Jailed for Freedom Part 38

No one present can ever forget the tragi-comic scene enacted in the little Virginia court room that cold, dark November morning.

There was Judge Waddill[2]-who had adjourned his sittings in Norfolk to hasten the relief of the prisoners-a mild mannered, sweet-voiced Southern gentleman. There was Superintendent Whittaker in his best Sunday clothes, which mitigated very little the cruel and nervous demeanor which no one who has come under his control will ever forget. His thugs were there, also dressed in their best clothes, which only exaggerated their coa.r.s.e features and their s.h.i.+fty eyes. Mrs. Herndon, the thin-lipped matron, was there, looking nervous

[1]Pending the investigation Mr. Whittaker was suspended, and his first a.s.sistant, Alonzo Tweedale, served in the capacity of superintendent.

[2]Appointed to the bench by President Roosevelt.

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and trying to seem concerned about the prisoners in her charge.

Warden Zinkhan was there seeming worried at the prospect of the prisoners being taken from the care of Superintendent Whittaker and committed to him-he evidently unwilling to accept the responsibility.

Dudley Field Malone and Mr. O'Brien of counsel, belligerent in every nerve, were ready to try the case. The two dapper government attorneys, with immobile faces, twisted nervously in their chairs. There was the bevy of newspaper reporters struggling for places in the little courtroom, plainly sympathetic, for whatever they may have had to write for the papers they knew that this was a battle for justice against uneven odds. There were as many eager spectators as could be crowded into so small an area. Upon the whole an air of friendliness prevailed in this little court at 'Alexandria which we had never felt in the Was.h.i.+ngton courts. And the people there experienced a shock when the slender file of women, haggard, red- eyed, sick, came to the bar. Some were able to walk to their seats; others were so weak that they had to be stretched out 6n the wooden benches with coats propped under their heads for pillows. Still others bore the marks of the attack of the "night of terror." Many of the prisoners lay back in their chairs hardly conscious of the proceedings which were to. free them. Mrs.

Brannan collapsed utterly and had to be carried to a couch in an ante-room.

It was discovered just as the trial was to open that Miss Lucy Burns and Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, who it will be remembered had been removed to the jail before the writ had been issued, were absent from among the prisoners.

"They are too ill to be brought into court," Mr. Whittaker replied to the attorneys for the defense.

"We demand that they be brought into court at our risk," answered counsel for the defense.

The government's attorneys sustained Mr. Whittaker in

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not producing them. It was clear that the government did not her wish to have Miss Burns with the marks still fresh on wrists from her manacling and handcuffing, and Mrs. Lewes with a fever from the shock of the first night, brought before the judge who was to decide the case.

"If it was necessary to handcuff Miss Burns to the bars of her cell, we consider her well enough to appear," declared Mr.

O'Brien. . "We consider we ought to know what has happened to all of these pet.i.tioners since these events. While I was at Occoquan Sunday endeavoring to see my clients, Mr. Whittaker was trying to induce the ladies, who, he says, are too sick to be brought here, to dismiss this proceeding. Failing in that, he refused to let me see them, though I had an order from Judge Mullowny, and they were taken back to the District of Columbia. From that time to this, though I had your Honor's order which you signed in Norfolk, the superintendent of the Was.h.i.+ngton jail also refused to allow me to see my clients, saying that your order had no effect in the District of Columbia."

"If there are any pet.i.tioners that you claim have not been brought here because they have been carried beyond the jurisdiction of the courts, I think we should know it," ruled the court. "Counsel for these ladies want them here; and they say that they ought to be here and are well enough to b here; that the respondent here has spirited them away and put them beyond the jurisdiction of the court. On that showing, unless there is some reason why they ought not to come, they should be here."

Miss Burns and Mrs. Lewes were accordingly ordered brought to court.

This preliminary skirmish over, the opening discussion revolved about a point of law as to whether the Virginia District Court had authority to act in this case.

After hearing both sides on this point, Judge Waddill said:

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"These are not state prisoners; they are prisoners of the District of Columbia. They are held by an order of the court claiming to have jurisdiction in the District of Columbia.

But they are imprisoned in the Eastern District of Virginia, in Occoquan workhouse which, very much to our regret, is down here, and is an inst.i.tution that we alone have jurisdiction over.

No court would fail to act when such a state of affairs as is set forth in this pet.i.tion is brought to its attention.

"Here was a case concerning twenty-five or thirty ladies. The statement as to their treatment was bloodcurdling; it was shocking to man's ideas of humanity if it is true. They are here in court, and yet your answer denies all these facts which they submit, It is a question whether you can do that a.n.a.l yet deny these pet.i.tioners the right of testimony."

Proceeding with this argument, the defense contended that the act itself of the District Commissioners in sending prisoners to the Occoquan workhouse was illegal; that no formal transfer from one inst.i.tution to another had ever been made, the sentencing papers distinctly stating that all prisoners were committed to "the Was.h.i.+ngton Asylum and Jail."

"We deny that the records of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia can show that there was any order made by the Board for the removal of these women. The liberty of a citizen cannot be so disregarded and trifled with that any police official or jailer may at his own volition, commit and hold him in custody and compel him to work. The liberty of the people depends upon a broader foundation."

Repeated questions brought out from Mr. Zinkhan, Warden of the Jail, the fact that the directions given by the Commissioners to transfer prisoners from the jail to Occoquan rested entirely upon a verbal order given "five or six years ago."

"Do you really mean," interrupted the court, "that the only authority you have on the part of the Commissioners of

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the District of Columbia to transfer parties down to Occoquan is a verbal order made five or six years ago?"

Questions by the defense brought out the fact also that Mr.

Zinkhan could remember in detail the first oral orders he had received for such a transfer, dating back to 1911, although he could not remember important details as to how he had received the orders concerning the suffragists committed to his care! He only knew that "orders were oral and explicit."

Q. [By defense in court You say the three commissioners were present?

A. Sure.

Q. Who else was present?

A. I am not sure just now who else was present. I remember somebody else was there, but I don't remember just who . . . .

Q. Were the three commissioners present at the time Mr.

[Commissioner] Brownlow gave you this order?

A. Yes.

Q. You say it was a verbal order of the Commissioners?

A. Yes.

Q. Was the clerk of the Board present?

A. I think not.

Q. And you cannot remember who was present aside from the three Commissioners?

A. No, I cannot remember just now.

Q. Try to recollect who was present at that meeting when this order was given, aside from the Commissioners. There was somebody else present?

A. It is my impression that there was some one other person present, but I am not sure just now who it was.

Q. It was some official, some one well known, was it not . . . .?

A. I am not sure. . . .

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[This conference was one in which Mr. McAdoo was reported to have partic.i.p.ated.]

The gentle judge was distressed when in answer to a question by the government's attorney as to what Mr. Zinkhan did when the prisoners were given into his charge, the warden replied: