CHAPTER VI

Prison had indeed been for us a battle-ground ever since the time when

we had solemnly resolved that, as a matter of principle, we would not

submit to the rules that bound ordinary offenders against the law. But

when I entered Holloway on that April day in 1913, it was with full

knowledge that I had before me a far more prolonged struggle than any

that the militant suffragists had hitherto faced. I have described the

hunger strike, that terrible weapon with which we had repeatedly broken

our prison bars. The Government, at their wits' end to cope with the

hunger strikers, and to overcome a situation which had brought the laws

of England into such scandalous disrepute, had had recourse to a

measure, surely the most savagely devised ever brought before a modern

Parliament.

In March of that year, while I was waiting trial on the charge of

conspiring to destroy Mr. Lloyd-George's country house, a bill was

introduced into the House of Commons by the Home Secretary, Mr. Reginald

McKenna, a bill which had for its avowed object the breaking down of the

hunger strike. This measure, now universally known as the "Cat and Mouse

Act," provided that when a hunger striking suffrage prisoner (the law

was frankly admitted to apply only to suffrage prisoners) was certified

by the prison doctors to be in danger of death, she could be ordered

released on a sort of a ticket of leave for the purpose of regaining

strength enough to undergo the remainder of her sentence. Released, she

was still a prisoner, the prisoner, or the patient, or the victim, as

you may choose to call her, being kept under constant police

surveillance. According to the terms of the bill the prisoner was

released for a specified number of days, at the expiration of which she

was supposed to return to prison on her own account. Says the Act:

"The period of temporary discharge may, if the Secretary of State

thinks fit, be extended on a representation of the prisoner that

the state of her health renders her unfit to return to prison. If

such representation be made, the prisoner shall submit herself, if

so required, for medical examination by the medical officer of the

above mentioned prison, or other registered medical practitioner

appointed by the Secretary of State.

The prisoner shall notify to the Commissioner of Police of the

Metropolis the place of residence to which she goes on her

discharge. She shall not change her residence without giving one

clear day's notice in writing to the Commissioner, specifying the

residence to which she is going and she shall not be temporarily

absent from her residence for more than twelve hours without giving

a like notice," etc.

The idea of militant suffragists respecting a law of this order is

almost humorous, and yet the smile dies before the pity one feels for

the Minister whose confession of failure is embodied in such a measure.

Here was a mighty Government weakly resolved that justice to women it

would not grant, knowing that submission of women it could not force,

and so was willing to compromise with a piece of class legislation

absolutely contrary to all of its avowed principles. Said Mr. McKenna,

pleading in the House for the advancement of his odious measure: "At the

present time I cannot make these prisoners undergo their sentences

without serious risk of death and I want to have power to enable me to

compel a prisoner to undergo the sentence, and I want that power in all

cases where the prisoner adopts the system of the hunger strike. At the

present moment, although I have the power of release, I cannot release a

prisoner without a pardon, and I have to discharge them for good. I want

the power of releasing a prisoner without a pardon, with the sentence

remaining alive.... I want to enforce the Law, and I want, if I can, to

enforce it without forcible feeding, and without undergoing the risk of

some one else's life."

Interrogated by several members, Mr. McKenna admitted that the "Cat and

Mouse" bill, if passed, would not inevitably do away with forcible

feeding, but he promised that the hateful and disgusting process would

be resorted to only when "absolutely necessary." We shall see later how

hypocritical this representation was.

Parliament, which had never had time to consider, beyond its initial

stages, a women's suffrage measure, passed the Cat and Mouse Act through

both houses within the limits of a few days. It was already law when I

entered Holloway on April 3rd, 1913, and I grieve to state that many

members of the Labour Party, pledged to support woman suffrage, helped

to make it into law.

Of course the Act was, from its inception, treated by the suffragists

with the utmost contempt. We had not the slightest intention of

assisting Mr. McKenna in enforcing unjust sentences against soldiers in

the army of freedom, and when the prison doors closed behind me I

adopted the hunger strike exactly as though I expected it to prove, as

formerly, a means of gaining my liberty.

