CHAPTER V.
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.
