First—The sanguinary disposition manifested on every occasion by Shortland, he having prior to this time, ordered the soldiers to fire into the prisons, through the prison windows, upon unarmed prisoners asleep in their hammocks, on account of a light being seen in the prisons; which barbarous act was repeated several nights successively. That murder was not then committed, was owing to an overruling Providence alone; for the balls were picked up in the prisons, where they passed through the hammocks of men then asleep in them. He having also ordered the soldiers to fire upon the prisoners in the yard of No. 7 prison, because they would not deliver up to him a man who had escaped from his cachot, which order the commanding officer of the soldiers refused to obey; and generally, he having seized on every slight pretext to injure the prisoners, by stopping their marketing for ten days repeatedly, and once, a third part of their provisions for the same length of time.
Secondly—He having been heard to say, when the boys had picked the hole in the wall, and some time before the alarm bell was rung, while all the prisoners were quiet as usual in their respective yards—"I'll fix the damn'd rascals directly."
Thirdly—His having all the soldiers on their posts, and the garrison fully prepared before the alarm bell rang. It could not then, of course, be rung to assemble the soldiers, but to alarm the prisoners, and create confusion among them.
Fourthly—The soldiers upon the wall, previous to the alarm bell being rung, informing the prisoners that they would be charged upon directly.
Fifthly—The turnkeys going into the yard and closing all the doors but one, in each prison, while the attention of the prisoners was attracted by the alarm bell. This was done about fifteen minutes sooner than usual, and without informing the prisoners it was time to shut up. It was ever the invariable practice of the turnkeys, from which they never deviated before that night, when coming into the yard to shut up, to halloo to the prisoners, so loud as to be heard throughout the yard, "turn in, turn in!" while on that night it was done so secretly, that not one man in a hundred knew they were shut; and in particular, their shutting the door of No. 7, prisoners usually go in and out at, and which was formerly always closed last, and leaving one open in the other end of the prison, which was exposed to a cross fire from the soldiers on the walls, and which the prisoners had to pass in gaining the prisons.
It appears to us that the foregoing reasons sufficiently warrant the conclusion we have drawn therefrom.
We likewise believe, from the depositions of men who were eye witnesses of a part of Shortland's conduct, on the evening of the 6th of April, that he was intoxicated with liquor at the time; from his brutality in beating a prisoner then supporting another severely wounded, from the blackguard and abusive language he made use of, and from his frequently having been seen in the same state. His being drunk was, of course, the means of inflaming his bitter enmity against the prisoners, and no doubt was the cause of the indiscriminate butchery, and of no quarter being given.
We here solemnly aver, that there was no pre-concerted plan to attempt a breaking out. There cannot be produced the least shadow of a reason or inducement for that intention, because the prisoners were daily expecting to be released, and to embark on board cartels for their native country. And we likewise solemnly assert, that there was no intention of resisting, in any manner, the authority of this depot.
N. B. Seven were killed, thirty dangerously wounded, and thirty slightly do. Total, sixty-seven killed and wounded.
| Signed, | Wm. B. Orne, | Wm. Hobart, | Committee. | ||
| James Boggs, | James Adams, | ||||
| J. F. Trowbridge, | Francis Joseph, | ||||
| John Rust, | Henry Allen, | ||||
| Walter Colton, | Thomas B. Mott, |