New-York tribune., 1919-12-26
Five Seed in Procession,
Led by Clergyman,
Demnding Release of
"Polical Prisoners''
T,ineSwitched at
Fourteenth Street
Marchrs Are Unopposed
Unt They r e a c h
Barred Thoroughfare

Al The ccstion IVY nen IS parade not
psrac % was argued yesterday be-
q .seen ne police and pedestrians in
N fifth sd Sixth avenues and earnest
a savidals who are set upon obtain
4 NJ therelease of political prisoners"
4 .fter adebate about mile and half
one was decided that parade is
4 ,os ,arade when it isn't in Fifth
s Avenue
n Three women and two men were
n srrsstet In the course of the peri
a ,s.etic debate One of the women
a zss arrested because she Insisted on
,n.efins the Brick Presbyterian Church
q nth her placard demanding general
B amnesty for political prisoners" The
\ aher prisoners were victims of their
a ietermination to walk" on Fifth Ave
Il me for "the cause"
II According to the program adopted
shsn the 200 earnest men and women
& gsihered at the parish house of the
hurch Of the Ascension, Eleventh
i Street and Fifth Avenue, it was to be
walk" and not "parade.' The au-
.Omobile carrying persons in prison
arb and chains, part of the demon
tration as originally planned, was
omitted because of the expressed dis
approval OF the police
Choristers Sing Undisturbed
/ eha singing group" dressed as
i tsorlsters, was the first to set out Its
i nsmbers departed by automobile with
i he intention of serenading churches
il the interest of political freedom. So
1 hi as could be learned they met with
] 90 opposition and sang to their hearts
1 tontent
The walkers" were the persons who
got into trouble. and this despite the
! ;aet that they were led by the Rev.
{. V. Howell, an unattached Methodist
clergyman, carrying the American flag.
Tho was fanked by Arthur Leeds and
Arthur Hayes. both lawyers and both
oaced to the muzzle with the code of
criminal procedure and the Constitu-
ton Of the United States.
sprigs OF holly decorated the hats of
the "walkers,' and they wore brassards
or carried plaoards inscribed with such
slogans as Ten Prisoners Have Died
or Conscience Sake" "ChrisHan Italy
Has Freed Its Political Prisoners" and
On Christmas Day We Ask Amnesty
!hey proceeded triumphantly as far
as Fourteenth Street despite an earlier
sarnng from Captain William j.
Clarke, of the Charles Street police
station, that such a promenade as they
mad planned in Fifth Avenue came
pfelty close to being a parade and was
"Sey to get them into trouble.
Trouble at Fourteenth Street
At Fourteenth Street, however, they
lelt the baillwick of that prophet of
evil and entered that of Benjamin F.
ssShley, acting captain of the West
twentieth Street police station. Act
,lg Captain Ashley is not prophet,
but materialist. He met them at the
very border line of mis- precinct and
'old them they were in trouble right
then and there.
Turn back" he commanded. "You
nave nave no permit and you have no right
+" carry those signs
lie was met by the vanguard OF the
earnest walkers counter offensive. the
Hlsses Alice Riggs Hunt and Florence
1aee' marshals OF the walk. The Rev.
MI. MI. Howell, the American flag and the
serve. ''
we are American citizens" chorused
r",,. ,nv vanguard, and have right to
wax on the public highways"
al a"eIlng captain Ashley merely grunt-
ss.a ss aliu me nlst detachment of the re-
maneS ,s1veS' Mr.. Leeds and Mr.. Hayes,
IU1ed sbo,e up to the support of the mar
~ osss. They opened with the rights
81 ssctiar man and the old English law, fired
',ons ~ Ws OF the statutes of the State
W. v. New York by platoons and wound
W "c WIN constitutional drumfre.
sbopu "pieau out, there" Captain Ashley
vu'eu s,sons TO about thirty patrolmen who
n,senpea mssnS Kim in the ward of his
,bo"es' ,baso and see to it that none of
"sse e., people get by"
y Inc ne patrolmen spread out obedient-
y, ouV We're foiled completely by the
strategy of the Rev. MIR. Howell and
Az american flag, who executed a
aahHing movement to the west. which
orO ovO" brought the entire body of march
NO 70 Sixth Avenue. They met with
m,u W. opposition IN Sixth Avenue. The
"ni aiA was fiat, stale and improbable,
'ran WY at twenty ninth Street the earnest
r;@taHefs decided unanimously to try
I'm Avenue again.
@, "vie rl police were waiting for them
a. a. innlrueth Street in the same mood
/, Daptan Ashley imperative
Iaoawas was necessary for Artillerymen
st;sus; ftus and Hayes to unlimber the Con-
luton tah again. The engagement was
Of "et ~ one and attracted the attention
ma!or Lorillard Spencer, formerly
H.'aAon commander in Colonel Bill
"aGSwards 369th Infantry.
MAJOR Spencer, who was in uniform,
pausea m".;e at the curb to observe the COM
,vs,,' n'on and remarked to woman
n"uA nHiaer who stood near him that the
.e e ..t merely were obeying orders and
u u ehese people don't like this country
sresy, icy Ca can go back where they came
a.y MY people came over on the May
sUTer' retorted the woman walker
ssu ss;. stalked off with frigid, Pilgrim
sat- sat- winch was in itself bleak, Mas
0's"uSetts frost for Major Spencer.
Assailants Assist Victim
Az Thirty-frst Street two men in
hMy wh;.y Uniform snatched at a placard
Ja'en woman walker carried and in
,o NJ. sculfle the woman fell to the pave
asae. aaa, Her assailants almost knocked
aeh other down in their haste to
rs's. "ras ner to her feet again and retired
0o,rusively while she berated them
iSs io ,nclr "brutality." Another walker
10Y HlS brassard to a man in the uni
I'm Of an officer Of the army air
me Rev. Mr.. Howell, the stratesi,t
-'.o tie American Aog, had taken ad-