That struggle is not a pleasant one to recall. Every possible means of

breaking down my resolution was resorted to. The daintiest and most

tempting food was placed in my cell. All sorts of arguments were brought

to bear against me--the futility of resisting the Cat and Mouse Act, the

wickedness of risking suicide--I shall not attempt to record all the

arguments. They fell against a blank wall of consciousness, for my

thoughts were all very far away from Holloway and all its torments. I

knew, what afterwards I learned as a fact, that my imprisonment was

followed by the greatest revolutionary outbreak that had been witnessed

in England since 1832. From one end of the island to the other the

beacons of the women's revolution blazed night and day. Many country

houses--all unoccupied--were fired, the grand stand of Ayr race course

was burned to the ground, a bomb was exploded in Oxted Station, London,

blowing out walls and windows, some empty railroad carriages were blown

up, the glass of thirteen famous paintings in the Manchester Art Gallery

were smashed with hammers--these are simply random specimens of the

general outbreak of secret guerilla warfare waged by women to whose

liberties every other approach had been barricaded by the Liberal

Government of free England. The only answer of the Government was the

closing of the British Museum, the National Gallery, Windsor Castle, and

other tourist resorts. As for the result on the people of England, that

was exactly what we had anticipated. The public were thrown into a state

of emotion of insecurity and frightened expectancy. Not yet did they

show themselves ready to demand of the Government that the outrages be

stopped in the only way they could be stopped--by giving votes to women.

I knew that it would be so. Lying in my lonely cell in Holloway, racked

with pain, oppressed with increasing weakness, depressed with the heavy

responsibility of unknown happenings, I was sadly aware that we were but

approaching a far goal. The end, though certain, was still distant.

Patience, and still more patience, faith and still more faith, well, we

had called upon these souls' help before and it was certain that they

would not fail us at this greatest crisis of all.

Thus in great anguish of mind and body passed nine terrible days, each

one longer and more acutely miserable than the preceding. Towards the

last, I was mercifully half unconscious of my surroundings. A curious

indifference took possession of my over-wrought mind, and it was almost

without emotion that I heard, on the morning of the tenth day, that I

was to be released temporarily in order to recover my health. The

Governor came to my cell and read me my licence, which commanded me to

return to Holloway in fifteen days, and meanwhile to observe all the

obsequious terms as to informing the police of my movements. With what

strength my hands retained I tore the document in strips and dropped it

on the floor of the cell. "I have no intention," I said, "of obeying

this infamous law. You release me knowing perfectly well that I shall

never voluntarily return to any of your prisons."

They sent me away, sitting bolt upright in a cab, unmindful of the fact

that I was in a dangerous condition of weakness, having lost two stone

in weight and suffered seriously from irregularities of heart action. As

I left the prison I was gratefully aware of groups of our women standing

bravely at the gates, as though enduring a long vigil. As a matter of

fact, relays of women had picketed the place night and day during the

whole term of my imprisonment. The first pickets were arrested, but as

others constantly arrived to fill their places the police finally gave

in and allowed the women to march up and down before the prison carrying

the flag.

At the nursing home to which I was conveyed I learned that Annie Kenney,

Mrs. Drummond, and our staunch friend, Mr. George Lansbury,[5] had been

arrested during my imprisonment, and that all three had adopted the

hunger strike. I also learned on my own account how desperately the

Government were striving to make their Cat and Mouse Act--the last stand

in their losing campaign--a success. Without regard to the extra expense

laid on the unfortunate tax payers of the country, the Government

employed a large extra force of police especially for this purpose. As

I lay in bed, being assisted by every medical resource to return to life

and health, these special police, colloquially termed "Cats," guarded

the nursing home as if it were a besieged castle. In the street under my

windows two detectives and a constable stood on guard night and day. In

a house at right angles to my refuge three more detectives kept constant

watch. In the mews at the rear of the house were more detectives, and

diligently patrolling the road, as if in expectation of a rescuing

regiment, two taxicabs, each with its quota of detectives, guarded the

highways.

