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20 - Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights by E. Sylvia Pankhurst · Suffragette The Militant Fight for Womens Voting Rights

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  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of The Suffragette, The History of the Woman's
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  Speaker 1: Militant Suffrage Movement by E. Sylvia Pankhurst. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Sixteen October to the end
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen hundred eight. The Trial of Missus Baines, the
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  Speaker 1: mutiny in Holloway, the taking down of the Grill. Missus
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  Speaker 1: Drummond was right, for though she and her companions had
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  Speaker 1: left a great blank in the work of the union,
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  Speaker 1: as she had predicted at the dock at bow Street,
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  Speaker 1: other women eagerly volunteered to raise up the flag that
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  Speaker 1: they had been compelled to lay down. In addition to
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  Speaker 1: the newcomers, every member of the staff cheerfully undertook some
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  Speaker 1: extra task, and the movement grew like a living flame.
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  Speaker 1: The office at Clement's Inn was indeed fortunate in its
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  Speaker 1: abundance of willing and able workers. Beside Missus Pethick Lawrence
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  Speaker 1: and her husband, and charming Missus Tuke, Missus Pankhurst go Secretary,
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  Speaker 1: there were a host of others. Amongst them dignified businesslike
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  Speaker 1: like Miss Kerr with her rosy face and pretty white hair,
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  Speaker 1: thoughtful reliable Miss Hampling, Missus Drummond's secretary, and Missus Sanders, who,
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  Speaker 1: though financial secretary, was now finding time to keep a
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  Speaker 1: list of Cabinet minister's engagements for us. There was also Jesse,
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  Speaker 1: the London organizer, earnest and serious, like all the Kennys, who,
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  Speaker 1: showing a grasp of the political situation and an organizing
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  Speaker 1: capacity indeed remarkable in a girl of twenty two, marshaled
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  Speaker 1: the force of women to ask of members of the
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  Speaker 1: government those constant questions. The very greatest difficulty was now
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  Speaker 1: experienced in getting into Cabinet minister's meetings for women were
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  Speaker 1: now almost entirely excluded. The expedient of issuing a limited
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  Speaker 1: number of special women's tickets, the recipients of which were
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  Speaker 1: obliged to sign both name and address to a pledge
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  Speaker 1: neither to disturb the meeting nor to transfer. The ticket
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  Speaker 1: was first resorted to for mister Hawdane's meeting at Sheffield
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  Speaker 1: on November twentieth, nineteen hundred seven. The practice had now
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  Speaker 1: become general, and in some cases the women's tickets had
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  Speaker 1: also to be countersigned by a Liberal official to whom
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  Speaker 1: the applicants were personally known. But in spite of such precautions,
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  Speaker 1: the suffragettes frequently still succeeded in getting into the meetings,
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  Speaker 1: and that without having given any promise, And when they
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  Speaker 1: could not get inside, they invariably raised a protest in
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  Speaker 1: the street. When cabinet ministers, cast as they were in
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  Speaker 1: unheroic mold, discarded to a large extent the custom of
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  Speaker 1: delivering their pronouncements to great public gatherings where all might come,
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  Speaker 1: and instead frequently made their weighty utterances at bazaars, private
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  Speaker 1: or semi private banquets, and receptions and meetings of a
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  Speaker 1: few tried and trusted friends. These Suffragettes were always there,
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  Speaker 1: even though the world and Missus Grundy might be shocked.
