Hart Island is situated in the town of Pelham, Westchester county, in Long Island Sound, about fourteen miles from Bellevue. This island became the property of Oliver Delancey in 1775, who sold it to Samuel Rodman, for £550. In 1819, it was deeded to John Hunter, who died September 12, 1852. After his decease his heirs deeded it to John Hunter Jr., grandson of the preceding, July 10, 1866. The United States Government leased it for army uses December 5, 1863, for one year, for the sum of $500, with privilege of retaining it five or less years longer at an increased rent, the buildings erected by government to remain the property of the lessor. A village of one-story wood buildings, for the accommodation of troops, was soon erected, spreading over the principal parts of the island. Under authority of an act of Legislature passed April 11, 1868, authorizing "additional facilities for the interment of the pauper dead in the city of New York," the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections on May 16, 1868, purchased all except three acres of the southern point (which the owner hopes to sell to the United States for the erection of a light-house), for the sum of $75,000. The island is estimated to contain about one hundred acres, but is suffering constant loss from the action of the tides. It is probable that the Penitentiary will be removed to this island in a few years at most.