All this made recovery slow and difficult. But worse was to come. On

April 30th, just as I was beginning to rally somewhat, came the news

that the police had swooped down on our headquarters in Kingsway and had

arrested the entire official force. Miss Barrett, associate editor of

_The Suffragette_; Miss Lennox, the sub-editor; Miss Lake, business

manager; Miss Kerr, office manager, and Mrs. Sanders, financial

secretary of the Union, were arrested, although not one of them had ever

appeared in any militant action. Mr. E. G. Clayton, a chemist, was also

arrested, accused of furnishing the W. S. P. U. with explosive

materials. The offices were thoroughly searched, and, as on a former

occasion, stripped of all books and papers. While this was being done

another party of police, armed with a special warrant, proceeded to the

printing office where our paper, _The Suffragette_, was published. The

printer, Mr. Drew, was placed under arrest and the material for the

paper, which was to appear on the following day, was seized. By one

o'clock in the afternoon the entire plant and the headquarters of the

Union were in the hands of the police, and to all appearances the

militant movement--temporarily at least--was brought to a full stop. In

my state of semi-prostration it at first seemed to me best to let the

week's issue of the paper lapse, but on second thought I decided that

even the appearance of surrender was not to be thought of. How we

managed it need not here be told, but we actually did, overnight, with

hardly any material, except Christabel's leading article, and with

hastily summoned helpers, get out the paper as usual, and side by side

with the morning journals which bore front page stories of the

suppression of the Suffragette organ, our paper sellers sold _The

Suffragette_. The front page bore, instead of the usual cartoon, the

single word in bold faced type--

"RAIDED,"

the full story of the police search and the arrests being related in the

other pages. Our headquarters, I may say in passing, remained closed

less than forty-eight hours. We are so organised that the arrest of

leaders does not seriously cripple us. Every one has an understudy, and

when one leader drops out her substitute is ready instantly to take her

place.

In this emergency there appeared as chief organiser in Miss Kenney's

place, Miss Grace Roe, one of the young Suffragettes of whom I, as

belonging to the older generation, am so proud. Faced by difficulties

as great as the Government could make them, Miss Roe at once showed

herself to be equal to the situation, and to have the gift of unswerving

loyalty combined with a strong and rapid judgment of things and people.

Aiding her was Mrs. Dacre Fox, who surprised us all by her amazing

ability to act as assistant editor of _The Suffragette_, manage a host

of affairs in the office, and preside at our weekly meetings. Another

member of the Union who came prominently to the front at the time of

this crisis was Mrs. Mansel.

In two days' time the office was open and running quite as usual, no

outward sign showing the grief and indignation felt for our imprisoned

comrades. Most of them refused bail and instantly hunger struck

appearing in court for trial three days later in a pitiful state. Mrs.

Drummond was so obviously ill and in need of medical attention that she

was discharged and was very soon afterwards operated upon. Mr. Drew, the

printer, was forced to sign an undertaking not to publish the paper

again. The others were sentenced to terms varying from six to eighteen

months. Mr. Clayton was sentenced to twenty-one months, and after

desperate resistance, during which he was forcibly fed many times,

escaped his prison. The others, following the same example, starved

their way to liberty, and have ever since been pursued at intervals and

rearrested under the Cat and Mouse Act.

After my discharge, April 12th, I remained in the nursing home until

partially restored, then, under the eyes of the police, I motored out to

Woking, the country home of my friend, Dr. Ethel Smyth. This house,

like the nursing home, was guarded by a small army of police. I never

went to the window, I never took the air in the garden without being

conscious of watching eyes. The situation became intolerable, and I

determined to end it. On May 26th there was a great meeting at the

London Pavillion, and I gave notice that I would attend it. Supported by

Dr. Flora Murray, Dr. Ethel Smyth and my devoted Nurse Pine, I walked

downstairs, to be confronted at the door by a detective, who demanded to

know where I was going. I was in a weak state, much weaker than I had

imagined, and in refusing the right of a man to question my movements I

exhausted the last remnant of my strength and sank fainting in the arms

of my friends. As soon as I recovered I got into the motor car. The

detective instantly took his place beside me and told the chauffeur to

drive to Bow Street Station. The chauffeur replied that he took his

orders only from Mrs. Pankhurst, whereupon the detective summoned a

taxicab and, placing me under arrest, took me to Bow Street.

Under the Cat and Mouse Act a paroled prisoner can be thus arrested

without the formality of a warrant, nor does the time she has spent at

liberty, in regaining her health, count off from her prison sentence.