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  Speaker 1: On November fifth, for instance, a well known liberal hostess,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Godfrey Benson, gave a reception in honor of the
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister. As they stood together at the head of
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  Speaker 1: the stairs receiving the guests, there came amongst the ladies
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  Speaker 1: and gentlemen in evening dress, streaming upward towards them, one
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  Speaker 1: strikingly tall and handsome lady in white satin with abundant
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  Speaker 1: dark hair, who said, as she took the Prime Minister
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  Speaker 1: by the hand, can I do anything to persuade you
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  Speaker 1: to give votes to women. Then, still holding his hand
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  Speaker 1: in hers, she proceeded to read out to him some
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  Speaker 1: clauses of Magna Carta, explaining that these had been intended
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  Speaker 1: to apply to women as well as to men. Missus
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  Speaker 1: Godfrey Benson did not for some moments notice mister Asquith's dilemma,
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  Speaker 1: but as soon as she did so, she seized a
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  Speaker 1: police whistle, which was attached to a ribbon at her waist,
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  Speaker 1: and by blowing loudly, summoned an officer of the law,
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  Speaker 1: who conducted the lady out of the house. Very great
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  Speaker 1: precautions were taken to prevent the suffragette's approaching mister Asquith
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  Speaker 1: when he visited Leeds to speak at the Coliseum on
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  Speaker 1: the afternoon of Saturday, October tenth. From seven o'clock in
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  Speaker 1: the morning, the police had been massed around the hall,
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  Speaker 1: and cordons both a foot and mounted men were drawn
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  Speaker 1: up outside the railway station and along the road by
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  Speaker 1: which the Prime Minister was to pass. But in spite
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  Speaker 1: of all the force to guard him, as mister Asquith emerged,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Baines, a little fragile figure with face ash and
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  Speaker 1: white and dark, blazing eyes, a creature compounded of zeal
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  Speaker 1: and passion, threw herself in front of him, crying votes
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  Speaker 1: for women and down with tyranny, and the crowd cheered her,
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  Speaker 1: though she was at once rudily hurled aside by the police.
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  Speaker 1: Then followed by thousands of people, she made her way
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  Speaker 1: to Cockridge Street, outside the Colosseum, where she had already
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  Speaker 1: announced that she would hold an open air meeting simultaneously
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  Speaker 1: with that of mister Asquith inside. A great crowd had
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  Speaker 1: gathered there to hear her, and when she put to
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  Speaker 1: them a resolution that she and her suffragette comrades should
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  Speaker 1: go to the Colosseum to demand an interview with the
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister, a forest of hands shot up in favor. Then, declaring,
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  Speaker 1: if these tyrants won't come to us, we must go
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  Speaker 1: to them and compel a hearing, she jumped down from
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  Speaker 1: the carriage which had served her as a platform, and,
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  Speaker 1: followed by a number of other women, and more slowly
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  Speaker 1: by the crowd itself, she moved on towards the Colosseum.
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  Speaker 1: Half way across the road, the police barred the way,
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  Speaker 1: and an inspector asked her where she was going. Don't
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  Speaker 1: be foolish, Missus Baines, he said when she told him.
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  Speaker 1: But she was not to be deterred, and running round,
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  Speaker 1: one of the mounted police was arrested by a constable
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  Speaker 1: on foot. The other women still pressed forward, and one
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  Speaker 1: by one five of them were arrested and taken to
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  Speaker 1: the town hall, where they were charged with disorderly conduct,
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  Speaker 1: whilst mister Asquith left the meeting by a back exit
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  Speaker 1: amid the hisses and groans of the crowd. On Monday morning,
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  Speaker 1: the others were each sent to prison for five days
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  Speaker 1: on refusing to be bound over to keep the peace,
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  Speaker 1: but the case against Missus Baines was held over until
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  Speaker 1: the following Wednesday. She was then charged with inciting to
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  Speaker 1: riot and unlawful assembly. Her case was to be held
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  Speaker 1: over until the Assizes in November, and the opportunity of
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  Speaker 1: being tried by judge and jury, which Missus Pankhurst, Cristabel
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  Speaker 1: Pankhurst and Missus Drummond had claimed in vain, was thus
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  Speaker 1: to fall to her lot. The grand Jury having returned
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  Speaker 1: a true bill against Missus Baines. Mister Pethick Lawrence, who
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  Speaker 1: was defending her, served subpoenas to give evidence at the
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  Speaker 1: trial upon mister ascos With and mister Herbert Gladstone, but
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  Speaker 1: the cabinet ministers had no intention of allowing themselves to
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  Speaker 1: be examined by the suffragettes and to be made into
