Source 3b

Transcript

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There was great consternation among those on the Grand Stand when they saw Herbert Jones, obviously unconscious, being brought on an ambulance into the weighing enclosure. His Majesty left the Royal Box and came down to the Jockey Club terraces to inquire as to the condition of his jockey. Jones was for a little time unconscious from concussion, and his face and arms were injured. But it is gratifying [pleasing] to learn that he is recovering from the shock and the fall. The King commanded Superintendent McCarthy to bring him details of the affair. These have been briefly set out as officially furnished. When the cause of the injury to Jones became known a feeling of resentment against the Suffragists was only natural. And yet outside the Epsom Downs Station about five o’clock when the return to town was in full swing, a woman in the Suffragist colours was to be seen endeavouring to sell the papers of the cause.

THE INJURED WOMAN: QUEEN’S INQUIRIES

The woman knocked down by Anmer was Miss Emily Wilding Davison, a well-known Suffragist, who has been sentenced on several occasions for acts of militancy [acts involving fighting or being aggressive.] The fact that a Women’s Social and Political Union card was found on her, and that she had the Suffragist colours tied around her waist, suggested that her action in placing herself in the way of the horses was a deliberate one, but (says the Press Association) people who were close by her at the rails expressed the view that she rushed on the course in the belief that all the horses had passed. Some of the spectators gave it as their opinion that she was crossing the course in order to get to a friend on the opposite side, and fainted when she saw the horses galloping on her. On the other hand, an eyewitness regarded it as a deliberate act. “We were,” he said, “all intent on the finish of the race, and were straining forward to see which of the leaders had won. Just at that moment there was a scream, and I saw a woman leaping forward and making a grab at the bridle of Anmer, the King’s horse. The horse reared and fell, bringing down its jockey. Jones seemed to be stunned and was taken away by ambulance men. The woman was lying on the ground, and when the crowd rushed on to the course the police surrounded her. She was removed on a stretcher.”

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