Jailed for Freedom

n Epi

nment workhouse at Occoquan. They were kept absolutely incommunicado. They were not allowed to see eve

letter a month, which, after being read by the

up the suffragists' mail: "I am boss down here," he said to visitors who asked to see the prisoners, or to send in a note. "I consider the letters and telegrams these prisone

f intimidating not only the prisoners, bu

greeable and unreasonable as it was. They performed the tasks assigned to them. They ate the prison f

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endure such a system. The petty tyrannies they could endure. But the inevitable result of

trickled to the outside world through

Chicago. He made a hurried trip to the workhouse to see them. The fastidious Senator was shocked-shocked at the appearance of the prisoners, shocked at the tale they told, shocked that "ladies" should be subjected to such indignities. "In all my years of criminal practice," said the Senator to Gilson Gardner, who had accompanied him to

an investigation of conditions in the workhouse would be held. That was, of course, an admirable maneuver which the Administration could make. "Is the President not a

nd "noble" t

1

ucy Burns, acting on behalf of the National Woman's Party, sent a letter to

plain, but they also expected that . . enough eatable food would be given them

rses. She has had a distinguished career in her profession. She assisted in the work after the Johnstown flood and during the yellow fever epidemic in Florida. During the Spanish war she organized t

tly remedied. When these and other prisoners were sentenced to prison t

ed there. But they are still bad. The water they drink is kept in an open pail, from which it is

he prisoners in Occoquan are sometimes seriously afflic

the workhouse . . . . The prisoners for whom I am counsel are aware that cruel practices go on at Occoquan. On one occasion they he

1

he fullest possible information given you concerning the institution for whose

pectfull

d) LUC

them warnings to guide them past the possible contamination of hideous diseases. As soon as she was discharged from the workho

my performance of my duties. Yesterday Superintendent Whittaker told me I was discharged and gave me two hours in which to get ou

ble. She said of a letter sent to one of the suffragist pickets now in the workhouse, "They told her to keep her eyes open and notice everything. She will never get that letter," said Mrs. Herndon. ,Then she corrected herself, and added, "Not until she goes away." Ordi

since December without being washed or cleaned. Blankets

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ot changed completely, even when one is gone and another takes her bed. Instead the top sheet is put on the bottom, and one fresh sheet is given them. I was not th

anced stages of consumption. Women suffering from, syphilis, who have open sores, are put in the hospital. But those whos

the store room. When they are finished they throw the soap back in the bucket. The suffragists are permitted three sho

ey are found in the cornbread. The first suffragists sent the worms to Whittaker on a spoon. On the farm 'is a fine herd of Holsteins. The cream is made into butter and sold to

has been kept seventeen days on only water this month in the "booby house." The ,same was kept nin

rs are not allowed to lay a hand on them in punishment. I know of one girl beate

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ave seen her afterwards and I have heard the cries and blows. Do

MRS. VIRG

to before me this d

BATT, Nota

it was, through its police court, sentencing more women to sixty day sentences, under the same conditions. The Administration was giving some thought to its plan of procedu

idation and hardsh

endent W

charge of "impudence." Mrs. Kendall says that her impudence consisted of "protesting to the matron that scrubbing floors on my hands and knee

me clothing eleven days. She was refused a nightdress or clean linen for the cot. Her only toilet accommodations was an open pail. For four da

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d out half the meager supply bef

om her confinement. When she walked from her cell to greet Mrs. Genevieve Clark Thompson, daughter of Champ Clark, Speaker of the House, and Miss Roberta Bradshaw, other friends, who, through the Speaker's influence, had obtained special pe

ll door, to inquire as to her health, while in solitar

s, was moved by these and similar revelations to introduce a resol

age prisoners women of all

he workhouse. This appeal to Meyer London was rather pathetic, since not even he, the

Meyer

alist Party, Branches 2 and 4 of the Bronx, and I have been an active member o

s Rankin's resolut

1

omen get their rights. We are enslaved here. I am suffering very much from hunger and nearly blind from bad nourishment. The food is chiefly soup, cereal with worms, bread just baked and very heavy. Even this poor food, we do not get enough. I do not eat meat. When I told the doctor that he said, "You must eat, and if you don't like it

quickly as possible,

ormation in this lett

to write on. I would write to other comrades, to Hillquit

for th

) ANNA

KHOUSE, Frid

ffidavit when she came out

dders to paint the dormitories, I was so weak from lack

refused, because I have to work for my living and I could not af

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tion. The only times I stopped workin

