278
ESCAPE OF LORD CAMELFORD.
to the iron palisading, he mounted, and rode away in direction of English Harbour as fast as the animal could be urged. In a moment all was confusion. " The prisoner's escaped 1" was the universal cry ; and as the truth became known within the court house, various were the individuals who hurried forth, mounted their horses, and joined in the pursuit. The Honourable Edward Byam was then president, of the island, and with the same high spirit of equity which has ever marked that family, and unbiassed by the rank of the offender, he immediately threw up one of the windows of the court-house, and shouted—" A hundred pounds for his recapture—a hundred pounds for his head!" On kept Lord Camelford, (almost overtaken by one of the constables, a very athletic man, of the name of White,) until at length the horse he was riding fell down from exhaustion, and obliged his lordship to take refuge in an adjoining canefield. Upon the party who were in pursuit gaining the place of his retreat, a sudden stand was made. The rabble who had joined the party, and some of the horsemen, were stationed around the cane-field ; while the constables, with a few attendants, and several dogs, entered the precincts of the field, and literally hunted the offending lord through its tangled mazes, until, overcome with fatigue, and unarmed, he was taken by his pursuers. In the escape, Lord Camelford's hat had fallen off, and he was therefore placed upon a horse bareheaded ; and in this manner, surrounded by the officials, and followed by all the riff-raff of " St. John's and its environs," he was brought back, and once more placed before the court. Lord Camelford was ordered to find bail for his appearance at the sessions. The amount of his recognisances was 5000l. ; Walter Colquhoun and Walter Riddle, Esqs., standing sureties for his forthcoming. Upon his lordship's return to English Harbour, he drew bills for the amount, (for which his sureties would have been liable by his departure, had he not