Emma McCoy’s suffrage career ended
in a series of unfortunate events. In late 1913,
she lost the majority of her retirement fund due
to bad investment advice from Arthur Millbury
of the State Teachers’ Retirement Fund. McCoy
was drawn into a lengthy lawsuit against Millbury,
which she eventually won, and continued to
campaign for reform of the Retirement Fund
statewide. After the death of her sister Lillie in
1918 and her own health problems, McCoy retired
from public life almost entirely.
In an August 1920 interview celebrating
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McCoy said, “There has been no time in the
history of the world, as during the recent war,
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resourcefulness; and I have faith to believe that
next November, when the ‘Call to the Colors,’ in
the form of a presidential election occurs, there
will be no ‘slackers’ among the women of New
Brunswick and Middlesex County.”
Suffrage rally, New Brunswick, August 15,
1912, Emma McCoy, Mrs. William Floyd,
and New Brunswick High School student
Beatrice Broffe pictured
29