The Washington times., 1913-03-04

The portion Of the pageant whefe
the Washington horsewomen rode was
very well cared for In The matter of;
police protection according to Miss
Genevieve wimsatt. leader of the
washington, Petticoaf Cavalry sections:
today. Il had to do with the. forrIla-,
ton of the first part of the pageant and
found plenty of room to operate,S she.
said.
The crowds did not press in upon us
unduly and there seemed to be no more
delay in starting the pageant than gen.
orally occurs with large parades. The
route of the parade was pretty generally
open and there seemed to be little dis
turbance.
..All of this may have been due to
the fact that we constituted the very
front of the procession and probably
were better protected than other por-
tfons of the parade. l did notice that
the police did not seem to take them
selves seriously, and joked and laughed
about the pageant and the crowd. OF
course, being on horseback, we We're
not molested as much as those who
walked" 60. -
Very different in tone were the COM
ments made by some of the other wom-
en- who had to do with the pageant.
Mrs. Helen II. Gardener scored the Sec
.retary of War and the President Tor
mot granting troops for guard of
honor after they had been repeat
edly asked for one"
Il do not blame Major Sylvester so
much as I do officials of the War De-
partment," said Mrs. Gardener. From
the first the officials appeared not TO
fal la hn no MT D.
peals for a guard were disregarded. -
believe that the appearance of the
squadron of the Fifteenth Cavalry was
due to orders directly from the ,Presi-
dent after the display of rowdyisn in
front ot the Sherman square grand
stand had become intolerable. -
"I do blame Major Sylvester Tor the
inefficiency of some of his men. They
appeared to pay little attention. to sthe
hoodlums 1t was noticed that the
troops had little difficulty In opening q
way in the mass of humanity AROUND
the Treasury steps after the police had
been unable to do anything, apparent
". The portion of the parade route
from Fifteenth street to the Treasury
steps and in front of the sherman
although this should have been place
of greatest congestion. and the pageant
and people there were weuproteeted after
the troops arrived. 1 believe the cav,
airy was sent for after Mrs. Taft and
her party had retired from the Presi-
DENTS box on account of the hoodlum-
ism In the street IN front of IT; -,
.'It is the more astonishing that the
Secretary of War should have taken
the attitude he did after repeatedly ap-
pealed to. ] went to the President, and
was told he would see that We were
protected. Miss Alice Paul went per-
sonally to Secretary Stimson, and was
told he would see that We had "a guard
of honor. He told me then that he had
not seen the letter from the Commits
sioners stating that they might not be
able to control the people along the
route Of the pageant, and that assistant
Secretary of War Oliver had answered
the Commissioners letter. Secretary
Stimson promised me then that we
should have a guard of troops, and yet
/ understand that the cavalry was sent
here by request of the President on a
hurry call. The change in conditions,
after their arrival showed that IL they
had been there at the first there would
have been little trouble from hoodlum-
ism ;
ut certainly made US feel patriotic
when we saw the soldiers, and the
showing made by the little band was
not only gratefully appreciated by all
women in the pageant. but was espe-
cially pleasing to an army woman
Mrs. Jenness- Miller. who had much 10
do with obtaining permission to use
Pennsylvania avenue for the pagsarit,
and was a member of. the comffaittee
which handled the business Of the afr
fair said she had no desire to proceed
hurriedly nor in ANY hysterical manner
in an investigation. but that there
seemed To be necessity for a careful in
vestigation OF the police IN their ham
ding OF the crowds and their conduct
all along the route Of the pageant
4. 81 am a business woman" said Mrs.