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LAWRENCE SOLDIERS AND POLICE CALLED MORE
BRUTAL THAN RUSSIAN COSSACKS ,
Washington, March 4. The
chambers of the house rules com
mittee were crowded to overflow
ing when Samuel Lipson, striker,
resumed the stand today to tell
of the clubbing and bayonetting
of men and women and little chil
dren at Lawrence.
. Fashionably dressed women,
sparkling with gems, well-dressed'
well-fed looking congressmen,
formed a strange contrast to the
little group of pinched, hungry
looking strikers in the center of
the room.
So apparent" was f he nervous
tension in the room, that Chair
man Henry of the committee,
warned the audience against
making any outbreak.
"There was some unseemly be
havior here Saturday," he said,
referring to the clash .between
Victor Berger and Robert Mc
Cartney, of the Lawrence citi
zens' committee. "At the first
instance of anything of the kind
today the committee -will have
the room cleared and the guilty
ones punished."
Then a letter from Governor
Foss, of Massachusetts, was read.
It was signed by Foss' secretary.
It said that reports of 'conditions
at Lawrence 'Tiad been exagger
ated." It defended the police and
militia for preventing tfie sending
of children from Lawrence.
Then Rep . Hardwick, of the
committee began the questioning
. of Lipson.
"Why were these children sent
away from Lawrence?" he asked.
"To take care of them. To save
them from the dangers of" the
strike," said Lipson, simply.
"Were some of "the people' sent
to Philadelphia to .take part in a
mass meeting'?" asked Hardwick.
?No."
"Do' you know of many in
stances of policemen and soldiers
clubbing women and children?"
"I was in Russia during the
revolution," said Lipson, "and I
never saw Russian Cossacks, the
wildest soldiers in the world be
have toward women and children
as the soldiers in Lawrence did.
"I know that "little children
whenever they have been met .by
soldiers in the street, have been
pushed about and struck with,
clubs and the butt ends of guns.
Never in Russia were little seveftr
year-old boys and girls" struck by
soldiers.
"I know ofa little boy who
was held down on the floor by a
soldier who had his knee on the
boy's chest. The boy could not
get up because the knee was
stronger than he. There are 409
Russian peasants' in Lawrence,
and they are going to call on the
Russian ambassador to seek relief
for them.
"So are the other nationalities,
if they get no relief and it is nec
essary." -"
"Perhaps you thing it is' nec
essary," said Hardwick.
"Yes, when police club women
and children about their breasts
and bodies, we think something
should be done.
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