Fell's notes on his imprisonment present the best picture we can
find of the condition of the Provost Jail during the term of his
captivity. We have already seen how Mr Elias Boudinot, American
Commissary of Prisoners, came to that place of confinement, and what
he found there. This was in February, 1778. Boudinot also describes
the sufferings of the American prisoners in the early part of 1778 in
Philadelphia, and Mr. Fell speaks of Cunningham's return to New
York. He had, it appears, been occupied in starving prisoners in
Philadelphia during his absence from the Provost, to which General
Howe sent him back, after he had murdered one of his victims in
Philadelphia with the great key.
It appears that the prisoners in the Provost sent an account of their
treatment to General Jones, by Mr. Pintard, in September, 1777,
several months before the visit of Mr. Elias Boudinot. They complained
that they were closely confined in the jail without distinction of
rank or character, amongst felons, a number of whom were under
sentence of death: that their friends were not allowed to speak to
them, even through the grates: that they were put on the scanty
allowance of two pounds hard biscuit, and two pounds of raw pork per
week, without fuel to dress it. That they were frequently supplied
with water from a pump where all kinds of filth was thrown, by which
it was rendered obnoxious and unwholesome, the effects of which were
to cause much sickness.
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