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Title: Prisoner for Blasphemy
Author: G. W. [George William] Foote
Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7076]
Posting Date: March 24, 2009
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRISONER FOR BLASPHEMY ***
Produced by Freethought Archives
PRISONER FOR BLASPHEMY
By George William Foote
Originally published 1886
Persecution is not refutation, nor even triumph: the
"wretched infidel" as he is called, is probably happier in
his prison than the proudest of his assailants--BYRON.
London:
Progressive Publishing Company
28 Stonecutter Street, E.C.
1886
CHAPTERS
I. The Storm Brewing
II. Our First Summons
III. Mr. Bradlaugh Included
IV. Our Indictment
V. Another Prosecution
VI. Preparing for Trial
VII. At the Old Bailey
VIII. Newgate
IX. The Second Trial
X. "Black Maria"
XI. Holloway Gaol
XII. Prison Life
XIII. Parson Plaford
XIV. The Third Trial
XV. Loss and Gain
XVI. A Long Night
XVII. Daylight
PREFACE.
This little volume tells a strange and painful story; strange, because
the experiences of a prisoner for blasphemy are only known to three
living Englishmen; and painful, because their unmerited sufferings are a
sad reflection on the boasted freedom of our age.
My own share in this misfortune is all I could pretend to describe with
fidelity. Without (I hope) any meretricious display of fine writing,
I have related the facts of my case, giving a precise account of
my prosecutions, and as vivid a narrative as memory allows of my
imprisonment in Holloway Gaol. I have striven throughout to be truthful
and accurate, nothing extenuating, nor setting down aught in malice;
and I have tried to hit the happy mean between negligence and prolixity.
Whether or not I have succeeded in the second respect the reader must
be the judge; and if he cannot be so in the former respect, he will at
least be able to decide whether the writer means to be candid and bears
the appearance
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