MR. PRESIDENT, YOU SAY “LIBERTY IS THE FUNDAMENTAL DESIRE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT.”
There was a technical discussion as to how much sidewalk space the young women occupied, and how near the White House palings they stood. The Suffrage group had photographs which showed the deserted pavements at the time of the arrests.
The women cross-examined the police who testified that there was no crowd at that time of the morning and that the women stood with their backs to the White House fence.
The Judge said: “If you had kept on moving, you would be all right.”
“I find these defendants guilty as charged,” was his verdict, “of obstructing the highway in violation of the police regulations and the Act of Congress, and impose a fine of twenty-five dollars in each case, or in default of that, three days’ imprisonment.”
The six young women refused to pay the fine. They were each sentenced to three days in the District jail.
When the first pickets came out of jail, a hundred women, representing many States, gave them a reception breakfast in the garden of Cameron House.
A subsequent chapter will relate the prison experiences of these women and of the long line of their successors.
The next picket line went out on Independence Day, July 4, 1917. Five women marched from Headquarters bearing purple, white, and gold banners. They were: Helena Hill Weed, Vida Milholland, Gladys Greiner, Margaret Whittemore, Iris Calderhead. Helena Hill Weed carried a banner: