Did 19th Century Lawyers Wear Skirts?

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says Lucas will enjoin Mullane and Mike Mansell from playing with Toledo and Allegheny.

-Cleveland Herald, February 14, 1884

If you read yesterday's post, you know how I feel about this. A real man would have challenged Mullane and Mansell to a duel. Only a nancy boy would hide behind his lawyer's skirt.

And, yes, it's a well-known fact that some 19th century lawyers wore skirts. Arabella Mansfield was admitted to the bar in Iowa in 1869 and she wore a skirt. In 1870, Ada Kepley become the first woman in the United States to graduate from a law school. She wore a skirt. Probably a long one. There were probably more skirt-wearing lawyers in the 19th century but I think I've made my point.

Getting back on track here, the Herald also reported (or re-reported) the following rumor that just refused to die even if doused in gasoline and set on fire:

It is understood that the St. Louis Club of the Union Association are about to offer Ward, of the New York Club, $25,000 to play with them for three years.

Maybe it wasn't this specific rumor that refused to die even if doused in gasoline and set on fire but, even in February 1884, the press was still linking every prominent player in the country to the Maroons. At this point they really couldn't be taken too seriously considering the efforts of the League and the AA to keep their players and the fact that the Union was in the process of losing signed players back to the established leagues.

And I'll leave it to you to figure out the significance of the photo at the top of the post. First person to identify the picture gets ten cool points.