Why would some serfs run away to live in a town

Read the excerpt from suffragists' "great demand" banner. in june 1917, the district of columbia police began arresting picketers for obstructing sidewalk traffic. the women would be sentenced to serve in the occoquan workhouse prison in lorton, virginia. in august, scuffles broke out at the gates of the white house as angry spectators assaulted suffragists while city police stood by. the picketing continued. on october 20, alice paul was arrested and sentenced to seven months in jail. she and her companions were held in solitary confinement and denied counsel. paul went on a hunger strike and was violently force-fed. authorities confined her to a psychiatric ward in an effort to discredit her. on november 14, thirty women in the workhouse prison were beaten, threatened, and mistreated in what came to be known as the night of terror. chronological structure is used in this passage to emphasize the increasing aggression against women activists. clarify the purpose of the occoquan workhouse prison system. explain the relationship between alice paul and the authorities. define the types of women who were sentenced and imprisoned.