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  Speaker 1: a Suffragette advertisement a second time. They applied to the
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  Speaker 1: Divisional Court for a rule to set aside the subpoenas,
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  Speaker 1: and did not scruple to take advantage of their position
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  Speaker 1: as members of the government to employ both the Attorney
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  Speaker 1: General Sir William Robson k C and the Solicitor General
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  Speaker 1: Sir Samuel Evans k C to plead their case in
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  Speaker 1: opposition to mister Pethick Lawrence. Though no precedent for setting
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  Speaker 1: aside a subpoena in criminal cases could be found, it
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  Speaker 1: was decided that neither mister asked With nor mister Gladstone
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  Speaker 1: should be called upon to give evidence. On Thursday and Friday,
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  Speaker 1: November nineteenth and twentieth, the actual trial took place in
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  Speaker 1: the Leedstown Hall. Missus Baines freely admitted that she had
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  Speaker 1: used the words if these tyrants will not come to us,
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  Speaker 1: we must go to them and compel a hearing, and
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  Speaker 1: that her intention had been to get into the meeting
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  Speaker 1: and secure an interview with the Prime Minister, but she
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  Speaker 1: protested that she had had no intention of injuring him
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  Speaker 1: or any one, and when mister Bristow k C. The
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  Speaker 1: Council for the Prosecution, asked if she had carried any weapons,
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  Speaker 1: she replied, oh, my tongue is weapon enough. When asked
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  Speaker 1: to give an account of her life, she said that
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  Speaker 1: she was the daughter of a working man and had
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  Speaker 1: begun to help in earning the family living at eleven
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  Speaker 1: years of age. After her marriage, she had continued to
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  Speaker 1: be a wag journer though she was the mother of
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  Speaker 1: five children, because her husband, who was a shoemaker, was
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  Speaker 1: only able to earn twenty five shillings a week. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: she had done much public and social work, as she
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  Speaker 1: had been a Salvation Army lieutenant, an evangelist to a
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  Speaker 1: Workingman's Mission, a member of the Stockport Unemployed Committee and
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  Speaker 1: Committee for the Feeding of school Children, and a worker
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  Speaker 1: in the Temperance cause. When asked to give some account
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  Speaker 1: of her speech to the crowd on the tenth of October,
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  Speaker 1: she said, I wanted the men and women of Leeds
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  Speaker 1: to understand why we were there to protest against mister
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  Speaker 1: Asquith's refusal to give us the vote. I said that
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  Speaker 1: that afternoon mister Asquith would be dealing with the licensing question,
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  Speaker 1: that this was more a woman's question than it was
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  Speaker 1: a mans, because we women suffered most through in temperance,
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  Speaker 1: and that no real temperance reform would ever be brought
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  Speaker 1: about until woman had a voice in the matter. The
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  Speaker 1: unemployed question was also more a woman's question than it
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  Speaker 1: was a man's, because it was the woman who really
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  Speaker 1: suffered most. Mister Asquith had never known what it was
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  Speaker 1: as I have done to go without food or to
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  Speaker 1: go to school hungry. We wanted to see mister Asquith,
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  Speaker 1: and we wanted to know when we were going to
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  Speaker 1: have access to mister Asquith. After the evidence on both
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  Speaker 1: sides had been heard, mister Lawrence made an eloquent speech
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  Speaker 1: for the defense, but it was nevertheless decided that missus
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  Speaker 1: Baines was guilty of unlawful assembly. The judge then asked
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  Speaker 1: her to enter into her own recognaissances to be of
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  Speaker 1: good behavior, explaining that if she agreed, she would merely
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  Speaker 1: be promising not to use violence or to incite to
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  Speaker 1: violence in the future. Missus bains steadfastly maintained that she
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  Speaker 1: had had no intention of using violence, but felt that
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  Speaker 1: she could not conscientiously agreed to be bound over to
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  Speaker 1: keep the peace. Mister Justice Pickford then said that, though
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  Speaker 1: he was reluctant to do so, he must pass sentence
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  Speaker 1: upon her and order that she should be imprisoned for
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  Speaker 1: six weeks in the second division. In the result, however,
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  Speaker 1: she was only kept in prison for three weeks because
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  Speaker 1: though she had gone free. Meanwhile, the fortnight during which
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  Speaker 1: she had awaited her trial at the Assizes was counted
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  Speaker 1: as part of her sentence, and in addition, she was
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  Speaker 1: entitled to one week's remission of sentence for good behavior.
