and at irregular intervals stopped at any Canadian port, and possibly because the conspirators had ascertained that the _Michigan_ now lay in front of the prison, a different method was adopted. Passage was to be taken at St. Catherines on one of a line of steamers running from Ogdensburg to Chicago, for the party, as mechanics and laborers who were to be employed on the waterworks of the latter city. With numbers increased to fifty-four from escaped prisoners found in Canada, the conspirators assembled at St. Catherines armed with revolvers, butcher knives, and two small nine-pounders, a store of dumb-bells having been laid in to serve as cannon balls. A private named Conelly went to Ogdensburg and paid the passage money for twenty-five men, with an agreement that as many more laborers should be taken as he could secure. The weapons were to be boxed up and marked “Machinery,” and the plan was, after seizing the vessel, to arrive at Sandusky about daylight, come into collision with the _Michigan_ as if by accident, board and carry her, turn her guns on the prison headquarters, and demand the surrender of the island, the reputation for humanity of the commander, Col. William S. Pierson, being one of the factors relied on for the success of the plot. The Confederate prisoners were to be taken to Canada by some of the steamers lying at Sandusky, while the _Michigan_, her crew reinforced by some fifty rebel officers from the island, was to lay waste the shore of Lake Erie, paying especial attention to Buffalo. But on November 11, Lord Monck, Governor-General of Canada, warned the Washington authorities of the plot, at the same time taking precautions to prevent its execution. Two days before, the military officials at Detroit had sent word that an attack was to be made on the prison, and the guard had been considerably strengthened; but Lord Monck’s message caused general alarm among the lake cities. While Gen. Jacob D. Cox was fortifying Cedar Point, at the entrance of Sandusky Bay, Gen. Dix was recommending the removal of the prisoners from Johnson’s Island, so greatly was he disturbed over the undefended condition of Buffalo, whither he had hurried. A month later Gen. Halleck expressed the belief that there was “no real foundation for the pretended raid,” but the foregoing story of the preparations is taken from a letter to Admiral Buchanan from Lieut. Minor, who attributes the failure of the enterprise wholly to its betrayal to Lord Monck, which he charges to one McCuaig, a Canadian sympathizer with the South.