are cut amid a whiz of bullets ; the distance from the
wharf is rapidly increasnig, and so are their aspira-
tions ; but, alas ! one thing has been left out of account ;
the non-consulted, mistletoe proves in this instance to
be a treacherous mud-bank, and hope, their Baldur,
falls.
The first roll-call showed over thirty missing but this number was reduced to less than a dozen b}^ sub- sequent captures. Ten were killed and thirty wounded.
On receivino; the first exao'fyerated accounts, the chief of police at San Francisco obtained full powers from the governor. He engaged a steamer, and arrived on the spot at five o'clock the following morn- ing, with a body of armed citizens, but nothing re- mained to be done. The Sacramento Rano-ers were also turned out for the pursuit. A reward of fifty dollars was offered for each fug^itive.
On Saturday April 2, 1864, a determined attempt at flight was made by a gang composed chiefly of Mexicans, under the leadership of Tom King. One party, engaged in unloading, broke from the work during the afternoon, and began to scale the wall. The guard fired, but twenty-three succeeded in gain- ing the brick -yard, where another party joined them. The fugitives armed themselves w^ith stones and bricks, and attacked station 4, evidently w^ith a view to capture the gun and turn it to account. The four guards at this point found that the guns would not work, spiked it, and rushed for the guard-house ; but only two reached it, for the next moment the convicts had possession of the place, and sent the other two whirling over the embankment. The ad- vantage was momentary onl}^; the gun on the otlier side opened fire, and the guard came charging on horse and foot. In twenty minutes the captors of the battery surrendered and were conducted to their cells, with a loss of five killed and a number of wounded.
Many ingenious individual attempts ha
