"There was in this place a Captain Travis of Virginia, and Captain of
a sloop of war. There were also in this dismal place nine thieves,
murderers, etc. A Captain Chatham was taken sick with nervous
fever. I requested the Sergeant to suffer me to send for some
medicine, or I believed he might die, to which he replied he might
die, and if he did he would bury him.
"All the provisions each man had was but two pounds meat and two
pounds bread for a week, always one and sometimes both was not fit to
eat. * * * I had no change of linen from the 25th of August to the
12th of September."
It seems that the father of Cornelius, who lived on Long Island, was
an ardent Tory. Cornelius asked Sergeant O'Keefe to be allowed to send
to his father for money and clothing. But this was refused. "In this
hideous place," he continues, "I was kept until the 20th of September;
when Sergeant Keath took Captains C., and Travis, and myself, and led
us to the upper part of the prison, where were Ethan Allen, Major
Williams, Paine and Wells and others. Major Williams belonged at
Maryland and was taken prisoner at Fort Washington. * * *
"While at this place we were not allowed to speak to any friend, not
even out of the window. I have frequently seen women beaten with canes
and ram-rods who have come to the prisons' windows to speak to their
Husbands, Sons, or Brothers, and officers put in the dungeon just for
asking for cold water.
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