Chained to the Floor of His Dungeon He Contrived to Cut the Chain and
Had also Sawn the Bars of the Grated Window—Makes a Second Attempt
at Escape—Breaks Chains, Padlocks and Handcuffs and an Iron Collar
About His Neck—Tries Suicide by Hanging.
Having by this time, from painful experience become a little acquainted
with the depth of his genius, we thought it not impossible nor unlikely,
that he might still have the saw concealed about his person, although
Mr. Berton, the sheriff of York County, had searched him before his
removal from Fredericton gaol. We were, however, determined to examine
him more closely, for which end we took off his handcuffs, and then
ordered him to take off his clothes. Without hesitation or reluctance he
divested himself of his clothes, all to his shirt; we then searched
every part of his dress—the sleeves, wristbands, collar of his shirt,
and even to the hair of his head; but found nothing. We then suffered
him to put on his clothes again, and we carried out of the gaol his hat
and shoes, and every article he brought with him.
The prison in which he was confined was twenty-two feet by sixteen;
stone and lime walls three feet thick on the sides, the fourth side
having been the partition wall between the prison rooms. This partition
was of timber, twelve inches thick, lathed and plastered. The door was
of two inch plank, doubled and lined with sheet iron, with three iron
bar hinges, three inches wide, clasped over staples in the opposite
posts, and secured with three strong padlocks; and having also a small
iron wicket door secured with a padlock. There was one window through
the stone wall, grates within and without, and enclosed with glass on
the outside, so that no communication could be had with the interior
undiscovered. The passage that leads to the prison door is twenty feet
in length and three feet in breadth, secured at the entrance by a
padlock on the door; the outside door was also kept locked, so that no
communication could be had through the passage, without passing through
three securely locked doors, the keys of which were always kept by Mr.
Dibble, the gaoler, who from his infirm state of health, never left the
house day or night.
Having learned a lesson by former experience, we maintained the most
unbending strictness, suffering no intercourse with the prisoner
whatever. In this manner secured, we put on his right leg an iron chain
no more than long enough to allow him to reach the necessary, and take
his provision at the wicket door. The end of the chain was fastened to
the timber of the floor by a strong staple, near the partition wall, so
that he could not reach the grated window by five or six feet. He was
provided with a bunk, straw and blankets, as a bed; and his wrists
having been much swelled with the handcuffs, I considered it unnecessary
to keep them on, especially as he was so thoroughly secured in other
respects. In this situation I left him, with directions to the jailor to
look to him frequently through the wicket door, to see that he remained
secure, intending at the same time to visit him occasionally myself.
The jailor came to look at him frequently at the wicket door, as
directed, and always found him quiet and peaceable, either sitting up
reading, or lying down in his berth; he never uttered any complaints,
but appeared resigned to his confinement. I visited him once or twice in
the week to see, for myself, that his irons remained secure: and always
finding him as yet, in the same state of security in which I had left
him, I made up my mind that we should be able to keep him without any
additional trouble. He manifested good nature as well as resignation,
for he always came to the wicket door when I wished to see that his
irons were in order, with the greatest seeming willingness.
On the twelfth day of his confinement, I was informed that Mr. Newman
Perkins had heard an unusual noise in the night, which induced him to
think that Smith had been at work at the grates. On making more
particular inquiry, I learned from Mrs. Perkins that she had heard a
noise like rubbing or filing, late in the night; and by holding her head
out of the window, she considered the sound to proceed from the jail.
Knowing the situation of the prisoner, chained, that he could not reach
the grate by five or six feet; and knowing, also, that after the search
we had made, it was impossible that he could have retained about his
person anything by which he could operate on the grates, we judged it
more than improbable that the sound could have proceeded from him.
Nevertheless, we did not treat the information with disregard or
neglect. I went immediately to the prison, accompanied by Moses Foster,
George Raymond, Allen Basten, and Mr. Dibble, the jailor, with several
others. It was then the evening, and we carried with us two or three
candles. On opening the door, we found him lying in his berth, chained
just as I had left him. I said to him, “Smith, you have not got out
yet;” he answered, “no, not quite.” I then examined every bar of the
grates as closely as possible, as also did every one present again and
again, until we were all satisfied that the cause of the alarm was only
imaginary. Smith all the time lying quiet, answering readily any and
every question that was put to him.
