Eastern Victory was a

Saxon Motor Car Company The Saxon Motor Car Company was located in Detroit, Michigan, from 1914 to 1922. In 1917, 28,000 cars were made, making it the seventh largest car maker in the United States. History Hugh Chalmers of Chalmers Automobile, Chalmers Motor Car Com ...

roadster purchased for

Anna Howard Shaw Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first women to be ordained as a Methodist minister in the United States. Early li ...

in 1915. It was bright yellow and named "Eastern Victory" by Shaw. Shortly after the car was given to Shaw, it was seized to pay for Shaw's unpaid

taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

. The car would be auctioned to pay for the taxes. At the auction, suffragists from

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylv ...

purchased the car. The car made appearances in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

suffrage events.

History

Shaw received the yellow car from

Harriet Burton Laidlaw Harriet Wright Laidlaw ( Burton; December 16, 1873 – January 25, 1949) was an American social reformer and suffragist. She campaigned in support of the Nineteenth Amendment and the United Nations, and was the first female corporate director of ...

on June 29, 1915. Shaw was brought into

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

believing she was attending an important meeting, but instead was given the car, a Saxon Roadster, dubbed "Eastern Victory.". It was a gift of New York suffragists. After receiving the car, she and Aimee Hutchinson drove to her home in Moylan, Pennsylvania. In Moylan, Shaw learned to drive the car and crank the engine. Shaw said of cranking the engine: "A man's job is it? I just wish it was as easy to wind up the voters and make them go right on November 2. Let me tell you, sir, to a woman who has been cranking up suffrage forty years, playing with a little toy like this has no terrors."

Car seizure

Shaw resisted paying

on her property in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1913. It was a form of "passive protest" against the government which was not allowing women to vote, but still taxing their property. Shaw refused to fill out the form listing her property, stocks, and bonds, and in response, the tax assessor evaluated her property at a hugely inflated amount. It was estimated that she owed $126 in taxes based on this assessment. and Shaw then tried to send in her revised property listing, but it was rejected. Shaw then changed her address to

New York state New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

. Changing her address protected most of her property. Eastern Victory was seized while Shaw was at home and the car in the garage. After the car was seized by tax officials, Shaw's lawyer instituted equity proceedings to stop authorities from selling the car at

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

. If she paid the $126 tax, authorities would return Eastern Victory to Shaw, but Shaw refused. Seizing the car made it a symbol of the fight for

women's suffrage in the United States Women's suffrage, or the right of women to vote, was established in the United States over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first in various U.S. states, states and localities, then nationally in 1920 with the ratification ...

. Before the car went to auction, suffragists and

anti-suffragists Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To ...

started raising money to buy the car. Anti-suffragists revealed they had raised $500 before the auction. Suffragists in

were able to buy the car for $230. Shortly after the car was bought at auction, suffragists Anna Hutchinson and Beatrice Murphy had an accident in

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a Village (New York), village primarily located in the Town (New York), town of Orangetown, New York, Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, a small western section of the village lies in Clarkst ...

while driving the car. It went into a ditch, drove through a barbed wire fence and hit a

telegraph pole A utility pole, commonly referred to as a transmission pole, telephone pole, telecommunication pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post, is a column or post used to support overhead power lines and various other public util ...

. The suffragists were not harmed, and the car went to a mechanic to fix.

Eastern Victory No. 2

In August 1915, Shaw received a larger yellow roadster dubbed "Eastern Victory No. 2."

Appearances

Lucy Anthony gave a speech at the

Ho-ho-kus Ho-Ho-Kus () is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,258, an increase of 180 (+4.4%) from the 2010 census count of 4,078, which in turn reflected an i ...

Fair standing in Eastern Victory in September 1915. The car appeared in a

suffrage parade in November 1915. Georgia suffragist, Eléonore Raoul, drove Eastern Victory from

to Georgia for the parade.

References

Sources

* {{Authority control Individual cars Women's suffrage in the United States Anna Howard Shaw