) ANNA

d subscribed in my pr

ber,

C. LARIMO

Publi

e countless beautiful messages which were sent to the women, or the fervent protests which went to government officials. Among the hundreds of thousands of protests was a valuable one b

ber 3

Dr. K

Occoquan, and at the District jail, and have heard from their own lips an

o you the conditions, as they have been told t

First of all, the food question. The diet furnished the prisoners at Occoquan especially is of a character to invit6 all kinds of infections that may prevail, and to lower the vitality so that the resist

1

that no whole milk is served or ever has been served to one of the so-called "picketers" in that jail. I have not had enough of the sample to make a chemical analysis, but being somewhat experienced in milk, I can truthfully say that it seems to me to be water

ently is of good quality, but the diet in every case is the cause of constipation, except in the case of pea soup, which brings on diarrhea and vomiting. As nutr

ese noble women are kept in solitary confinement. Not only have they had a struggle to get the windows open slightly, but also at the time of their morning meal, the sweeping is done. The air of the cells

make such rules and regulations as would secure to prisoners of all kinds,

pections of food furnished to prisoners at Occoquan and at the District Jail, a

1

y the nutritive environment

cer

) HARVE

tt, the distinguished actor, must have ar

ber 22

ewton

tary

epart

ngton

d demand their political freedom, are held in vile conditions in the Government workhouse in Washington; are compelled to paint the negro toilets for eight hours a day; are denied decent food and denied c

RD BE

received a reply

isoners but the "regulars." Locked in separate cells, as in the District Jail, the suffragists could still communicate by song. The following lively doggerel to the tune of "Captain

1

ied Woo

ood, as

ied Woo

e st

ied Woo

ried him r

im right goo

him for

ood, as

him for

e st

him for

rather wr

write a note

t get ou

ail, go

t get ou

r to go

go to jail-we

them fo

eeth, for

them fo

our

them fo

"There ain'

e ain't no rush-

them for

ked, as w

them fo

e ch

them fo

threw us

s in a lair,

1

hem for ou

oze, as

them for

e fr

hem for ou

ooked-high

ightie-tighti

es, take

and, as

es, take

e st

es, take

ote the

he Presidint,

that came out of prison. There

the suffragists sixteen times in eighteen days, could break their spirit of gayety. And when a piece of fish of unknown origin was slipped through the tiny

, and still another a stern Presbyterian prayer. The prayers were most disconcerting to the matron for the "regulars" became almost hysterical with laughter, when they should be slipping into sleep. I

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ang through the corridors of the dreary prison, with a stirring

ell, and contributing a line. The following song to the tune of "Charli

REVOLUTI

the re

en, of

the re

libe

ous women o

eless an

ngth assure

e demo

FR

ible o

rd, f

t daughte

vic

the re

en, of

the re

libe

lution bor

conceived

banner f

oppress

FR

death,

d, on

t daughte

vic

1

upon girl prisoners. This method of punishment consisted of strapping girls with their hands tied behind them to a greasy pole from which they were partly suspended. Unable to keep themselves in an upright position, because of the grease on

This happened in one instance to the suffrage prisoners who were protesting against the warden's forcibly taking a suffragist from the workhouse without telling her or her comrades whither she was bein

mates," when released. They come for money. They come for work. They come for spiritual encouragement to face life afte

risonment, when she was working on ratification of the amendment in Delaware, she was greeted warm

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d to recollect. "Do

u in Was

forgotten where I met you,"

e her fellow prisoner told her that she had been in jail at the tipie Mrs. Lewis was, tha

s. Lewis in telling of the incident, "and they both joined enthusi

hese times, in the midst of the warmth of approving and appreciative comrades, some of the most beautiful sp

so much of a change for women, disfranchised women. In prison or out, American women are not free. Our lot of physi

cation the minute women determinedly insist upon these rights. Prison life epitomizes all life under undemocratic rule. At Occoquan, as at the Capitol and the White House, we faced hypocrisy, trickery and tr

1

law," he answered, "because it is the rule I make." The answer of Whittaker is the answer Wilson makes to women every time the Gove

of freedom because I have left comrades at Occoquan and bec

e so-called political freedom of women who have won suffrage by a

all find ourselves, when the war is over, with a peace that will only prolong o

men to the workhouse and the District J

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