The Mena weekly star., 1911-11-30
SUFFRACETTES
prefer PRISON
Choose MartyrdOm Rather Than
Pay Fines Imposed by Judge
Smash Windows Before
Taken TO Jail.

London, Nov. 22.-Over 200 unre-
pentant suffragettes, many Of whom
apparently are still in their teens,
appeared at Bow street police
court today and were sentenced to
fines and Imprisonment varying
from a fortnight to a month. The
women invariably chose prison.
The militant section of the suf-
fragettes was not long in making
good their promise to resume their
old tactics.
They warned Premier Asquith of
this last week, and last night be-
tween 8 and II o'clock some 200
martyrs" to the female cause
were marched by burly London
hobbies to various police stations
in the neighborhood of the house
of commons. Thy made a fine
demonstration, but it suffered by
comparison with their earlier eff
forts.
The program announced we'll be-
forehand was for the women to as
semble at their headquarters at
Caxton hall, march to Westminster,
beard the ministers in their den
and make demands from the floor
|of the house.
They gathered in Caxton hall in
goodly numbers, though fewer than
on previous occasions, and speeches
were made vigorously condemning
the government manhood suffrage
bill as an insult to women. Resolu-
tons were adopted demanding equal
f 1nchise rights for both sexes.
Parade at Once Broken Up
Miss Christabel Pankhurst pre-
sided at the meeting. The speeches
demanded in sulphuric language
abandonment of the manhood suff-
rage bill and the introduction of
bill providing franchise rights for
all.
AT the conclusion of this meet
ing the women formed a procession
and started for the house of COM
mons, headed by Mrs. P. Lawrence.
The police were out in strong num-
bers. They took every precaution
against a surprise raid on st. Steph-
ems. They tested the gates, locks
and doors and placed Gordon
completely around parliament
square.
AS soon as the procession started
a large force Of police broke ~ up.
The women composing it were
obliged to go to Parliament square.
Here and at all the approaches to
the parliament several thousand
people had gathered to see the fun.
There was also an army of po-
lice, probably a couple of thousand,
who effectually preserved the pre-
cincts of parliament from the
slightest dissertation.
Three Men Suffragettes Arrested.
The women were soon struggling
with the police in an effort to break
through the Gordon, and before 8:t5
O'Clock 35 arrests had been made.
The usual method Of forcing arrest
was for two or three to run up
against a solid wall of hobbies, y
who would gently push them back
into the crowd.
If this course of action was per-
sisted in often enough it would in
time bring about an arrest. Three
policemen would be brought out
from the reserves behind and they
would take the suffragette to the
police station, a mounted police
man making way for them
through the crowd. In this man
| ner altogether 223 suffragettes, in
GLIDING three men, were taken To
the police station.
There was new feature Of this
demonstration, namely, window
smashing. This was done by flying
squadrons of sulfragette volunteers
the object being apparently to draw
the attention of the police from the
house Of commons.