The Lower House. 535

By the Committee appointed by the Honourable the Lower House
of Assembly to enquire into the State and Condition of the Public
Goal in the City of Annapolis; June 11^th 1747
Your Committee having viewed and inspected the State of the
said Goal, do find the front and back Doors thereof are single and
want Locks; that the fframes are rotten, which occasion a Breach
in the wall. We also find the ffloors want repairing; and that the
safety of the prison, which we conceive ought to consist of a strong
Cieling, appears to us to have been insufficient at the first Building,
and so imp'air'd since, that renders it now of no Service for the
Security thereof. We likewise find, that the partition walls not being
Carried up to each ffloor, hath made it easy for the prisoners to pass
from one Room to another, that the Joists are weakened by great
part of them being cut away by the prisoners, for firewood, as your
Committee are informed; which ought to have been Cieled at first
(as we imagine) and would have prevented the Damage; that there
are no shutters to any of the windows, nor Cieling to the Dormants ;
by which we conceive the prisoners have not only an opportunity of
being furnished with Tools, to make their escape, but likewise has
occasioned the Damage that is done to the Goal; that the pump and
well fframe, in the prison yard, are quite rotton and useless; and the
said yard is kept so Dirty, that it is nauseous and unwholesom to the
prisoners; and by reason of the Iron Bars in the Chimneys, which
were put to prevent the prisoners from escaping that way, and for
want of Ladders, the Chimneys cannot be swept above the Grates ;
so that by the foulness thereof they have frequently taken fire and
blazed out, as your Committee are informed, to the great Danger
of the said Goal, and all the Buildings adjacent, that there is a
Quantity of Indian Corn kept in the Upper Room of the prison,
which occasions a great many Rats, and deprives the prisoners of
the benefit of the said Room, which we apprehend to be the Cleanest
and best in the prison. And we further take Leave to represent,
That the Complaint of Francis Woolf, one of the prisoners in the
said Goal, is proved by some witnesses, and contradicted by others,
on due Examination; but upon the whole, we believe it to be the
effect of Drink; All which is most humbly Submitted to the Con-
sideration of your Honourable House.
Signed per Order W^m Wilkins, Clerk

L. H. J.
Liber No. 46

The House adjourns 'til To morrow Morning 9 of the Clock.

p. 703

Friday Morning, June 12. 1747

The House met according to adjournment &c.
On Consideration of the Report from the Committee appointed
to enquire into the State and Condition of the Public and County
Goal &c. The House Concurs therewith.

June 12