MAD MILITANTS.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 426, 8 July 1913, Page 7

MAD MILITANTS.

ASTOUNDING REVELATIONS

At the trial at Bow Street Police Court, London, m May last, before Mr Curtis Bennett, of the leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union, who were arrested on a charge of conspiracy, remarkable evidence was given. The defendants were Flora Drummond (organiser), Beatrice Sanders (financial secretary), Rachel Barrett (assistant editor of the ' Suffragette newspaper), Laura Geraldine Lennox (sub-editor), Agnes Lake (business manager of the 'Suffragette '), Harriet Roberta Kerr (manageress of ;t'he office), Annie Kenney (organiser), Mr Edwy Godwin Clayton (analytical chemist), and Mr Drew (manager to the Victoria Printing and Publishing Company, which was responsible for the production of the last issue of the 'Suffragette'). In connection with Clayton some startling disclosures were made. DetectiveInspector Hawkins, of Scotland Yard, who arrested Clayton, said he had discovered documents which showed that defendant was a chemist and analyst, carrying on business at 23 Holborn Viaduct, London. There was a laboratpry on the premises, and a letter was discovered m Miss Kenney's room which bore Clayton's, signature and contained this statement : " I am sorry that it will be several days yet before I I can be ready with what you wanted.

. . . The exact proportions are very difficult to get,, .j . . Please burn this." A document iound m Clayton's possession contained a list of timber yards m various parts of London, with an allusion to one m Farririgton road that it lent itself particularly well to ( attack ; , and another document was headed "Cotton mills," and contained the remark: " During the next few days I will inspect some of them and report." There was also discovered a plan of the chief offices of the National Health Insurance Commission, England, m Buckingham Gate, with details as to entrances, windows, etc. ; and 'a further document related to the Stationery Office m Queen Anne's Gate, where there' was a, " tremendous store of paper, and stationery." ' — Case for the Prosecution. — Mr Bodkin, m his opening statement, said the accused were charged with conspiracy under the Act of 1861. The case for the prosecution was that this organisation was not necessarily solely but niainly for the purpose of the commission of crime against property. When the police took action a large number of documents were found, and up to the present they had only been partially examined. Counsel then went on to describe the positions held by the several defendants. — A Chemist's Suggestions. — Mr. Clayton was an analytical chemist,' a Fellow of the Institute of Chemists, a Fellow of the Chemical Society with a laboratory, and a person who was ostensibly following a great and m these days a most useful profession. "The evidence will show," continued Mr Bodkin, "that for months past he

ha's -been one of the most active supporters although not a member of this union, and he has thought it right, m support and m furtherance of the unlawful methods of the union, to put his knowledge and his brains at their disposal for the purpose of carrying out crime and of producing what is described m the union newspaper as a ' Reign of Terror m London.' " Mr Drew was a printer, who had printed for the union after a warning had been given that persons who did so would lay themselves open to proceedings. — The Suffragette Organ. — The first number of the ' Suffragette,' dated October 18 last year, was issued from the new offices, Lincoln's Inn House, where a considerable organisation existed, and from which the plot of this conspiracy exerted its influence throughout the land. The Press of this country was conducted on the whole with responsibility and with ability, but used m this way m violation of the law it became a mere organ of criminal con-' spiracy. The ' Suffragette ' paper declared m its columns that the only limit the Women's Social and Political Union put to militancy was that human life should be respected. They intended to create " an intolerable situation for the Government." Counsel quoted passages from speeches at the Albert Hall advising attacks on property. From October to January the outrages went on, including the burning of letters m pillar boxes, and Mrs Pankhurst wrote that if poor charwomen lost postal orders such loss was a step towards female enfranchisement. That article was reprinted and sold at a shilling a hundred by the Women's Press. — Weekly Record of Crime. — In view of the Government Bill, Mrs : Pankhurst called a truce, and afterwards she- advised that the continuance of militancy was inevitable. Counsel quoted from the speeches of Mrs Pank- , hurst, m which she advised violence, ' and said m the ' Suffragette ' there was a weekly record of crimes and criminals, and insidious articles by Christabel Pankhurst inciting to crime, with the result that m London alone £7,000 to £8,000 worth of damage was done to plate-glass windows, 560 letter boxes Avere damaged, and 8,400 letters damaged. The newspaper regarded apparently as the only matters of interest the doings of miscreants and the be- | lauding of crime. It was not known, however, until the documents now m the possession of the police were seized, that the women had an invaluable chemist m their ranks — the man who wrote the letter which Miss Kenney left upon her bedroom dressing table relating to experiments. Was it not terrible that a man should be paid to j prostitute his knowledge for such a ' purpose as this? Counsel went on to describe how, but for the blowing out of a candle, probably 12 men would have been injured or killed by the explosion at the house at Walton-on-the-

