Wittenberg University Journals

Kingsley, Emily

44 ® The Wittenberg History Journal
Taking Advantage of Innocent Girls
by Emily Kingsley
Wittenberg University Class of 2004
Japan rose to the status of an industrialized
nation late in the 1800s through its international
textile market. The manufacture and sale of
high quality products needed in every day life,
such as cotton, produced a great deal of revenue,
and silk, a luxurious commodity, earned even
higher profits. "When the Meiji government
launched its program to 'increase the wealth of
the nation' (fukoku), first among the industries
that it sought to foster and build was the silk
industry.'a Moreover, Japanese industries
offered low prices to undercut competition in
dominating nations like the United States and
Great Britain. This tactic was lucrative; "by
1914 Japan was dominating world cotton
manufacturing,"2 and "by 1912, the last year of
Meiji, Japan led the world in the export of silk."a
The incoming funds were directed towards
building "both heavy industry and military
strength without extensive borrowing."4 These
improvements were crucial to unleashing Japan
from the dated depths of the Tokugawa era and
laying the foundations for a modem state.
To build this thriving enterprise, Japanese
industries resorted to a cheap labor force to
sustain low costs without degrading the actual
product. Such means were
attainable by the recruitment of women. The
Confucian philosophy that" 'respected the
male, despised the female' (danson joht)"5 created
an environment in Meiji that was "heavily male
oriented."6 Even hard-working, " 'women's
work'-associated with housekeeping and
handicrafts-was valued less than was work done
by men."7 Factory owners used such perceived
inferiority to their advantage when they were
seeking out predominantly female members of
families to be their employees.
The initial factories in Meiji Japan were
established by the new government after 1868
with employment mainly fulfilled by the
daughters of the dissolved samurai class. Yet, as
the earning potential of the textile industry was
realized, a profit-oriented mindset replaced the
charitable effort to lift the financial burdens of
the displaced samurai. Simultaneously, a shift
from publicly owned factories to private
ownership occurred during the 1880s with
companies "adapting expensive, large-scale
operations to a smaller, less costly enterprise."s
To further reduce wages, factory owners preyed
upon the financially unstable agricultural areas
to fill their ranks at low wages and in subhuman
conditions. This paper will prove that filiality
and rural conditions made the Japanese
daughters vulnerable to manipulation by this
rising textile industry.
Agricultural areas provided an abundant
resource of young women, and the widespread
poverty of farm families created an even more
advantageous situation for factory owners.
Evidence that agriculture workers were utilized
in textile mills is demonstrated in historian
Yukihiko Kiyokawa's claim that "80 percent of
the cases, the occupation of the female workers'
parents was agriculture or a related job."9 One
reason for this lay in the training girls received
at home. Typically, the daughter was
responsible for both work around the house and
cultivating the crops. "Farm girls and those of
poor families were often believed to be needed
more in the home and fields'n° than in
attendance at school to earn an education. The
lack of emphasis on schooling indicates that
their primary roles were execution of manual
chores that required minimal skill. Priority was
placed on the success of the family unit as
opposed to the individual girl. The Japanese
custom of filial piety instilled obedience in
daughters, emphasizing a passive attitude
towards parental authority.11 Servitude to the
maintenance of the family household made the
farm girl accustomed to constant and heavy
labor, and thus a candidate for large-scale
manufacturing.
Additionally, "during the 1880s the famous
deflationary policies of Finance Minister
Matsukata Masayoshi drove large numbers of
Taking Advantage of Inoocent Girls 45
independent and tenant cultivators into extreme
destitution"1 and thus vulnerable to promises
of income for their daughters' work outside the
home. ThE obligation of tenant farmers to "pay
the exorbitant, oppressive tenant fees, which
could amount to 50 or 60 per cent of the yearly
crop'a3 left minimal earnings to support a
household of several family members on top of
maintaining the land. Since the daughter was
the functional unit of the household, her
commitment to assisting her family in this dire
situation involved earning an income from an
outside source. "Farmers of Japan around the
end of the nineteenth century were so poor that
they had to decrease the number of their
dependents, so they wanted their daughters to
earn any amount of money in just about any
walk of life.'a4 The arrival of factory recruiters
to this desperate scene often was at a most
convenient time. Under the contract system,
"companies hired labor recruiters, who went
through the countryside encouraging parents to
sign their daughters to a one- to five-year
contract with a distant mili."15 In drumming up
recruitment of young girls, recruiters cunningly
exaggerated their concern to provide monetary
aid to the family. Farm owners could simply not
resist the immediate possession of money from
the factory. With little hesitation to consider the
welfare of their daughter, possibly due to their
illiteracy and inability to comprehend the crafted
contract, farm families viewed such a
proposition as a blessing. "The advance
payment they received to send their daughters
out to work as virtual indentured servants
enabled them to pay their rent and defray their
daily living expenses.'a6 To further assist the
family, wages earned by the daughter while at
the factory were sent home. The loyalty of girls
to the domestic sphere made them readily
• available to textile mills once their contributions
were no longer beneficial at home.
The dedication of females to their families
was exhibited even in the midst
of exploitation by the factories. "The fact that
they were working for the good of the
household made their sacrifices worthwhile."17
Far away from home, the filial relationship
remained strong and a majority of girls were
intent on executing their responsibilities
regardless of hardships. One worker's
recoilection captures her dual emotions, with
her devotion to her family persevering above alI
else:
I don't know how many times I thought I
would rather jump into Lake Suwa and
drown. Even so, when I went home with a
year's earnings and handed the
money to my mother, she clasped it in her
hands and said, 'With this, we can manage
through the end of the year'...Whenever I
thought of my mother's face then, I could
endure any hardship,is
The immense feeling of pride gained by
preventing the collapse of a household was
enough to keep workers progressing through the
daily toil and inhumane conditions.
Furthermore, strict financial retributions placed
on the family for unwarranted absences of the
worker discouraged thoughts of running away
or suicide. The employment of girls deeply
entrenched in family ties accomplished the labor
commitment desired by the textile industries.
Factory owners used filial piety to appease
any anxieties parents may have had about
sending their daughters to the factory mills. The
contract system not only stipulated monetary
benefits resulting from the young women's toil
to fulfill filial piety, but also promised a
substitute figure to insure the "young girls'
moral virtue."19
The contract system...could not have worked
without the accompanying [acade of
traditional paternalism erected by the mill
owners and their recruiters. The illusory
relationship created between daughters,
parents, and factory management was based
almost exclusively on the verbal promises of
recruiters and the willingness of mill owners
to ioan badly needed cash to the families
that signed the contracts on
their daughters' behalf.2°
This fabricated guardian provided comfort in the
minds of parents that the company would act in
the best interests of their daughters. To easily
fool poorly educated farmers, one contract even
blatantly referred to the factory grounds as a "
'house.' ,, 1 A home-like environment at the
factories was contrived so that parents would
assume the continuance of a nurturing
atmosphere that would encourage their
46 ° The Wittenberg History Journal
daughters' maturation into respectful and hard-
working individuals.
Parents were also deceived into thinking that
their daughters would receive an invaluable
education beyond the resources available at
home. The distant location of factories was
justified as a mean for providing girls with a
taste of culture from another area of the country.
"They [were] told of the beautiful sights to be
seen, theaters to be visited, the regular Sunday
rest, and even of the splendid care and education
they [would] receive from the factory."22 Poor
and uneducated farm families deemed the
factory life suitable preparation for girls into
womanhood. A civilized individual would
result from the knowledge acquired from skilled
labor in the textile industry coupled with night
classes on etiquette and the proper manners of a
lady. Ideally, their daughters would be groomed
into quality marriage material and efficient
house wives.
Some filatures opened the night classes for
general ducation, and others provided
optional lessons in needlework, calligraphy,
or flower-arrangement. It is broadly
accepted that the management side also
obtained the benefit from providing such off-
