By Parker Anderson

Followers of Yavapai County history already have heard how famed historian and poetess Sharlot M. Hall was chosen to deliver Arizona's electoral votes for Calvin Coolidge to Washington following Coolidge's election as President of the United States in 1924. Much has also been said about how Prescott's two newspapers, the Courier and Journal Miner, seemed not to think the event very important, as coverage was sparse at best. True, nothing appeared in the papers on the day Sharlot arrived in Washington, but there were articles before she left, and several after she returned. These articles, as well as Sharlot's own words, form a pretty complete picture of this significant event in the life of the mother of our history.

Sharlot left for Washington on February 18, 1925, after driving back out to her Orchard Ranch in a bad snowstorm to say goodbye to her father. When she arrived by train in Washington in the early morning, she was greeted at the station by U.S. Republican Senator Ralph Cameron and his wife, who had agreed to host Sharlot during her stay. They took her to the Capitol, where she met and socialized with other Senators. The day was moving quickly; by 11:15, she was introduced to Vice-President Cummings, and by noon, to President Coolidge himself, who asked her questions about Arizona. She had fried scallops for lunch in the senate lunchroom, but would later say that she was so busy socializing with other senators that she didn't know how the scallops tasted! Truly, the lady from Arizona was making a splash in the nation's capital. It was on this occasion that Sharlot wore her famous copper dress, still on exhibit at Sharlot Hall Museum. 

At two o'clock the ceremony was scheduled for the electoral votes to be presented to Vice President Cummings, and news organizations snapped numerous photos of Sharlot handing the letter to the Vice-President, with Senator Cameron standing beside her. Afterwards, she wished to tour the senate, but did not get to because she was scheduled to attend a judiciary reception at the White House that evening, to again meet President Coolidge and present him with gifts from Arizona, including a portrait of Coolidge with a Smoki hat in his hand which was colored by Kate Cory, a gift to the President from the Smoki people. 

Sharlot would later recall: "Just exactly one week before I had been steering the old car through a blinding snow storm over the hills of Prescott to the ranch. I felt like Cinderella and all the other fairy tales as we entered the long corridor on the walls of which hung portraits of the White House ladies back to Martha Washington." 

Sharlot had ample time to study the portraits as she entered the White House in a slow-moving line of 4000 people! Eventually she was with President Coolidge again, and invited him to attend the Smoki ceremonials in Prescott on June 12 of that year, which he ultimately did not do. Sharlot later said of Coolidge: "He is kind, not cold, a little grave but with keen humor in his eyes and the quiver of his lips-he may not joke but he sees all the fun-he laughs and smiles, and his voice is a fine index of the man-so courteous, so just and balanced. I am almost as enthusiastic about his voice as I am about the melody in the voice of Mrs. Coolidge." 

After greeting the President, Sharlot was taken on a long tour of the White House. In the ensuing two weeks, she would see much of Washington, accompanied by Mrs. Cameron. The weather was variable, according to Sharlot-some days were warm and sunny, while others were cold and snowy. One evening while Sharlot was in the car, Senator Cameron's chauffeur had to stop three times in a bad winter storm to scrape ice and sleet off the windshield. After visiting Mt. Vernon, and being impressed with its beauty, Sharlot said: "George Washington must have been very sorry to die and leave it. I felt as if his spirit was still there and loving even its winter beauty." 

Mrs. Cameron also took Sharlot to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and Arlington National Cemetery where she visited the grave of William "Buckey" O'Neill. In between times, Senator Cameron saw to it that she was invited to various presidential functions and photo ops, where she was photographed with Coolidge more times. She visited various museums and expressed fascination with the amount of Indian lore they contained. One day, Senator Henry F. Ashurst took Sharlot on a tour of the older part of the Capitol. 

Speaking of one humorous incident that happened to her in Washington, Sharlot said: "Mrs. Cameron and I went over to watch the legislature and see our congressmen, and coming back to the Senate offices, we took an elevator that let us off away down in the basement, and we walked what seemed miles through tunnels and rooms and saw the real machinery that keeps the big building warmed and lighted and even the people fed. When we came out at last where the roar of the curious little subway railroad used by the Senators burst upon our ears, it seemed like the finest music ever and our tired feet rejoiced." 

It was truly a memorable trip in the life of the self-proclaimed "woman of the outdoors". Later, when she returned to Prescott, she gave a lengthy address to the Monday Club on May 4, 1925, and enthralled her listeners with her stories of the nation's Capitol. 

It was only two years later that Sharlot would realize her dream of saving the Governor's Mansion, and her legacy and accomplishments live on at Sharlot Hall Museum. 

But this was not quite the end of the story. Some years later, in 1932, the leaders of Yavapai County's GOP called Sharlot down to Republican headquarters for a meeting. When she arrived, they severely reprimanded her for having been seen in the company of a known Democrat (the identity of the Democrat was not publicly reported, but many historians believe it to have been Grace Sparkes). The party leaders reminded Sharlot that they had chosen her to go to Washington with Coolidge's electoral votes, and for that honor, they told her she owed them some loyalty, and loyalty did not include fraternizing with the other party. 

Outraged that the Republicans would dare tell her who to have as friends, Sharlot wrote a blistering article about the incident for the October 24, 1932 Courier, and two days later, she wrote a poem in the Courier entitled "Paw's Votin'", a satiric commentary on politics as she saw it. It was a feisty response, certainly in character with the Sharlot M. Hall everyone knew. But she must have been hurt by the incident. To hear GOP leaders openly tell her they were sorry they sent her to Washington surely rendered memories of her wonderful trip bittersweet. 

(Parker Anderson writes plays and studies history at the Sharlot Hall Museum. If you would like study history, the archives are open Tuesday - Friday from Noon to 4 and Saturday from 10 to 2. We do recommend that you make an appointment. 445-3122.) 



Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po1686p). Reuse only by permission.
In February 1925, Sharlot M. Hall (center) met with President Coolidge (at Sharlot's right). She was there officially to caste Arizona's electoral votes, but spent a good part of the trip meeting the president and traveling around Washington DC. Here she is with some folks to invite the President to Yuma for a highway opening.