Pilgrims' Progress

This account of the suffragists' experience in Stockport appeared in the Medina Daily Journal on December 27, 1912.

SUFFRAGETTES NEAR ALBANY

Reach Stockport Center After a Five-Mile March from Hudson.

Stockport Center, Dec. 27--The suffragist army which is marching to Albany reached here at 1 o'clock yesterday after a quick, easy march of five miles from Hudson.

The greetings received from the townsfolk of Stockport were of rather an explosive and startling character. One enthusiastic citizen, without the least warning, exploded his shotgun within very close range of the marching pilgrims, causing every member of the band to jump in terror.

Surgeon [Lavinia Lloyd] Dock narrowly escaped serious injury from a skyrocket. It took some time for the pilgrims to realize that the shotgun and pyrotechnics were meant as a friendly welcome. 

The pilgrims rested last night in a comfortable farmhouse and started early this morning for Valatie, 10 miles away.

Here's how the Hudson Evening Register reported the same incident on December 27, 1912. 

Left Stockport This Morning—Gen. Jones to Return to Hudson Next Week.

The suffragists, who stopped over night at Sagendorph's hotel, Stockport Center, left there this morning at 9 o'clock.  It was raining hard when they started out, and it later turned to snow. They intended to stop at Kinderhook for their mid-day meal, and then intended to go on as far as they could before night fall. The plan now is to get to Albany by tomorrow night if possible. They don't care to get stuck in any snow banks. There were seven women and three men in the party this morning.

Just before the road gets to Stockport Center, it winds down a hill and over the bridge spanning Kinderhook Creek. Just beyond is the general store. As the army marched across the bridge yesterday two men appeared in front of the store. They set out an old chair as a support to set off a number of rockets. Surgeon Dock was in the road almost opposite the store when one of the men set off a rocket. Instead of ascending, it dived over the back of the chair and went hurling across the road in a shower of sparks. Surgeon Dock was grabbed by her companion just in time. The rocket struck her on the side of her coat, which was flapping out ahead of her, and knocked the staff from her hand.

At Stottville, Mrs. John Plass, Mrs. Frank Palmer, Mrs. B. Keater, and Miss Grace Palmer invited the marchers to rest upon their porch. When they started again the General was sure she had made new recruits. Miss S. E. Tucker, of Albany, and Mrs. W. O. Barker met the party and escorted them into Stockport.

The pilgrims were told last night that they were staying in the hotel where Frank Sangerdorph, the son of the proprietor, is the only bachelor in the village.

Gen. Jones, after the visit to Albany, is to return to Hudson. She will be the guest of Mrs. Morgan Jones and she will organize the suffragettes in this district.