duty classes in the better work discipline and
the fostering of identity as a member of
'factory family.'2
means of grooming the gifts to the ways of the
factory, preventing uprisings by creating a
uniformly obedient mass. A booklet was even
distributed to the workers emphasizing,
"together with the Confucian virtue of filial
piety, the virtue of loyalty (chiigO towards the
master'24 even under harsh circumstances.
Clearly, factories replaced the cherished bond
between father and daughter with tyrannical
authority.
Although a majority of gifts strongly
detested the conditions at the textile mills, the
presence of a satisfied minority needs to be
addressed if we are to fully understand the
relatively inhumane rural conditions and the
factory situation. It is crucial to comprehend the
standard of living these gifts abandoned prior to
entering into a national enterprise. Most gifts
came from tenant farms that had been plunged
into extreme poverty by the overwhelming
financial demands of national policies. Besides
the maintenance of the fields, farmers had to
support households of several children. While
all hands relentlessly reaped the harvest to its
maximum potential, there was little progress out
of debt and often a heaIty meal could not be
furnished. One girl recalls a typical family diet:
Yet, the reality was quite different for most
gifts. In truth, the residence of the girls at far-
away factories served as a method to regulate
their work schedule and ensure regular
attendance on the production line. Most
workers did not have access to the classes, as
they were commonly limited to girls from ex-
samurai or comparable backgrounds. Moreover,
the fatigue resulting from a grueling workday of
twelve hours inhibited their ability to properly
absorb information from night classes. It is
quite possible that girls simply sacrificed
learning an additional craft in order to sleep.
Furthermore, the main purpose of the courses
was not necessarily for the benefit of the
workers. Instead, they were a method of
improving the worker's skills and bolstering
camaraderie. These factors augmented
efficiency in the production of textiles, which
corresponded to increased expectations and
pressure on the workers. Education was also a
In the old days we used to put a big pot of
tea on the fire, and the whole family would
iadle the tea out and pour it on sorghum
powder. That was our staple. Some families
added bran to increase the volume. Then we
had a little millet rice?s
Rigorous labor and empty stomachs were an
inevitable reality with escalating financial
anxieties heating tempers beyond a pleasant
level in households. For most farm families,
there was no hope for cessation of this dismal
situation. So it was a relief for some girls to
escape the miserable setting and accept the job
offer of factory recruiters. "The gifts who were
left behind in the villages looked with envy
upon the girls who were sent off to the city
factories."26
Since conditions were often lowly on the
home front, high standards did not have to be
upheld in the factories for incoming girls.
Therefore, little effort was required to provide
accommodations that were better than on the
farms. "...the typical factory diet, which looked
Taking Advantage of Inoocent Girls o 47
so good to the farm girls, consisted or rice, bean
paste soup, pickles, or tofu, and occasionally bits
of fish.'aT While there were no qualms from
workers, meals at the factories were still below
nutritional requirements for growing
adolescents, particularly lacking in meats and
other essential sources of protein. The girls also
had to endure confinement, cramped and
unsanitary living quarters, unjust punishment,
and tedious labor. The reason that they were
not keen to these poor conditions lay in their
unawareness of a better lifestyle. It is fair to
assume that a rural upbringing left most factory
girls uneducated and unaware of the level of
treatment that should be tolerated by a labor
force. They had no expectations and were
simply content to experience new surroundings
and a different style of work in the hopes of
bettering their lot in life. s In the opinion of
Helen Mears, an American who observed Meiji
factories and interacted with the young female
workers, "now, 90% of these girl workers are
happy and contented, and 10% discontented.
But if propaganda and agitators got in among
them, within 6 months, 90% would be
discontented and 10% contented."29 Unfairly
taking advantage of the unfortunate situation of
their workers, textile mills were able to manage
and profit from substandard operations.
The combination of their family values and
destitute situations made farm girls
susceptible to merciless textile owners.
Persuaded by the embellished words of
recruiters, families unknowingly committed
their daughters to hardships. Factory owners
could justify low wages due to their gender,
poor standard of living back home, lack of
education, and short-term commitment due to
marital obligations. Furthermore, companies
could avoid high quality facilities since girls
were coming from a decrepit rural scene and had
little knowledge of better ways. Yet, the
industry could have not been a worldwide
success without such exploitation. The profits
from such a business endeavor afforded Japan
the opportunity to compete with powerful
nations. "'The life of a family depends upon the
delicate body of a woman' while 'the life of a
nation depends upon the slender arms of
women.''3° Alas, modernization of a nation was
achieved at the sacrifice of its young citizens.
End Notes
1 Mikiso Hane, Peasants, Rebels, and
Outcastes: The Underside of Modern Japan (New
York: Pantheon Books, 1982), 173.
2 Sharon L Sievers, Flowers in Salt: The
Beginnings of Feminist Consciousness in Modern
Japan (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
1983), 56.
Dorinne K. Kondo, Crafting Selves: Power,
Gender, and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese
Workplace (Chicago: The University of Chicago
Press, 1990), 269.
4 Sievers, 56.
5 E. Patricia Tsurumi, Factory Girls: Women in
the Thread Mills of Meiji Japan (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1990), 16.
6 Ibid., 16.
7 Ibid., 16.
s Sievers, 60.
9 Yukihiko Kiyokawa, "The Transformation
of Young Rural Women into Disciplined Labor
Under Competition-Oriented Management: The
Experience of the SilkoReeling Industry in
Japan," in The Textile Industry and the Rise of the
Japanese Economy, ed. Michael Smitka (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1998), 94.
10 Dorothy Robins-Mowry, The Hidden Sun:
Women of Modern Japan (Boulder: Westview
Press, 1983), 41.
11 Gaff Lee Bemstein, Recreating Japanese
Women, 1600-1945 (Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1991), 223.
12 Tsurumi, 22.
la Masanori Nakamura, Technology Change
and Female Labour (Tokyo: United Nations
University Press, 1994), 42.
14 Toshiaki Chokki, "Labor Management in
the Cotton Spinning Industry," in The Textile
Industry and the Rise of the Japanese Economy, ed.
Michael Smitka (New York: Garland Publishing,
I998), 8.
15 Sievers, 62.
is Hane, 175.
48 ° The Wittenberg History Journal
17 Vera Mackie, Creating Socialist Women in
Japan: Gender, Labour, and Activism, 1900-1937,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997),
117.
18 Sievers, 55.
19 Kondo, 272
2o Sievers, 62-63.
21 Nakamura, 43.
22 Sidney L. Gulick, Working Women of Japan
(New York: Missonary Education Movement of
the United States and Canada, 1915), 77.
23 Kiyokawa, 99.
24 Nakamura, 53-54.
25 Hane, 181.
26 Hane, 180.
27 Hane, 181.
28 Allen K. Faust, The New Japanese
Womanhood (New York: George H. Doran
Company, 1926), 67.
29 Helen Mears, Year of the Wild Boar: An
American Woman in Japan (New York: J.B.
Lippincott Company, 1942), 281.
s0 Ibid., 279.
Works Cited
Bemstein, Gall Lee. Recreating Japanese Women,
1300-4945. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1991.
Kondo, Dorirme K. Cra#ing Selves: Power, Gender,
and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese
Workplace. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1990.
Chokld, Toshiaki. "Labor Management in the
Cotton Spinning Industry." In The Textile
Industry and the Rise of the Japanese Economy,
ed. Michael Smitka, 1-23. New York:
Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998.
Mackie, Vera. Creating Socialist Women in Japan:
Gender, Labour and Activism, 4 900-1 3 7.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997.
Faust, Allen Klein. The New Japanese
Womanhood. New York: George H. Doran,
1926.
Mears, Heien. Year of the Wild Boar. New York:
]'.B. Lippincott Company, 1942.
Gulick, Sidney L. Working Women of Japan. New
York: Missionary Education Movement of
the United States and Canada, 1915.
Nakamura, Masanori. Technology Change and
Female Labour. Tokyo: United Nations
University Press, 1994.
Hane, Mikiso. Peasants, Rebels, and Outcastes:
The Underside of Modern Japan. New York:
Pantheon Books, i982.
Robins-Mowry, Dorothy. The Hidden Sun:
Women of Modern Japan. BouIder, CO:
Westview Press, 1983.
Kiyokawa, Yukihiko. "The Transformation of
• Young Rural Women into Disciplined
Labor Under Competition-Oriented
Management: The Experience of the Silk-
Reeling Industry in Japan." In The Textile
Industry and the Rise of the Japanese Economy,
ed. Michael Smitka, 91-111. New York:
Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998.
Sievers, Sharon L. Flowers in Salt. Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1983.
Tsurumi, Patricia E. Factory Girls: Women in the
Thread Mills of Meiji Japan. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1990.


