“It is to be hoped that some means will be found to make the new prison now in contemplation more secure than the one at Dancmora.
“His Excellency Gov. Hoffman paid a visit to the prison some time since, which was not intended as an official one (he being on a pleasant trip to the trout lakes in the vicinity), but the convicts made it one for him, for out of 500 and odd men there nearly one-half wanted to see him, but of course could not, his stay there being but short; but those that did see him were received very kindly, and those who deserved it, I have no doubt, heard from him in a short time, for he had already pardoned two.
“He had no sooner left the prison than three of the convicts took the notion that they would leave too; but thanks to some of the guards they did not go any further than the main sewer, where they had hidden themselves.
“Their names were Obastio (coloured), Whitehead and Howard; all belonging to that unruly school of boys known as the ‘Nail Factory.’
“The guards were aroused in the night, or in the morning, for it was about three, and that, too, on a Sunday morning, by the report of a pistol which was discharged at the convict Hughes, who attempted to break the window with a hammer; but the night-guard, Mr. Kimball, being on watch for such things, quickly made him drop the sledge and cry for quarter. He was not shot, though it was no fault of the guards, for they were determined to make an example of some of those gaol-breakers.
“The convict, Thomas Kelly, was indicted for murder in the first degree, subsequently, for the murder of his fellow-convict, Lorenzo. He was tried at Plattsburgh, the witnesses being mostly convicts.
“A convict there, named Mulligan, a noted river pirate, under sentence of fifteen years, attempted suicide by opening an artery in his arm, and was only saved by the prompt arrival of the prison physician, Arthur S. Wolff.
“Several attempts have been made, of late, in the prisons, upon the lives of officers. In a great many of them they are provoked assaults by the officers, I have no doubt. At least, one came to my notice during my stay.
“It was between a convict named Morrow and Officer Moore. This Moore was a very brutal man, and uses at all times the most abominable language towards his men; and it was a wonder to me that such a man should be allowed in the prison as a keeper.
“Charley Richardson knew this man’s character; why did he not take such steps as would cause his removal? On the same day convict Flaherty attempted to cut Officer Cartwright without any cause whatever.