From the Richmond Dispatch, 3/28/1862, p. 2, c. 3

Extensive Leap. – Hiram Hursher, arrested a few evenings since by the Assistant Provost Marshal, for retailing ardent spirits near the County Court House, in a fit of mental derangement, on Wednesday evening about six o'clock, jumped from the third-story window of the new Confederate prison, (Libby's building, Cary street, between Twentieth and Twenty first streets,) where he was confined, and falling on his knees, broke his skull and both legs and arms. When picked up and carried to Dr. Higginbotham, the Surgeon of the Post, he presented a perfectly mutilated wreck of humanity, the bones of his legs and arms having been forced through the skin. – Chloroform was administered, and the different fractures were set. The patient slept tolerably well during the night under the influence of opiates, and was alive yesterday evening. We are informed that he was hurt in so many places that it took yesterday evening two hours and a half to dress his wounds. – His recovery is a matter of doubt.

Go to top