English

Taking Advantage of Innocent Girls

Clarkson, Lucas

The Philosopher-King: Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia

Chope, Jamie

50 •
July 1967 Detroit Riots: A Culmination of Economic
Frustration
By Jamie Chope
Wittenberg University Class of 200f
Hartje Award Winner
In the aftermath of the Detroit riots of 1967,
thirty-nine were reported dead and more than
one thousand injured. In the week following the
riot, which started on 23 July, over 1,317 fires
raged through the city, most out of control. The
damage estimate totaled more than $250
million, including the looting of 1,700 stores.
Two thousand police officers on duty, with
6,800 National Guardsmen and 3,300 US Army
troops assisting, made 3,400 arrests.1 What
motivated the rioters? Would a "race riot" be
the correct label for the violence? Urban and
sociological studies tend to place great emphasis
on race as a motivating factor for the rioters.2
On the other hand, a plethora of historical
evidence shows a greater emphasis on the
economic factors that played a role in the riots.
The Detroit riots were fueled by economic
differences between not only black and white
Detroiters, but by the economic gains some
black Detroiters had made supposedly at the
expense of poor blacks.
In the week following the riot, a Detroit Free
Press article presented a survey of the responses
of black Detroiters when asked: How much did
each of these grievances have to do with the
riot? Although police brutality received the
highest ranking, lack of jobs, poverty, and anger
with local business people were listed as a few
of the top six grievances having a great deal to
do with the riot. White public offic!als and
hatred of whites did have a great deal to do with
the riots according to approximately one third of
the 437 blacks sampled, but too much drinking
ranked higher than those factors respectively.3
Racism may have been an intrinsic part of the
economic factors, but further analysis shows
that much of the looting and arson itself was
colorblind.
Van Gordon 8auter and Burligh Hines,
journalists who covered civil rights activity in
the north and south, note that during the first
day of looting certain shops were spared--those
marked with signs saying "Soul Brother" or
"Black All The Way!" But by the end of day
"looters ceased to practice discrimination and
stole without regard to the owner's color or
creed."4 Black homeowners banded together.
With hunting rifles and shotguns they defended
their homes from gangs of youngsters breaking
in and protected firefighters. "The looters were
enraged by the armed Negroes. 'We're going to
get you rich niggers next,' a looter screamed at a
Negro psychiatrist."5 Arsonists did not seem to
care if their mol0tov-cocktails burned stores and
spread to well maintained black homes.
Twenty-two black firefighters were called to
Twelfth Street, the origin the riots, but reported
being pelted with bottles and bricks,s
Who were the rioters? The National
Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders
reported in 1968 that the typical rioter in the
summer of 1967 was a black male aged 15-24,
had not graduated from high school, and was
frustrated because of lack of training for
anything but menial, low-status job. In an
attempt to explain further reasoning behind
their violence, the commission reported the
rioter held hostility toward whites, but equal
hostility toward middle-class blacks7
Living only a few blocks from the epicenter
of the riots at the time, lifelong Detroiter Peter
Buchanan recalls that the riot was not a race riot
in his mind, but "was a riot of haves and have-
nots."8 Rioters made known their hatred of the
grocery store by ransacking its shelves, then
burning it. According to the Detroit Free Press,
forty-seven grocery stores were burned.
Furniture was strapped on top of cars and taken
home because according to one rioter, they had
July 4967 Detroit Riots: A Culmination of Economic Frustration ° 54
been charged outrageous prices for the
overpriced junk.9
Breaking in and entering, looting, and arson
collectively expressed the outrage rioters felt for
their economic condition. Most economic
factors such as hiring for jobs or renting
apartments in slums were related to racism and
discrimination the young black men faced. But
during the actual rioting, economics played a
greater role than racism, resulting in the
destruction of property, belonging to both blacks
and whites. Sauter and Hines called much of
the looting and freedom to take things
unattainable, "a source of sheer spiritual ecstasy,
sometimes coupled with revenge."1° Whether a
riot over economics or race, one distraught
Vietnam soldier felt it did not make sense,
considering blacks and whites were fighting
side by side half a world away.11 A riot full of
animosities toward the haves by the have-nots:
economic frustration only begins to explain tire
unexplainable.
Endnotes
1 Detroit Riotsj Facts on File, Burton Historical Collection,
Detroit Public Library, Detroit.
a Ibid., 21. The word choice used to describe the black
Detroiters obviously dates itself with the use of "Negroes."
2 Richard A. Chikota and Michael C. Moran, eds., Riot in
the Cities (Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1970).
The eds. present "An Analytical Symposium on the Causes and
Effects" of the riots. Relevant analysis includes Detroit 4967z
Racial Violence or Class Warfare, p. 151.
6 Ibid., 13.
7 Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil
Disorders, at 2-50 to 2-52. Noted inRiot in the Cities.
8 Peter Buchanan, interviewed by author, 9 January 2001,
Detroit.
a Detroit Free Press, 6 August 1967.
4Van Gordon Sauter and Burleigh Hines, Nightmare in
Detroit; a Reb¢llion and its Victims (Chicago: Regency, 1968), 13.
Nightmare describes the lives of the forty-three victims whose
lives were taken during the riot. They also chronicle the events
and motivation of the rioters starting 27 July.
9 gauter 33.
t° Ibid., 28.
nlbid., 64.
Works Cited
Btmhanan, Peter. Interviewed by author, 9 January 2001, Detroit.
Chikota, Richard A., and Michael G. Moran, eds. Riot in the Cities.
Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1970.
Detroit Free Press, 27 July, 6 August 1967.
Detroit Riots Facts on File, Burton Historical Collection, Detroit
Public Library, Detroit.
Sauter, Van Gordon, and Burleigh Hines. Nightmare in Detroit; a
Rebellion and its Victims. Chicago: Regemy 1968.


