Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-14
Avenue Packed, He Says.


sylvania avenue. s''..... -.
Avenue Packed, He Says.
Mr.. Johnson said that the Avenue was
packed and that crowds continually
poured down 14th street.
"A man from Chicago remarked that
If there was such a crowd there, there
would be 100000 pockets picked" he said.
One group of policemen took hold of
hands and tried to get the crowd back,
Mr.. Johnson declared. He described the
crowd a this point as the worst he had
ever seen.
He said one man who had iea1.selling
souvenirs made many funny remarks:
Mr.. Johnson said it was his opinion that
the police at this point We're doing as
much as possible.
4 have watched this criticism he
continued, with interest. l am from a
suffrag.st state and my newspaper was
one of the first to advocate suffrage. /
admired the parade greatly.
1T might have been well il there had
been a bit of comedy in the parade. The
crowd was evidently out for FUR.
Describing the work of the caVKYyy.h he
said that 1t opened up a lane effectively,
when 1t came. The police worked hard
generally, he declared, but few seemed
to be mixing with the crowd.
MY impression is that the police work
ed as hard as they could and that the
only way the work could have been done
properly would have been to have started
early in the morning"
Chief Reason for Trouble.
In answer to a question by Senator
Pomerene. Mr.. johnson said that he
thought the chief reason for the trouble
was the failure to begin work earlier.
He declared more than so per cent Of
the crowd were women and children,
that all were in happy mood.
Mr.. Johnson said that he had just begun
to receive newspapers with accounts of
the parade from home, and that 1t wa4
made to appear that pitched battle be-
tween men and women had been fought.
1T has even been reported that I
marched in the procession he added.
Miss Ida Meyers, a marcher In the law
section, spoke particularly Of two uni
formed policemen she said were laughing
and joking with the crowd about the
women. At one point, she said, a police
man smiled while a group of Boy Scouts
tried to get the crowd back.
Doing Duty in Some Cases.
In some cases the policemen were doing
their duty" she added amid laughter,
land were assisting the Boy Scouts. After
passing 18th street the police seemed to
do better
betWeeH ~ anu IZtn StreetS, 1 SnOulO
think. nine-tenthS of the policemen were
not performing AASir duty. They were
smiling and enjoying slnon,SQtire affair"
w. d. Ambrose was the Witness.
He said he was a witness of the parade
and that the Avenue at some -noints was
very badly blocked He praised tife>Qo-
lice and said they were making every
effort to keep the crowd back without
the police actually committing assaults.
If they had done more, he thought. peo-
pie would have been injured.
Trouble All Along Route"
Mrs. Helen H. Gardener, one of the
suffragist leaders. was the next wit
ness. She said there was trouble with
the crowd during almost the entire route
Tho police did not act authoritatively
or as though they really wanted to con-
troll the crowd, Mrs. Gardener said.
Usually they acted mostly as spectators
she declared. The police between 9Th
and 18th streets were worse than
others, she said.
Mrs. Gardener told Of her efforts to get
cavalry protection for the procession. She
said that Mai. Sylvester did not Seem to
realize the importance of what the. SUI,
fragists were trying to do.
She said Maj. Sylvester had simply re-
fused to ask for troops. She then told of
writing to Commissioner Rudolph to ask
him to assist in getting troops. The Com
missioner replied that he had referred her
request to Gen. Johnston.
Mrs. Gardener said she saw very few
policemen working very hard. They did
not act as though they were really in
earnest. she declared.
ACTED Like Children"
They were just going through the mo-
tons of policemen she added. Some
acted as though they were poo-pooing
children
Mrs. Gardener showed photographs to
disprove the claim that the crowds were
largely made up Of women and e.sildren
Mrs. Helena Hill Weed then showed a
large number OF photographs of tie
crowds during the procession
Mrs. Weed told of how a young woman
had ordered the girls in her brigade to
draw their hatpins. At this time q num-
Der or young men retreated, she said.
Twenty-Five Policemen
Deny Charge of Failure
to Perform Their DUTY
Two police sergeants. twenty-one pri-
Yates and a railway crossing policeman
mentioned by number but not nv mama