On the eighth of October, one thousand eight hundred and nine, the turnkeys, by mistake, had left one of the prison doors unlocked, which being discovered by some of the prisoners, they determined, if possible, to effect an escape; they got into the yard but, unfortunately, were discovered the very moment they came out, by one of the sentries, who gave the alarm, and instantly a volley of sixty muskets was discharged at them; numbers were wounded, but none killed; they then hastily retired into the prison.
Capt. Cotgrave, the agent, then entered the yard at the head of a large body of troops, and after searching the yard in every direction, and discovering nobody he was retiring, when they discovered a man creeping along the wall; the blood-thirsty monsters instantly fell upon the unhappy victim, and would neither listen to his cries nor prayers, but before he could make himself known to them, several musket-balls had pierced his vital parts, and laid him lifeless on the ground; but they were not content with this; they ran up to him, and ran over and over his lifeless corpse, stabbing it with their bayonets in many places; after having satiated their ferocity, on inspecting the body, they found it to be one of their own men, whom the darkness of the night had prevented them from distinguishing.
In memory of this horrid act, the French prisoners raised a monument on the very spot where it was committed; but the keepers of the prison had it destroyed the same day, for it was a monument of their cruelty.
THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF PRISONERS.
We, the undersigned, being each severally sworn on the holy evangelists of the Almighty God, for the investigation of the circumstances attending the late horrid massacre, and having heard the depositions of a great number of witnesses, from our own personal knowledge, and from the depositions given in as aforesaid,
Report as Follows:
That on the 6th of April, about six o’clock in the evening, when the prisoners were all quiet in their respective yards, it being about the usual time of turning in for the night, and the greater part of the prisoners being then in the prisons, the alarm bell was rung, and many of the prisoners ran up to the Market-square to learn the occasion of the alarm. There were then drawn up in the Square several hundred soldiers, with Captain Shortland [the Agent] at their head; it was likewise observed, at the same time, that additional numbers of soldiers were posting themselves on the walls round the prison yards. One of them observed to the prisoners, that they had better go into the prisons, for they would be charged upon directly. This, of course, occasioned considerable alarm among them. In this moment of uncertainty, they were running in different directions, inquiring the cause of the alarm—some toward their respective prisons, and some toward the Market-square. When about one hundred were collected in the Square, Captain Shortland ordered the soldiers to charge upon them, which order the soldiers were reluctant in obeying, as the prisoners were using no violence; but on the order being repeated, they made a charge, and the prisoners retreated out of the Square into the prison-yards, and shut the gates after them. Captain Shortland himself opened the gates, and ordered the soldiers to fire in among the prisoners, who were all retreating in different directions toward their respective prisons. It appears there was some hesitation in the minds of the officers, whether or not it was proper to fire upon the prisoners in that situation; on which Shortland seized a musket out of the hands of a soldier, which he fired. Immediately after, the fire became general, and many of the prisoners were either killed or wounded. The remainder were endeavoring to get into the prisons, when going towards the lower doors, the soldiers on the walls commenced firing on them from that quarter, which killed some and wounded others. After much difficulty, [all the doors being closed in the entrance, but one in each prison] the survivors succeeded in gaining the prisons; immediately after which, parties of soldiers came to the doors of Nos. 3 and 4 prisons, and fired several vollies into them through the windows and doors, which killed one man in each prison, and severely wounded others.
It likewise appears, that the preceding butchery was followed up with a disposition of peculiar inveteracy and barbarity.
One man, who was severely wounded in No. 7 prison-yard, and being unable to make his way to the prison, was come up with by the soldiers, whom he implored for mercy, but in vain; five of the hardened wretches immediately levelled their pieces at him, and shot him dead on the spot.—The soldiers who were posted on the walls, manifested equal cruelty, by keeping up a constant fire on every prisoner they could see in the yards endeavoring to get into the prison, when their numbers were very few, and when not the least shadow of resistance could be made or expected. Several of them had got into No. 6 prison cook-house, which was pointed out by the soldiers on the walls, to those who were marching in from the Square; they immediately went up and fired into the same, which wounded several; one of the prisoners ran out with the intention of gaining his prison, but was killed before he reached the door.
On an impartial consideration of the circumstances of the case, we are induced to believe that it was a premeditated scheme in the mind of Captain Shortland, for reasons which we will now proceed to give—as an illucidation of its origin, we will recur back to an event which happened some days previous. Captain Shortland was, at the time, absent at Plymouth, but before going, he ordered the contractor or his clerk to serve out one pound of indifferent hard bread, instead of one pound and a half of soft bread, their usual allowance—this the prisoners refused to receive—they waited all day in expectation of their usual allowance being served out; but at senset, finding this would not be the case, burst open the lower gates, and went up to the store, demanding to have their bread.