They appealed to General
Howe to prevent further executions, as the noise made by the sufferers
praying for mercy, and appealing to Heaven for justice was dreadful to
their ears.
It would seem from this account that, although the wretched men were
gagged as they were conveyed along the streets, their ferocious
murderer could not deny himself the pleasure of hearing their shrieks
of agony at the gallows.
Watson, in his "Annals of New York," says that Cunningham glutted his
vengence by hanging five or six of his prisoners every night, until
the women who lived in the neighborhood petitioned Howe to have the
practice discontinued.
A pamphlet called "The Old Martyrs' Prison," says of Cunningham: "His
hatred of the Americans found vent in torture by searing irons and
secret scourges to those who fell under the ban of his displeasure.
The prisoners were crowded together so closely that many fell ill from
partial asphyxiation, and starved to death for want of the food which
he sold to enrich himself."
They were given muddy and impure water to drink, and that not in
sufficient quantities to sustain life. Their allowance was,
nominally, two pounds of hard tack and two of pork _per week_,
and this was often uncooked, while either the pork, or the biscuit, or
both, were usually spoiled and most unwholesome.
Cunningham's quarters were in the Provost Prison, and on the right
hand of the main door of entry.
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