Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-19
Declare They Will Die Together
When Judge Opposes
Any Leniency.
CALL HIM WOMAN HOUNDER
Say Jurist Ought to Be Asham-
ed of Himself for Receiving
$4,000 a Year for
Such Work.

London, June 17.-Six leaders of the
suffragettes and one of their male sup
porters were to-day found guilty at the
central criminal court of conspiracy to
commit malicious damage to property.
Justice Phillimore imposed sentences
varying from six months to 81 months
at hard labor, Those sentenced were Miss
Harriet Kerr, Miss Agnes Lake, Mss
Rachel Barrett. Mrs. Beatrice Saunders,
Miss Annie Kenney, Miss Laura Lennox
and Edwy Clayton. All of the women
except Mrs. Saunders announced their
intention of going on hunger strike.
Prior to passing sentence the judge said
that doubtless the prisoners sincerely be-
lieved that by their lawless conduct they
were forwarding a good cause.
Some of you must be religious" he
continued. IF you are not atheists you
must believe in a moral governor Of the
universe. | commend to you the state
ment of a modern writer, a woman ! be-
lieve, who characterizes the belief that
the end ~justihes the means as treason
against the Almighty"
After passing sentence, he said:
"One of the counsel has suggested that
the time for leniency has passed, and I
don't think that you will meet with quite
the same treatment as have the others. |
am bound to add that If the home secre-
tary consults me, as he often consults a
Judge, | shall take upon myself the re-
sponsibility OF saying to him that the
ringleaders among you, at any rate,
should not be let out OF prison under any
circumstances"
Then we shall die together" exclaimed
Miss Kenney. "They have got to let me
out or kill me. | think your summing
up was most biased and unfair. You
ought to be ashamed of yourself to re-
ceive six thousand pounds a year for
bounding women
A large crowd had gathered outside Old
Bailey to witness the departure of the
women for the prison but there was no
demonstration.
Greater interest was taken in to-day's
proceedings than in any previous stage
of the trial. Women formed the major
ity Of the audience and among them were
IRIS Winston Spencer Churchill, wife of
the first lord of the admiralty. and Miss
Violet Asquith, daughter of the premier.
Miss Annie Kenney devoted much of
her speech for the defense to attempts to
prove that the action of the Ulster union
lists and the speeches of cabinet minis
tiers, who she averred had asserted thai
the enfranchised We're justified in REBEL
ing in order to get their grievances rene
died, furnished ample warrant for th'
course pursued by the militants.
If further justification We're necessary
she said ''the trickery and treachery Of
cabinet ministers who had hunted anC
bounded the women from pillar to post
supplied It. The present government sh,
| c%ontended had a blacker record in tn,
question of women suffrage than an
other. 1t had treated the aspirations o
the women more abominably than any
| British government had done since 1867
| As for herself she belonged to the work
ing classes. At the age of ten she sait
she was a half-timer In a factory anC
she had Joined the suffrage movemen
because of the terribly cruel condition!
under which women worked In thu
British Isles. She added:
ct am a rebel and a rebel I shall re
main Until women receive the vote. ]
like Miss Emily Winding Dawson !
should be necessary for me to sacrifice
my life, then | shall die"
Cambridge, England, June H.
Three hundred volumes, many of then
valuable, belonging to the library OF
St. Johns College have been mutt
lated. Indications point to the suf'
fragettes as responsible for the van
dalism.