<strong>By William “Skip” Deegans</strong> <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-35832" src="https://mountainmedianews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2019/02/William_Jennings_Bryan_1860-1925.jpeg" alt="" width="481" height="640" /> In the fall of 1908, Greenbrier and Monroe countians gathered at the Alderson and Ronceverte train depots to hear the famed orator William Jennings Bryan speak. Bryan was a progressive democrat running for president of the United States, and he supported woman’s suffrage and championed farmers and laborers. The Lewisburg and Ronceverte Railroad ran a special train from Lewisburg for the event, and the fare was fifty cents. According to <em>The Greenbrier Independent</em> the crowd was immense, with Bryan making sharp thrusts at the GOP and its policies. He was a little weary after giving fifteen speeches that day. Bryan lost the election to William Howard Taft. It wouldn’t be until 1920 that women were given the right to vote. <em>Source: The Greenbrier Independent</em> <em>Photo from Wikipedia and in the public domain.</em>