Mr. Basten had yet continued searching and examining the inner grates,
when it was discovered by all present that there was a small chip lying
on the flat bar of the outer grate, which was supposed to have been
there accidently. Mr. Basten, however, being fully satisfied that the
inner grate remained secure, was led rather by curiosity, to reach
through his hand, and take up the chip that lay on the bar of the outer
grate; on doing this, he thought he could perceive that the bar was
inclined to hang in a small degree. This led to further examination; and
to the utter astonishment of all that were present it was found that the
bar was cut one-third off, and artfully concealed with the feather edge
of the chip. Our astonishment was increased by the fact that it was
impossible to reach the outer grate without first removing the inner.
This gave the hint for a more effectual examination, when it was found
that he had cut one of the inner bars so neatly, that he could remove
and replace it at pleasure, having contrived to conceal the incisions in
such a manner as to almost preclude the possibility of detection. There
is little or no doubt in two or three nights more he would have effected
his second escape, had not his works been discovered, through the very
means which, artful as he was, he employed to conceal them. On being
asked what instrument he used in cutting the grate, he answered with
perfect indifference, “with this saw and file;” and without hesitation
handed me from his berth a case-knife, steel-blade, neatly cut in fine
teeth, and a common hand saw file. I then asked him how he got to the
grates, or whether he had slipped the shackles off his feet? he answered
me, no; but that he had cut the chain in the joint of the links, a part
where the cut could not very readily be discovered.
On being asked where he got his tools, he answered that he had left them
in the gaol when he went away, and that those he had given me were all
the tools he had left. But perceiving from the shape of the knife, (it
having been much thicker on the back than the edge,) that the bars could
never have been cut so neatly through with that instrument, we were
induced to make a stricter search, and found, in a broken part of the
lime wall, near the grates, a very neat spring saw, having a cord tied
at one end. I then asked him who gave him those tools; to which he
replied with great firmness:—“You need not ask me again, for I never
will tell you.” After I had finished these enquiries, I searched his bed
and his clothes, and renewed the chain again to his leg, fastening it
firmly to the floor with a staple; and putting on a pair of strong
handcuffs of 7-8 bolt. We then left him, it being about 11 o’clock on
Saturday night. On the next Sunday at 4 o’clock, I revisited the jail,
when the gaoler informed me that the prisoner was lying in his berth
with all his irons on, and had been enquiring of him if the sheriff was
not coming to examine his chains. About 12 o’clock the same night I was
alarmed by a man sent by the gaoler, to inform me that Smith had got
loose from his irons, and having worked his way through the inner grate,
was cutting the outer grate, and had nearly escaped.
Here, at the dead hour of midnight, when it might be expected that every
eye would be sunk in the stillness of sleep through the vigilant
attention of Mr. Dibble, the gaoler, this astonishing being, who set
handcuffs, and shackles, and chains at defiance, had all but effected
another escape. Mr. Dibble, on finding him to be at work at the grates,
was determined, if possible, to take him in the act; and by fastening a
candle to the end of a stick three feet in length, and shoving the light
through the wicket gate, he was enabled to discover him at work before
he could have time to retreat to his berth. Mr. Dibble, on perceiving
how he was employed, ordered him to leave everything he had, and take to
his berth; he instantly obeyed, but as suddenly returned to the grates
again, placed himself in a position to which he could not be seen by the
gaoler. Remaining here but a moment, he went quickly to the necessary,
and threw something down which was distinctly heard, and finally retired
to his berth.
Mr. Dibble maintained a close watch until I arrived at the gaol, which
we immediately entered, and to our amazement found him extricated from
all his irons. He had cut his way through the inner grate and had all
his clothes collected, and with him ready to elope, and had cut the bar
of the outer grate two thirds off, which no doubt, he would have
completed long before morning, and made his escape. I said to him,
“Smith, you keep at work yet;” he answered that he had done work now,
that all his tools were down the necessary. The truth of this, however,
we proved by letting down a candle, by which we could clearly see the
bottom; but no tools were to be seen there. His return to the necessary,
and dropping, or pretending to drop something down, was no doubt, an
artifice, by which he attempted to divert our attention from the real
spot where his tools were concealed. But in this also, with all his
cunning, he overshot the mark, by his over eagerness to tell us where he
had cast his tools, instead of allowing us rather to draw the conclusion
ourselves, from his return to the place, and dropping something down. We
next proceeded to strip off and examine his clothing, carefully
searching every hem and seam. His berth we knocked all to pieces,
examining every joint and split; we swept out and searched every part of
the prison, knowing that he must have his instruments in some part of
it; but all to no purpose—nothing could be discovered.
