DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0443
LIFE ANT) CRUELTIES OF JOSEPH WALL, ESQ. 399
them of mutiny if they refused to give him slaves when he
demanded them. He dismissed Town-Major Houghton,
because he would not sign false copies of courts-martial;
Mr. Baron, commissary of stores, because he would not
allow him to plunder them, and the officer of artillery was
broken because he would not relinquish the magazine to
his depredations. An officer of his own corps was put in
irons in the guard-house for preventing another from
challenging Major Houghton. This officer was after-
wards confined in his own room, and though dangerously
ill, his windows were shut up, and when the surgeon ap-
plied for leave to open them he was called a mutineer, and
abused in the most virulent manner. In this dangerous
state he was desired to give up his vouchers for the pay-
ment of his company, but on his refusal, he was desired to
copy them, and though the surgeon’s certificate proved
that to be impossible, he was farther confined for dis-
obedience of orders. When the governor wished to try
this officer, the surgeon certified that he could not be
moved, as he had not been out of bed for many weeks, yet
he was brought by force in a chair, carried by soldiers, to
the court.
The governor was subject to the most violent fits of
passion, in one of which he severely wounded Serjeant
Smith on the parade for not standing right, and confined
him in the black hole, where the surgeon was not allowed
to visit him. The next morning the governor wished to
know if he was fit for punishment, but the surgeon re-
ported him fitter for the hospital, on which the governor’s
abuse had on bounds; he was called a mutineer, and told
that his hospital was like the Scotch churches, an asylum
for villains and blackguards. On every occasion, when
the surgeon interfered for the men, he was accused of
mutiny; and so jealous was Wall of his pretended hu-
manity, as he called it, that he always appeared on the
parade
them of mutiny if they refused to give him slaves when he
demanded them. He dismissed Town-Major Houghton,
because he would not sign false copies of courts-martial;
Mr. Baron, commissary of stores, because he would not
allow him to plunder them, and the officer of artillery was
broken because he would not relinquish the magazine to
his depredations. An officer of his own corps was put in
irons in the guard-house for preventing another from
challenging Major Houghton. This officer was after-
wards confined in his own room, and though dangerously
ill, his windows were shut up, and when the surgeon ap-
plied for leave to open them he was called a mutineer, and
abused in the most virulent manner. In this dangerous
state he was desired to give up his vouchers for the pay-
ment of his company, but on his refusal, he was desired to
copy them, and though the surgeon’s certificate proved
that to be impossible, he was farther confined for dis-
obedience of orders. When the governor wished to try
this officer, the surgeon certified that he could not be
moved, as he had not been out of bed for many weeks, yet
he was brought by force in a chair, carried by soldiers, to
the court.
The governor was subject to the most violent fits of
passion, in one of which he severely wounded Serjeant
Smith on the parade for not standing right, and confined
him in the black hole, where the surgeon was not allowed
to visit him. The next morning the governor wished to
know if he was fit for punishment, but the surgeon re-
ported him fitter for the hospital, on which the governor’s
abuse had on bounds; he was called a mutineer, and told
that his hospital was like the Scotch churches, an asylum
for villains and blackguards. On every occasion, when
the surgeon interfered for the men, he was accused of
mutiny; and so jealous was Wall of his pretended hu-
manity, as he called it, that he always appeared on the
parade