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  Speaker 1: Amid all the whirl of militancy that had been going on,
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  Speaker 1: the work of educative peaceful propaganda was never allowed to flag,
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  Speaker 1: and beside the hundreds of uncounted smaller meetings, a series
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  Speaker 1: of great endoor demonstrations calling for votes for women and
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  Speaker 1: the release of the prisoners was held in the Free
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  Speaker 1: Trade Hall, Manchester, the Town Hall Birmingham, the Saint George's Hall, Bradford,
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  Speaker 1: the Guildhall Plymouth, the Town Hall Huddersfield, the Town Hall, Battercy,
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  Speaker 1: the Town Hall, Chelsea, the King's Theater, Hammersmith, and in
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  Speaker 1: many other places, and culminated in a second and great
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  Speaker 1: demonstration in the Albert Hall on October twenty ninth, at
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  Speaker 1: which three thousand pounds was collected. Then, in declaring the
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  Speaker 1: twenty thousand campaign fund to be complete, Missus Pethick Lawrence
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  Speaker 1: appealed for it to be carried on to fifty thousand
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  Speaker 1: pounds and that the half way house up twenty five
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  Speaker 1: thousand pounds should be reached before the founder of the
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  Speaker 1: union should be released from prison. Whilst the w SPU
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  Speaker 1: had been thus active, the Women's Freedom League had startled
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  Speaker 1: London by a cleverly organized and smartly executed demonstration in
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  Speaker 1: the Ladies Gallery of the House of Commons on October
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  Speaker 1: twenty eighth. That morning, all the world had awakened to
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  Speaker 1: find that little placards headed a proclamation containing a demand
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  Speaker 1: for votes for women had been posted on every hoarding.
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  Speaker 1: At eight thirty in the evening, whilst Parliament was discussing
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  Speaker 1: the Licensing Bill and Mister Remnant, one of the Conservative members,
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  Speaker 1: was speaking, a woman in the Ladies Gallery suddenly thrust
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  Speaker 1: through the brass grill one of these proclamations with a
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  Speaker 1: cry of votes for women. Instantly, Miss Muriel Matters darted
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  Speaker 1: to the front of the gallery and proceeded to deliver
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  Speaker 1: a suffrage speech. Two attendants at once came rushing in,
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  Speaker 1: tumbling over the ladies trains and pushing unceremoniously past them
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  Speaker 1: in haste to drag her from her place, only to
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  Speaker 1: find that they could not do so, for, by means
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  Speaker 1: of a padlock and chain around her waist, she had
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  Speaker 1: attached herself to the grill. Whilst some of the men
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  Speaker 1: struggled to break the chains, others gagged her by holding
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  Speaker 1: their hands over her mouth. But a second woman, also
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  Speaker 1: chained took up the tale with we demand the vote,
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  Speaker 1: and after she had been stifled in the same impromptu
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  Speaker 1: and objectionable fashion, a third cride we have remained behind
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  Speaker 1: this insulting grill too long. Members of Parliament were meanwhile
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  Speaker 1: pouring into the house to see the show, and though
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  Speaker 1: mister Remnant spoke on without pausing, but little notice was
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  Speaker 1: taken of anything that he said. The attendants in the
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  Speaker 1: gallery now discovered that the chains around the woman's waist
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  Speaker 1: had been wrapped in wool to prevent their clanking, and
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  Speaker 1: were secured by strong ill padlocks that, on being snapped together,
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  Speaker 1: had locked automatically without a key. And after vainly dragging
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  Speaker 1: and pulling at the women, who, in spite of the gagging,
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  Speaker 1: still managed to articulate a word or two occasionally, and
