The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-05
MILLION WOMEN ENGAGE IN FIGHT
 FOR THE BALLOT
Demonstrations of Enthus- lasts Reach Point Where Police Can No Longer
 Control
It Will Take Martyrs to Car rv Out Our Determination,
 Says Mrs. Pankhurst
(SpeciaI from United Press.)


 Especial from United Press.)
 London. March 5-Hard labor was the portion meted out today to a score of suffra gette leaders arrested for par ticipating in last nights demonstra- tions, when they were arraigned in the several police courts. The sen rences varied from one tr two months, according to the nature of the offense charged.
 Most Of the magistrates served mo- tice on the women that, hereafter. all sentences will include hard labor, a new departure This will mean riot ous scenes within the prisons as the women say they simply will not work.
 One million devoted women. firm in the belief that they have been refused rights guaranteed them months ago by Premier AsQuith and the present Brit ssh government and Stung to anger by the calm refusal of Asquith and his colleagues to grant them hearing, have brought about a situation that today threatens to overshadow the great labor troubles. The demonstra- Tions of the women advocates of equal suffrage have reached point where the police can no longer prevent or control them. Violence, of a type pe- culiarly aggravating, has been ordered by the leaders, and wholesale arrests. instead of checking it, have merely enhanced the determination of the wo- men. There is grave danger today that the outcome will be bloodshed It Is known that Mrs. Emmeline Plank hurst and other leaders of the mill, .,, tant suffragettes hope that this will come As she was led away to her cell last week, Mrs. Pankhurst declar- ed the cause would have been advanc- ed 10 years had she been killed. It will take martyrs to carry out our de- termination" she said, and that IS the spirit of the women who today shout ed at the street corners that the gov ernment must yield.
 Mounted and foot police alike were def1ed by the women. today. They refused to move on and when the of them, they tried to drag the uniform cd men to the street. The foot police were baited with a determination that proved nerve-ruffling in the extreme. The women want to be arrested. They are very strong and their present hope is that the jails will be filled so that there will be no place to con- fine them
 The police and magistrates know this, but they also realize, that as fast as a woman arrested for rioting is turned loose, she arms herself with more windows to throw stones and to lombard the opposition with argu- ments for the cause"
 We will be militant until we gain our rights" say the leaders. ''If our methods are not strong enough there are others in reserve"
 And the women who utter these sentiments are not the rabble of the East End. They are the top women of Great Britain. Mrs. Frederick P. Lawrence, highly educated, a power full platform speaker, and an editor of note, made this plain, today.
 We will terroriZe this country or we will get our rights" she cried, and m audience of gentlewomen, refined end most of them wealthy in their own right, cheered her statements to the echo.
 If we have to we will burn down the royal palace itself," declared Mrs. Lawrence and that incendiary senti- Inent likewise received noisy approv- ai from the women present.
 Today, the Bow street police court was jammed with the women after last nights demonstration. Most of them were bound over for hearings, later. Two. Victoria Simons and Lil- 1ian Ball, noted leaders, were sent snced to two months in prison at hard labor. They dramatically faced the magistrate and said their imprison- ,nent only meant further and more serious demonstrations.
 Defiance was in their every utter ance and as they were led away, still Ehrieking for the cause" their "sis- ters in misery" cheered them Justify
 Nearly every big store window is boarded up, and the city looks in a state of siege. The banks maintain special guards outside their doors to keep the women away. Everyone is kept moving and women suspected of planning violence are hustled into vehicles and rushed to the police sta- lions to be searched.
 The Times, today, demands that all of the leaders of the suffragettes be prosecuted on charges of conspiracy 10 break the law. This is a felony punisha ble by sentences up to seven years The government hesitates to act thus severely, although the de- mand is joined in by the shop keep i.rs whose property was destroyed The women hope this action will be taken. If 1t is, they say, they are sure to win as they insist English men will never consent to their wives and daughters being made felons be- cause they demanded the rights for which their forefathers fought