Three Fascists in England Get 28-day Prison Terms for Assaulting Jews

Magistrate W. Blake Rodgers, sitting in North London Court, yesterday sentenced three fascists to 28-day jail terms for assaulting Jews during a meeting of the fascist British Ex-Servicemen’s League. Those sentenced were Arthur Parker, Frederick Mendham and Arthur Jordan.

In pronouncing sentence, Rodgers stressed the fact that the persons assaulted were attacked merely because they were Jewish. “That’s a state of affairs which can not be tolerated in any country which claims to be civilized,” he added. Rodgers dismissed cross summonses for alleged assault brought by the three accused against two of their Jewish victims. When the magistrate asked Mendham, who had been interned during the war as a fascist sympathizer, whether he was a fascist, Mendham replied: “I’d like to know what a fascist really is.”

Meanwhile, the Westminister City Council yesterday refused to discuss a resolution on fascist and anti-Semitic activities submitted by a left-wing member of the council. Mayor Grevidle Howard, although admitting that anti-Jewish provocations are the concern of the general public, ruled that the resolution was out of order, on the grounds that no anti-Semitic incidents had occurred in the Westminister area. The ruling is being challenged by the Westminster Trades Council executive, which passed a resolution requesting the City Council to associate itself with other London councils seeking legislation to ban fascist activities.

Dr. Joseph McCambridge was remanded on bail yesterday by Newcastle magistrates until Tuesday for breaking the window of a Jewish-owned shop with a brick wrapped in gasoline-scaked gauze and attempting to set fire to the store. The magistrates are deciding whether to send McCambridge to a higher court for trial.