Early on Monday morning the ancient and beautiful church of
Wargrave-on-Thames was almost completely destroyed by fire. The incendiaries, whose connexion with the militant suffrage movement is established by messages left outside the church, lit a fire in the organ, whence the flames spread to the openwork oak roof, which, with the Jacobean pulpit, was burnt to ashes. The six bells, dating from the seventeenth century, fell from the belfry and were melted or broken, while the east window (a memorial to a former vicar), an alabaster reredos, the panelling round the baptistry, and all the memorials of the dead, including that of Thomas Day, the author of Sandford and _Merton, were destroyed by the fire, only the walls and tower remaining. In all the long record of senseless crime which has disfigured the progress of militancy there has been no more wanton and cruel act of destruction than this. We may add that the law officers of the Crown are stated to be considering what action should be taken against subscribers to the funds of the Women's Social and Political Union, a complete list of whom was secured when the offices in Kingsway were raided by the police last week. If it can be proved that the subscribers knew how their con- tributions were going to be used, it is believed that not only can they be indicted for conspiracy, but that their private property can be made liable for the damage done.
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