Yesterday's post related how the prisoners from New Kent were being held in the Henrico county jail instead in New Kent " . . . because the jail of that county was burned last summer, and has not since been rebuilt."
BURNING OF NEW KENT COUNTY JAIL.-
The jail at New Kent Courthouse was destroyed by fire on Sunday morning about 2 o'clock under the following circumstances: A colored man, whose name could not be ascertained, was confined in the upper cell on a charge of felony. He set fire to the flooring, and as soon as a space sufficiently large was made descended to the lower cell and made his escape through one of the windows. He doubtless had help from the outside, as the windows were made secure by heavy iron bars. At last accounts he was still at large.
-The Richmond Whig, 16 January 1878
Another paper has a briefer account that gives the man's name as Fox. There was according to court records of the period a man by that name being held awaiting trial.
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