The Washington herald., 1918-08-17

In JAIL BEGIN
HUNGERSTRIKE
Make Demand for Treat
ment as Political
Prisoners"
FIND THE NIGHT CHILLY
DR.. Sarah Lockrey, Freed,
Tells of Varied
Discomforts. ~.

Twenty-Five. Of the twenty-six suf-
fragettes who were imprisoned Thurs
day have completed the first twenty
four hours Of a hunger strike. They
are demanding the rights OF polit-
ical prisoners"
Two Of the twenty-six have been
released on the payment of their
fines. DR.. Sarah Lockrey. OF Phils-
delphia, who is taking the practice
Of a surgeon doing war work. re-
turned to Philadelphia 10 perform a
major operation, and the son OF Mrs.
Margaret Oakes. Of Idaho. paid her
fine and had her released. saying
he needed her at home. She pro-
tested. but after her fine was paid
the authorities refused to allow her
TO stay in jail.
The women are at present held in
communicate, no visitors being per-
mitted TO see them. "One visitor a
week is permitted each prisoner"
said the superintendent After the
women are here a week. each can
have one visitor a week"
DR.. Lockrey brought out word of
the hunger strike. and said that the
women were chilled through Thurs
day night. A hasty call was sent
out for flannel pajamas. but three
grips filled with these and other
warm clothing were refused at the
jail when delivered. and the prison.
ers had to do last night with the
insufficient clothing they had the
night before
Rights of political prisoners,'' as
defined by the Woman's National Suf-
frage Party. are, in foreign countries.
free communication with friends, vis-
itors. food from the outside, their own
clothes. books and personal belong
ings."
Treated Like Others.
They're just like any other pris-
oners who break the laws. and will
receive the same treatment" said the
superintendent. Il don't want to dis
cuss their hunger strike yet. And 1
can't tell you whether well resort 10
forcible feeding. or IL we do, how long
we'll wait for them to abandon IL first.
The situation is not serious now"
During the last hunger strike the
authorities resorted to forcible feed
ing after five days in some cases and
after ten in others.
i ne SuNrdSetteS nave refused TO per-
nit two of their number TO Join the
hunger strike because OF their age
These two are Mrs. Irving Gross, OF
Boston. and Mrs. Anna Kuhn, of Bal
timore.
The women are held in a wing OF the
Jail. which has recently been done
over. 1t is clean, but the cells are in
five tiers. and are only by Z, with
no windows, and too dark for reading
The windows are fifteen feet from
the floor. so that the prisoners cannot
communicate with friends as they
have in the past.
The women are in the lowest tier OF
cells.
Defective Drains.
Defective open drains make the
place unsanitary," said DR.. Lockrey
after her release. II suspect that $
why it was abandoned. So far the
suffragettes a=e allowed to walk in
the corridor. At first Supt. link
ham refused to allow the windows
opened last night and the odor was
horrible, but later all the windows
were opened and We pulled our beds
out in the corridor TO sleep.
'When / left this morning, some OF
the women were already feeling faint
from the hunger strike. but all were
full Of courage to so on, and were
= CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO.