The Sun.
London, England, 1822-08-17 00:00:00

•II T 0 •`•
turday) Was the first time she asked fora fire. She knew Mr.
Bridle. —He never used her ill before.
But cannot you say more than that for him, Mary ?—No, I

cannot.
Why, did not he subscribe to pay a fine to get you out ?
Yes, he gave the last shilling.
What were you then in confinement for ?--She was at that
time in prison for takingea few turnips. She did not make any
complaint to the Magistrates when they called. She saw Mr.
Hunt last Thursday. ,
He is very kind and good-natured man, is he not ?—I know
nothing of him but by his talking. - •
She knew Mrs. Shepherd. She did not remember having
said to Mr. Shepherd, that she did not know what Mr. Hunt
wanted her for, as Mr. Bridle had behaved very kind to her.—
Mr. Bridle had behaved kindly to her when she was first im-
prisoned. She used to go with gooseberries and what fruit she
had to sell to Mr. Hunt's room. She was never examined by
Mr. Hunt. He had talked to her once or twice about it
when she went with her things. She had eighteen pence a
!week for her child, but she 'had no opportunity of laying it
out.
The next witness was Jane Hobbs, who stated that for five
years she was matron of Ilchester Gaol, and left it in 1820.
The duty of the matron was to superintend females. She re-
collects the last witness being in prison three or four years ago.
She recollects her being put in close' Confinement on a Wed-
nesday or Thursday, with an infant four or five months old.—
She was absent from the female wardaintil the Sunday morn-
ing following. The witness herself fetched her from a cell be-
hind in the back part of the prison—lt was a small damp cell.
On the Sunday morning she complained of great cold, and
witness requested the cook to give her some tea and gruel.—
Witness remembers her (Mary Cure) being taken ill on the
' Sunday night. An alarm was given, and witness's husband
got up and gave her some medicine. . Witness'S husband was
the task master of the gaol. . -. . ..
Examined by Mr. Ertsicteez.—She believes her husband
sent to Mr. Bridle in consequence of the quarrel between the
' last witness and the woman Smith. Each prisoner has small
articles of crockery ware, and when they are put in solitary
confinement they carry them with them. Witness cannot
speak positively, but she thinks Mary Cure carried with her
a pint basin. All the cells for the refractory prisoners are alike
damp.
Mr. Edward - Cole, . the Clerk of the Peace, produced the
Occurrence Book of Ilchester gaol. He turned to an entry of
the date of 'Thursday, the 19th November, 1818, in which it
stated—" Put Elizabeth Smith and Mary Cure in solitary
- confinement, for being disorderly and fighting in their ward."
On the 22d was the entry—" Released' Elizabeth Smith and
Mary Cure from their solitary' confinement, on promise of fu-
ture good behaviour." .
Thomas Gardiner, a decent looking young man, depoted
that he was near twenty years of age. Three years last March,
he was committed to Ilchester gaol. On the 27th of _last De-
cember he was discharged. He has worked as &blacksmith,
and is now living with his uncle and aunt at Bristol. In No-
vember, 1820,. a charge was made against him for having
picked one of the prisoner's pockets.. He was not done any
thing to then. It was reported to the Governor on a Sunday,
and he was had in before him. Witaess told him he knew no-
thing at' all about it. Mr. Bridle stopped his wages for icon
the Sunday. On the Monday he was taken very ill, and could
not work, as he ' had a bad pain in his inside. He saw Mr.
Bridle pass, but did not speak to him. At night he was taken
worse. No one came to him. He saw Mr. Bridle on the next
day, when he asked him what was the matter with him ? 'Wit-
ness told him he was very ill in his inside. Mr. Bridle said he
considered that the fever was quite strong upon him, and' he
would put him in an -hospital by himself. The witness was
then put in a dark bed-cell, where he was confined for three
days. M. Bridle never came to him.- At the end of three
days- Dr. 'Valentine came to the cell. The witness remained
there nine days longer, at the end of which Mr.. Bridle came in
to him. He asked the witness how 'he was ? and he said he was
better, and asked him to forgive him. Mr. Bridle replied that
he did not think he was well enough, and left the cell. In the
evening a person of the name of 'Carter came up to the soli..