July 1967 Detroit Riots: A Culmination of Economic Frustration

Labrique, Françoise

Liberator or Oppressor? An Inquiry on the Memsahib's Relationship With Her Ayah • 29 
Liberator or Oppressor? 
An Inquiry on the Memsahib' s Relationship 
With Her Ayah. 
by Fran,oise Labrique 
Wittenberg Class of 1999 
The memsahibs, the "masters' women," first 
came to the British colony of Iridia in the 
nineteenth century as the wives and companions 
of British men in India.1 One of the memsahib's 
duties in the colony was the· supervision of the 
servant~, an important job that needed "both 
brain and heart."2 Many British women who 
came to India felt both a need to maintain racial 
superiority over the local people but also a 
"burden" of uplifting the status of Indian 
women.3 I will explore this relationship 
between the memsahib and her ayah from the 
rnidc1800s to the turn of the century. 
The ayah was the female servant, and 
depending on the household, she was either the 
children's· nurse or the memsahib's attendant. 
Not many Anglo-Indian4 households hired 
ayahs because the majority of Indian servants 
were men. A handbook written for British 
women in India, The Complete Indian Housekeeper 
& Cook, gives a detailed description of the ayah's 
duties and explains when she should bring the 
memsahib tea, what to say and ask and in exactly 
what order to do her daily chores. The ayah, 
sometimes, was not only the personal attendant 
to the memsahib but also responsible for serving 
her mistress' guests.5 Ayahs, whose primary 
job was that of a children's nurse, had a great 
deal cif responsibility and the memsahibs were 
advised to put their faith in the ayah. 
Some British women did not approve of 
households hiring ayahs. In her account of a 
boarding school for Christian girls, Mary 
Carpenter, a missionary educator, explains how 
"In England, such girls would be .. .intended for 
domestic service ... however, thafsuch can rarely 
be the case in India .. .it would not ... be safe for a 
young girl to be placed as a servant in the 
family. n Since many households employed 
mostly men as domestic servants, Carpenter 
expresses a fear that the young ayah would 
become a victim of these Indian male servants' 
sexual desires. She suggests that it would be 
better to marry these girls off at the age of 
fifteen to male converts -so they could use their 
skills as housewives. 6 Although female servants 
in England found themselves in a similar 
situation, often being the only woman, perhaps 
there was a fear that the Indian ayah was more 
defenseless and childlike compared to her British 
counterpart. This concern that reformers 
express toward Indian women illustrates how 
although they, in many ways, wanted to uplift 
and educate Indian girls, they still found it 
important to maintain some structured British 
hierarchy. For many British women, they 
believed that the main reason for educating 
Indian women was to prepare them for a life of 
Victorian domesticity.7 
Many memsahib's descriptions of ayahs show 
a mixture of respect and condescension toward 
these women. One account explains that ayahs 
are "singularly kind, injudicious, patient and 
thoughtless in their care of children," but 
reminds the memsahib that they lack the high 
level of common sense possessed by the British.8 
However, in her autobiography, Flora Annie 
Steel, the wife of a British official, shares a 
touching experience with Fazli, her ayah. When 
Steel had to leave her six-month-old daughter to 
the care of a friend, Fazli consoled her mistress 
with words that "struck deep into my heart." 
She told her, "You leave her in God's care, 
memsahib." Steel perhaps felt a sense of shame 
in her attitude toward Indians when she wrote 
of this experience, "And these are the people we 
dub heathen!"9 This statement acknowledges 
30 • The Wittenberg History Journal 
one of the many contradictions in colonial 
values. Steel could see that Fazli was not an 
inferior savage, yet in all her other accounts 
about servants, she describes the need for the 
memsahib to assert her control. 
There are many sources describing the 
sexual threat ("black peril") of local male 
servants to the memsahib, which posed the 
danger of disrupting the social distance that 
maintained colonial society.10 Some British 
women however, felt threatened by their 
husband's relations with Indian women.11 
Although Indian women's sexuality is not 
mentioned as an issue when hiring ayahs, 
perhaps the threat was there for the memsahib. 
In her autobiography, Steel expressed a concern 
that Muslim wome11- in purdah (seclusion) were 
"inevitably over-obsessed with sex" and she 
also advised against the hiring of Muslim 
women because of their laziness. Because of her 
concern with these women's sexuality, laziness 
may not have been the only reason not to hire 
Muslim ayahs. However, some women may 
have felt relief at the idea of their husbands 
having sexual relations with local women. 
Pregnancy and childbirth were very dangerous 
in the colonies and anything that could cut back 
on the memsahib's chances of getting pregnant 
may have been accepted. 
Some memsahibs also felt threatened by their 
ayahs who took care of their children. Although 
some ayahs were accused of simply spoiling the 
children, one memsahib wrote in 1929: "You can 
have very little idea of the enormous grip which 
the average .. . ayah gets on a child even when the 
mother is about most of the time."13 It was 
usually the ayah who did the majority of the 
child-care for British children. Indian ayahs, 
because of their inferior position in the colonial 
hierarchy, were not in any position to discipline 
or punish their masters' children. Thus, it was 
not uncommon for British children to keep 
fonder memories of their kind and loving ayahs 
than of their mothers. Also, since the children 
spent so much time with their ayah, they would 
hear many Indian stories and would often learn 
to speak Indian languages before learning 
English. This would cause difficulties in 
maintaining British superiority especially as 
