Elizabeth jumped to her feet, ready to scratch her eyes out, but Mrs. Bates grabbed her arm. “You won’t do Anna any good,” she whispered fiercely, stopping Elizabeth in her tracks.
As weak as she was, she probably couldn’t do the guard much damage in any case. With the frustrated fury still boiling in her, she stepped away from where Anna lay and followed the others as they filed out of the room. When she reached the door, she glanced back. A guard stood over Anna, nudging her with her foot.
Damn them. Damn them every one.
? ? ?
Gideon paced the platform as the New York train pulled into Union Station. He’d asked David not to come to Washington, but he really couldn’t blame him for ignoring that request. David must have been terrified for Anna and feeling helpless after Gideon told him about their failure to find a deputy to serve the writ on Warden Whittaker. Gideon had returned to Washington just that morning himself. He only wished that being in Washington could actually help.
Finally, he saw David’s familiar figure step down from a car farther down the track. He hurried toward him.
“Gideon!” David called, waving.
Gideon shook his hand, then noticed the men who had emerged behind him, two plug-uglies and one well-dressed fellow who was probably the last person Gideon wanted to see right now.
“Gideon, you remember Oscar Thornton.”
“Of course,” Gideon said. David must have encountered Thornton on the train and hadn’t been able to shake him.
“Good to see you, Bates,” Thornton said, shaking his hand. “Vanderslice has told me about your mother and the other suffragettes.”
Gideon felt the heat rising in his face as he glared at David. What was he thinking to confide in Thornton? Mother would be furious. Since her cousin Marjorie’s tragic death, she’d had absolutely no use for the man.
“Thornton came to see me at my office yesterday about . . . about some business,” David said quickly, seeing Gideon’s reaction, “and I had to tell him I couldn’t even think about business until Anna was safe. Gideon, he believes he can help. Or at least his men here can.” He nodded at the plug-uglies, and they grinned at Gideon, making him even angrier.
“Exactly how can they help?” Gideon asked, not bothering to hide his skepticism.
“Vanderslice told me your man in Virginia hasn’t been able to locate any deputies to serve the writ,” Thornton said. “I’d like to let my boys here have a try.”
Gideon studied the two men with their bowler hats pulled low over faces marked by fights past. Were they the kind of men to beat the administration at their own game? Now, that was an interesting idea. David had no business dragging Thornton into this, but Gideon couldn’t let his offended pride stand in the way if Thornton really could help.
“Let’s find a more comfortable place to discuss this, shall we?” Gideon said.
Thornton left his “boys” to collect the luggage. The three men climbed into a cab and headed for the Willard Hotel.
“Have you heard anything at all about how the women are doing?” David asked when they were on their way.
“We finally got a firsthand report. They released Mrs. Nolan today.”
David remembered. “The elderly lady.”
“Yes. She’d only been sentenced to six days, so her sentence was up.”
“What did she say? Had she seen Anna?”
“She didn’t know very much about the other women. They’d kept her in the infirmary the entire time. Probably afraid she’d die on them. Anyway, she only saw Miss Burns and Mrs. Lewis. They were in the infirmary, too, because they’re on a hunger strike.”
“I thought all the women were.”
“Apparently, those two started the hunger strike. They’re quite ill, according to Mrs. Nolan. She’s not well herself. Even though she wasn’t on the hunger strike, the food was so bad, she could barely eat.”
Thornton had been following the conversation closely. Now he said, “What else have you been doing to get the women released?”
Gideon studied him for a moment. “Why are you so interested in this, Thornton? Are you a supporter of women’s suffrage?”
Thornton cleared his throat. “As I explained to Vanderslice, any gentleman would be outraged at the way those women are being treated.”
“Not really,” Gideon said. “A lot of men think they’re getting just what they deserve for daring to challenge the right of men to rule them. Even David here doesn’t completely approve of their tactics.”
“Why, I never—” David began, but Gideon silenced him with a gesture.
“Don’t bother to deny it. It’s no disgrace to want your sister to stay at home where she’s safe. But before we take Thornton up on his offer of help, I’d like to know why he made it.”
Thornton studied Gideon in return. “I see you suspect my motives.”
“Let’s just say I wonder what they are.”
Thornton gave him a crafty little grin. “You are wise to do so, because I must confess, they are entirely selfish.”
CHAPTER SIX
At first, refusing to work was a protest. Political prisoners were not required to work, or so Mrs. Bates had explained to Elizabeth. After a few days, however, Elizabeth simply could not have worked. Her limbs felt heavy and walking made her gasp for breath. Lying on her bed was about all she could manage. She and the others spent their time using what little strength they had to talk.
“. . . and Miss Anthony was arrested for voting in the presidential election of 1872,” Mrs. Bates told her as they lay curled up on their cots in the twilight of the winter evening. Mrs. Bates had moved to Anna’s bed so they could talk more easily.
“Arrested? Is it actually illegal to vote?”
“It is if you’re a woman.”
“Why did she try it, then?”
Mrs. Bates smiled. “She had decided that the Fourteenth Amendment gave everyone in America the right to vote.”
Elizabeth had never thought the garbage they’d taught her in school was all that important, and she couldn’t remember what the Fourteenth Amendment was for. “Why did she think that?”
“Because it does, you see. It was passed to give Negro men the right to vote after the Civil War, of course, but the wording doesn’t say that exactly. Instead, it specifically gives all the rights of citizenship to ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States.’”
“All persons? I see; that should include women, too.”
“But that wasn’t what Congress had intended, of course, no matter what the law actually said. So when Susan Anthony voted, they arrested her.”
Elizabeth smiled at her across the two feet of space separating their cots. “Did they charge her with obstructing traffic?”
“Oh, Elizabeth! Anna’s right. You are very funny. No, I’m not sure what they charged her with, but her trial was much like ours. The judge refused to allow her to testify, and he instructed the jury to return a guilty verdict. When they did, he read an opinion that he’d written before the trial even started.”
“Just like they got things ready for us here before we were even arrested.”
“Exactly.”
“Did she go to jail?”
“No, they just gave her a fine, but she never paid it.”