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  Speaker 1: after tugging again and again at both locks and chains,
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  Speaker 1: the men came to the conclusion that it would be
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  Speaker 1: necessary to remove bodily those parts of the grill to
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  Speaker 1: which the three disturbers were attached. Then all the women
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  Speaker 1: in the gallery, suffragettes, suffragists and even anti suffragists were alike,
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  Speaker 1: quickly bundled out. Next, screwdrivers were brought and the attendants
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  Speaker 1: set to work to dismember the grill, And when this
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  Speaker 1: had been done, the women and the great pieces of
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  Speaker 1: wrought brass work to which they were still attached were
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  Speaker 1: hauled out by the attendants and taken to Committee Room fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: where they were kept until a smith arrived to file
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  Speaker 1: through the chains. By this time the house had resumed
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  Speaker 1: its ordinary humdrum appearance, and the members who had come
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  Speaker 1: in during the disturbance had all drifted away. But as
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  Speaker 1: the division bell rang and they came trooping back to vote.
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  Speaker 1: A man in the stranger's gallery shouted why don't you
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  Speaker 1: do justice to women, and was dragged out by a
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  Speaker 1: number of policemen, and within ten minutes afterwards a second
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  Speaker 1: man shouted why don't you give votes to women and
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  Speaker 1: flung a shower of leaflets down amongst the members. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, several women were attempting to hold a
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  Speaker 1: meeting in the lobby. The police flung them outside, but
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  Speaker 1: they immediately climbed up to speak from the pedestal of
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  Speaker 1: the rishac quelde Lyon statue, and whilst the constables clambered
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  Speaker 1: up after them, pulled them down and placed them under arrest.
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  Speaker 1: Other suffragettes made dash after dash to re enter the house.
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  Speaker 1: Crowds quickly gathered and the confusion grew, and fourteen women
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  Speaker 1: and one man had been taken into custody before the
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  Speaker 1: people were dispersed. Next morning, the prisoners were brought up
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  Speaker 1: at the Westminster Police Court before mister Hopkins. The first
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  Speaker 1: to be charged was mister Arnold Cutler, the man who
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  Speaker 1: had been arrested in the fray, and it was alleged
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  Speaker 1: that he had protested against the action of the police,
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  Speaker 1: crying shame, leave the women alone, and that when dragged
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  Speaker 1: away he had taken off his belt and assumed a
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  Speaker 1: threatening attitude. He was fined twenty five shillings. The women
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  Speaker 1: were more heavily punished, being each fined five pounds, and
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  Speaker 1: on refusing to pay, were sent to Holloway for one month. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: both in and out of Parliament, day after day and
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  Speaker 1: week after week, mister Herbert Gladstone was being urged to
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  Speaker 1: extend to the suffragist prisoners the treatment that his own
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  Speaker 1: father and every Liberal statesman had declared to be due
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  Speaker 1: to political offenders, and the protests were rendered the more
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  Speaker 1: appointed because at this very time there were a number
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  Speaker 1: of men political prisoners serving sentences in Ireland who were
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  Speaker 1: actually receiving all the privileges which were being demanded on
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  Speaker 1: behalf of the suffragettes. These men were convicted of boycotting
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  Speaker 1: and cattle driving. They were allowed to provide their own clothing, furniture,
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  Speaker 1: food and malted liquor, and to have their own medical
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  Speaker 1: attendant and medicine sent in to them at any time.