children began to absorb the culture which their 
parents deemed inferior. · 
For many British women, Indian servants 
were usually the only interaction they had with 
the indigenous people. According to historian 
Margaret Strobel, it was through the servants 
that the memsahib based her view on Indian life 
and culture. 15 Most husbands felt a need to 
protect their wives from the "uncivilized" Indian 
culture, thus preventing the memsahibs from 
leaving the secure confines of the Anglo-Indian 
community. This isolation resulted commonly 
in boredom and frustrations expressed primarily 
toward the servants and their inability to behave 
like their civilized rulers. 
Memsahibs, outside the home, had no real 
control or power within the Raj. Although they 
were members of the ruling class; British 
women were ultimately still subservient to their 
husbands. In an effort to keep up appearances 
of having power, memsahibs used whatever tools . 
they could to demean and humiliate the Indians 
they came in contact with, including treating 
their adult servants as children. 
According to The Complete Indian Housekeeper 
& Cook, an Indian servant is not a savage, but "a 
child in everything save age and should be 
treated as a child; that is to say, kindly but with 
the greatest firmness." It advises that the 
memsahib use a "system of rewards and 
punishments" to encourage her servants to work 
properly. A dose of castor oil is suggested as an 
adequate punishment for a misbehaving adult 
servant. 16 . This condescending attitude 
illustrates another way for the memsahibs to 
maintain the proper racial hierarchy within their 
homes. 
One of the primary concerns of the memsahib 
was regarding the Indian's lack of personal 
hygiene. One Englishwoman claimed that "the 
worst charges brought against native servants 
are uncleanliness and a propensity to petty 
thefts and lies ... "17 Therefore, it was crucial to 
the Memsahib that she never let her guard down, 
lest "neglect on the part of the mistress, results 
in the servants falling into their old habits with 
the inherited conservation of dirt. "18 She was 
also responsible for providing a clean living 
environment for the servants while teaching 
them how to apply British standards of hygiene 
to their own lives. 
The memsahib also had to gain an 
understanding of India's caste system in order to 
Liberator or Oppressor? An Inquiry on the Memsahib's Relationship With Her Ayah • 31 
work around the restrictions it posed on 
servants' duties. The duties of each servant 
differed according to their caste. For example, a 
cook could not clean and a duster could not 
sweep. These limitations often led to 
households with as many as sixty servants. 
Instead of lessening the burdens of 
housekeeping, sometimes the memsahib may 
have found herself overwhelmed by the duties 
of supervising the plethora of servants.19 
Although there was the option of hiring Muslim 
servants for whom, technically, there was no 
problem of caste, 20 some households preferred 
to avoid these servants for the sexual threat, 
which was mentioned earlier. 
In order to give "intelligible orders to her 
servants," the memsahib was sometimes expected 
to learn the local language.21 That some British 
women felt obliged to learn the local language is 
interesting because they learned the language for 
different reasons than their children did. British 
children who learned Bengali or Hindi from their 
ayahs did so to enjoy hearing Indian folktales or 
to play with their ayah's children; their mothers, 
on the other hand, used their knowledge of the 
local tongue as a tool for asserting control over 
their servants, and also perhaps to alleviate their 
boredom.· 
Many memsahibs showed, through their 
writings, the juxtaposition between their 
feminism and racism. While some made efforts 
to promote Indian women's education and 
supported the suffrage movement, they also 
believed in maintaining the hierarchy of the Raj 
wherein Indians were inferior. There was an 
"absolute necessity," Flora Steel wrote in her 
autobiography, "for high-handed dignity in 
dealing with those who for thousands of years 
have been accustomed to it. They love it. It 
appeals to them ... ."22 
Other feminists and reformers supported the 
education of Indian women in an effort to 
encourage them "to establish households in 
which Victorian domesticity would prevail. "23 
Although not blatantly racist, this kind of 
attitude illustrates how the memsahibs believed 
in the superiority of their British lifestyle. With 
these attitudes, it seems unclear whether the 
colonizers believed that some Indians could be 
taught to be like the British and uplift 
themselves to the status of their rulers, or if 
Indians were inherently inferior and teaching 
them British morals would only succeed in 
making them slightly better off: 
Other memsahibs did not feel the same 
burden to help the unfortunate Indian women 
that other British women felt. According to 
them, Indian women were quite resourceful and 
happy in their position: "That a sweeper woman 
should always be a sweeper woman, and should 
marry a sweeper or some equivalently low-caste 
man, seems to them even as a decree of nature 
which it were useless to overthrow ... I do not 
think that the working woman of the East is in 
such bad case when set beside her European 
sisters. "24 This sort of opinion may have been 
more the exception than the rule because of the 
colonial nature of having to assert that the ruling 
power is superior and is somehow "saving" the 
colonized peoples from their own culture. 
In their view that Indian women led 
wretched lives, many memsahibs often forgot 
that legally and socially, they were not really as 
independent as they believed themselves to be. 
Some memsahibs believed that in England, a 
woman was treated as "a human being of equal 
rights with man; mistress of her own sex," who 
had control over her body and could make 
independent reproductive decisions.25 Whether 
or not this was actually true for some British 
women, perhaps it made them feel better about 
