Trial
The Attorney-General, F.E.Smith, went to Derby himself and used his influence to move the trial to London, where he prosecuted the case and appeared in person. At the trial at the Old Bailey, which began on 6 March 1917, Smith refused to call Gordon as a witness, thus preventing his being cross-examined on his own involvement in the "plot". Alfred Mason (aged 24) was sentenced to seven years and Winnie (aged 23) to five years, even though the jury recommended mercy on account of their youth. Hettie was acquitted. Alice was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude and was sent to Aylesbury Prison, where she went on hunger strike. She was later moved to Holloway (HM Prison).
Three days after the conviction, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers published an open letter to the Home Secretary that included the following:
"We demand that the Police Spies, on whose evidence the Wheeldon family is being tried, be put in the Witness Box, believing that in the event of this being done fresh evidence will be forthcoming which will put a different complexion on the case."
Read more about this topic: Alice Wheeldon
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
“Every political system is an accumulation of habits, customs, prejudices, and principles that have survived a long process of trial and error and of ceaseless response to changing circumstances. If the system works well on the whole, it is a lucky accident—the luckiest, indeed, that can befall a society.”
—Edward C. Banfield (b. 1916)
“You don’t want a general houseworker, do you? Or a traveling companion, quiet, refined, speaks fluent French entirely in the present tense? Or an assistant billiard-maker? Or a private librarian? Or a lady car-washer? Because if you do, I should appreciate your giving me a trial at the job. Any minute now, I am going to become one of the Great Unemployed. I am about to leave literature flat on its face. I don’t want to review books any more. It cuts in too much on my reading.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“I have proved by actual trial that a letter, that takes an hour to write, takes only about 3 minutes to read!”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)