By William “Skip” Deegans
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 The Greenbrier Independent 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.
Source: The Greenbrier Independent
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