While the formal classes provided structured self-defense training to the suffragists, their regular schedule provided another benefit to the activists: alibis. Women brought in for questioning by police for demonstrations or vandalism were able to use Garrud’s classes as an alibi, which would be supported by fellow suffragist’s. Garrud’s gymnasium was also occasionally used as a hide-out, as was the case when a half-dozen women who had smashed windows as part of a demonstration sheltered there.