Suffragists -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
At this Mr. Whittaker came to the door and told us not to dare to
speak, or he would put the brace and bit in our mouths and the
straitjacket on our bodies. We were so terrified we kept very still.
Mrs. Lewis was not unconscious; she was only stunned. But Mrs. Cosu was
desperately ill as the night wore on. She had a bad heart attack and
was then vomiting. We called and called. We asked them1to send our own
doctor, because we thought she was dying . . . . They [the guards paid
no attention. A cold wind blew in on us from the outside, and we three
lay there shivering and only half conscious until morning.
“One at a time, come out,” we heard some one call at the barred door
early in the morning. I went first. I bade them both good- by. I didn’t
know where I was going or whether I would ever see them again. They
took me to Mr. Whittaker’s office, where he called my name.
“You’re Mrs. Mary Nolan,” said Whittaker.
“You’re posted,” said I.
“Are you willing to put on prison dress and go to the workroom?” said
he.
I said, “No.”
“Don’t you know now that I am Mr. Whittaker, the superintendent?” he
asked.
“Is there any age limit to your workhouse?” I said. “Would a woman of
seventy-three or a child of two be sent here?”
I think I made him think. He motioned to the guard.
“Get a doctor to examine her,” he said.
In the hospital cottage I was met by Mrs. Herndon and taken to a little
room with two white beds and a hospital table.
“You can lie down if you want to,” she said.
I took off my coat and hat. I just lay down on the bed and fell into a
kind of stupor. It was nearly noon and I had had no food offered me
since the sandwiches our friends brought us in the courtroom at noon
the day before.
The doctor came and examined my heart. Then he examined my lame foot.
It had a long blue bruise above the ankle, where they had knocked me as
they took me across the night before. He asked me what caused’ the
bruise. I said, “Those fiends when they dragged me to the cell last
night.” It was paining me. He asked if I wanted liniment and I said
only hot water. They brought that, and I noticed they did not lock the
door. A negro trusty was there. I fell back again into the same stupor.
The next day they brought me some toast and a plate of food, the first
I had been offered in over 36 hours. I just looked at the food and
motioned it away. It made me sick . . . . I was released on the sixth
day and passed the dispensary as I came out. There were a group of my
friends, Mrs. Brannan and Mrs. Morey and many others. They had on
coarse striped dresses and big, grotesque, heavy shoes. I burst into
tears as they led me away.
(Signed) MARY I. NOLAN.
November 21, 1917,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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