their own inferior position to feel pity for the 
Indian women whom they viewed as less 
fortunate. 
In her relationship with the ayah, perhaps 
the only Indian woman she communicated with, 
the memsahib may have felt that her concerns of 
not being her husband's equal in the politics of 
the Raj were small compared to what she 
believed her servant's position in Indian society 
was. Not only could she do her part in "helping" 
maintain the colonial power structure in the 
private sphere, but the memsahib could also work 
at focusing some of her efforts on improving her 
Indian "sisters"' pitiable lives. Both attitudes, 
although seemingly contradictory, may have 
been the most useful coping mechanism of the 
memsahib. 
32 • The Wittenberg History Journal 
End Notes 
1 Margaret MacMillan, Women of the &j (New York: 
Thames and Hudson Inc., 1988), 7. 
2 Flora Annie Steel, The Complete Indian Housekeeper & 
Cook (London: William Heineman, 1907), 7. 
3 Antoinette Burton, "The White Woman's Burden: British 
Feminists and 1The Indian Woman/ 1865-1895/ in Western Women 
and Imperialism, ed. Nupur Chaudhiri and Margaret Strobel 
(Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992), 137. 
4 For the purpose of this study, the term "Anglo-Indiansn 
is used to refer to the British in India. Later, around 1881, it was 
used as a term to describe those of mixed British and Indian 
descent. MacMillan, 43. 
5 Steel, Complete Indian Housekeeper & Cook, 86. 
6 Mary Carpenter, "Surat, Bombay and Poona, 1868," in 
The Queen's Daughter: An Anthology of Victorian Feminist Writings on 
India 1857-1900, edited by Penelope Tuson (Berkshire: Ithaca_ 
Press, 1995), 80. 
7 Barbara N. Ramusack, "Cultural Missionaries, Maternal 
Imperialists, Feminist Allies: British Women Activists in India, 
1865-1945," in Western Women and Imperialism, ed. Nupur 
Chaudhiri and Margaret Strobel (Indianapolis: Indiana University 
Press, 1992),123 
8 Steel, Complete Indian House.keeper & Cook, 85. 
9 Flora Annie Steel, Garden of fidelity Being the Autobiogra-
phy of Flora Annie Steel, 1847-1929 (London: Macmillan and Co., 
Limited, 1929), 53. 
lO Margaret Strobel, European Women and the Second British 
Empire (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991), 24. 
11 Strobel, 4 
12 Steel, Garden of Fidelity, 121. 
13 Janice N. Brownfoot, "Memsahibs in Malaya: A Study of 
European Wives in a British Colony and Protectorate 1900-1940," 
in The Incorporated Wife, edited by Hillary Callan and Shirley 
Ardenner (Worcester: Billing & Sons limited), 198. 
14 MacMill:m, 137-38. 
15 Strobel, 22. 
16 Steel, Complete Indian Housekeeper & Coale, 3. 
17 Maud Diver, The Englishwoman in India (London: W. 
Blackwood & Sons, 1909); quoted in Dennis Kincaid, British Social 
Life in India 16.08-1937 (London: George Routledge and Sons, ltd., 
1938), 247. 
18 Steel, Complete Indian_ Housekeeper & Coale, 2. 
19 Mary Ann Lind, The Compassionate Memsahibs:_ Welfare 
Activities of British Women in India, 1900-1947. (Conecticut: 
Greenwood Press, Inc., 1988), 23. 
20 However, the Hindu caste system "had spilled over into 
India's o~er religious groups," including Islam. MacMillen, 38. 
21 Steel, Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, 2. 
22 Steel, Garden of Fidelity, 133. 
23 Ramusack, 123. 
24 Mary Billington, ,,Women in India" in The Queen's 
Daughter: An Anthology of Victorian Feminist Writings on India 1857-
1900, edited by Penelope T uson (Berkshire: Ithaca Press, 1995), 
317. 
25 Flora Annie Steel, India: Painted by Mortimer Menpes, 
Described by Flora Annie Steel (London: Adam & Charles Black, 
1905; reprint, Delhi: Neeraj Publishing House, 1982), 156. 
Liberator or Oppressor? An Inquiry on the Memsahib's Relationship With Her Ayah • 33 
Works Cited 
Billington, Mary. "Women in India." In The Queen's Daughter: 
An Anthology of Victorian Feminist Writings on India 
1857-1900, edited by Penelope T uson. Berkshire: 
Ithaca Press, 1995. 
Brownfoot,Janice N. uMemsahibs in Malaya: A Study of European 
Wives in a British Colony and Protectorate 190.0-1940." 
In The Incorporated Wife, edited by Hilary Callan and 
Shirley Ardenner. Worcester: Billing & Sons Limited, 
1984, 186-210. 
Burton, Antoinette. "The White Woman's Burden: British 
Feminists and 'The Indian Woman,' 1865-1895." In 
Western Women and Imperialism, edited by Nupur 
Chaudhiri and Margaret Strobel. Indianapolis: Indiana 
University Press, 1992, 137-157. 
Carpenter, Mary. "Surat, Bombay and Poona, 1868." In The 
Qu_een's Daughters: An Anthology of Victorian Feminist 
Writings on India 1857-1900, edited by Penelope 
Tuson. Berkshire: Ithaca Press, 1995, 63-94. 
Diver, Maud. The Englishwoman in India. London: W. 
BlackWood & Sons, 1909. Quoted in Dennis Kincaid. 
British ~odal Life in India 1608-1937. London: 
George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1938. 
Lind, Mary Ann. The Compassionate Memsahibs: Welfare 
Activities of British Women in India, 1900-1947. 
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1988. 
MacMillan, Margaret. Women of the R.aj. New York: Thames and 
Hudson Inc., 1988. 
Ramusack, Barbara N. "Cultural Missionaries, Maternal 
Imperialists, Feminist Allies: British Women Activists in 
India, 1865-1945." In Western Women and Imperialism, 
edited by Nupur Chaudhiri and Margaret Strobel. 
Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1992, 119-136. 
Steel, Flora Annie. "East Indian Women.11 In North American 
Review, vol, 169, 1899. 
___ . The Complete Indian Housekeeper & Cook: Giving the 
Duties of Mistress and Servants the General Management 
of the House ~nd Practical Recipes for Cooking In All Its 
Branches. New and Revised ed. London: William 
Heineman, 1907. 
___ . India: Painted by Mortimer Menpes, Described by 
Flora Annie Steel. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1905; 
reprint, Delhi: Neeraj Publishing House, 1982. 
___ . The Garden of Fidelity Being the Autobiography of Flora 
Annie Steel 18471929. London: Macmillen and Co., 
Limited, 1929. 
Strobel, Margaret. European Women and the Second British 
Empire. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1991. 


