Our convicts : their riots and their causes : containing startling revelations of the frightful abuses of our convict system, official correspondence, etc., etc. : presented to Parliament / by W. Thwaites.

Thwaites, W.

Date:: 1861

Credit: Our convicts : their riots and their causes : containing startling revelations of the frightful abuses of our convict system, official correspondence, etc., etc. : presented to Parliament / by W. Thwaites. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

89/98 page 83

$The facts contained in the preceding five letters, and the tenor of the letters, on either side, require no comment; they speak for themselves. With the most inexpressible grief and reluctance these letters are now committed to print, the responsibility of which proceeding resting elsewhere than with J. K. Walpole, Late Chaplain in her Majesty's Convict Service. Brighton, December 27th, 1859. Attempted suicide of a warder.—Showing the state of Chatham Prison in 1857. Attempted Suicide.—A few days since, a warder of convicts, named Fraser, late of the Warrior hulk, Woolwich, and since employed at the new convict prison at Chatham, was discovered lying upon the grave of his first wife, at Plumstead, with his throat cut in a most fearful manner. The reason assigned by the unhappy man for this desperate attempt on his life is, that he was informed . by Captain that he was to be dismissed the convict service at the end of the month, for having been overheard in a conversation with his brother oificer, to say something that was considered to reflect upon the governor of Chatham prison. Fraser further stated that he believed a fixed intention existed to single out all the warders who had served in the hulks, and dismiss or drive them from the service, and that, after having performed his duties as convict warder for more than fifteen years without a stain upon his character, the idea of dismissal without any just grounds was more than he could bear. The correspondent who forwards us an account of the occurrence considers that the statement of the warder demands inquiry on the part of Sir George Grey, and that the sooner he investigates the management of the convict prison at Chatham the better, more especially as strange rumours are afloat concerning the system pursued in that establishment. Fraser stUl lies dangerously ill at Plumstead, whither he was removed after the suicidal act. [This officer was restored to his office when he recovered].—Daily Telegraph, April 6th, 1857. The following letter from Sir Joshua Jebb is inserted in the appendix to show that I sought his protection in vain—and well I might, when I sought it from the very men whom he had privately instructed against me. (Copy.) 45 Parliament Street, 5 May, 1857. Sir,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, stating that in seeking an interview, you did so to obtain my protection, as you \ have known that for some months that there were certain persons who sought ; your destruction ; that you were willing to write, but must first receive from me an assurance that you shall not be injured by giving information of an unpleasant character. In reply, I beg to say that I can enter into no compromise or agreement of any kind with you. If you bring forward any evidence calculated to establish the fact you insinuate, a full investigation shall be made, and the parties concerned will take i the consequences. i I am, Sir, your obedient servant, J. Jebb. I did not write, as if I had my written statement would have been shown to those concerned, their simple answer would have been asked, that would have been all the investigation, and I should only have had my dismissal some months earlier than I did. The following letters will prove that it was not my fault the convict service abuses were not thorougly sifted and exposed by a Parliamentary Committee before which I was examined in the year 1856. (Copy, verbatim.) 106 High Street, Gosport, 17 June, 1856. Sir,—In giving my evidence the other day I omitted to mentio^i a most$