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  Speaker 1: They were allowed to smoke, and to have books, newspapers
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  Speaker 1: and other means of occupation to carry on their profession
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  Speaker 1: if that were possible. They were allowed to chorous, spond
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  Speaker 1: freely with their friends, and to receive visitors every day,
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  Speaker 1: and were exempted from prison tasks. Their imprisonment, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: entailed little more than the loss of freedom to come
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  Speaker 1: and go as they wished. The case of mister Ferrell
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  Speaker 1: m P, who, whilst the Suffragette leaders were in Holloway jail,
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  Speaker 1: was convicted of inciting to cattle driving, was technically parallel
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  Speaker 1: to that of Missus Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst and Missus Drummond,
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  Speaker 1: but whilst both he and they were alike order to
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  Speaker 1: be bound over to keep the peace and to find
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  Speaker 1: sureties for their good behavior, on their common refusal, he
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: was committed to prison in the first division, while they
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: were put in the second class. Meanwhile, news of the
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: prisoners in Holloway had gradually filtered out to us, and
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  Speaker 1: the first messenger from them was Missus Drummond herself, who,
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  Speaker 1: nine days after her imprisonment had begun, was suddenly and
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  Speaker 1: unexpectedly released. She then told us that on arriving in Holloway,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Pankers had at once announced to the authorities that
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the time had come when the suffragettes would no longer
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: submit to the degrading prison regulations which had hitherto been
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  Speaker 1: enforced upon them, and that she and her comrades would
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  Speaker 1: begin by refusing either to allow themselves to be searched
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  Speaker 1: or to change their clothes in the general public dressing room.
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  Speaker 1: She further stated that for her own part, she was
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  Speaker 1: determined to speak with her fellow political prisoners, both at
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  Speaker 1: exercise and at any other time when they might happen
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  Speaker 1: to be together, for this was a right to which
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  Speaker 1: she considered all political prisoners were entitled. Seeing that it
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  Speaker 1: would be both difficult and troublesome to turn her from
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  Speaker 1: her purpose, the Governor gave way upon the first point
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  Speaker 1: and agreed that these suffragists prisoners should be allowed to
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  Speaker 1: undress privately in separate cells. But in regard to any
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  Speaker 1: other matters, he declared that the Home Secretary must be
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  Speaker 1: communicated with Missus Pankhurst and Christabelle therefore at once addressed
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: petitions to mister Herbert Gladstone, claiming that as political prisoners,
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  Speaker 1: both they and the other suffragette should be permitted to
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  Speaker 1: write and receive letters to associate with their fellow political prisoners,
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  Speaker 1: to receive visits from their friends, to attend to business
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  Speaker 1: matters as far as possible, to have books and newspapers
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: sent in to them, to wear their own clothing, and
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: to provide their own food. Mister Gladstone refused to comply
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: with any of the requests, and the prison rules were
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: enforced with all their accustomed vigor, except that for the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: first week, Missus Packhurst was allowed without challenge to speak
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to her fellow prisoners. On Sunday, November first, however, the
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: wardress suddenly called her out of the ranks, sharply reprimanded
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: her for speaking, and when she refused to give a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: promise never to do so again, ordered her to return
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: to her cell. Hearing this, the other suffragettes came running
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: across the yard and clustered around, giving three cheers for
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Missus Packhurst, whilst the wardress blew her whistle and dozens
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: of others appeared to drive the suffragettes inside. It happened
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: that on that same morning, she never could tell why
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Missus Drummond cell had not been unlocked at the time
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: for exercise, and she had been left behind whilst others
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: had gone out into the yard. She was sitting wondering
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: what had happened, when she suddenly heard the sound of cheers.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: At once she hastily dragged her plans back bed to
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the window, and, clambering up, saw the suffragettes in their
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: prison dress, with numbers of wardresses after them, running across
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: the yard in all directions. Then they disappeared, and all
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: was quiet when next she was let out into the corridor,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: and when she was taken to the chapel, she saw
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: no sign of her comrades, and though she asked the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: wardress for news of them, no answer was returned. It
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: was on the same evening that a sense of growing
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: weakness that had been upon her since her entrance into
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: prison overcame her, and she must have fainted suddenly, for
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: she was found by the wardress lying unconscious on the floor.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: She was carried to a hospital cell and put to bed,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and as she begged for more air, the outer door