We next replaced all his chains with padlocks; put on him a pair of
screw handcuffs, which confined his hands close together, and thus left
him about 4 o’clock on Monday morning. On the day following, Mr. Jarvis,
the blacksmith, having repaired the grates came to put them in, when he
found Smith lying on the floor apparently as we left him; but, on
examining the new handcuffs, which screwed his hands close together when
put on, we found them separated in such a manner that he could put them
off and on when he pleased. On being asked why he destroyed those
valuable handcuffs, “because,” said he, “they are so stiff that nobody
can wear them.”
No doubt then remained that he must have his saws concealed about his
body, and having been ordered to take off his clothes, he complied with
his usual readiness. On taking off his shirt, which had not been done at
any time previous in our searches about his body, Dr. A. Paddock, who
was present, and employed in the search, discovered a small muslin cord
about his thigh, close to his body, and drawn so close that it could not
be felt by the hand passing over it with the shirt between. This small
cord was found to conceal on the inside of his thigh a fine steel saw
plate, two inches broad and ten inches long, the teeth neatly cut on
both the edges, no doubt of his own work. After this discovery we put on
him light handcuffs, secured his chains with padlocks again, and set
four men to watch him the whole night. The next day we secured the inner
grate, filling the squares with brick, lime and sand, leaving a space at
the upper corner of only four by five inches, in which was inserted a
pane of glass in the centre of the wall. This small opening in a wall
three feet thick, admitted little or no light, so that the room was
rendered almost a dungeon, which prevented the prisoner from being seen
at any time from the door without the light of a candle. From this time
we never entered the prison without candles and two or three men.
On the 13th of November, I addressed a letter to Judge Chipman, to which
I received the following answer:
“Saint John, November 14, 1814—Dear Sir,—I received your letter of
yesterday relating to the new attempts of H. M. Smith to escape. I
have forwarded the same to Fredericton, and presume that a court will
be ordered for his trial as soon as may be practicable for the state
of the travelling, and the necessity of procuring the witness from
Nova Scotia; though I should suppose not before the ice makes. In the
mean time the utmost vigilance and precaution must be made use of to
secure him; you will be justified in any measures of severity that you
may find it necessary to adopt for this purpose.
I am, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
WALTER BATES, Esq. WARD CHIPMAN.”
Wednesday, the 16th, we entered the prison and found that he had been
employed in breaking the plaster off the partition wall with his chains,
and broken one of the padlocks, and appeared to have been loose; seemed
very vicious, and said “he would burn and destroy the building—would
make it smoke before he left it” and that we would see it smoke. I then
prepared a pair of steel fetters, case hardened, about 10 inches long,
which we put on his legs, with a chain from the middle, 7 feet long,
which we stapled to the floor; we also put an iron collar about his
neck, with a chain about 8 feet long, stapled also to the floor in a
direction opposite to the other; and also a chain from his fetters to
the neck collar, with handcuffs bolted to the middle of his chain in
such a manner as to prevent his hands from reaching his head and feet
when standing, leaving it just possible for him to feed himself when
sitting.
All these irons and chains he received without discovering the least
concern or regard. When the blacksmith had finished riveting the whole,
I said to him, “Now, Smith, I would advise you to be quiet after this,
or if you are not you will next have an iron band put round your body
and stapled fast down to the floor.” He very calmly replied, “Old man,
if you are not satisfied, you may put it on now. I do not regard it, if
you will let me have my hands loose you may put on as much iron as you
please. I care not for your iron.” In this situation we left him, loaded
with irons, the entire weight of which was forty-six pounds, and without
anything to sit or lie upon but the naked floor.