The magistrate at Bow Street was therefore quite within his legal rights

when he ordered me returned to Holloway. I felt it my duty,

nevertheless, to point out to him the inhumanity of his act. I said to

him: "I was released from Holloway on account of my health. Since then I

have been treated exactly as if I were in prison. It has become

absolutely impossible for any one to recover health under such

conditions, and this morning I decided to make this protest against a

state of affairs unparalleled in a civilised country."

[Illustration: RE-ARREST OF MRS. PANKHURST AT WOKING

_May 26, 1913_]

The magistrate replied formally: "You quite understand what the position

is. You have been arrested on this warrant and all I have to do is to

make an order recommending you to prison."

"I think" I said, "that you should do so, with a full sense of

responsibility. If I am taken to Holloway on your warrant I shall resume

the protest I made before which led to my release, and I shall go on

indefinitely until I die, or until the Government decide, since they

have taken upon themselves to employ you and other people to administer

the laws, that they must recognise women as citizens and give them some

control over the laws of this country."

It was a five days' hunger strike this time, because the extreme

weakness of my condition made it impossible for me to endure a longer

term. I was released on May 30th on a seven days' licence, and in a

half-alive state was again carried to a nursing home. Less than a week

later, while I was still bed-ridden, a terrible event occurred, one that

should have shaken the stolid British public into a realisation of the

seriousness of the situation precipitated by the Government. Emily

Wilding Davison, who had been associated with the militant movement

since 1906, gave up her life for the women's cause by throwing herself

in the path of the thing, next to property, held most sacred to

Englishmen--sport. Miss Davison went to the races at Epsom, and

breaking through the barriers which separated the vast crowds from the

race course, rushed in the path of the galloping horses and caught the

bridle of the King's horse, which was leading all the others. The horse

fell, throwing his jockey and crushing Miss Davison in such shocking

fashion that she was carried from the course in a dying condition.

Everything possible was done to save her life. The great surgeon, Mr.

Mansell Moullin, put everything aside and devoted himself to her case,

but though he operated most skilfully, the injuries she had received

were so frightful that she died four days later without once having

recovered consciousness. Members of the Union were beside her when she

breathed her last, on June 8th, and on June 14th they gave her a great

public funeral in London. Crowds lined the streets as the funeral car,

followed by thousands of women, passed slowly and sadly to St. George's

Church, Bloomsbury, where the memorial services were held.

Emily Wilding Davison was a character almost inevitably developed by a

struggle such as ours. She was a B. A. of London University, and had

taken first class honours at Oxford in English Language and Literature.

Yet the women's cause made such an appeal to her reason and her

sympathies that she put every intellectual and social appeal aside and

devoted herself untiringly and fearlessly to the work of the Union. She

had suffered many imprisonments, had been forcibly fed and most brutally

treated. On one occasion when she had barricaded her cell against the

prison doctors, a hose pipe was turned on her from the window and she

was drenched and all but drowned in the icy water while workmen were

breaking down her cell door. Miss Davison, after this experience,

expressed to several of her friends the deep conviction that now, as in

days called uncivilised, the conscience of the people would awaken only

to the sacrifice of a human life. At one time in prison she tried to

kill herself by throwing herself head-long from one of the upper

galleries, but she succeeded only in sustaining cruel injuries. Ever

after that time she clung to her conviction that one great tragedy, the

deliberate throwing into the breach of a human life, would put an end to

the intolerable torture of women. And so she threw herself at the King's

horse, in full view of the King and Queen and a great multitude of their

Majesties' subjects, offering up her life as a petition to the King,

praying for the release of suffering women throughout England and the

world. No one can possibly doubt that that prayer can forever remain

unanswered, for she took it straight to the Throne of the King of all

the worlds.

The death of Miss Davison was a great shock to me and a very great grief

as well, and although I was scarcely able to leave my bed I determined

to risk everything to attend her funeral. This was not to be, however,

for as I left the house I was again arrested by detectives who lay in

waiting. Again the farce of trying to make me serve a three years'

sentence was undertaken. But now the militant women had discovered a new

and more terrible weapon with which to defy the unjust laws of England,

and this weapon--the thirst strike--I turned against my gaolers with

such effect that they were forced within three days to release me.

