Page:Devonshire Characters and Strange Events.djvu/789

Rh was not unusual at other times (the gambling tables being commonly kept in that part of the yard), yet when connected with the circumstances of the breach, and the time of day, which was after the horn (the signal for the prisoners to retire to their respective prisons) had ceased to sound; it became a natural and just ground of alarm to those who had charge of the depôt.

"It was also in evidence, that in the building formerly the petty officers' prison, but now the guard barracks, which stands in the yard, to which the hole in the wall would serve as a communication, a part of the arms of the guards who were on duty were usually kept in the racks; and though there is no evidence that this was in any respect the motive which induced the prisoners to make the opening in the wall, or even that they were acquainted with the fact, it naturally became at least a further cause for suspicion and alarm, and an additional reason for precaution.

"Upon these grounds Captain Shortland appears to us to have been justified in giving the order, which about this time he seems to have given, to sound the alarm bell, the usual signal for collecting the officers of the depôt, and putting the military on the alert. However reasonable and justifiable this was, as a matter of precaution, the effects produced thereby in the prisons, but which could not have been intended, were most unfortunate and deeply to be regretted. A considerable number of prisoners in the yards where no disturbance existed before, and who were either already within their respective prisons, or quietly returning as usual towards them, immediately upon the sound of the bell, rushed back, from curiosity, towards the gates, where, by that time, the crowd had assembled; and