JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2400
SUFFRAGETTE PICKETS STORMED BY RIOTERS IN NATION'S CAPITALWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Political unrest of recent days is unfortunately nothing new in the United States. One hundred years ago today, August 14, 1917, two thousand rioters "besieged" Cameron House*, headquarters of the National Women's Party here in the Nation's Capital.
According to the Chicago Daily Tribune, the riot, which lasted two hours, "started shortly after 4 o'clock when Mrs. Dexter Otey of Richmond, Virginia started for the White House carrying a suffragette banner addressed to 'Kaiser Wilson'."
The banner was "torn from her" before she reached the White House gates. Other suffragette banners "met a similar fate."
The rioters were led by "a soldier, a sailor and a marine." They climbed to the balcony and tore down suffragette flags from their frames. For good measure, a sailor fired a shot into a large glass window on the second floor. By the time the riot ended, 36 banners had been "torn to shreds."
Two citizens were arrested--one for desecrating the American flag and the other for disorderly conduct.
*Cameron House, aka Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House, is located at 21 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C. It was built in 1828 by BOT & the house became a salon for the politically powerful.
Senator Don Cameron of PA purchased the house in 1887 & leased it to Vice-President Garret Hobart (1897-1899) who became so powerful in the administration of William McKinley he was called "Assistant President." Perhaps this explains why the VP's residence now is so far from the White House.
The house was up for destruction but thanks to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, it was saved along with other historic buildings in Lafayette Square.
SOURCES
"Cameron House," Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Rioters Storm Women Pickets' Headquarters," The Chicago Daily Tribune, August 15, 1917.
Cameron House
Harris & Ewing (1916)
Library of Congress Photo
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House
21 Madison Place NW
Washington, D.C.
Photo by Tim1965 (2009)
