Suffragists -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
Mrs. John Winters Brannan was among the women who endured the “night of
terror.” Mrs. Brannan is the daughter of Charles A. Dana, founder of
the New York Sun and that great American patriot of liberty who was a
trusted associate -and counselor of Abraham Lincoln. Mrs. Brannan,
life-long suffragist, is an aristocrat of intellect and feeling, who
has always allied herself with libertarian movements. This was her
second term of imprisonment. She wrote a comprehensive affidavit of her
experience. After narrating the events which led up to the attack, she
continues:
Superintendent Whittaker . . . then shouted out in a loud tone of
voice, “Seize these women, take them off, that one, that one; take her
off.” The guards rushed forward and an almost indescribable scene of
violent confusion ensued. I . . . saw one of the guards seize her [Lucy
Burns] by the arms, twist or force them back of her, and one or two
other guards seize her by the shoulders, shaking her violently . . . .
I then . . took up my heavy sealskin coat, which was lying by, and put
it on, in order to prepare myself if attacked . . . . I was trembling
at the time and was stunned with terror at the situation as it had
developed, and said to the superintendent, “I will give my name under
protest,” and started to walk towards the desk whereon lay the books.
The superintendent shouted to me, “Oh, no, you won’t; don’t talk about
protest; I won’t have any of that nonsense.”
I . . . saw the guards seizing the different women of the party with
the utmost violence, the furniture being overturned and the room a
scene of the utmost disturbance. I saw Miss Lincoln lying on the floor,
with every appearance of having just been thrown down by the two guards
who were standing over her in a menacing attitude. Seeing the general
disturbance, I gave up all idea of giving my name at the desk, and
instinctively joined my companions, to go with them and share whatever
was in store for them. The whole group of women were thrown, dragged or
herded out of the office on to the porch, down the steps to the ground,
and forced to cross the road . . . to the Administration Building.
During all of this time, . . . Superintendent Whittaker was . . .
directing the whole attack. . . .
. . .All of us were thrown into different cells in the men’s prison, I
being put in one with four other women, the cell containing a narrow
bed and one chair, which was immediately removed . . . .
During the time that we were being forced into the cells the guards
kept up an uproar, shouting, banging the iron doors, clanging bars,
making a terrifying noise.
I and one of my companions were lying down on the narrow bed, on which
were a blanket and one pillow. The door of the cell was opened and a
mattress and a blanket being thrown in, the door was violently banged
to . . . . My other . . . companions arranged the mattress on the floor
and lay down, covering themselves with the blanket.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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