ver, 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. I had something to occupy my thoughts
now, and for the remaining period of my jail life.

Next came a new dodge of the Scheimers, the object of which was to show
that Sarah's marriage to me was no marriage at all, thus leaving her
free to marry any other man her family might force upon her. When I had
been in jail seven months, one day the Deputy came in and said that he
was going to take off my irons. I told him I wouldn't trouble him to
do that, for though I had worn them when he and his subordinates were
around till the irons had nearly killed me, yet at other times I had
been in a habit of taking them off at pleasure; and to prove it, I sat
down and in a few minutes handed him the irons. The man was amazed; but
saying nothing about the irons, he approached me on another subject. He
said he thought if I would sign an acknowledgment that I was a married
man when I married Sarah Scheimer, and would leave the State forever, I
could get out of jail; would I do it? I told him I would give no answer
till I had seen my counsel.