The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-07
|SUFFRAGETTES TELL
OF INDIGNITIES
SUFFERED DURING
WASHINGTON PARADE
tcont,nued From Page One,

CONTINUED From Page One)
surged in so close that the marchers
could hardly walk two abreast; that
good natured drunken men, pushed
against the marehers' lines without re-
straint by the police and that the few
officers in sight did nothing to protect
the procession.
Congress had passed a special act di-
recting the Washington police depart
ment to prevent any Interference with
the suffrage procession" In the ques-
tions put to the women witnesses today
Senators Jones, Dillingham; and Pomer-
enc tried to secure definite information
as to why the protection had been so
inadequate; and as to the number OF
police on hand and the manner in which
they acted toward. the women marchers
Committee Room Packed
Well dressed women, many of them
leaders in national suffrage affairs,
packed the committee room where the
hearings were held and from their ranks
came the witnesses who were called to
the stand under the direction of Miss
Alice Paul. In a statement furnished
to the committee at its opening, Major
Richard Sylvester, superintendent of po-
lice, declared his department had given
the parade all the protection it could
with the limited number of policemen
available, and that the disorder on the
streets was due to the breaking of cables
along the route and the unruly character
OF the crowd.
Bursts of laughter came frequently as
women told of their experiences. Mrs
Upton said there were some elderly
women in the Ohio division and she was
afraid good natured drunken man
would fall against them.
$50 we all hurried and got past and he
fell back on Wisconsin or Wyoming or
somewhere back there she said.
Police Laughed at Scene
She declared the police laughed at the
scenes and made no effort to help. The
most Inefficient, she said were the plain
clothes men sworn in for the occasion.
who carried their authority in the badges
on their--coats.
Mrs. Agnes Nj. jerks of Concord, n. H.
who had her daughter and other young
girls with her in the New Hampshire
division. told one of the most striking
stories. She declared uniformed police
men had encouraged the crowd in it's dis
order and that she had been so alarmed
at the action of the officers toward the
young girls that the children were placed
in the center of the procession. where
they were protected by older women.
The crowd hooted and jeered,' she
said men tried to get the flowers from
our coats. and one man stuck his foot
out in front of my daughter and tried to
trip her. At another point two police.
men in uniform We're standing together
talking and were encouraging the crowd
to jeer us. One policeman looked as
though he was going to take hold of the
young girls who were marching with us.
We were more frightened by the police
than by the crowds
None of the women could give the num-
ber of the policemen, who had exhibited
indifference or antagonism. although sew
eral thought they could identify some of
them. The Witnesses We're almost unani-
nous in declaring that few policemen
were in sight and no mounted officers
and that there seemed to be no success
ful effort to control the crowds until the
cavalrymen came on the scene.
Mrs. Cordelia p. Odenheimer of Jessup,
Nd, said she had walked the length of
the avenue a short time prior to the
starting OF the parade and that the
crowds were then back on the sidewalk
Mrs. Abbie Scott Baker of Washington,
one of the organizers OF the parade, de-
clared the street had been allowed to
become congcsted just before the parade
started. and that lack of advance pro-
lection had made it impossible then to
clean the avenue.
1T was as though we walked into
the neck OF a funnel said Mrs. Baker.
"One policeman to whom / appealed
stood with his arms folded and said: oh.
the crowd is doing very we'll"
Thank Boy Scouts
New York, March 5.-A letter from
women representing both suffragists and
anti-sunragists was received at the ma
tional headquarters of the Boy Scouts
Of America today thankinglthe boys who
tried to protect women who marched in
the recent parade at Washington. "a
fines example OF the power of a trained
Intelligent mind over mere brute force. .
il one compliment paid the young scouts.
AS the policemen openly fraternized
with the hostile populace, the noble ex-
ample and many exertions of>the scouts.
together with the fine spirit of the won.-
en- they protected was all that saved the
city from shIpe and disaster before the
cavalry FROM Fort Myers arrived" the
wcmen wrote, expressing appreciation 'on
behalf of the visitors and residents in
Washington" The letter was signed by
Mrs. G. H. Durham, Miss II. s. Wallace.
Mrs. " d. Delmotte. Pennsylvania; 3.
A. Wallace, NJ. J. Wallace Clara NJ
Meikle. Maryland; Roberta Wallace. Mrs.
II. j. corbin, Florida.
Other messages We're received praising
the boy scouts including communica-
tons from Rear Admiral Richard Vain
wright, United States navy. retired. and
Major Clark Lynch OF the United states
army medical corps.
Feared for Daughter
Mrs. Walter ]. Fisher, wife of the
retiring Secretary of the Interior, told
the committee of the anxiety with
which she watched from the 'postoffice
building for. her daughter to appear
In the parade as the crowd now and
then surged across the avenue. break
ing and blocking the progress Of the
pageant.
Miss Elizabeth Brown. local teach :
er. testified >of the course buffoonery'
10 which the teachers brigade was
subjected. The crowd. pressing against
US would repeat the alphabet, count
10 ten and sing Rats. Rats, Rats as
they marked time" said she.
Miss verna Hatfjeld who rode on