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PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE. J

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PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE. J TO THE EDITOR. Dear Sir,—Will you permit me to put before jour readers a few facts and reflections ill con- nection with the death of Arthur Wilson, of Blackburn, Lancashire, who died on December 11th last in Strangeways Gaol, Manchester. Pneumonia, following influenza, is recorded as the cause of death, and according to a report of the inquest everybody, as usual, was satisfied, -etc.. etc. I wasn't there, or they would have found one, at least, tremendously dissatisfied, -and even now J should like an enquiry started ..as to whether, during this winter, the cells in the Gaol at Strangeways are ever up to the regu- lation 56 degrees, and whether they are dry or damp. I should also like to know whether the two trained male nurses—which regulations re- quire in critical cases—were present during the last hours of Arthur Wilson, or whether he was left merely to the care of an untrained disciplin- ary warder. These questions were not raised at the inquest. They ought to have been, as they have a powerful bearing on the matter of this young man's death. As an old freind of the family, I was asked to -go up North and officiate at the funeral, and when I arrived in Blackburn a couple of hours before the funeral service was due, I was dis- gusted to find that not one of the three other brothers of A. Wilson, also in prison for con- science sake, had as yet arrived. However, r -it t l iev ii-oii l d consoled myself with the thought that they would surely be there in due season. Half-an-hour before the time one of them turned up. He also is at Strangeways, and he had been given from ten o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening of the same day to do the double journey from Manchester to Blackburn and back, to attend his brother's funeral, and be back in prison aga.in. Could eold-blooded official ca llousness go flirt her Yf's! very much further! The I other two bro- thers were not permitted to come at all! One )f them is at Walton Gaol, Liverpool, and the -other at Northallerton, both within comparative- ly easy distance, but they were not allowed to come. There is absolutely no excuse to be made for the authorities. Or rather, nothing but the flim- siest- of excuses can possibly be made on their behalf. The Home Office was informed in good time of all the circumstances, and requested to allow the three brothers to attend the funeral. They replied asking what prisons the brothers were in, and, as far as two of them were eon- ••■■erned, that ended the matter. Remember! this has all taken place since the armistice was signed, in the land of liberty." Two questions naturally arise out of the above simple statement of facts. I have deliberately ;ivoided^dwelling upon the anxiety of the parents and relatives and friends, and the intensifica- tion of their anguish by means of this special sample of official brutality. The first question élS: What can possibly lie at the back of this con- duct on the part of the "powers that be," but a fixed determination to attempt to fasten per- manent Conscription upon the manhood of this nation? And my second question is: How long jre we going to suffer a system that mnrders the living for holding a good conscience, and then manifests a brutal and callous disrespect for the dead ? The answer to the lq¥ question must come from the public in general and from organised Labour in particular. nunc appears to be noth- ing else our present rulers fear. The fear of God is manifestly not before their eyes, or they would never dare no desire to do as they are doing. May I appeal to all your readers to use all their influence to bring such a brutal, murderous, debasing system to an end. Thanking you in ,.llti ei p,tion. -you I-s. etc.. T. E. EXTWISTLE (Evangelist). I 1 Lincoln Terrace, Merthyr. January, ]919.

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