SUFFRAGETTE FURY.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14327, 12 April 1912, Page 5

SUFFRAGETTE FURY.

THK WINDOW-SMASHING CAMPAIGN.

HOSTILE PUBLIC OPiNION.

itltOSl OUR OWN (-(innF.sl'ONDKNTt. LONDON, March i". The militant section of the \"otos for Women Party has shot its bolt, and the sttlfratio cause, so far as tho present Parliament is concerned, is in grave jK'ril. This week-end bands of women, old and young, have systeiuatically raidetl tho W._-st F.ikl. engaged iti an

i extensive window-smash in;: campaign, there hn.s been attempted arson at the Cenoral Post Office; the regulation., <,i . llol'oway Prison have been set at ii.oML.ht: and the British Mn.-eutn, tlie : Royal Arademy. Hampton Court i Palace, and other places which contain priceless work-> of art have had to bo ' closed temporarily to tho public. It is asserted that the police found on one of tlie women arresttd a letter suggesting ; st.II more violent methods than window- ' breaking, aud this is Ixirne out by Mrs Pankhmsi's declaration before the j Magistrate.—-"If you send mc to ; prison 1 shall go further."' The crowds" this, time were very hostile to the women, and it is dilli- ! e'llt to find any pers>->i supporting the ! law-breakers outside the ranks of the : followers ot the Pankhtirsts and the 1 Pet-hick Lawrences. -The Times" de- | clared : —"None of its previous follies has been so thoroughly calculated to ' discredit the suffragist cause." and continued, '"the law of conspiracy is, as every one knows, a delicate and com- ! plex alfair: but commonsonse will have it that a simultaneous assault on three ■ or four miles of shop-fronts was not duo to a spontaneous and irresistible impulse in the breasts of unconnected females , who knew nothing of one another's state :of mind."' No one was prepared for : tho wholesale s-mashings on Friday night ' and Saturday morning, when thc ' windows of the drapers, jewellers, ship- , ping ofliccs, post offices, eating-houses. j and other inoffensive trades, suffered | alike from the onslaught with hammers j and stones. -

j THE WINDOW-SMASHERS. ! The niids on shoos on Friday were j made practically simultaneously and j begun about b' p.m. Ladies -walking j unostentatiously along tho side-walks of j Oxford street.. Bond street, Piccadilly, ' Cockspur street, nnd thc Strand suddenly turned with fury on the plate-gln-s windows of drapery, millinery, and jewellery establishments. Purchasers ancl shoo assistants rushed out to the sound of splintering glass and ; hurried blowing of -whistles. Women were found to be passing rapidly from shop-front to shop-front hacking and hammering tho pin to-glass, and with excited exclamations adding to tho I clamour and din that was almost overpowering in its intensity. Hundreds of policemen began to arrive it; response to tlio insistent whistling of their comrades, "who were out- ; numbered and powerless at tho est art. In their helplessness they appealed to ' all and sundry for assistance, and tho ■ women were pursued by crowds of in- ' dignant spectators. The straightforward attack having failed beforo •superior numbers, the women resorted : to artifice to effect their purpose. Many j walked calmly along with hammers and j stones concealed in their muffs till, l find'ng some windows which still rei mainod intact, they produced their ivca- . ?ons and fought to remedy tho omission of their predecessors. Others drove up openly im cabs, alighted •with tho air of potential purchasers, and even.' as tho obsequious shop-walkers were in thc midst of their stately ndi dress of welcome, proceeded to astonish those ' unoffending personages by a. ferocious attack on their expensivelydressed windows. • Needless to say. something approaching n__pan?c set in amongthe business bouses of tho tYest Fuel, "and blinds were drawn and windows barricaded. Tlie affair was over in half an hottr butthe oolice ofTicnrs were kent busy til! far jin tho night dealing with excited culi prits and angry expostulating owners J and managers of the- -wrecked premises. Some Jiundred and fifty arrests were

Mrs Panlchnrst herself broke the windows of No. 10. Downing street, nnd tho following table show s ! where the bulk of thc damage was done:—

Windows Estimated I) role en. cos'-. t 'frnn_ .. .. 22 £3».-> Cockppnr street .. 7 £370 Uaymarket .. > £105 7'iccadilly .. Xi X3-I5 Bind street ~ 21 £-\SO Oxford street .. SI CPIO Regent, street .. 30 J-IMO Next morning other militants turned their attention to High street, Kensington, and Knightsbridgo.

THE OFFICIAL EXCUSE. Tho reason for tho women's action was given by Miss Christabel Panklulrst. who said:—"lt is a protest against the Government's refusing to legislate in regard to the question of woman suffrage. Tho fact that tho miners aro going to net legislation becauso they have made themselves a nuisance is a direct incitement to wom«n to endeavour to obtain a similar privilege. We are persuaded that tho Government will not do anything till they are forced. As they do not yield to tho justice of our demand we have lieon practically forced into adopting these tactics." . "WE WILL TERRORISE THE IX)T

OF YOU." "In a great issuo like votes for women, money and property count for nothing." These were tho closing words of Miss Paukhurst's weekly oration at .the Pavilion Music Hall this week before calling upon her militant comrades to renew the attack upon the windows of private tradesmen and others. But it was a speech that was assailed at every point by opponents in tho dress circle and in various parts of the hall, and the tactics of the opponents, who appeared to bo well-organised, so exasperated one militant lady that she struck ono of the obstructors in tho face. "If it is necessary." said Miss Pankhurst, "we whall not hesitate to burn a palace, and in doing so we shall bo but following in the foot-stens of the wise men who have preceded us. If Friday's methods aro not strong enough we will terrorise the whole lot of you." she declared, amid loud groans and cheers.