The hunger strike I have described as a dreadful ordeal, but it is a

mild experience compared with the thirst strike, which is from beginning

to end simple and unmitigated torture. Hunger striking reduces a

prisoner's weight very quickly, but thirst striking reduces weight so

alarmingly fast that prison doctors were at first thrown into absolute

panic of fright. Later they became somewhat hardened, but even now they

regard the thirst strike with terror. I am not sure that I can convey to

the reader the effect of days spent without a single drop of water taken

into the system. The body cannot endure loss of moisture. It cries out

in protest with every nerve. The muscles waste, the skin becomes

shrunken and flabby, the facial appearance alters horribly, all these

outward symptoms being eloquent of the acute suffering of the entire

physical being. Every natural function is, of course, suspended, and the

poisons which are unable to pass out of the body are retained and

absorbed. The body becomes cold and shivery, there is constant headache

and nausea, and sometimes there is fever. The mouth and tongue become

coated and swollen, the throat thickens and the voice sinks to a thready

whisper.

When, at the end of the third day of my first thirst strike, I was sent

home I was in a condition of jaundice from which I have never completely

recovered. So badly was I affected that the prison authorities made no

attempt to arrest me for nearly a month after my release. On July 13th I

felt strong enough once more to protest against the odious Cat and Mouse

Act, and, with Miss Annie Kenney, who was also at liberty "on medical

grounds," I went to a meeting at the London Pavillion. At the close of

the meeting, during which Miss Kenney's prison licence was auctioned off

for L12, we attempted for the first time the open escape which we have

so frequently since effected. Miss Kenney, from the platform, announced

that we should openly leave the hall, and she forthwith walked coolly

down into the audience. The police rushed in in overwhelming numbers,

and after a desperate fight, succeeded in capturing her. Other

detectives and policemen hurried to the side door of the hall to

intercept me, but I disappointed them by leaving by the front door and

escaping to a friend's house in a cab.

The police soon traced me to the house of my friend, the distinguished

scientist, Mrs. Hertha Ayrton, and the place straightway became a

besieged fortress. Day and night the house was surrounded, not only by

police, but by crowds of women sympathisers. On the Saturday following

my appearance at the Pavillion we gave the police a bit of excitement of

a kind they do not relish. A cab drove up to Mrs. Ayrton's door, and

several well-known members of the Union alighted and hurried indoors. At

once the word was circulated that a rescue was being attempted, and the

police drew resolutely around the cab. Soon a veiled woman appeared in

the doorway, surrounded by Suffragettes, who, when the veiled lady

attempted to get into the cab, resisted with all their strength the

efforts of the police to lay hands upon her. The cry went up from all

sides: "They are arresting Mrs. Pankhurst!" Something very like a free

fight ensued, occupying all the attention of the police who were not in

the immediate vicinity of the cab. The men surrounding that rocking

vehicle succeeded in tearing the veiled figure from the arms of the

other women and piling into the cab ordered the chauffeur to drive full

speed to Bow Street. Before they reached their destination, however, the

veiled lady raised her veil--alas, it was not Mrs. Pankhurst, who by

that time was speeding away in another taxicab in quite another

direction.

Our ruse infuriated the police, and they determined to arrest me at my

first public appearance, which was at the Pavillion on the Monday

following the episode just related. When I reached the Pavillion I found

it literally surrounded by police, hundreds of them. I managed to slip

past the outside cordon, but Scotland Yard had its best men inside the

hall, and I was not permitted to reach the platform. Surrounded by plain

clothes men, batons drawn, I could not escape, but I called out to the

women that I was being taken, and so valiantly did they rush to the

rescue that the police had their hands full for nearly half an hour

before they got me into a taxicab bound for Holloway. Six women were

arrested that day, and many more than six policemen were temporarily

incapacitated for duty.

By this time I had made up my mind that I would not only resist staying

in prison, I would resist to the utmost of my ability going to prison.