Liberator or Oppressor? An Inquiry on the Memsahib\u27s Relationship with Her Ayah

Lydy, Kevin

The Wittenberg History Journal 27
Beginnings
By Kevin Lydy
The woman in youth cannot get the best training for domes-
tic, social, or professional activities through the practice of
these activities alone, or with the addition merely of aca-
demic or cultural studies, largely sedentary in nature. Whole-
some play, vigorous group games of suitable types give a
vital part of the best preparation for the more serious work
of later life.l
In 1891, Dr. James Naismith developed the game of basket-
ball as an alternative to existing sports such as lacrosse,
football, and baseball. The new game came about as the
Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA addressed a "need for a
vigorous activity..
• that could be
playedindoors dur-
ing the winter Offense
months.''2 Though
originally invented 
[
to enhance the
physical skills of
men, basketball
soon seemed an ef-
fective opportunity
for women as well. Forwards
As early as 1892,
just months after
men began playing,
several female
teachers inquired
about the suitabil-
ity of the new game
to women who had
been restricted to less "physical" activities such as cyclIng,
badminton, and tennis. Optimistic abuntthe idea, Dr. Naismith
assisted such women as Clara Baer and Sanda Berenson in
developing a women's basketball program, with rules "suit-
able" to women's abilities? The rules established in the
1890s, which endured into the 1930s, created a sport which
vaguely resembled today's game: there were two baskets, a
ball, and a court. The court was divided into three sections,
not two, and teams positioning two players in each section.4
With players restricted to their sections, teams relied more on
effective passIng than on skillful dribbling of the ball to en-
sure victory. Women first began playing basketball in col-
leges and universities all over America; corporations and
businesses also provided women with the opportunity to
play the game by way of leagues or tournaments. The game
did not filter into America's high schools until the 1920s with
the creation of the Midwest Federation of State High School
Athletic Associations. It was in this way that Indiana, as one
of five states involved, began its long tradition of basketball
heritage.5
Ft. Wayne, Indiana's options for public gatherings included
the occasional traveling circus, the popular Fort Wayne
Speedway orthe occasional rifle competition, all crowd-pleas-
ing summer attractions? Once the winter months began,
however, the options became scarce. In addition, with no
professional ath-
letic organizations,
Fort Wayne relied
upon high school
Defense athletics for social
I 
recreation.7 Con-
structed amid Indi-
ana cornfields and
narrow country
roads, Arcola High
SchooI emerged in
1921 in the small
town of Arcola, ten
miles northwest of
Fort Wayne. The
school's first bas-
kethall season be-
gan in November,
1922, with both the
women and the men
playing other high schools in the Ft. Wayne area) Known
as the Arcola Greyhounds, the teams enjoyed relative suc-
cess, but it was not until the 1930-1931 season that the
women's team experienced noteworthy achievement.
Coached by Dwight"Pete" Byerly, the lady Greyhounds be-
gan their season in October with twelve women on the team.
Of the team's six starters, captain Dorothy Cnrbat had the
most experience, playing side-center her freshman mad sopho-
more years until moving to forward her junior and senior
years. Joining her in the other forward position was Dorothy
Hilger. "l"nese girls were the only team members who could
score as all other players had to remain In their sections,
away from the scoring basket. Eleanor Hollopeter and Helen
I: J:
Centers Guards
Diagram 1: Layout of the positions for women's basketball circa 1920s,
Players from one team are represented by "X's." Piayers are not
permitted to cross over into other players' sections•
28 The Wittenberg History Journal
Vaughn fined the jumping-center and side-canter positions,
respectively. Eleanor's ability to get the fip-offandHelan's
penchant for breaking up the opposing team's pass work
allowed the Greyhounds to jump ahead early in a game. Velda
Bauman and Edna Butler served as the Greyhounds' defen-
sive duo. As guards, their speed and hard work made it
Endnotes
ARCOLA GREYHOUNDS SCHEDULE 1930-1931
October 31 st Jefferson City - Lost
November 7 Hoagland - Won
14 Coesse - Won
21 Huntertown - Lost
28 Lafayette Center - Won
December 5 New Haven - Lost
6 Churubusco - N/A
12 New Haven - N/A
19 Lathyene Center - Won
January 9 Hoagland - Lost
23 Jefferson Center- Won
30 County Tourn.- N/A
February 13 Huntertown - Won
20 Coesse - Won
28 Churubusco - Won
March 6 Sectional Tournament -
Lost in second round
to Huntertown
1 Helen Frost and Charles Digby Wardlaw, Basket Ball and
Indoor Baseball for Women (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1925), xv.
2 Francis H. Ebert and Billye Ann Cheatum, Basketball,
(Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1977), 1.
3 Ibid., 5.
4 The players located nearest their defending basket were
called "guards", those in the center "centers," and those attacking
the opponent's basket "forwards," thus the origin behind today's
position names. See diagram 1.
5 Ebett and Cheatum, 9.
6 George and Gloria Bojrab, local Areola historians,
interview by author, Ft. Wayne, Indiana. 24 January 1998.
7 The Fort Wayne Pistons, an NBA franchise, did not
arrive until the late 1940s.
8 Red Pepper, 1, no. 4 (October 1922): 5.
9 Red Pepper, 7, no. 7 (March 1931): 5.
10 Ibid.
11 The reason schools took the sport away stems from the
"rough" nature the sport began to develop, questioning the
"suitability" of the sport to women's needs.
12 "The Histoff of Women's Basketball" in WNBA,
]Online), Available: http:f/www.wnba.comlbasics/timeline.html [31
January 1998].
13 The games marked "N/A" may have been canceled, as no
record of the outcome is available. However, it is known that the
Greyhounds posted five more victories: one each against Coesse,
Antbony Wayne, and Hinerest and two against Harlan.
Bibliography
difficult for opposing forwards to seoreY Playing an eigh-
teen-game schedule, the team compiled an impressive regu-
lar season record of twelve wins and six losses, eclipsing the
boys' record of elevan and seven)° In the late 1930s Areola
High School took women's basketball offofits list of athletic
programs, as did many others across the nation." It was not
until decades later that schools began reintroducing the sport.
When President RichardNixon signed Title IX of the Educa-
tional Amendment stating that no one shall, on the basis of
sex, be denied access to any educational program or activity
that receives federal aid, women's basketball gained tremen-
dous momentum. In 1975, Madison Square Garden held its
first women's college game. The sport made its Olympic
debut at the Montreal Games in 1976. Two years later, the
Women's Basketball League formed. The NCAAheld its first
Women's National Championships in 1981. Most recently,
the Women's National Basketball Association emerged in
October, 1996)2 With superstars and national recognition,
endorsements, multi-million dollar contracts and coed all-star
weekends, women's baskethall may finally be getting the at-
tention it deserves. Yet one should not recognize the achieve-
ments made by today's players without acknowledging the
strides made years ago. An appreciation of women's basket-
ball begins with teams like the Arcola Greyhounds.
Bojrab, George and Gloria, local Areola historians. Inter-
view by author, 24 January1998, Ft. Wayne,
Indiana.
Ebert, Francis H. and Billye Ann Cheatum. Basketball.
Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1977.
Frost Helen and Charles Digby Wardlaw. Basket Ball and
lndoor Baseball for Women. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
"The History of Women's Basketball" in WNBA, ]Online),
Available: http ://www.wnba.eom/b aalcs/
timeline.html [31 January 19981.
Lydy, Gerry. Interview by author, 24 January i998, Ft.
Wayne, Indiana.
Red Pepper 1, no. 4 (October 1922).
. 6, no. 1 (29 October 1929).
• 6, no. 2 (November 1929).
. 6 no. 4 (January 1930)
. 6. no. 5 (March 1930).
-- . 7, no. I (September 1930).
__ . 7 no. 2 (October 1930).
. 7, no. 3 (November 1930).
-- . 7, no. 4 (December 1930).
. 7, no. 5 (January 1931).
. 7, no. 6 (February 193I).
. 7, no. 7 (March 1931)
Schraafs a, Frances. Basketball for Women, third edition.
Dubuque, Iowa: William C. Brown Company Pub
lishers, 1977.