—"The Woman's Revolution."— Clayton had m his written communications talked about breaking fire alarms and setting fire to timber yards. With fiendish ingenuity he had suggested disorganising the fire alarms and firing the timber yards at the same time. What a position would have been created m London, and what of human life ? Kenney was his enthusiastic coconspirator m this.

— A Sneezing Plot. — In Miss Kerr's room was found a letter I from Mr H. Buckland, an engineer, of ■ Hamburg, referring to the tentative sale for £150 of a large quantity of I ' pungent powder for use m music halls, ; ■ theatres, and halls, m order to make ' people sneeze. The letter said: "You can recommend it as a splendid thing, ; and it will do you a lot of good." The , writer went on to suggest that on a ' certain day the suffragettes should visit < every concert hall, music hall, and theatre m London and use a pungent powder which would cause violent sneezing and irritaton of the skin, the effect lasting some hours. There was a second letter from the same man on April 29, addressed to the secretary of the W.S.P.U. : "Re my interview today, I enclose particulars of my scheme, and the cost of carrying out ' the same. If approved, reply, as I am returning to Germany on Saturday." "Let us hope," said counsel, "that he did return and will remain m Germany with his powder — an abominable thing. There was an epidemic of sneezing at j a- recent sitting of the Central Criminal ; Court. The central hall was the spot, , ' but it might have been a mere coincidence." : — A Stem Rebuke. — : There had been laughter m the dock ' more than once while Mr Bodkin was : unfolding his argument, and at this point Mrs. "Drummond was the offender. Mr ■ Curtis Bennett : Please behave yourself, and remember where you are. I It is perfectly disgraceful. Mrs Drummond attempted to make an observation m reply. The Magistrate (sternly) : Will you keep quiet, please. Mr Bodkin : Mrs Drummond is pleased to show her sense of humor ; but there are other senses which may be imported into this case before it is over. A letter to Mrs Pankhurst, signed m Cipher, referred to a proposal for damaging a dockyard m this country to the extent of £20,000. The letter said it would cost £20 for materials and two men. . Before concluding, Mr Bodkin referred to certain investments of the W.S.P.U., these amounting to several thousands of pounds. He- asked for a committal to the Central Criminal Court lof the several accused persons, who would be proved to have been engaged m a dangerous conspiracy against property not only m London but throughout the country. Evidence of the police raid was then given, detectives proving the finding of letters and documents at the offices of the union and at the private houses of the defendants. ' — Scene m Court. — Mr Muir, for the defence, raised the question of bail. The Magistrate said he would grant it to Lennox, Barrett, and Lake, but refused it to the others. . On being remanded both Mrs Drummond and Miss Kenney protested. The former shouted to the Magistrate: "You have no right to punish us yet. We have not been found guilty yet." Miss Kenney said: "Ii you won't give us. bail we will all go on hunger ' strike. This," she proceeded, "is prosecution by Government, and we will stand against it even if our dead bodies are carried out. We will haunt you. You cannot put us down! You can't put us down! Hurrah!" Both Mrs Drummond and Miss 1 Kenney continued to harangue the Magistrate till they were removed. To her friends m court Miss Kenney cried : . "Keep the flag flying, and tell everybody that we are going on hunger strike!" l — Young Widow's Loss. — » 'An unoccupied house m Hallswelle

road, Golders Green, was partially destroyed by fire. Traced m soap on a bedroom looking glass were the words "Votes for women," and the firemen found other indications that pointed to the fire being of an incendiary nature. This case reveals one of the most poignant instances of the wrong that can be done to people who have no ( interest m the suffragist movement or the indiscriminate campaign of violence now being waged. The owner of the damaged house is a young lady, not much more than 20 years of age, who was married last autumn. Her husband invested his savings m this little property, which they furnished, and they returned to the house after their honeymoon, looking forward to many years of wedded happiness. But within two months of the day of the marriage the husband died. The girl widow underwent a long illness,- and when she was sufficiently recovered returned to her parents' home and put the house m ! Hallswelle road into the hands of tho ' agents for sale.