The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-24
BONES OF MARTYRS.
WHAT NEW YORK SUBWAY EX-
 CAVATQRS
Are Expected to Find Under Hall of
 Records

Bones of murdered Revolutionary pa
 triots, ancient coins and perhaps half.
 decayed records of 125 years ago are
 waiting for the subway excavators tt
 uproot them under the old hall of re-
 cords, beneath which the diggers will
 begin to do their work in a week or two
 In the bloody tirnse of 1776 this build
 ing, which now holds the city's deeds
 and such like papers, was British
 prison, and in it's gloomy dungeons, ac-
 cording to the historians, many good
 colonials were fouliy murdered by wick
 ed Captain Cunningham, the British
 provost marshal.
 The old dungeons have changed little
 in a century. Except for hot-air
 pipes, funaces, the janitors desk and
 filters of modern newspapers files, they
 are just what they were when the pro-
 vost satiated his cruel instincts by
 shooting or carving the unfortunate in-
 mates, whom he buried secretly be-
 meath the jagged cobblestones that still
 form the floors of the cells. In the up-
 per part of the building there still pro-
 jects from the ceiling an iron hook to
 which hangman's moose was wont to
 be attached, and in the marrow corridor
 between the dungeons is a certain ma-
 sorry pillar against which they say
 Captalnu sed to place the intended vic tims of lead bullets. Sometimes he had
 them shot in the courtyard but the
 dents on the side of this coloumn are
 cited by the present custodian as proof
 positivet hat at least a few of the pris-
 oners met their fate there.
 This custodian is one McGuiness.
 Nomnally he is janitor of the hall of records. Really he has other duties. He
 takes delight in explaining to visitors the story of the place, and nobody knows more than he of the crimes that were committed there or of the relics that the subway builders are expected to unearth. He has learned the legends from scores of feminine researchers, from pupils of history classes and from the phantom spirit of tradition that is sheltered behind, the thick walls and in the dark crevices, There are six of the dungeon. Besides these there are two large rooms, wherein were confined the more docile prisoners and those who had not particularly offended the pro-
 VOSt. IHe uuDI LII lliC pe'ouiilShS 4H about twelve feet below the park level, and the partition walls between the diff ferent cells are from three to seven feet thick In all the corners are round ed buttresses, all made of brick and mortar. The masonry work in those days must have ben wonderful, for the surface is unbroken and the filling be- tween each brick appears as solid as 1T it had been placed there yesterday The ceilings are of the same material, and are so low that atall man would have to dodge them in spots. The only por- ton of the dreary place that is not ma sorry is the floor, whereon the cobble- stones are so far apart that they can be easily removed with a pick and shovel.
 Somebody has given the janitor re- production of the confession made by the provost when he was executed in London for forgery after the Revolu tionary war The captain tells how he was appointed to take care of the jail and thereby obtained an opportunity to wreak vengeance on the Americans. He says he shudders at the thought of the murders he ordered, some without even a pretense of legal authority, and that | nearly 300 of the prisoners met death | while he was provost He describes the | murders in the courtyard. All the peo- pie living in the neighborhood were or dered by special messenger to shut | their windows and not to look out on ! pain of like fate for themselves Then | the lesser prisoners in the upper part [ of the building were led to the front of the place and the death march began, the doomed men being led from the cells through a rear door. They were hanged or shot and then buried by 'the black pioneer of the provost" :"
 It may be that something besides bones will have withstood the ravages of a century's mold, and McGuinness is hoping to come upon parchments that were buried to destroy all proof of the murdered mems identities as we'll as swords, colonial money, bras ss buttons of the patriots uniforms. and maybe personal letters that have by some freak action of the decaying chemical elements survived or become oetrifed. As the excavatorsd ig, the |anitor will watch them closely to see that nothing comes out of the ground without his Knowing about it, As to -he exact methods employed by Captain Cunningham in disposing of his vic- tims, there is some doubt. That he put them under the, southernmost dun ,eon everybody admits, but whether here were separate graves for each or whether the provost had built an elab- ,rate subterranean vault Is in doubt.
 Mir McGuiness points out one par icular corner in which the cobbles are , lot as regular as they are elsewhere, , md he believes that under this spot is he entrance to rock-lined chamber which may shortly be disclosed If hings turn out as he expects, the ex I avators will soon find themselves in an , normous cavity full of ghastly bones, f ,eaped up on top of each other and S noldering together. 7 Tt may be" he says, that there's r lide of slick rocks inside the entrance. f think there were too many of these f cad ones to bury each one apart. The ! aptain must have just had them pitch f q down the hole on top of one another o ,h, there are going to bes ome strange 4 hinss found down there in a few days, - tell you" + Thel inc of the subway goes well un- n CT corner of the building, so if there 4 ; any such joint grave as this the dig =