Miners followed a copper vein to this point, 75 feet below ground, where the need for a second ore shaft arose to haul valuable ore to the surface. At New-Gate Prison, the first inmate, John Hinson, escaped through this shaft only 18 days after his incarceration, and prison warden Captain Viets said he was helped by "some evil minded persons from without." A January 10, 1774, reward notice in the Hartford Courant identified Hinson as a burglary prisoner about 5 feet 6 inches tall, with black eyes, dark hair, a fair complexion, and about twenty years of age. In 1774, prison overseers reported that they had secured the east shaft, where the first prisoner escaped, with iron and stone and had secured every other place where they thought another escape might be possible. Prison officials eventually blocked the shaft to prevent further escapes. In 1972, the state added a spiral staircase in this shaft as an emergency exit, and the sentry house is a state-built replica of the kind guards would have used to watch prisoners and secure the shaft egress. New-Gate guards were also expected to cook for prisoners, clean up after them, garden, supply coal for the workshops, and perform other duties for little pay. Their ranks included a corporal, sergeant, privates, and mechanics to oversee prison work; there were ten guards in 1811 and twenty by the early 1820s.