tary cell, and unlocked it, and took the witness out into.the
passage. Carter was a convict-for horse-stealing,. The witness
was set down on a chair, and his hair cut and head shaved by
Carter, who put on a torturing blister, and after that, a cap over
it, and tied it down. Pike, the turnkey, was present, and as-
.sisted. Pike put the strait jacket on the witness, who was then
put to bed. Pike put the strait jacket on the witness before his
head was shaved. - He continued with the torturing blister on,
tied down by the cap, and with the strait jacket on in bed, d.ur-
-1 ing the night. The pain was. 'Snit the same as needles and
pins and penknives being ran into him. On the next morn-
F ing Carter and Pike came into him, and Carter took off the
blister and said it had not risen. and put it on again, and tied
it dewn as before. 'I he strait waistcoat was taken to allow
the witness to put on his- clothes, when it was replaced. His
hands were confined and-the pain on his head increased until
twelve o'clock, when he- cried .out with pain, and 'rubbed his
head against the wall,. and the cap and blister came off.—
Pike came up and asked the witness what was the matter
.with him- that he cried out ? Witness said he was very bad,
and requested very much -to see Mr. Bridle. Pike went
away and 'did not come again until three o'clock, when per-
ceiving that the witness was without the blister, he asked
witness what he had done with it ? Witness said he had rub,
bed it off, and shewed him where it was. Pike said, " there's
d—d impudence !" and said he would go and tell Mr. Bridle,
and get him to put another blister on. He did not return
until seven; o'clock, in'• the mean time the witness remained
with his head exposed, and without -dressings It was after-
wards dressed, and witness was kept confined as. before.' On
Sunday morning Mr. Bridle had him down befOre the door of
his house when the witness begged him 'to be pleased to for-
give him (witness.) Mr Bridle said he did not think. he_ was
yet well enough, tend that hi should try 'another blist.:.r. Wit-
ness was taken back.again,, arid in about four days . after he.
saw Mr. Bridle and begged him to be allowed to go _to work.
Mr. Bridle said he should if he would confess that' he lied
stolen the purse. The witness declared that he was as innocent
of the offence as a baby, and he was taken back again. He
remained until the day he was released in his strait waistcoat,
which was taken off only to dress and undress. He was con-
fined for a week after. He was allowed only bread and water.
He placed it by his bedside before his strait waistcoat was put
on. Afterwards his hands were confined,- and he was obliged
to kneel down and eat it as he could from the bedside. He.
saw Mr. Bridle at the .end of the week, and again begged to.
be released from solitary confinement. Mr.' Ilridle told the
witness he must beg the pardon of Mr. Davis, the turnkey,
for what he had done. Witness did not know of any thing
that he had done to Mr. Dais, but he begged his pardon and
was released. He was never taken to any 'Magistrate.
Cross-examined.--No Magistrate visited him during his.con-
finemcnt. Three days after he was released, he went before
two Magistrates. He had been six or seven times punished
for offences during his confinement. He remembered having
ran a knife in the knee of another person. It was a bit of a
.scud. He never did d—n all' the Justices of the county, and
wish them all at hell. All the rest that he had said was as-true
as this. He ca'n't tell how old he wasawhen he first went' tb pri-
son. He was at Bilstol ga.6l before he was at Ilchester. He
did not remember,_ and did not wish to say for what offence he
was first committed. He did pot then live with his uncle and
aunt, because he was in Court. He repeated this answer to the
question several times. . He went to live. with his uncle and
aunt a fortnight ago, He received his'subpcena a fortnight ego.
Before he received it he bad lodgings in Great Gardens near
Lawford's-gate.
What is the meaning of living upon the cross ?—Living upon
the cross ! I suppose you know it as well as me, but I have not
lived that sort of life since I have been out.
What were you at Ilchester gaol fur ?—I don't think proper
to tell.
The blister did not, he continued, begin to go 'like penknifes
into his head until the dead of the night. The question was
again put to him, as to what he was in gaol for et Ilchester.
He replied, that it was for housebreaking, and that he had been
found guilty, and sentenced to death, but had been since par-
doned. He had never, either to Charles Marshall, John Pipe,
John Wright, or John Pool, d—d the Magistrates of the coun-
try to hell. He never said to Anne Wright that he knew a
thing or two, and that the blister did not pain him so much as
he had said, but that he would get well paid for it, as he had
been put up to it. He never said to any one any thing of the
kind.
Mr. Cole, the Clerk of the Peace, produced the Occurrence
Book, in which it was entered, that en-the •9th of December
Gardiner had been ordered into solitary confinement for pick-
ing the pocket of a fellow prisoner, and for pretending to be
sick, when he was. continued in confinement. Other entries
were made respecting this prisoner, stating that he was still
continued in the cell for insolence to Mr. Davis, . the keeper,
and still continuing to feign sickness. He was liberated, the
book stated, on the sth of December, upon expressing con-
trition.
Mr. Bryer stated, that in 1820 he was the surgeon of the 11-
chester goal. He kept a journal of the prison. He knew a
person named Gardiner. Witness had on that day in question
made un the medicine of the gaol, and was going away when
he heard a door open, • and Mr. Bridle called Ditto to hi,and
asked him how too prop' of the goal ss
lied 'nothing extraordinary. Mr, Briale. and "if you can cure
your patients I cannot cure mine." He added, that he had one
man who was very troublesome, and asked the witness for a
strong black dose. Witness said that he. had no such medicine.
Bridle then said, what do you think of a blister ?—Witness
and as his complaint ap-
replied—Well, you can have a blister,