The Washington herald., 1917-08-20
JAILED "SUFFS'
LALLLABOR
Each to Do Duties Accord
ing to Physical
Fitness.

Garden work, sewing, work in the
laundry and housework, will be
portioned out today to the six
militant suffragettes serving thirty
day sentences in the District Work.
house at Occoqtan, Va. The women
will undergo a physical examination,
and the work assigned them will de-
pend upon their bodily fitness. There
will be no differentiation between the
tasks assigned them and those given
the. other women prisoners.
THE work will do them good"
Supt. W. H. Whitaker remarked yes
terday. II will guarantee that when
they leave here at the expiration of
their sentences they will be 100 per
cent better off, physically, than they
are now. They all look like they
might be able to do some of the
lighter work in the garden, and the
open air and exercise will work Won
ders for them
While the superintendent did not
say so, he intimated that the SEN
tences might work an Improvement
in the mental attitudes of the wom-
en-, also.
Yesterday was a day of rest with
the prisoners. They had breakfast
early, a simple meal of coffee, rolls.
cereal and molasses. At noon they
were given a substantial dinner of
boiled shoulder, cabbage, corn on the
cob and cornbread. For supper they
had bread, molasses, beef stew and
vegetables.
Prisoners Hostile.
Religious services were held in the
afternoon, and later the suffragettes
attempted to hold an impromptu suf-
frage meeting. The announcement
they received from other women pris-
oners, however, was not gratifying.
The warm sympathy that linked the
former suffrage prisoners with their
fellow timers" in fact was notice.
ably lacking. Several of the women
prisoners showed open hostility and
resented attempts of the militants to
gain converts
All Of the women are in good helath,
and are bearing up cheerfully under
the changed environment. They have
been shown no favors, and all are
attired in the gray uniforms pro-
vided for the prisoners by the gov
ernment. Pleas for a retention OIL
the dainty lingerie which the women
wore when they arrived, were denied
90 oAAiiiAAdI ICQutSlS Iildl IneN
be allowed to keep their own shoes.
Coarse cotton took the place of frilly
silk and fine linen, and heavy, busr
ness-like shoes were substituted fol-
the pumps and other fashionable foot
wear.
Visitors Denied Admittance.
Efforts on the part of Miss Lucy
Burns, militant "suff," and ellison
Gardner, member of the Illinois bar,
to see the imprisoned pickets at Oc-
coquan yesterday proved futile. Mr..
Gardner, who is counsel for Miss Lucy
Ewing, one of the Jailed suffra gists,
claimed he had a particular right to
see this young lady since he visited
the prison in the regular hours fer
Sunday callers.
Miss Edna Dixon, another of the
Jailed '.suffs," reports that so far
the six pickets have confined their
menu to plain bread and water She
further states that the striped uni
forms given the women are brand
new, and evidently made in anticipa-
ton Of their arrest"
"Picketing is only temporarily at a
standstill. waiting the services OF
women all over the United States who
are anxious to support the cause in
this way" a member of the National
Women's Party said last night.
Comfort letters" will be sent every
day from Cameron House to the in
generated members at the workhouse,
to cheer the suffs during their long
prison hours.
Reports that a hunger strike" was
planned by the prisoners, was en-
phatically denied at the Madison place
headquarters last night.