Although he was thus situated and in an entire dungeon, he appeared not
in the least humbled; but became more troublesome and noisy, and
exceedingly vicious against the gaoler. Despair and madness seemed now
to seize him, and raving and roaring would unite with the utterance of
prayers and portions of the Scriptures. With a tremendous voice he would
cry out, “Oh you cruel devils—you murderers—you man-slayers—you
tormentors of man? How I burn to be revenged; help, help, help me; Lord
help me to be revenged of those devils; help me that I might tear up
this place, that I may turn it upside down, that there may not be one
stick or stone of it left. My hair shall not be shorn, nor my nails cut,
till I grow as strong as Sampson, then will I be revenged of all my
enemies. Help, help, O Lord help me to destroy these tormentors,
murderers of man, tormenting me in chains and darkness;” shouting,
“darkness, darkness, O darkness—not light to read the Word of God,—not
one word of comfort from any. All is,—you rogue, you thief, you
villain,—you deserve to be hanged. No pity, not one word of
consolation,—all darkness, all trouble;” singing, “trouble, trouble,
trouble; O God help me, and have mercy upon me; I fear there is no mercy
for me;—yes, there is mercy, it is in Jesus, whose arms stand open to
receive; but how shall I dare to look at Him whom I have offended.”
Then he would call upon his parents and deprecate his wicked life; then
rave again, “murderers, tormentors, consider you have souls to save,
consider you have souls to lose as well as I, a poor prisoner; consider
you have children that may be brought to trouble as well as I; consider
I have parents as well as they. O! if my parents knew my situation, it
would kill them. My wife, begone from my sight; why will you torment me!
It is for you that I suffer all my sorrow—it is for you my heart bleeds.
Not a friend comes to see me—nothing before me but pain and sorrow,
chains and darkness, misery and death, O! wretched me, how long am I to
suffer in this place of torment! Am I to linger a life of pain and
sorrow in chains and misery? No, I will cut the thread of life and be
relieved from this place of darkness and trouble,” singing “trouble,
trouble, trouble,” a thousand times repeated. In this manner he
continued raving till he became very hoarse and exhausted, would take no
notice of anything that was said to him, and finally left off speaking
entirely.
The weather having become very cold, he was allowed his berth again,
with a comfortable bed of straw and blankets; but the blankets had to be
taken away from him again, on account of his having attempted to _hang_
himself with one of them made into a rope. He next attempted to starve
himself, but this he gave over, after having fasted three or four days.
He now dropped into a state of quietness, and lay in his bed the most of
the time, day as well as night; but on the 16th of December we found on
examining his prison, that he had broken the iron collar from his neck,
and drawn the staple from the timber; but replaced it again so as to
prevent detection.
On the 17th, we put a chain about his neck, and stapled it to the floor
in such a manner that he could not reach either of the staples. In this
situation he remained secure and rather more quiet, yet with occasional
shouting and screaming until the 15th of January. The weather having now
become very cold, and no fire allowed him, fears were entertained that
he might freeze; to prevent which it became necessary to remove his
irons, which with the exception of his fetters and handcuffs, were
accordingly taken off. For this relief Smith showed no sign of
thankfulness, but became more noisy and troublesome, especially in the
night, disturbing all within the reach of his voice, with screeching and
howling, and all manner of hideous noises, entirely unlike the human
voice, and tremendously loud, even beyond conception. In this manner he
continued for five months, occasionally committing violence upon himself
and breaking his chains, during which period he could never be surprised
into the utterance of one single word or articulate sound, and took no
notice of any person or thing, or of what was said to him, no more than
if he had been a dumb, senseless animal; yet performing many curious and
astonishing actions as will be related hereafter.
In the New Testament, which he always kept by him, a leaf was observed
to be turned down, under which, upon examination, was found the
following Scripture, in the 3rd Chapter of 1st Corinthians, “And I,
brethren, could not speak unto you,” &c.
The weather having been intensely cold throughout the month of January,
and he having no fire, great fears were entertained that he must perish
from cold, but astonishing to relate his hands and feet were always
found to be warm, and even his chains! In February, when the weather
began to moderate a little, he became more troublesome; began to tear
off the lime wall and lathing, from the partition and break everything
he could reach. A strong iron-hooped bucket that contained his drink he
broke all to pieces; the hoops he broke up into pieces not exceeding
three inches long, and would throw the pieces with such dexterity,
though handcuffed, as to put out the candle when the gaoler would bring
the light to the wicket door to examine what he was doing.
