April 28, 1914
REBA EDELSON FREED FROM JAIL ON BOND
Anarchist Alexander Berkman Puts Up $300 When Appeal Is Granted.
Reba Edelson, who says she isn’t an
I.W.W. agitator, but an anarchist, was released late yesterday afternoon from
the Queens county jail in Long Island City. Judge Mulqueen in General Sessions
decided that the young woman might appeal from her conviction by Magistrate
Simms on a charge of disorderly conduct, arising out of her verbal attack on
the American flag under the shadow of old Ben Franklin in Park Row. The motion
for the appeal was made by Lawyer Justus Sheffield, who contended Miss Edelson
had not been legally convicted. There was no opposition by the District
Attorney.
Bail was fixed at $300 pending the
appeal, and Alexander Berkman, the anarchist, deposited that sum with the City
Chamberlain. Then he went to Long Island City with Benjamin Benn, presented his
papers at the jail and took Miss Edelson away. Before leaving the young woman
thanked Warden Henry Schleth for his kindness after her transfer to his care
from the Blackwell’s Island workhouse on Saturday afternoon. It was shortly
after she was introduced to the warden that Miss Edelson declared off her
hunger strike.
“Not until my friends had assured me
that I was going to have a rehearing did I consent to eat,” said Miss Edelson
last night. “My attitude was to protest against Magistrate Simm’s decision, and
when that object was removed I was willing to eat. If the sentence is not
revised I will surely continue the strike when they put me back in jail.
“The workhouse on Blackwell’s Island
is an awful place. I was taken there in a dirty boat and had to submit to the
indignity of undressing before a lot of women. I was forced to take a bath with
no privacy and had to put on ill fitting and torn clothes.
“My cell was in bad condition and I
was given blankets that anybody might have used. The State is assuming a great
responsibility in this matter. They are really taking your life in their hands
when they send you there. The workhouse is only fit to be burned. It is a blot
on civilization.
The young woman was sentenced to three
months imprisonment because of her point blank refusal to furnish a $300 bond
as a guarantee of peaceful behavior.
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