so fully to the public
the egregious wickedness of the law and the virulence of her
persecutors as the fact that they had thrust her into jail.

"When I found that her resolution was equal to the trial which
seemed to be impending, that she was ready to brave and to bear
meekly the worst treatment that her enemies would venture to
subject her to, I made all the arrangements for her comfort that
were practicable in our prison. It fortunately happened that the
most suitable room, unoccupied, was the one in which a man named
Watkins had recently been confined for the murder of his wife,
and out of which he had been taken and executed. This
circumstance we foresaw would add not a little to the public
detestation of the _black law_. The jailer, at my request,
readily put the room in as nice order as was possible, and
permitted me to substitute for the bedstead and mattrass on which
the murderer had slept, fresh and clean ones from my own house
and Mr. Benson's.

"About 2 o'clock, P.M., another messenger came to inform me that
the sheriff was on the way from Canterbury to the jail with Miss
Crandall, and would imprison her unless her friends would give
the required bail. Although in sympathy with Miss Crandall's
persecutors, he saw clearly the disgrace that was about to be
brought upon the State, and begged me and Mr. Benson to avert it.
Of course we refused. I went to the jailer's house and met Miss
Crandall on her arrival. We stepped aside. I said: 'If now you
hesitate--if you dread the gloomy place so much as to wish to be
saved from it, I will give bonds for you even now.' 'Oh, no,' she
promptly replied, 'I am only afraid they will not put me in jail.
Their evident hesitation and embarrassment show plainly how much
they deprecated the effect of this part of their folly, and
therefore I am the more anxious that they should be exposed, if
not caught in their own wicked devices.

"We therefore returned with her to the sheriff and the company
that surrounded him, to await his final act. He was ashamed to do
it. He knew it would cover the persecutors of Miss Crandall and
the State of Connecticut with disgrace. He conferred with several
about him, and delayed yet longer. Two gentlemen came and
remonstrated with me in not very seemly terms: 'I