At the time of the accident, the two girls were appearing in a singing and dancing act at the local theater. Both are talented in their line and their appearance in Duluth was during their second season on the stage.
The Lemoines, up to five years ago, lived in Baltimore. The two girls appeared in a number of amateur theatrical performances in that city and there received their training for professional work. In 1910 their father, who was then suffering from a nervous breakdown, moved West, taking his family with him.
After the Lemoines had settled in the West, the children became much in demand at church socials and amateur theatricals on account of their talent along that line. Later, the girls were offered a vaudeville engagement with a song and dance act. At first the mother refused to allow her daughters to go on the stage, but after a flattering salary had been offered, she finally consented. She accompanied them on their tour as chaperone. The season was about half over when Florence met with her accident. The father remained on the ranch in Idaho because of his poor health.
During the trial of the case last April, Florence was brought into the courtroom on two occasions, both times on her cot. She nervously twitched at her bedclothes and at her jewelry while she told the story of the affair as she remembered it. She told the jury that she was spending most of her time now drawing sketches and that until she got well enough to get back to the stage she expected to devote her time to art.
The two girls were earning from $75 to $140 a week with their act, according to testimony which was adduced at the trial.
The Supreme Court of the United States has decided in the case of Mrs. Ethel Coope Mackenzie of San Francisco that the federal expatriation law of 1907 is constitutionally applicable to women that continue to live in this country after marrying foreigners as well as to those that marry foreigners and live abroad.
The ruling settles finally a test case that has become internationally famous in suffrage circles. In effect, it is much more sweeping than the bare recorded fact would indicate, including in its wide range a host of women, in and out of states where they have the vote, who are married to men not citizens of the United States.