As the weather moderated he became more noisy and vicious, as will
appear by the following letter which I received from the gaoler on
February 10th:
“DEAR SIR,—There must be something done with Smith—he is determined to
let me know what he is if no one else does—he sleeps in the day time,
and when I go to tell him to keep still at night, he yells so as not
to hear what I say to him. Instead of thanks for taking off his irons,
he makes all the noises he can by yelling and screaming all night, and
knocking very loud all night with some part of his irons. I wish you
would come up early and advise what is best to be done.
W. DIBBLE.”
I came to the gaol accordingly, and found his irons uninjured, and to
prevent him from using his hands so freely, locked a chain from his
fetters to his handcuffs, and left him.
On Sunday, two gentlemen from Nova Scotia, at the request of Smith’s
wife, came to make enquiry after him. I went with them to the gaol to
see if he would speak or take any notice of them, or of what they would
say to him from his wife. They told him that his wife wished to know if
he would have her come to see him, and what she would do with the colt
he left; that she would sell it for two hundred dollars, and have the
money sent to him. But all they said had no effect on him, any more than
if he had been a lifeless statue, which convinced us that he would go to
the gallows without speaking a word or changing his countenance.
The next week he became more restless and vicious, and on Sunday, on
going to the gaol with Mr. Rulofson, from Hampton, and Mr. Griffith,
from Woodstock, found he had broken up part of his berth, and broken his
chain from the handcuffs, leaving one link to the staple, the parted
links concealed; tore up part of his bedding and stopped the funnel of
the necessary. It appeared also that he had been at the grates; but how
he got there was a mystery, for the chain by which his legs were bound,
was unbroken, and the staple fast in the timber. We then raised the
staple and again put on the chain to his handcuffs, fastening the staple
in another place, more out of his reach.
The next day I found he had again broken the chain from his handcuffs
and torn a large portion of lathing and plastering from the middle wall.
Finding this, I determined to confine him more closely than ever, and so
put a chain from his feet round his neck, stapled to the floor, securing
the handcuffs to the middle of the chain. He had already given such
mysterious and astonishing proofs of his strength and invention, that I
feared he would finally baffle all my ingenuity to prevent his escape.
The twisting of the iron collar from his neck and drawing the staple
from the timber, was a feat that filled every one with wonder. The
collar was made of a flat bar of iron, an inch and a half wide, with the
edges rounded. This he twisted as if it were a piece of leather, and
broke it into two parts, which no man of common strength could have done
with one end of the bar fastened in a smith’s vise. The broken collar
was kept a long time and shown to many a wonderer. As might be expected,
his wrists were frequently much swelled and very sore from his exertion
to break and get loose from his irons; yet he appeared as insensible and
as regardless of his situation as if he had in reality been a furious
maniac.
Notwithstanding the seeming insanity which characterized these works of
his in the prison, yet other parts of his performance there indicated
the most astonishing genius and invention; perhaps in a manner and
degree unequalled in the memory of man. On the 1st of March, on entering
his prison in the evening, we found him walking in front of an _effigy
or likeness of his wife_, which he had made and placed before him
against the wall as large as life. When the light was thrown upon this
scene, which he had prepared and got up in the dark, it not only filled
us with amazement, but drew out all the sensibilities of the heart with
the magic of a tragedy, not so much imaginary as real. This effigy he
intended to represent his wife, visiting his wretched abode, and
manifesting signs of disconsolation, anguish and despair, on beholding
her wretched husband moving before her in chains and fetters, with
dejected mien, and misery and despair depicted in his countenance. The
effigy was formed out of his bedding and the clothes and shirt he tore
off his body, together with a trough three or four feet in length, which
was used in the jail to contain water for his drink. Rough as the
materials were, yet he displayed such ingenuity in its formation, and
conducted the scene in a manner so affecting, that the effect it
produced when viewed with the light of the candles, was really
astonishing, and had a kind of magical power in drawing out the
sympathies of every one who witnessed it.
He continued noisy and troublesome till the 5th of March, when we took
his irons off, and caused him to wash himself and comb his hair, which
had not been cut since he was put in jail; neither had his beard been
shaved. On receiving a piece of soap for washing, he ate a part, and
used the rest. We then gave him a clean shirt, which he put on himself
with the rest of his clothing, after which we replaced his irons, which
he received in the same manner as an ox would his yoke, or a horse his
harness.
[Illustration]