It occurred to them now that they could cause some considerable inconvenience by breaking out at night; so night after night, when the watch was set and the prison was quiet, they burst out into yells and general uproar, till the night guards were compelled to ring the alarm bells to call assistance. This continued to such an extent that Captain Groves feared it would be impossible to persuade officers to remain in the general ward after dark. Of course they were all experienced thieves. On one occasion an officer on duty had his pocket picked of a snuff-box. “I know where it is,” volunteered a boy; but after a long search it could not be found in the place he indicated: then they searched the boy himself, and found the box secreted on his person. Another lad, with infinite cunning, nearly succeeded in effecting his escape. One night after midnight he left his bed, and crawling under the other hammocks, got to a wide stone which covered the entrance to the ventilating flues. This stone he removed, and then descended into the flue, meaning to follow it till he reached the airing-yard; thence he meant to climb to the roof and descend again. In view of this he carried with him a long cord, made of sundry skeins of thread, which from time to time he had stolen and secreted. As it happened, a warder going his rounds set his foot on the mat which the boy had placed over the hole into the flue, tripped, and nearly tumbled in; then the prisoner, who was in the flue, fearing he was discovered, came out. But for this accident he might have got clean away. After this the uproarious behaviour of the boys waxed worse. The governor began to have serious apprehensions that discipline would greatly suffer. Stronger measures of repression were tried, but without effect. They continued to fight, to yell in concert after dark, and refused to work, assaulting and maltreating their officers by throwing brooms at their heads and kicking their shins. Throughout, too, their conduct in chapel was most disgraceful, and it became a serious question “whether they ought not to be kept away altogether from divine service, as their example would certainly attract followers among the general body of the prisoners.” At length it came to pass that the ward must be broken up, and the boys distributed among the various pentagons. It was felt to be dangerous to keep so many elements of discord concentrated together in one room. This was accordingly done; but by and by, for reasons that are not given—probably on account of want of space in the crowded condition of the prison—the general ward was again occupied with these precocious juveniles. Yet, as I find it recorded, within a few days a scene took place in the room at a late hour of the night, which called for immediate decisive action.