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: was thrown open, and only the gate with which hospital
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: cells are also provided, was closed. Soon afterwards, Missus Pankhurst,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: who occupied the next cell, passed along the corridor to
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: fill her water can, and through the bars, was able
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: to tell Missus Drummond briefly what had happened. That she
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: herself was to remain under punishment and to be deprived
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: of both exercise and chapel until she should promise not
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: to attempt to speak again. By the doctor's orders, Missus
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Drummond remained in bed until Tuesday, when the Governor and
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the Matron came to her and told her that the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Home Secretary had given orders for her release. As soon
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: as the officers had left her, she sprang up and
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: rushed to the gate of her cell, calling out loudly
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: to Missus Pankhurst, the Home Secretary has ordered me out.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I am glad, was the reply, as the wardress came
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: hurrying back to expostulate. On hearing Missus Drummond's story, we
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: at once decided that a demonstration of encouragement to our
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: imprisoned comrades and of protest against their treatment by the authorities,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: must be held outside the jail, And on the following
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Saturday evening, a long procession of women headed by a
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: brass band and a little carriage in which rode Missus
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Drummond and those of us who were to speak, and
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: a break filled with ex prisoners in prison dress assembled
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: in Kingsway and set off for Holloway Jail. All along
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the route, cheering crowds gathered, and our procession grew as
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: we marched. And when we reached Holloway, all the rows
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: that encircle the prison were densely crowded with human beings.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: We stopped outside the main entrance to hold a meeting,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: but the masses of people were far too great for
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: our voices to reach them, and our horses, startled by
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: the vast crowds, which pressed closer and closer, showed signs
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: of becoming restive. Missus Drummond therefore let off a cheer
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: for the suffragette prisoners inside, and the crowd raised their
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: voices with her again and again. Then we slowly encircled
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: the prison three times, alternately cheering and singing the woman's
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Marseilles arise. Though pain or loss betied, grudge, not of
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: freedom stole for what they loved. The martyrs died. Are
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: we of meaner soul? Are we of meaner soul? Our comrades,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: greatly daring through prison bars, have led the way, who
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: would not follow to the fray their glorious struggle, proudly
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: sharing to freedom's cause. Till death. We swear our fealty.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: March on March on face to the dawn, the Dawn
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: of Liberty. During the ensuing week, two batches of our
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: prisoners were released, and each one carried out to us.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Further disquieting news. Missus Pankhurst, who was still being punished,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: had been characterized by the authorities as a dangerous criminal,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and because she still refused to pleasure herself to perpetual silence,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a wardress was constantly stationed outside her door to prevent
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: any attempt at communication with her. It was rumored also
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: that she was very ill, and this was confirmed by
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: mister Gladstone in reply to questions by members of Parliament,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: But my request either to be allowed to see her
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: for myself or to send in her own medical attendant
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: to interview her was denied. Again. On the following Saturday,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: we marched around the prison, but this time accompanied by
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: crowds even greater than before. In the meantime, whilst many
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: questions had been put in the House by members of Parliament,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: these suffragettes who had just been released had paid many
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: visits to the Stranger's lobby, and eventually mister Gladstone agreed
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: that Crista Belle and missus Pankhurst should be allowed to
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: spend one hour of each day together. At the same time,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: he refused to allow Cristabelle to write a book upon
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: the woman's suffrage question for a firm of London publishers,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: to be published after her release, though it was well
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: known that mister General, during his imprisonment for inciting to
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: cattle driving, had been allowed to write his book entitled
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Life and Liberty. On Saturday, November nineteenth thirteen more prisoners
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: were released, and we learned that a fortnight before there
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: had been another so called mutiny in Holloway. Missus Lee
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: had been falsely accused of inciting the other suffragette prisoners
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: to mutiny, and as a punishment, had been deprived of
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: exercise and chapel for three days, and Miss Wallace Dunlop
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: determined to prove her innocence. Every prisoner has the right
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: to lay a complaint before the governor, but the application
