When the convicts got angry with each other, they would report on the one they were offended with; but it was an established rule that the testimony of one prisoner was not to be taken against another, and I had not the least inclination to break the rule.
I did discover one of the thieves at last; but I took my own way to punish her.
The steam woman got angry with one of the slide women, and reported her to me one day when the dinner came short.
"Never mind now, Allen; but the next time you see her take it, tell me where she hides the meat. I will go find it; and then, she can't turn it on you for betraying her."
A day or two afterwards, Allen whispered to me,—
"You look on the top of the bread closet in the cellar, and you will find something."
I went down, mounted some false steps, and found a quart filled with slices of meat. I took it up into the kitchen, and asked,—
"Who hid this meat away on the top of the bread cupboard in the cellar?"
Not one of them answered.
"Will the one who did it be honest enough to own it; or will she be mean enough to let me lay the blame on some one else? Did you do it, Annie O'Brien?"