The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-19


and a pot of tea which she had re-
| quested.
Good for Cause
"I am confident that whatever happens
| 1t will be good for the cause in which
I am interested" she said. Il have great
| faith in the American peoples sense of
justice and fair play and l know they
want to give me chance to defend the
movement which has been SO msrepre-
sented. There is no doubt that my de-
tention is unjust"
Three things in connection with the
| examination of Mrs. Pankhurst seemed
particularly to arouse her Indignation.
| One was that she was accused of moral
| turpitude,' another that the proceedings
We're in secret and the third that her
| political opponents In England had, in
| her belief, furnished much of the ma
| terial used by the special board in ques-
| tlons put to her. Her examiners were
courteous. more or less" she admitted.
| THE climax came,' she declared, when
| they said / was guilty of moral turpi-
| tude. Then ] said, Your ancestors were
guilty of moral turpitude when they
| threw the tea into Boston harbor.' 1 re-
minded them that Charles Stewart Par
nell, Michael Dayitt and John Redmond
| Irish political leaders, who were convict
| ed under the same act of parliament un-
der which 1 was convicted, We're received
| here with open arms, although they de-
stroyed property and were guilty of acts
of a political nature and were convicted
! by Parliament for then''
Mrs Pankhurst, according to the stem
ographic report of her examination, adj
mitted she had made incendiary speeches
in England, but firmly denied she ever
had advocated the taking of life.
Urged Riot and Rebellion
| 4 have made speeches urging riot and
rebellion and the destruction of property
when necessary" the minutes quote her
as saying. II always have urged that care
be taken against the destruction of human
life Her object coming here, she said,
was that which the ancestors of present
day Americans had in visiting Europe in
| the time of the revolutionary--"fo sup
port and sympathy" She freely admitted
she had several times come in contact
with the English authorities and been i'm
prisoned
| After the questioning ended and the
newspaper men were permitted to talk
with her, Mrs. Pankhurst was quick to
| register her objection to "star chamber
proceedings" They had "a bad moral ef-
feet" she contended. AS to the decision
of the board she said:
| "Who is responsible for the action taken
by the special board in ordering me de-
ported? l am of the opinion it was done
| by our political opponents on the other
side. 1 think the minds of the members
| of the board were maze up before l ar
rived here. My experiences before the
board were very painful to me. AT the
| beginning / asked to have lawyer pres
ent to look after my rights, but this was
| bluntly refused. The board refused to let
me make explanations. They interrupted
me on almost every word excepting that
which said about the grounds of moral
turpitude. I told them they certainly
We're prejudiced. The board had a copy
of the act of parliament under which
was convicted, and most of the questions
seemed to me to be prepared or stereo-
typed. The members of the board did
not seem able to define moral turpitude.
l did it for them.
II was severely cross examined in a
manner that 1 believe was intended to
make me fall into trap. My deportation
was ordered specifically on my conviction
on an indictment found against me in
England as the person who placed a
bomb in Lloyd-GeorgeS home.'
Mrs. Harriet Stanton Blatch and other
suffragists who went to Ellis Island early
this evening to talk to Mrs. PankhuSst
on behalf of Samuel Untermyer, who had
volunteered to plead Mrs. Pankhurst's
case they said, were informed that the
island was officially closed for the day
and that their interview would have to
wait until tomorrow.