Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-05

ing arrived at the committee room while
Miss Tema Camitta was telling how the
strikers committee had tried to get the
to be cared for during the strike and
how the police had interfered at the rail-
road station.
Children's Plight Terrible
Miss Margaret Sanger of New York. u
trained nurse, who was instrumental in
taking children from Lawrence, told Of
aiding in taking the first consignmnet OF
chlldren to New York.
I'VE had no trouble at that time" said
Miss Sanger. lit was two weeks before
the. trouble. The authorities had not de-
cided to interfere at that time"
Did you investigate conditions at
Lawrence? asked MI. Pou.
Yes"
rs it true they only get meat once a
week.?
That was the assertion of the children
and the mothers as WELL
Miss Sanger said the condition of many
of the children was horrible. Four who had
chickenpox had to be left behind. One
who was taken had diphtheria.
out of one hundred and nineteen chill
dren. only four of them had any un-
derwear," said Miss Sanger.
And these people were working in
wooden mill?" asked Representative STAN
ley.
Yes
WAS their outer clothing WOOL. asked
Representative Foster.
mo; and most of the clothing was rags
on bitter cold day.
MISS Sanger sald the doctors examined
the children in New York and that most
of them were sick and emaciated.
Ate Meat With Their Hands.
You ought to have seen the children
eat when we got them TO New York,
said Miss Sanger .'They grabbed the
meat and ate it with their hands they
were SO hungry"
Before the first witness took the stand
Representative Victor Berger of Wiscon-
sin, socialist, had read into the record a
telegram from William ID. Haywood, one
of the strike leaders. to the erect that
two woman witnesses sought by Mr.. Bef-
ger could not come to Washington be
cause of injuries sustained at the hands
of the police in the recent rioting
One of the women, Haywood said. was
in the hospital in critical condition,
while the other was confined to her home
Miss Camitta, a Philadelphia vocal stu
dent and Sunday school teacher. ana
member of one of the committees tFat
sought TO get the children out of Law
renee told of the scenes at the railroad
station in Lawrence. She related how she
had endeayored to lead the children from
the station to the train.
Rushed" by the Police.
"For some reason the children got ont
ahead of me- she said, 'and instantly
the women and children were hurled INTO
a struggling mass by the police. ] was
squeezed against the wall Of the waiting
room, and was terribly frightened.
'.The crowd in front of me was so
dense that / could see little. l called
out to the police, BE careful OF the chill
dren, You're killing them. Later when
sought to accompany them to the police
station ] was told that Id better stay
away or I'd be clubbed. too.
Miss Camitta admitted that she saw no
clubbing of women or children In the sta
tion nor any injured after the affray.
Il did see the police clubbing women
in the patrol wagon" she said. The
wagon was crowded and the police were
thrusting the women about with their
clubs
The witness at this juncture refused to
advance an opinion on how many women
were In the wagon, but said she saw
more than one woman beaten. At no
time, she said. had she observed any OUT
RACES committed by the militiamen.
Zone man. Miss Camitta declared.
was arrested IOT tTyluS " sChu AiiS
children out of Lawrence,
WAS he tried" asked Mr.. Hardwick.
Il don't know. but l know he went to
one of the meetings of his people ana
told them he had been arrested for trying
to send his children to Bridgeport. Miss
Camitta continued. II don't know his
name, but he was an Armenian"
She related incidents of the attempts
of the police and soldiers TO prevent
children leaving Lawrence.
Threatened Their Parents.
Miss Camitta told of detectives visiting
the homes Of parents Of Lawrence chill
dren, threatening them II they sent their
children away.
I'm all cases where children were to be
taken to Philadelphia, asked Chairman
Henry, did you have the parents con-
sent?''
I'm every case" she said
There was nothing in the nature OF
"Absolutely not, and We took every pre-
caution to assure them that the homes
intended for the children should have
the best possible surroundings.
"Why did you desire to have the chit
dren come to Philadelphia" asked Rep
resenta tive Garrett.
Miss Camitta said she preferred to keep
her personal reason TO herself.
II Think she finally said. that the
press reports were assurance enough to
every decent man or woman to get chill
dren of tender age out OF Lawrence.
That's the only reason SO far am
:When you were in Lawrence did you