Beginnings

Benjamin, Jillian

Agents of Change: The Burning of the East Street Shops and the Black\u27s Opera House

Oleson, Amanda

Anastasia or Anna Anderson: The Truth Revealed

Gehlhausen, Jennifer

The Worker\u27s Woe: A History of the Haymarket Affair

Perkins, Pari

Sakurakai: A Failed Attempt at Military Government

Rickey, Bob

34 • The Wittenberg History Journal 
Peace or Trouble: The Demise of William Paul 
by Bob Rickey 
Wittenberg Class of 1999 
Hartje Award 
"I am an innocent man as I shall answer to 
my God. "1 These were the last words spoken 
by William Paul, the last man executed by 
hanging in the state of Ohio. Paul was executed 
on 29 April 1896, less than two years after he 
was convicted of murdering his father-in law. 
Paul's crime was described by local reports as a 
murder "most diabolical in its conception and 
hideous in its execution, disclosing in the 
murderer most depraved brutal instincts."2 The 
events leading up to the murder were catalysts . 
for small town gossip. Rumors of an incestuous 
relationship, an illegitimate pregnancy, and 
familial conflict created a whirlwind of 
controversy surrounding the conviction and 
execution of William Paul. 
William Paul, one of seven sons born to 
James and Sallie Paul, was born in 1861 and 
raised in Brown County, a rural area bordering 
the Ohio River in southern Ohio. Paul married 
Frances Yockey, the daughter of a local farmer 
named Joseph Yockey. Living with William and 
Frances was her younger sister Anna Yockey. 
Anna, fifteen years of age, became pregnant 
during the summer of 1893, and William Paul 
was accused of being the father. 3 Subsequently 
Paul began to receive "white-cap notices," which 
were bundles of switches and threatening letters 
used to intimidate persons who were believed to 
have committed immoral acts.4 The increasing 
tension over the situation forced Paul to travel to 
Kentucky, where he stayed for an undisclosed 
amount of time. Upon learning that the "white-
cap notices" were sent by a neighbor named 
Henry Swearingen, Paul obtained a pistol and 
made threats against both Swearingen and 
Joseph Yockey.s 
Paul returned to Ohio in July, 1894 and was 
seen in the vicinity of Joseph Yockey's house on 
the evening of 14 July. A resident saw Paul 
walking towards Yockey's residence around 
eight o'clock that evening, carrying a bundle of 
clothes and brandishing his pistoL The resident, 
named Spencer Spears, related that Paul was 
agitated and proclaimed that "he would not go 
to the penitentiary and would not be arrested."6 
Paul then· continued on to his father-in-law's 
house, where he stopped about one hundred 
and fifty yards short of the property and . 
removed his shoes and socks. Three of Joseph 
Yockey's sons stated that as they were about to 
turn their work horses out to the pasture around 
nine o'clock, they saw William Paul standing by 
the chimney of the house carrying a pistol. The 
sons retreated to the back of the house and 
Joseph Yockey met Paul at the front door. 
Frances, who had moved back into her father's 
house, also confronted Paul at the door and, 
seeing the pistol, begged him leave. Paul 
exclaimed, "It is either peace or trouble," and 
fired at Yockey, the pistol flash so close to 
Yockey that his clothes caught fire.7 Yockey 
was killed instantly, the bullet passing from his 
lower back through his heart and right lung and 
exiting his right shoulder blade. 
Paul then fled to the wilderness, where he 
stayed until after Yockey's funeral. He then 
surrendered to local authorities and was tried 
and convicted for the murder of Joseph Yockey. 
He was sent to the Ohio Penitentiary Annex on 
8 April 1895. After a little more than a year at 
the annex, Paul was hanged on 29 April 1896. 
Paul's calm demeanor immediately before his 
execution prompted one writer to compare him 
to the stoic Indian characters of a James 
Fenimore Cooper novel.8 When told that the 
governor would not stay his execution, Paul 
replied, " If the Governor of the state of Ohio 
wants to bear the everlasting stain of hanging an 
innocent man, I can meet death bravely."9 Only 
when the death sentence was read aloud did 
Paul convey a sense of desperation. Still, after 
the pronouncement of the death warrant Paul 
loudly proclaimed, "I am ready to meet death. It 
seems strange to me, however, that they should 
hang an innocent man. The murderer of Mr. 
Yockey is still at large. "10 Then, after his final 
declaration of innocence in the eyes of his God, 
William Paul fell to his death. 
Peace or Trouble: The Demise of William Paul • 35 
Whether Paul committed the murder was a 
source of controversy. Speculation surrounded 
the crime, and many local inhabitants seriously 
doubted that Paul killed Yockey.11 Paul argued 
that Yockey was accidentally shot by one of his 
sons during a fight that ensued on the evening of 
14 July. Others questioned the legitimacy of the 
claims that William Paul was the father of Anna 
Yockey's child. These conjectures, however, 
were insufficient in keeping William Paul from 
becoming the last man hanged in the Ohio 
Penitentiary. 
Bibliography 
Fogle, H. M. The Palace of Death, or the Ohio Penitentiary 
Aitnex. Columbus, Ohio: privately printed, 1908. 
Public Defende.r 0N est Union1 Ohio) 
End Notes 
1 Public Defender, (West Union, Ohio), 30 April 1896. 
2 Ibid. 
3 The _word upregnant" was _not used in newspaper reports 
concerning the crime. Instead, Anna was described as being 
uruined,1' or "in a delicate condition." 
4 H. M. Fogle, The Palace of Death, or The Ohio 
Penitenaary Annex (Columbus: privately printed, 1908), 131~2. 
5 Public Defender, (West Union, Ohio), 22 July 1894. 
6 Ibid. 
7 Ibid. 
8 Fogle, Palace of Death, 133. 
9 Public Defender, 0fvest Union, Ohio), 30 April 1896. 
to Ibid. 
11 Fogle, Palace of Death, 132. 


Peace or Trouble: The Demise of William Paul

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