SUFFRAGETTE DERBY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1804, 17 July 1913, Page 8

SUFFRAGETTE DERBY.

9 A SENSATIONAL DAY. EYE-WITNESSES' NARRATIVES, English files to hand this week contain full accounts of the sensational Suffragette outrage at the Derby. i'e.sterdayV was the most sensational Derby over seen (states the "Daily Mail" of Juno 5). The favourite, Mr. Bowor Ismay's Craganour, won, but wos disqualified. Tho race was awarded to Mr. A. I'. Cunliffe's Aboycur, which started as a rank outsider. A Suffragette tried to stop the race by jumping in front of tho . horses at Tuttenhain Corner. Sho was knocked down by the King's horse Anmer, which was then fifth in the race. Anuier ■ fell and threw lii.s jockey, Herbert Jones. Other horses appear to have kicked tho prostrate, woman as they passed. Tho woman wore a Suffragette badge, and had Suffragette flags tied round her body. She was hum Emily Wilding Davison, aged about thirty-five. Mr. St. John Ervine, the dramatist' , whoso plays are now being performed at , tho Court Theatre by th« Irish Players, i was standing near the sceno of tho ucci- - dent. Ho stated: "Miss Davison, who was standing closo i ky the rails a few yards from me, pud- . denly ducked' undorthe railings as the . horses came up. This was near Tattcn- . ham Corner, and there was a very,large crowd of people on both sides of, tho oourse at this point. "Miss Day.soii and I were on tho side , close to which the horses run, and I could plainly seo all that was happening. Tho , horses had turned the corner and wero ! running swiftly towards the winning-post. . I There was a curious silence, like a hush ot' ■ great tension. Then I heard" a woman i saying, 'What's• she doing?' and 1 saw : Miss Davison run out on to tho course. I »:'K -.siar three or four horses hud gono ■ by when she ran out; or, at any rate, as 1 she did so. ! . _ I'd-' King's horse. Anmer, came up, and ■ 1 Miss Davison went towards it. Sho put up her hand, but whether it was to catch - 1 hold of tho reins or to protect herself Jno not Know. It was all over in a few • seconds. Tho horso knocked the woman over with very great force, and then stum- - Died and ten, pitching tho jockey. Both ho and Miss Davison were bleeding profusely, but the crowd which swarmed | about tlieni almost immediately was too ; great for mo to seo any more. "I feel sure that Miss Davison meant ' to stop the horse, and that sho did not go on to tho course in tho belief that tho race . was over, for, as I say, only a few of the ■ horses had gone by when 1 first saw her leave the railings, and others had not ! passed when sho was knocked down. ! I ' could, not seo whether any other horses ; touched her, for the whole thing happened ' so quickly, and I was so horrified at seeing her pitched violently down by llio horso that I did not think of anything else. The affair distressed the crowd very much. I saw Miss Davison accompanied by a lady, taken off to the Epsom . Hospital in a motor-cal by the police. . Both sho and tho jqekey were unconscious, ■ [ and I am dfraid tliey were very seriously . injured. "What tar intention was I do not know, I but I believe sho meaut to try to stop . Anmer, and I am led to this conclusion by the fact that Miss Davison, who is an extreme Suffragist, lately tried to set firo to the General Post Office, for which ■ was sent to prison. While she was in gaol she tried to kill herself by throwing herself over the stairs on to the stono floor, her expressed intention being to make herself a victim for tho advance* ment of her cause, "Miss Davison- has declared that the death of a Suffragist, will promote tlifl well-being of the movement. But, of course, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty what she meant to do, fo: s within a few moments of tho time when she ran on to the cotwe Anmer had knocked lijjr down with great force. Miss Davison was wearing her Suffragist badge al at tho,time." r;., ... Mr. H. Tumor, of Kyrlo Road, Clapham Common, who witnessed the wholo occurrence, said: "I was watching the horses approaching Tottenham Corner, when I noticed a figure bob under tho rails on the opposite sido to which I was standing. "The horses wero thundering down the course at a great pace bunched up close to the rails. From the position in which the woman s was standing it would have been impossible for her to have picked out any special horse. It was obviously her intention to stop the rao?. Misjudging tho pace of the 1 horses, she missed the first fouir or five which came round the rails in a/ bunch. They dashed by just ' as she was emerging from the rails. With great calmncss she walked in front of the next group of horses. The first missed her, but .the second, Anmer, came right dnto her, and catching her with his shoulder knocked her with terrific force to the • ground, while the crowd stood spellbound. The woman rolled over two or threo times and lay unconscious. She was thrown almost on her face. Anmer fell after striking th» woman, pitching Jones, the jockey, clear over its head. Fortunately, Anmer fell clear of tho woman, and tho horses following swerved by the woman, tho jockey, and tho faltcn horse." Other eye-witnesses wero all agreed that the woman ran forward with the deliberate intention of getting among tte horses. One said "sho ran right into the middle of thom; she must have known that sho would get hurt, but that didn't seem. to trouble her. When all the horses had pnsfhl sho was lying insensible in tho middle of tho track, but Tier friend had disappeared." ' Another onlooker says that the woman "throw up her hands as if to frighten tho horses." Statement by tho Jockey, Jones, the jockey who rode the King's horse, .was dazed and bewildered after his v violent fall, having sustained a black eye, a cut face, and injuries to his loft arm and shoulder. He could recall nothing about it until ho heard Lord Marcus ' Bercsford. mention the word l "Suffragette." "Oh, yes, I remember," lie then said, "A woman jumped out from underneath tho rails and my horso liit her. The horso sort of rolled over, and I must have had a bang, for that's all I know." The doctors found that his injuries were superficial, and that, so far as thejcould see, there wore no internal in-' juries. "He is as hard as nails," they said. He was dazed, but was anxious to get back' home to Newmarket. The doctors -raised no objection, » ho was oonveywl •by motor-car to the . Liverpool Street Hotel, and put to bed. It was' only late at night that the fracture of tho .Tib was discovered.

Miss Emily Davison's Rccord. Miss Davison, who died from her injuries, was.tlii; hottest: of .ill Suffragette "Hot-Bloods." She was thirty-five years of age, a B.A. of London University, and joined the militants in 1900. Since then silo had Hidden herself three times in the - llouso of Commons, once in a hot-air shaft. Been imprisoned nine times. Started a fire in the General Tost Office. Gained her freedom from prison by hunger-striking three times. Barricaded herself in a prieon cell and had the fire hose played upon her. Set fire to pillar-boxes. A'ttemplecl to commit suicide by throwing herself downstairs as a protest against forcible feeding. Struck a Baptist minister in Hm face, mistaking him for Mr. LloydGeorge.