"Woe Is Me"

Last month Parliament and the press finally became aware that a lot of aliens locked up during the Fifth Column scare since last May were not only friendly but valuable to national defense. Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security Sir John Anderson promised to release about 10,000 internees. Last week, however, they were still in jail and the clamor continued. London Daily Herald Columnist Hannen Swaffer exposed the treatment of 600 alien "suspects" at Pentonville Prison. He charged that the prisoners--"no longer names but numbers"--were locked in cells all day long with only an hour's exercise, saw no newspapers, were not even allowed watches. Inveterate house of Commons questioner Laborite Emanuel Shinwell thereupon visited Pentonville himself, angrily clucked: "I think we've gone crazy. We've lumped into Pentonville . . . doctors, scientists, men of color and Chinese seamen. Some of the 'suspects' are Latvian, Estonian and Dutch sailors. Some were on vessels heavily bombed by the Germans. Some were in the water for hours before being picked up. Now to their amazement they find themselves in jail."

Best summary of the situation came in a plaintive song sung by one of the Pentonville 600:

"Woe is me, Oh, woe is me,

Mine is a mournful tale;

I came here to fight for liberty

So they put me in Pentonville jail."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.