We were not only in a totally dark and
frightfully filthy hole, but we were half starved, and the Deputy
daily took delight in taunting us with our sufferings.
At the end of the twelve days we were taken back to the old room
where we found the stone securely fastened in with irons. Moreover,
we were now under stricter observation, and at stated hours every
day, an inspector came in and examined the walls. This soon wore
off, however, and when the inspection was finally abandoned, about
two months from the time of our first attempt, we managed to find
another place in the old wall where we could dig out and we went to
work. We were a fortnight at it, and had nearly completed our labor
when we were discovered.
This time we spent fourteen days in the dungeon for our pains.
And now comes an extraordinary disclosure with regard to my
imprisonment. A few days after my removal from the dungeon to the
old quarters again, the Deputy, in one of his rare periods of what,
with him, passed for good humor, informed me that Sarah had been
confined, and had given birth to a fine boy; that she was crying for
my release; that Lawyer Sitgreave was interceding for me; but that
the old man Scheimer was still obstinate and would not let me out.
Passing over my feelings with regard to the birth of my son, here
was a revelation indeed! It will be remembered that I had only been
told that I was under indictment for bigamy. I had never been
brought before a justice for a preliminary examination; never bound
over for trial; and now it transpired that old Scheimer, a
Pennsylvania Dutch farmer, had the power to put me in jail, put me
in irons, and subject me to long months, perhaps years of
imprisonment.
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