are walking
to Catch and report a dying poor man for the frivolous Charge of talking
and when we go out from hospital our poor bodies they try to Slaughter
by taking these reports one at the time and Killing us on bread and water

I am suffering a Chest and throat disease a frightful Chronic disorder
and to go out from hospital is attempting Suicide to get heaps of bread
and Water
for it is such cruel treatment made me as i am and brought me to the
Verge of the grave
So in conclusion Right Honourable Sir a removal i humbly Crave

if this petition should not be sent prisoners abstain from further
writting who will explain his case more Clearly to the Visiting director
and i wish to have this petition Submitted to the director by your truly
humble servant Niblo Clark.

CHAPTER L.

IT WAS NIGHT; SILENCE AND GLOOM HAD SETTLED DOWN ON THE INMATES.

By a refinement of cruelty we had been separated and sent to prison wide
apart; for twenty years I had not seen the face of one of my friends.
But there was an invisible bond between us that no tyranny could break.
How blessed the happy forethought that made us, in that dark hour, amid
our despair, make that promise!

Ten years had slowly dragged by, 1883 came, and my devoted family felt
that I, and my comrades, too, had paid, as was right, our due to
justice, and we ought to be liberated. They determined that it would not
be their fault if I remained in captivity. So that year my sister came
to England and remained permanently there. She worked bravely and well,
but year after year passed without result. None of us was prepared for
the vindictive fury of the Bank of England--its power was all-potent
with the Government. George had been bedridden for years, and was slowly
dying. At length, in 1887, the medical officer of the prison certified
his speedy death was certain, and the Government released him to die;
but he resolved that he would not die until we were free. With liberty
and hope health came slowly back, and he devoted every hour to working
for our liberation; but for a time devoted in vain. More than once had I
seen the prison emptied and filled again. Of all the life prisoners I
had met there on my arrival, or who for years after had joined me, I was
the sole survivor.

One by one sickness or insanity, born of despair, had laid them in the
prison graveyard or buried them in the asylum. Out of more than seventy
life prisoners none ha