More Than A Magazine, A Movement
National Woman’s Party leader Alice Paul has finally been transferred out of the psychopathic ward of Washington, D.C.’s District Jail, and today succeeded in smuggling a note out of the hospital ward where she is now being kept during her hunger strike and force-feedings.
Public support for the imprisoned “Silent Sentinel” suffragists is increasing now that newspapers have begun to print excerpts from a note written by Lucy Burns, which was smuggled out of Occoquan Workhouse.
The isolation of the suffrage prisoners in Occoquan Workhouse was finally broken today, and details about their ordeals are about to become known to the public.
The policy of total resistance to the authorities at Occoquan Workhouse by imprisoned suffragists until they are granted political prisoner status has now expanded to rejecting all food, according to a bulletin from the National Woman’s Party.
A travesty of justice in Washington D.C.’s Police Court today, as Judge Alexander Mullowney gave 31 “Silent Sentinels” outrageous sentences for trying to peacefully picket outside the White House fence on November 10th and 12th in support of woman suffrage.
Today saw yet another example of the outrageous treatment given to peaceful suffragists, who are picketing President Wilson over his failure to support passage and ratification of the Susan B. Anthony (woman suffrage) Amendment while he tirelessly calls for democracy around the rest of world.
After all they’ve gone through, from extremes of weather to attacks by hostile crowds, arrests, and lengthy jail sentences, it’s not easy to shock the suffragists who have been picketing President Wilson over his refusal to support or work for the Susan B. Anthony (woman suffrage) Amendment while he vigorously promotes democracy abroad. But today they were caught by surprise.
Where did the 41 suffragists arrested yesterday while trying to picket along the White House fence spend part of what may be their last day of freedom before their trials tomorrow ? Inside the walls of the District of Columbia Jail.
Earlier today, forty-one brave suffragists answered the question of whether recent mass arrests followed by increasingly lengthy prison sentences would be enough to prevent American citizens from asserting their right to peacefully voice their demand for political equality. The answer was a unanimous and defiant “No!”
Today, Alice Paul was able to get her side of the story out about her continuing ordeal in D.C.’s District Jail. She’s in her 19th day of serving sentences totaling seven months imposed on her for peacefully picketing along the White House fence in favor of woman suffrage – and against President Wilson’s lack of support for our cause.