Therefore, when we reached Holloway I refused to get out of the cab,

declaring to my captors that I would no longer acquiesce in the slow

judicial murder to which the Government were subjecting women. I was

lifted out and carried into a cell in the convicted hospital wing of the

gaol. The wardresses who were on duty there spoke with some kindness to

me, suggesting that, as I was very apparently exhausted and ill, I

should do well to undress and go to bed. "No," I replied, "I shall not

go to bed, not once while I am kept here. I am weary of this brutal

game, and I intend to end it."

Without undressing, I lay down on the outside of the bed. Later in the

evening the prison doctor visited me, but I refused to be examined. In

the morning he came again, and with him the Governor and the head

wardress. As I had taken neither food nor water since the previous day

my appearance had become altered to such an extent that the doctor was

plainly perturbed. He begged me, "as a small concession," to allow him

to feel my pulse, but I shook my head, and they left me alone for the

day. That night I was so ill that I felt some alarm for my own

condition, but I knew of nothing that could be done except to wait. On

Wednesday morning the Governor came again and asked me with an

assumption of carelessness if it were true that I was refusing both food

and water. "It is true," I said, and he replied brutally: "You are very

cheap to keep." Then, as if the thing were not a ridiculous farce, he

announced that I was sentenced to close confinement for three days,

with deprivation of all privileges, after which he left my cell.

Twice that day the doctor visited me, but I would not allow him to touch

me. Later came a medical officer from the Home Office, to which I had

complained, as I had complained to the Governor and the prison doctor,

of the pain I still suffered from the rough treatment I had received at

the Pavillion. Both of the medical men insisted that I allow them to

examine me, but I said: "I will not be examined by you because your

intention is not to help me as a patient, but merely to ascertain how

much longer it will be possible to keep me alive in prison. I am not

prepared to assist you or the Government in any such way. I am not

prepared to relieve you of any responsibility in this matter." I added

that it must be quite obvious that I was very ill and unfit to be

confined in prison. They hesitated for a moment or two, then left me.

Wednesday night was a long nightmare of suffering, and by Thursday

morning I must have presented an almost mummified appearance. From the

faces of the Governor and the doctor when they came into my cell and

looked at me I thought that they would at once arrange for my release.

But the hours passed and no order for release came. I decided that I

must force my release, and I got up from the bed where I had been lying

and began to stagger up and down the cell. When all strength failed me

and I could keep my feet no longer I lay down on the stone floor, and

there, at four in the afternoon, they found me, gasping and half

unconscious. And then they sent me away. I was in a very weakened

condition this time, and had to be treated with saline solutions to save

my life. I felt, however, that I had broken my prison walls for a time

at least, and so this proved. It was on July 24th that I was released. A

few days later I was borne in an invalid's chair to the platform of the

London Pavillion. I could not speak, but I was there, as I had promised

to be. My licence, which by this time I had ceased to tear up because it

had an auction value, was sold to an American present for the sum of one

hundred pounds. I had told the Governor on leaving that I intended to

sell the licence and to spend the money for militant purposes, but I had

not expected to raise such a splendid sum as one hundred pounds. I shall

always remember the generosity of that unknown American friend.

A great medical congress was being held in London in the summer of 1913,

and on August 11th we held a large meeting at Kingsway Hall, which was

attended by hundreds of visiting doctors. I addressed this meeting, at

which a ringing resolution against forcible feeding was passed, and I

was allowed to go home without police interference. It was, as a matter

of fact, the second time during that month that I had spoken in public

without molestation. The presence of so many distinguished medical men

in London may have suggested to the authorities that I had better be

left alone for the time being. At all events I was left alone, and late

in the month I went, quite publicly, to Paris, to see my daughter

Christabel and plan with her the campaign for the coming autumn. I

needed rest after the struggles of the past five months, during which I

had served, of my three years' prison sentence, not quite three weeks.

FOOTNOTE:

[5] Mr. Lansbury shortly before this had resigned his seat in Parliament

and had gone to his constituents on the question of women's suffrage.

Both the Liberal and the Conservative parties had united against him,

with the result that a Unionist candidate was returned in his place. Mr.

Lloyd-George publicly rejoiced in the result of this election, saying

that Mr. Marsh, the Conservative candidate, had been his man. The Labour

Party, in Parliament and out, meekly accepted this piece of Liberal

chicanery without protest.