life,” wrote one.[3] “You had better hold your meetings out of doors if you wish to be accommodated,” warned another.[4]
Large audiences from long distances would soon appear for Train even on short notice. An immense crowd filled Laing’s Hall that October 21 – “a goodly proportion of the audience being ladies.” Train spoke for two hours, talking “with his eyes, his hands, his legs as well as his mouth,”[5] and he was “enthusiastically applauded throughout.” Afterwards, ‘the audience did not seem inclined to leave.”[6]
Laing’s Hall was similarly packed for Train after ten days and thirty speeches elsewhere – on November 4, the day before the vote.[7]
“Our town has not been so stirred up for a generation as it has been by Geo. Francis Train in his recent display of fireworks,” the Commercial reported. “He swung all around the circle of knowledge, and trod on everybody’s toes with impunity. Yet all applauded and cheered sentiments which would have sent another speaker off the stage.”[8]
Train was worth traveling miles for: he entertained his audiences with irreverence; his startling new ideas, dismissed by the establishment, sounded sensible to them; and he recited jingles to lampoon the opponents of woman suffrage and what Train called outdated policies in a new, young America.
To wild cheers and applause, this “people’s man” called for the women to “vote and I am sure they will help … elect in 1868 a President who don't drink, smoke, chew, swear or gamble. Who is not a Hero or a [lawyer or a] Politician – who never held public office – whose statesmanship covers all parts of our nation”[9] – and “stumped it” at his own expense.[10] These facts, Train’s ideas – and proposed policies such as an eight-hour day and how to pay off the Civil War debt – elicited loud cheers.
Train’s meetings were “a magnificent success … a scene of rich and racy enjoyment, such as is not witnessed once in a century in a political gathering.”[11] He helped win nearly 10,000 votes for the woman suffrage referendum – close to the total for black male suffrage. Neither measure passed, but Train’s support of the women in Kansas helped turn widespread, vicious opposition into a respectable support for the idea.
Citation for photo:
George Francis Train (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.)
[1]Alma Lutz, Susan B. Anthony, 131.
[2]Topeka State Journal, The Great Epigram Campaign of Kansas, Kansas Historical Society, accessed at http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/206263, 60-61.
[3]Kalloch's Home Journal, Epigram Campaign, 46.
[4]Lawrence State Journal, Epigram Campaign, 45
[5]“Train’s Second Great Speech,” State Journal, Lawrence, no date, George Francis Train, Epigram Campaign, 17.
[6]George Francis Train’s First Great Speech, Leavenworth Commercial,
Epigram Campaign, 6-7, 15-16.
[7]Leavenworth Commercial, November 5, 1867.
[8]George Francis Train’s First Great Speech, Leavenworth Commercial,
Epigram, p. 6-7
[9]Leavenworth Commercial, November 5, 1867. Epigram, 12.
[10]Lawrence State Journal, Epigram, 26.
[11]Leavenworth Commercial, November 5, 1867, epigram 17.
