Page:Memoirs James Hardy Vaux.djvu/379

 a person who had attempted to apprehend him in the act of robbery; but his pistol flashed in the pan, and no injury whatever had taken place. However, the nature of the offence excluded him also from any hopes of mercy, so that I had the fortune to be placed in a second unpleasant situation, and probably for a number of weeks. As to myself, I had no reason to doubt of being reprieved, very few persons suffering death at that time of day, except for most heinous crimes, or robbery attended with acts of violence. This young man, 'tis true, was a much more tolerable companion than his predecessor; he was always chearful and easy; declaring (although he expected to suffer,) that, as he had never seriously injured man, woman, or child, he was not afraid to die; but rather happy at the prospect of being released from a troublesome world. He had formerly been transported, but made his escape from the hulks; and the miseries he had witnessed and endured on board those horrid receptacles, he asserted to be such that he preferred death to a reprieve, which might subject him to years of similar suffering.

About eight days after my conviction, I was surprised at being summoned to the main-gate of the prison, to attend a gentleman who inquired for me. This person proved to be an attorney named Humphries, who, addressing me, stated that he called by desire of counsellor Knapp, to inform me that he (Mr. Knapp,) was sorry he had not been