Among the many received were letters of encouragement from General
Garibaldi, M. Talandier, Professor Emile Acollas, and the Rev. S.D.
Headlam.
As we did not care to be hunted about London by the police, we offered to
be at Stonecutter Street daily from 10 to 11 a.m. until we were arrested,
and our offer was readily accepted. Friends who were ready to act as bail
came forward in large numbers, and we arranged with some of them that
they should be within easy access in case of need. There was a little
delay in issuing the warrants for our arrest. A deputation from the
Christian Evidence Society waited on Mr. (now Sir Richard) Cross, to ask
that the Government should prosecute us, and he acceded to their request.
The warrants were issued on April 3rd, and were executed on April 5th.
The story of the arrest I take from my own article in the _National
Reformer,_ premising that we had been told that "the warrants were in the
hands of Simmons".
"Thursday morning found us again on our way to Stonecutter Street, and as
we turned into it we were aware of three gentlemen regarding us
affectionately from beneath the shelter of a ladder on the off-side of
Farringdon Street. 'That's Simmons,' quoth Mr. Bradlaugh, as we went in,
and I shook my head solemnly, regarding 'Simmons' as the unsubstantial
shadow of a dream. But as the two Misses Bradlaugh and myself reached the
room above the shop, a gay--'I told you so', from Mr. Bradlaugh
downstairs, announced a visit, and in another moment Mr. Bradlaugh came
up, followed by the three unknown. 'You know what we have come for,' said
the one in front; and no one disputed his assertion. Detective-Sergeant
R. Outram was the head officer, and he produced his warrant at Mr.
Bradlaugh's request; he was accompanied by two detective officers,
Messrs. Simmons and Williams. He was armed also with a search warrant, a
most useful document, seeing that the last copy of the edition (of 5,000
copies) had been sold on the morning of the previous day, and a high pile
of orders was accumulating downstairs, orders which we were unable to
fulfil. Mr. Bradlaugh told him, with a twinkle in his eye, that he was
too late, but offered him every facility for searching. A large packet of
'Text Books'--left for that purpose by Norrish, if the truth were known--
whose covers were the same color as those of the 'Fruits', attracted Mr.
Outram's attention, and he took off some of the brown paper wrapper, but
found the goods unseizable. He took one copy of the 'Cause of Woman', by
Ben Elmy, and wandered up and down the house seeking for goods to devour,
but found nothing to reward him for his energy. Meanwhile we wrote a few
telegrams and a note or two, and after about half-an-hour's delay, we
started for the police-station in Bridewell Place, arriving there at
10.25. The officers, who showed us every courtesy and kindness consistent
with the due execution of their duty, allowed Mr. Bradlaugh and myself to
walk on in front, and they followed us across the roar of Fleet Street,
down past Ludgate Hill Station, to the Police Office. Here we passed into
a fair-sized room, and were requested to go into a funny iron-barred
place; it was a large oval railed in, with a brightly polished iron bar
running round it, the door closing with a snap. Here we stood while two
officers in uniform got out their books; one of these reminded Mr.
Bradlaugh of his late visits there, remarking that he supposed the
'gentleman you were so kind to will do you the same good turn now'. Mr.
Bradlaugh dryly replied that he didn't think so, accepting service and
giving it were two very different things. Our examination then began;
names, ages, abodes, birth-places, number of children, color of hair and
eyes, were all duly enrolled; then we were measured, and our heights put
down; next we delivered up watches, purses, letters, keys--in fact
emptied our pockets; then I was walked off by the housekeeper into a
neighboring cell and searched--a surely most needless proceeding; it
strikes me this is an unnecessary indignity to which to subject an
uncondemned prisoner, except in cases of theft, where stolen property
might be concealed about the person. It is extremely unpleasant to be
handled, and on such a charge as that against myself a search was an
absurdity. The woman was as civil as she could be, but, as she fairly
enough said, she had no option in the matter. After this, I went back to
the room and rejoined my fellow prisoner and we chatted peaceably with
our guardians; they quite recognised our object in our proceedings, and
one gave it as his opinion that we ought to have been summoned, and not
taken by warrant. Taken, however, we clearly were, and we presently drove
on to Guildhall, Mr. Outram in the cab with us, and Mr. Williams on the
box.
