Mr. Herbert Gladstone in the witness-box being examined by Miss Christabel Pankhurst, October, 1908
Then came Miss Evelyn Sharp, well known as a writer of delightful stories for children, one of those frail wan-faced little people, who, whilst looking always as though a puff of strong wind would carry them away, yet manage to accomplish such quantities of work as fill the strongest with amaze, and at the same time have ever ready a fund of the brightest and cheeriest good humour. Now she told in the funniest and most winning way, that she had taken the fateful handbill as an invitation to go to the House of Commons and, if possible, not to turn back, and how, when she had found the police were determined to bar the way up Victoria Street, she had stooped and dodged between them in the middle of a scene which she described as being "like a rush at hockey."
Miss F. E. Macaulay, an historical student, then gave several instances of women having gone to the House of Commons for the purpose of presenting petitions in ancient days and said she considered that the Suffragettes were only reviving an ancient custom.
Meanwhile the day had passed; the case had begun at ten and it was now seven o'clock. Except for half an hour at lunch time, there had been no interval and during all these hours, but for an occasional brief five minutes or so when Mrs. Pankhurst or Mrs. Drummond had taken a turn, Christabel had been constantly examining witnesses, remaining always eager, alert, and full of energy and resource. Several times she had applied for an adjournment, but Mr. Curtis Bennett was just as anxious to tire her out and thus finish the trial, as she was to prolong it. At last, at half past seven, he asked how many further witnesses she proposed to put into the box. She replied, "About fifty. We are sorry to take up the time of the court, but we are fighting for our liberty." On hearing this, Mr. Curtis Bennett decided to adjourn the hearing of the case until the following Saturday, ordering that the defendants should be released on bail as before.
So Christabel had won for the time being. Whatever the final result might be the defendants had three more days of freedom before them, and the case which by the long accounts of it that were appearing in every newspaper was interesting thousands of people in the Votes for Women movement, was to be carried on for another day. Criminal cases, many of them dealing with the foulest and most sordid crimes, are allowed to drag on for weeks and even months, whilst public time, public money, and public interest is lavishly expended upon them; we felt that we need not scruple then to prolong, as far as we possibly could, a trial dealing with great political issues. Moreover, our second Albert Hall meeting had been fixed for October 29th and we hoped that the defendants might be free to speak that night.
When Saturday morning at length came round and the prisoners again took their places in the dock, it was at once evident that Mr. Curtis Bennett was determined to bring the case to an abrupt conclusion. Speaking in sharper and harsher tones than any we had heard from him before, he announced that he had decided only to hear two or three more witnesses whom the defendants might specially select, unless there were others who could give evidence relevant to the case in regard to a set of facts entirely different from any that had been raised. As this decision might take the defendants by surprise he would allow an adjournment of half an hour in which they might consider which of their witnesses they would prefer to call. Requests to state what class of evidence he would consider relevant, both from Christabel and Mrs. Pankhurst, the Magistrate met with a curt refusal to say anything further, and Christabel was not in form to overcome his objections as she had been on the previous days. Indeed we now saw with anxiety that the excitement and extra pressure of work of the last few weeks, coupled with the constant heavy routine entailed by her position in the Union and the great strain of conducting this case, had begun to tell on her and, for the first time in her life, we began to fear that she might break down. But even now she would not abandon the fight to prolong the case. It was impossible in half an hour to examine individually the hundreds of persons who had by this time offered to testify as witnesses, in order to find out which of them would prove most valuable to our case. The only thing to be done was to choose a few, almost at random, who possessed some special position or influence, and whom we also knew personally to be particularly sympathetic and observant.
When the half hour had elapsed and the prisoners had again taken their places, Christabel first called Mr. James Murray, the Liberal Member of Parliament for East Aberdeenshire, who had so kindly come to the rescue when bail had been refused at Bow Street. He stepped into the box, a huge figure immaculately dressed and faultlessly groomed, and turned his big ruddy, good humoured face towards the three prisoners with a kindly smile. When asked by Christabel if he were present at the meeting in Trafalgar Square on Sunday, October 11th, he replied: "I was going into the National Gallery and saw a collection of well dressed people in the Square. I think your mother was speaking, but I could not hear anything. What struck me was that the crowd listening to her was composed of exactly the type of people who go to Church on Sunday in Scotland." "Then they must have been very respectable," said Christabel. "Did you get a copy of the Bill?" "No." "I daresay you saw it in the papers?" "I saw a statement in the papers." "How did you understand the word 'rush'?" "I did not take the matter seriously at all." Here Mr. Curtis Bennett interrupted curtly, "That really is for me, Miss Pankhurst, as I have told you." "Did you resolve to accept the invitation?" Christabel asked. "I could not very well, you see," said Mr. Murray smiling broadly, "because I was inside the citadel." "He has the right of entry," said Mr. Curtis Bennett with mock solemnity, and for the first time that morning with a twinkle in his eyes. "Were you near Westminster on the 13th?" was the next question. "I was in the House and sitting down to dinner when I got a telegram from your mother sent from the neighbourhood of Bow Street, asking me to go across there." "This cannot be relevant," said Mr. Curtis Bennett sharply, but Mr. Murray merely looked amused, and went on: "In coming here I drove in a hansom up Parliament Street. The whole place was like a besieged city except that we had police officers instead of soldiers. A little beyond Dover House the crowd was held back by a cordon, but I had not the slightest difficulty in getting through in a hansom. Afterwards I returned to the House by the Strand, and the Embankment and had very little trouble in getting back." "Was it a disorderly crowd?" "No, I think you could say an ordinary London crowd."
"Did you come to the conclusion that the persons who had called the meeting had done so with a desire to incite the crowd to disorder or damage?" It was Mrs. Pankhurst who spoke now. "No," answered Mr. Murray, "I thought that if it were for any purpose at all it was to advertise the cause." "You know something of the women who are conducting this agitation?" was Mrs. Pankhurst's next question, and Mr. Murray said gallantly: "Yes, I have the greatest admiration for them; for their earnestness of purpose, ability, and general management of the whole scheme." "You know they have tried every other political method?" "Yes, and if they had been men instead of women they would not have been in the dock now—judging by the past." "Do you agree with Mr. Lloyd George when he said that if the Government would give us what we are asking for this agitation would cease?" "I have no doubt it would. I go further than Mr. Lloyd George and I say you are entitled to it," said the witness with fervour, and then, with a genial motion of farewell to the prisoners he withdrew.