ies, comprising
94,305 acres, at a trifle over a dollar an acre; and he had already
begun to realize upon his investment. Claus and he occupied seats at the
barristers' table, in close proximity to the Attorney-General. The
spectators included pretty nearly every prominent resident of the town
of Niagara and its immediate neighbourhood.

But the most conspicuous figure in that crowded court-room yet remains
to be considered. It has been mentioned that the prisoners' dock was
large enough to hold five or six persons. On this occasion it held but
a single, solitary prisoner. A man large and bony, who, when in his
ordinary state of health, must have weighed not less than fifteen stone.
Just at present he was very far from being in ordinary health, for
during the preceding twelvemonth he had undergone sufficient worry and
suffering to destroy the life of any man of average vitality. After
having successfully defended himself through two criminal trials, he had
been cast into prison, where he had languished for more than seven
months. During his long confinement he had been subjected to a course of
treatment which would have been highly culpable if meted out to a
convicted criminal, and which was marked by a malignant cruelty hardly
to be comprehended when the nature of the offence charged against him is
considered. His own account of the matter is a plain and simple
narration of facts, the truth whereof rests upon the clearest and most
indisputable evidence. "After two months' close confinement," he writes,
"in one of the cells of the jail, my health had begun to suffer, and, on
complaint of this, the liberty of walking through the passages and
sitting at the door was granted. This liberty prevented my getting worse
the four succeeding months, although I never enjoyed a day's health, but
by the power of medicine. At the end of this period I was again locked
up in the cell, cut off from all conversation with my friends, but
through a hole in the door, while the jailor or under-sheriff watched
what was said, and for some time both my attorney and magistrates of my
acquaintance were denied admission to me. The quarter sessions were held
soon after this severe and unconstitutional treatment commenced, and on
these occasions it was the custom and duty of the grand jury to
perambulate the jail, and see that all was right with the prisoners. I
prepared a memorial for their consideration, but on this occasion was
not visited. I com