"At Guildhall, we passed straight into the court, through the dock, and
down the stairs. Here Mr. Outram delivered us over to the gaoler, and the
most uncomfortable part of our experiences began. Below the court are a
number of cells, stone floored and whitewashed walled; instead of doors
there are heavy iron gates, covered with thick close grating; the
passages are divided here and there with similar strong iron gates, only
some of which are grated. The rules of the place of course divided the
sexes, so Mr. Bradlaugh and myself were not allowed to occupy the same
cell; the gaoler, however, did the best he could for us, by allowing me
to remain in a section of the passage which separated the men's from the
women's cells, and by putting Mr. Bradlaugh into the first of the men's.
Then, by opening a little window in the thick wall, a grating was
discovered, through which we could dimly see each other. Mr. Bradlaugh's
face, as seen from my side, scored all over with the little oblong holes
in the grating reflected by the dull glimmer of the gas in the passage,
was curious rather than handsome; mine was, probably, not more
attractive. In this charming place we passed two hours-and-a-half, and it
was very dull and very cold. We solaced ourselves, at first, by reading
the _Secular Review_, Mr. Bradlaugh tearing it into pages, and passing
them one by one through the grating. By pushing on his side and pulling
on mine, we managed to get them through the narrow holes. Our position
when we read them was a strange satire on one article (which I read with
great pain), which expressed the writer's opinion that the book was so
altered as not to be worth prosecuting. Neither the police nor the
magistrate recognised any difference between the two editions. As I knew
the second edition, taken from Mr. Watts', was almost ready for delivery
as I read, I could not help smiling at the idea that no one 'had the
courage' to reprint it.
"Mr. Bradlaugh paced up and down his limited kingdom, and after I had
finished correcting an _N.R._, I sometimes walked and sometimes sat, and
we chatted over future proceedings, and growled at our long detention,
and listened to names of prisoners being called, until we were at last
summoned to 'go up higher', and we joyfully obeyed. It was a strange sort
of place to stand in, the dock of a police-court the position struck one
as really funny, and everyone who looked at us seemed to feel the same
incongruity: officials, chief clerk, magistrate, all were equally polite,
and Mr. Bradlaugh seemed to get his own way from the dock as much as
everywhere else. The sitting magistrate was Alderman Figgins, a nice,
kindly old gentleman, robed in marvellous, but not uncomely, garments of
black velvet, purple, and dark fur. Below the magistrate, on either hand,
sat a gentleman writing, one of whom was Mr. Martin, the chief clerk, who
took the purely formal evidence required to justify the arrest. The
reporters all sat at the right, and Mr. Touzeau Parris shared their
bench, sitting on the corner nearest us. Just behind him Mr. Outram had
kindly found seats for the two Misses Bradlaugh, who surveyed us
placidly, and would, I am sure, had their duty called them to do so, have
gladly and willingly changed places with us. The back of the court was
filled with kindly faces, and many bright smiles greeted us; among the
people were those who so readily volunteered their aid, those described
by an official as 'a regular waggon-load of bail'. Their presence there
was a most useful little demonstration of support, and the telegrams that
kept dropping in also had their effect. 'Another of your friends, Mr.
Bradlaugh,' quoth the chief clerk, as the fourth was handed to him, and I
hear that the little buff envelopes continued to arrive all the
afternoon. I need not here detail what happened in the court, as a full
report by a shorthand writer appears in another part of the paper, and I
only relate odds and ends. It amused me to see the broad grin which ran
round when the detective was asked whether he had executed the seizure
warrant, and he answered sadly that there was 'nothing to seize'. When
bail was called for, Dr. Drysdale, Messrs. Swaagman, Truelove, and Bell
were the first summoned, and no objections being raised to them, nor
further securities asked for, these four gentlemen were all that were
needed. We were then solemnly and severally informed that we were bound
over in our own recognizances of £200 each to appear on Tuesday, April
17th, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, to answer, etc., etc., etc., to
which adjuration I only replied by a polite little bow. After all this we
passed into a small room at one side, and there waited till divers papers
were delivered unto us, and we were told to depart in peace. A number of
people had gathered outside and cheered us warmly as we came out, one
voice calling: 'Bravo! there's some of the old English spirit left yet'.
Being very hungry (it was nearly three o'clock), we went off to luncheon,
very glad that the warrant was no longer hanging over our heads, and on
our way home we bought a paper announcing our arrest. The evening papers
all contained reports of the proceedings, as did also the papers of the
following morning. I have seen the _Globe, Standard, Daily News, Times,
Echo, Daily Telegraph_, and they all give perfectly fair reports of what
took place. It is pleasant that they all seem to recognise that our
reason for acting as we have done is a fair and honorable desire to test
the right of publication."