And under the lower range of hammocks, by the wall sides, were laid beds upon the floor, in which the sick and weak prisoners lay.
There were many sick, and some very weak, and though we were not long there, one of our fellow prisoners died. The rest of the story is too good to be omitted.
The body of the deceased, being laid out and put in a coffin, was set in a room called “The Lodge,” that the coroner might inquire into the cause of his death.
The manner of their doing it is this. As soon as the coroner is come, the turnkeys run into the street under the gate, and seize upon every man that passes till they have got enough to make up the coroner’s inquest. It so happened at this time, that they lighted on an ancient man, a grave citizen, who was trudging through the gate in great haste, and him they laid hold on, telling him he must come in and serve upon the inquest.
He pleaded hard, begged and besought them to let him go, assuring them that he was going on very urgent business. But they were deaf to all entreaties.
When they had got their complement, and were shut in together, the others said to this ancient man—
“Come, father, you are the oldest among us; you shall be our foreman.”
When the coroner had sworn the jury, the coffin was uncovered that they might look upon his body, but the old man said to them—
“To what purpose do you show us a dead body here? You would not have us think that this man died in this room! How shall we be able to judge how this man came by his death, unless we see the place where he died, and where he hath been kept prisoner before he died? How know we but that the incommodiousness of the place wherein he was kept may have occasioned his death? Therefore show us the place wherein this man died.”
This much displeased the keepers, and they began to banter the old man, thinking to beat him off it. But he stood up tightly to them.