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: to see him is supposed to be made when the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: cell doors are first opened at six o'clock in the morning,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and he afterwards visits the prisoner when and where he
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: may think fit, and usually in her own cell. It
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: was necessary for Miss Wallace Dunlop's purpose that he should
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: come to her when all her fellow prisoners were together,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in order that each might give her text testimony. She
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: accordingly chose to make her application during the associated labor
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: which Doctor Mary Gordon, the new Lady Inspector, had instituted
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: that summer. So at half past three that afternoon, when
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the suffragettes, with the space of a yard between each other,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: had seated themselves at a number of deal tables in
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: one of the corridors, and had settled down to make
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: shirts and mail bags, she asked the wardress in charge
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: to send for the governor by five thirty, when the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: time for associated labor was at an end. The governor
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: had sent no reply, and the wardress gave the order
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: return to yourselves, but Miss Wallace Dunlop gave a counter command,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: do not return to yourselves. There had been no previous
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: understanding between them, but the women sat firm, and when
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: the order to leave was repeated, they still did not move,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: leaving it to their leader to again explain that they
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: would remain where they were until the Governor or his
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: deputy should arrive. The wardress then sharply blew her whistle,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: whereupon crowds of tall wardresses appeared from all directions and
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: line the corridor in long rows. Then Miss Wallace dunlop Rose,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: those of us who know her can well imagine the scene.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: She has one of those faces that, when we recall
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: them to our minds, we always see as though a
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: lit up turn towards a full light that streams upon them,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: and at the same time illumined from within. The spirit
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: that glows within them is intensely vibrant with sympathy for others.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Yet though the sadness of others, sorrow finds instant reflection
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: in them, and we know that their hearts throb with
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the bitter pain of other hearts. A quiet gaiety is
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: habitual to them, and we think of them always as
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: brightly and serenely happy. It seems not possible for a
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: shadow to fall across the clear purity of their minds.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: So we can plainly picture for ourselves her tall, slight
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: erect figure standing forth, and hear her gentle, light toned
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: voice say to the women, set your backs against the wall,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: and all link arms. Instantly they obeyed and stood where
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: she had told them, looking firm and immovable, though the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: official outnumbered them by more than ten to one. Then
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: there was silence, and the wardresses made no move. At
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: last steps were heard coming from a long distance. One
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: always hears them away off in holloway. Gradually they came
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: nearer and nearer, until the governor arrived. Then these suffragette
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: leaders stepped forward. We have sent for you, she said, gravely,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: because we have a statement to make. One of our
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: comrades has been unjustly punished. You know, I am always
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: willing to listen to your statements, the governor replied, but
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I can do nothing to night unless you return to yourselves. Then,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: on his promising to inquire into the whole matter, Miss
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Wallace Dunlop was satisfied, and she and her comrades quietly obeyed.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: But when the Governor came round the cells next morning,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: he ordered that every suffragette who had been present should
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: appear before the visiting magistrates to answer to a charge
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: of mutiny, and on the following day they were each
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: sentenced to from three to five day's solitary confinement and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the associated labor, about which there had always been more
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: labor than association, as the prisoners were forbidden to communicate,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: was abandoned altogether. Missus Lee was still deprived both of
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: chapel and exercise, and the others who had caught an
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: occasional glimpse of her as she passed to fill her
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: water can stated that she appeared to be suffering very
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: greatly from this close solitary confinement. Again, on the next Saturday,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: we marched to Holloway, carrying before us a white banner
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: inscribed with the text of the Women's Enfranchisement Bill. There
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: we found the police on horse and foot, mustered against us,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: a thousand strong, barring the nearest approaches to the prison,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: so that although we again circled it, it was at
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: so great a distance that only once through a gap
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: in the surrounding buildings could we see its walls. And
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: we doubted whether our voices, loud and numerous as they were,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: could be heard by the prisoners inside footnotes Note thirty
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: one by Miss F. E. M. Mac cauley, end of
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen.