ary cell, the only food
allowed him being bread and water. On the third day he was brought out,
stripped, and severely flogged with the _cats_, an instrument of torture
similar to that used (to our national disgrace be it said,) on board of
the men-of-war in our naval service. Then, with his back all lacerated
and bleeding, the miscreant was placed at work in the shop where cabinet
making was carried on--that having been his occupation in the prison,
previous to his escape; an occupation which he had learned, while a boy,
within the walls of some penitentiary.

The convict applied himself to his labor with a look which only bespoke
a sullen apathy; but in his heart there raged a hell of evil passions.
That night when he was locked in his cell, he slept not, but sat till
morning endeavoring to devise some plan of escape.

The next day it chanced that he and another convict employed in the
cabinet-maker's shop were engaged in packing furniture in large boxes to
be conveyed in a sloop to the city of New York. These boxes, as soon as
they were filled and nailed up, were carried down to the wharf, and
stowed on board the sloop, which was to sail as soon as she was loaded.
It instantly occurred to the Dead Man that these operations might afford
him a chance to escape; and he determined to attempt it, at all hazards.

Upon an elevated platform in the centre of the shop (which was
extensive) was stationed an overseer, whose duty it was to see that the
convicts attended strictly to their work, and held no communication with
each other. This officer had received special instructions from the
Warden of the prison, to watch the Dead Man with all possible vigilance,
and by no means to lose sight of him for a single moment, inasmuch as
his former escape had been accomplished through the inattention of the
overseer who had charge of him. Upon that occasion, he had watched for a
favorable moment, slipped out of the shop unperceived, entered the
Warden's dwelling house (which is situated within the walls of the
prison) and helping himself to a suit of citizen's clothes, dressed
himself therein, and deliberately marched out of the front gate, before
the eyes of half a dozen keepers and guards, who supposed him to be some
gentleman visiting the establishment, his hideous and well-known
features being partially concealed by the broad-brimmed hat of a
respectable Quaker.

To prevent a repetition of that maneuver, and to detect any other