"'Is that the only accident that you have known to happen in that mill?' 'There was a boy, shortly before I got my fingers hurt, that had his fingers hurt in the same way that I had.' "'Was there any other killed?' 'There was one killed, but I could not say how it was; but she was killed in the machinery.' "'Has any accident happened in that mill during the last twelve years?' 'I could not say; it is twelve years since I left it.' "'Is that mill going on still?' 'Yes.' "'Speaking of the hours that you had to labour there, will you state to this committee the effect it had upon you?' 'It had a very great effect upon me; I was bad in my health.' "'Were you frequently much beaten, in order to keep you up to your labour?' 'Yes; very often beat till I was bloody at the mouth and at the nose, by the overseer and master too.' "'How did they beat you?' 'With their hands and with a leather thong.' "'Were the children, generally speaking, treated as you have stated you were?' 'Yes; generally; there are generally fifteen boys in one, and a number of girls in the other; they were kept separately.' "'You say you were locked up night and day?' 'Yes.' "'Do the children ever attempt to run away?' 'Very often.' "'Were they pursued and brought back again?' 'Yes, the overseer pursued them, and brought them back.' "'Did you ever attempt to run away?' 'Yes, I ran away twice.' "'And you were brought back?' 'Yes; and I was sent up to the master's loft, and thrashed with a whip for running away.' "'Were you bound to this man?' 'Yes, for six years.' "'By whom were you bound?' 'My mother got 15_s._ for the six years.' "'Do you know whether the children were, in point of fact, compelled to stop during the whole time for which they were engaged?' 'Yes, they were.' "'By law?' 'I cannot say by law; but they were compelled by the master; I never saw any law used there but the law of their own hands.' "'Does that practice of binding continue in Scotland now?' 'Not in the place I am in.' "'How long since it has ceased?' 'For the last two years there has been no engagement in Dundee.' "'Are they generally engagements from week to week, or from month to month?' 'From month to month.' "'Do you know whether a practice has prevailed of sending poor children, who are orphans, from workhouses and hospitals to that work?' 'There were fifteen, at the time I was there, came from Edinburgh Poorhouse.' "'Do you know what the Poorhouse in Edinburgh is?' 'It is just a house for putting poor orphans in.' "'Do you know the name of that establishment?' 'No.' "'Do you happen to know that these fifteen came to the mill from an establishment for the reception of poor orphans?' 'Yes.'