wood crumbled to pieces within. On a more careful
examination of this post, I became satisfied that I
could easily split it to pieces, by the aid of the iron
bolt that confined my feet. The jailer came with my
breakfast, and reprimanded me for making a noise.
This day appeared as long to me, as a week had done
heretofore; but night came at length, and as soon as
the room in which I was confined, had become quite
dark, I disentangled myself from the irons with which
I was bound, and with the aid of the long bolt, easily
wrenched from its place, the large staple that held
one end of the bar, that lay across the door. The
hasps that held the lock in its place, were drawn
away almost without force, and the door swung open
of its own weight.
I now walked out into the jail-yard, and found that all was quiet, and that only a few lights were burning in the village windows. At first I walked slowly along the road, but soon quickened my pace, and ran along the high-way, until I was more than a mile from the jail, then taking to the woods, I travelled all night, in a northern direction. At the approach of day I concealed myself in a cedar thicket, where I lay until the next evening, without any thing to eat.
On the second night after my escape, I crossed the Potomac, at Hoe’s ferry, in a small boat that I found tied at the side of the ferry flat; and on the night following crossed the Patuxent, in a canoe, which I found chained at the shore.
About one o’clock in the morning, I came to the
