Mrs. King being the infirmary warder. Then the assistant chaplain visited her, and was treated with the utmost insolence. She attacked Mrs. Dyett, another matron, and knocked the candlestick out of her hand, “triumphing at the same time at her exploit. Upon this I ordered her to be confined in the strait waistcoat made expressly for her under the directions of the surgeon.” Some time after this the doctor visits her, and finds she has not only rid herself of the restraint, but she has also torn the waistcoat and most of her own clothes to atoms. Nevertheless, he thinks her so unwell that he removes her again to the infirmary. From this, in the course of a few days, she returns to her ward. The cell, however, could not hold her, and she soon forced her way out into the passage. Another new, and much stronger strait waistcoat, specially constructed, was now put on her by a couple of male officers. Within an hour or two it was found slashed to ribbons, and on a close search a pair of scissors were discovered under her arm, accounting no doubt for the destruction. Her next offence is to slap a matron in the face. Again the strait waistcoat is tried, this time a newer and a still stronger one; but it is found too large to be of any use, so the old method is resorted to and she is sent to the dark instead. For a time she appears tamed, and for quite a month she remains quiet, though still “unconformable.” She is, however, next reported for making three baskets from the straw of her mattress and part of the leaves of her Bible. She has written a long incoherent statement, probably with a stocking needle for pen, and some blood and water for ink. The warders when questioned showed great lack of desire to perform their duties. The truth is, the prisoner was very difficult to deal with, and they were all more or less afraid of her. “It is no wonder,” says the governor, “that a person of her strength, violence, and mental superiority, combined with reckless determination and obstinacy, should inspire these terrors; and I really cannot blame these officers. Without perpetually searching her person, as well as her bedding, it would be impossible to guard against the practices just reported, but this would occasion perpetual disturbance, leading to no good end, but doing much mischief in the Penitentiary.” Convinced that Millbank’s means of punishment are totally inadequate to attain the end of reforming her, or compelling obedience, the governor, to avoid constant worry, was content to leave her quite to herself, keeping her apart—in itself a heavy punishment—and restricting her to bread and water when she broke the rules.