Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-08-18 | Page 5 | Suffragists in Jail are Sick

s SUFFRAGISTS IS Nil it is j "Twenty-two National Wo-I Wo-I man's Members Suffer j From Hunger Strike. j rOne Removed to Private Hospital From District of Columbia Prison. By KOBERT W. HOBBS, 6taff Correspondent Universal Service, j WASHINGTON, Aug. 17. The twen- j ty-two suffragettes on hunger strike in , i the district jail are ill. The condition ; ioi one of them is so serious that she ' was removed from custody today and i i igGw in a private hospital. Reports Vof the condition of two other members j r I of the group who were kept from the hunger strike by their associates be-i be-i i cause of their advanced age, conflict. j At suffrage headquarters it is said they also are ill, but Superintendent Zink-1 Zink-1 I ham of the jail denies this. I ' The women are cut off absolutely ! from any outside communication. Mat- thew O'Brien, their attorney, aroused by reports of their condition, sought to I gee them today, but was refused ad-i ad-i -mission. 1 "We have certain rules," said Zink- ) 'bam. "These women are subject to them just as other prisoners. One vis- itor a week is the general order. When they have been here a week each can ' i have one visitor. ' ' Mrs. W. D. Ascough became so ill ! I during the night that her fellow pris- I oners insisted she leave the jail for i medical attention. She paid her fine ! this morning and was taken to the National Woman's party headquarters I by Superintendent Zinkham and a trained nurse. She was taken in an : ambnlance from there to Dr. Cora Smith King's residence. : Jail Gas Blamed. "I found Mrs. Ascough, who had been in jail less than forty-eight hours, weak and with subnormal ' tempera-tnre," tempera-tnre," said Dr. King. "She reports that a few hours after entrance into the jail she began to suffer with nausea and vomiting and abdominal cramps. ! The symptoms increased in severity. Bhe is not subject to such attacks. "The symptoms are not in any way those of starvation, which would result from their hunger strike, but misht result re-sult from the sower gas which they report re-port permeates the building, or from lead poisoning in the water, or possibly from the damp and chilly cells in which thevyare held." 1 j.'frs. Ascongh reported that every I iroraan in the party, including the two : not on hunger strike, were ill in a simi-lar simi-lar way, though the two not st.rik-', st.rik-', ing were less ill than the others. Medi-iV- oal opinion was that if the damp, cold !' N'.ells were responsible, the t who were f Voting would resist the ' causes better J Sp the others. jie women have asked for the attention atten-tion of their family physicians, but have been refused. "We have offered them medical attention at-tention each dny," said Superintendent Zinkham, "and they have refused. Understand, Un-derstand, what we offer them is not ed ordinary jail physician. Wp have a hospital here with a regular staff and consultants, and those are at the women wom-en 's service. Reports Are Denied. "Reports that the water is poisoned or that the jail is filled with srsver gas from open drains are untrue. The wa- tor is the same water that all Washington Wash-ington drinks and the plumbing is properly prop-erly installed." ' The women were furnished with blankets blan-kets last night, but were stil refused the flannel pajamas for which they had sent out, and the fur coats. Five of them have with them only the clothes in which they were arrested. Mrs. Helena Hill Weed, daughter of the late Congressman Hill of Connecticut, Connecti-cut, is reported confined to her bed by rheumatism brought on by the damp-, ness of the building. The windows are so high that no sun shines in to relieve the chill, the suffragists say. Others who are reported seriously ill are Mrs. Laurence Lewis of Philadelphia; Philadel-phia; Miss Lucy Burns of Brooklyn, who had not completely recovered from her last hunger strike when she started on this; Miss Edna Partell Hartford; Mrs. George Koenig, Hartford, whose arm was hurt three times in as many arrests; Miss Hazel Hunkine, Billings, Mont., who carried the American flag in all the parades, and Miss Smith Ainge, Jamestown, N. Y. Tho women have completed the first forty-eight hours of their hunger strike, and those still in jail are showing no signs of weakening.