er. He talked almost incessantly for a
long time, but occasionally giving me opportunity for putting in a word.
I attempted to assure him that he was laboring under a great mistake
about my acts at the prison, that I had not been guilty of anything he
had in mind, and that he must have been misinformed. But my assurances
seemed to carry but little weight. He finally said, "Mr. Quinby, your
management at the prison has caused me more trouble and anxiety than all
my State business put together." I was perfectly astonished. There were
my incessant and most arduous labors for peace and quietness in the
institution, my great painstaking, with the sole view of leading the
prisoners to do right in every respect, with never a hint from me, to a
prisoner, of disapprobation of any prison officer or his acts,--with
never a word of dispute between any of us as officers, besides my
careful observance of all the prison rules to the letter, as I
understood them, to which I had ever felt impelled by a sense of duty,
and on which, for a long while, I had felt the importance of double and
thribble care. How could my management in these things cause the
Governor such trouble and anxiety? The truth now flashed in mind, that
setting the guards and overseers to watch me, had its purpose. Then,
there must have been a long and persistent course of running to his
Excellency with a tissue of misrepresentations. Had it really befallen
me as it befel the man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho? Things
certainly looked in that direction, and perhaps it was nothing more than
might have been anticipated; for, if one would persistently slander
innocent ladies, it would be natural for him to misrepresent me. If, at
every opportunity, he would defame the character of another, could I
rationally suppose that mine would be any safer in his hands?

Having left the Governor with the settled conviction that my days of
incessant prison toil were virtually ended, a gentleman of influence in
the place, rode up to me in haste, with the remark, "Step aboard, Mr.
Quinby, you must have legal counsel in these matters. A combination is
formed to crush you, and the really guilty go free. I have volunteered
to engage such lawyers, and they wish to see you at once to learn the
true state of things and how to take hold of the case." Though I
insisted that it would be of no avail, he gave no heed to that, and soon
landed me at the proposed office door. I related, in brief