The officers of the garrison, on being alarmed, and informed of their proceedings, observed, that it was no more than right the prisoners should have their usual allowance, and strongly reprobated the conduct of Captain Shortland in withholding it from them. They were accordingly served with their bread, and quietly returned to their prison. This circumstance, with the censures that were thrown on his conduct, reached the ears of Shortland on his return home, and he must then have determined on the diabolical plan of seizing the first slight pretext to turn in the military, to butcher the prisoners for the gratification of his malice and revenge. It unfortunately happened, that in the afternoon of the 6th of April, some boys who were playing ball in No. 7 yard, knocked their ball over into the barrack-yard, and on the sentry in that yard refusing to throw it back to them, they picked a hole in the wall to get in after it.
This afforded Shortland his wished-for pretext, and he took his measures accordingly; he had all the garrison drawn up in the military walk, additional numbers posted on the walls, and every thing ready prepared before the alarm bell was rung; this, he naturally concluded, would draw the attention of a great number of prisoners towards the gates, to learn the cause of the alarm, while the turnkeys were despatched into the yards to lock all the doors but one of each prison, to prevent the prisoners retreating out of the way before he had sufficiently wreaked his vengeance.
What adds peculiar weight to the belief of its being a premeditated, determined massacre, are,
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 over-ruling Providence alone; for the balls were picked up in the prison, 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 the 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 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 rung. 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 yards 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 hollow to the prisoners so loud as to be heard throughout the yards, “turn in, turn in!” but, 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 prison, which the prisoners usually went 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.
We here solemnly aver, that there was no preconcerted plan to attempt breaking out. There cannot be produced the least shadow of a reason or inducement for that intention, the prisoners 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 so. Total, sixty-seven killed and wounded.