“By whom?” asked one.
“For what?” asked another. “We are innocent women. There is nothing to pardon us for.”
“I have come to ask you what you would do if the President pardoned you.”
“We would refuse to accept it,” came the ready response from several.
“I shall leave you for a while to consider this. Mind! I have not yet received information of a pardon, but I have been asked to ascertain your attitude.”
Our consultation was brief. We were of one mind. We were unanimous in wishing to reject a pardon for a crime which we had never committed. We said so with some spirit when Mr. Whittaker returned for our decision.
“You have no choice. You are obliged to accept a pardon.”
That settled it, and we waited. That the protest on the outside had been strong enough to precipitate action from the government was the subject of our conversation. Evidently it had not been strong enough to force action on the suffrage amendment, but it was forcing action, and that was important.
Mr. Whittaker returned triumphant.
“Ladies, you are pardoned by the President. You are free to go as soon as you have taken off your prison clothes and put on your own.”