298 AUTHENTIC HISTORY 



JoliH HvMey to Pres. Dickinson. Court House Burned, 1784. 



Lancaster, June llth, 1784, 



Honored Sir : It is likely before now you have heard that the Court 

 House in this place has been entirely consumed by Fire. I received 

 this disagreeable account on my way to Lancaster from your City, and 

 from anything that I can collect here, I find that all is guess-work how 

 this aft'air happened. 



The House underwent some repairs this summer, and the Plaisterers 

 were at work; a quantitj^ of Lime was put up in the inside for that pur- 

 pose, to secure it from the weather — some suppose the Lime set it on 

 Fire — others suppose that a Clock-maker, who was conducting the weights 

 of the Clock in a different channel from that they formerly run in, used 

 some Fire and was negligent. The Clock-maker denies he used any Fire 

 in his work — and many conjectured that it was wickedly set Fire to by 

 some unknown villain, so that the affair remains as yet in the dark. 

 Happy it is for this place that the mischief has ended with the loss of the 

 Court House only, as a strong south-west wind was blowing, and carried 

 the Fire in great quantities over great part of the North-East part of the 

 Town ; and though the Calvinist Meeting House, which stands at a con- 

 siderable distance from the Court House, and several other buildings, 

 took Fire, yet it was happily extinguished >\dthout much damage. I 

 thought that this affair might be confusedlj'- Reported in the City, there- 

 fore have given you such information as I could collect in the few hours 

 I have arrived here. 



I am, sir, with the utmost respect, 



Your very hble. servant, 



John Hubley, 

 Directed, 



His Excellency John Dickinson, Esq., President of the State of Penn'a., 

 Philadelphia, 



Many prisoners of war were confined at Lancaster ; the following nar- 

 rative furnishes a graphic account of prison life, and, as an interesting 

 fragment of the history of Lancaster during the Revolution, will prove 

 acceptable to the reader : 



"The American authorities found much difficulty in disposing of their 

 prisoners. They had no posts regularly fitted for the purpose, and they 

 could suggest no better means for securing them than to place them 

 under guard in a thickly settled part of the country, where the inhabi- 

 tants were most decidedly hostile to the English. The town of Lancas- 

 ter in Pennsylvania, was of those selected for this purpose. The prisoners 

 were confined in barracks, enclosed with a stockade and vigilantly guarded. 

 But, in spite of all precaution, they often disappeared in an unaccount- 

 able manner, and nothing was heard of them till they had resumed their 



