Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-05-24
THE LIFE OF A PRISONER.

counts. Wright is an American, who was
misled to take part in the Patriot move
ments on the Canada frontier in 1888, and
was captured with the ill-fted expedition
which left Ogdcnsburgh, Nov. 10Th, of that
year, under the lead of sundry dsmagogues,
liars and towards, who deceivea'hem with
regard TO the sentiments of the Canadians,
and by incapacity, poltroonery and viany,
subjected them to inevitable defeat and ruin,
at Prescott. We do not apologize for these
men-ihey had no right to assume the desire
of'he Canadians for their services as liberia
tors, when no foot Of the Canadian soil was
shaded by another flag than that Of Great
Britain. They rushed into unjustifable hos
tlltics, and exposed themselves to the legit-
innate consequences. But if their fault was
gricvous, 1t must be admitted by the readers
of tins Narrative, that grievously have they
answered il, and the detail of their sutferngs,
privatons and torlures, is enough to glut the
appetite for prison discipline even of the
Courier and Enquirer. We make room for
the follow ing extracts :-IriJune.
! After the usual monotonv of sea VOYAGE,
we arrived on the 14lh of February, 1910,
in the harbor of Hobart Town. The first
+ object that greeted our sight, was Mount
Wellington, which overhangs the town, and
which doomed above the waves long before
the town at its base was in sight. Our de-
scriptions were taken by an officer and his
: clerks: he was superintendent of conyicts.
AT the time the following questions were ask
ed : What is your name what is your
TRACE wha, is your age wha, is YOUR re-
ligion what is your native place where
Il we're you tried? when did you leave Canada?
are you married are your parents living
where do they reside what is their native
;, country! what is their religion! can they
read can they write =! can You write ? wha,
j. is your number! Af,er all these questions
T. were answered, minute examination was
made of our bodies, and every mole, scar
/, and spot was recorded, and our height and
= weight we're taken into consideration so that
Z we could be Unidentified in the event of an es-
cape. All this minia was particularly in
serted and afterwards read over to each, and
signed with his own hand. We were then
1 taken to Sandy Bay, near Hobart Town, and
placed in a yard as if we had been CATTLE
j All our clothes were taken from US here
j and the prisoners dress put on, which con-
: sisted Of a jacket, pair of panialoons, a
! cap and pair of shoes. The body of the
u dress was black and yellow, half and half,
! and made of miserable wooden material. 1t
, resembled the dress of clown or the plu-
Il mage of "A magpic, and lasted about one
! month and allowed but two suits year, we
g had three months to go half naked, to say
the least. The cap was leather, and fitted
close to our well-sheared heads. When the
!, clothes were all worn out, and the homely.
4 made shoes had fallen to pieces, we were
. bare footed, and had but a small blanket tc
E hide our nakedness. Exposed to biting
y winds and storms of sleet and snow, the huts
It in which we slept were built of slabs set ul
end ways, very poorly matched, and the top
covering thin and leaky, giving us the bene.
v fit of rather tree circulation of air. In fact
4 we were at the mercy of the weather our
t floor was the ground, and after "A rain, pool.
: of water stood for hours in the hut. No fire
! was allowed us either to warm or dry on,
clothing; our food was half pound of mea
and one pound of bread /; the meat was gen.
q orally felid and sometimes filled with vermir
q -bony and stringy-and any we.fed doc
i would have refused to eat il. Oar bread wa,
composed of oats, barley and rice, with it,
+ tie wheat, ground together /; all the fine flou
q sitIed out, and we were given the coarse; i
j. was bread that even "A Gralamile would have
;, starved upon. Such was our fare.
a On the morning Of the l7lh we were pa
r raded in line, and the Governor of the Is.
land, Sir John Franklin, (he great naviga.
tory made his entire with his Suite. We were
n then ordered to take off our caps, which wa.
n oheyed. lie is an old man and is ruled b,
his cnnnsellors, who ride over the People
d rough sl,od but il is considered freedom tc
e the anarchy and confusion that prevailed du.
r ring the Governorship of the I" bloody exc
u cuiioner." Sir George Arthur. He looked
{ a bon virani, without any strong marks, save
obesity and Imbeciiity. The noble and gen.
e erous Captain Wood accompanied him. LIE,
me here return our united thanks to Lady
! Colburn, who kindly supplied us with draft.
It and chess boards to while away the uedium
: of our voyage, as well as the Captain of the
: good ship Buffalo, whose nnabated Kindness
will never be forgotten, and the feeling man
ner with which he discharged his arduous du-
ties. The Governor commenced set speech
. in slow, nasal tone, and after proceeding
for few mnutes-the amount of which was
; that he had received no orders regal ding us
from the Home Govcrnment-he ended by
asking the Captain what had been our con-
duct during the voyage? The answer, "re-
markaby well" was very satisfactory TO us I;
and the Governor then ordered that we should
be set to work upon the Roads for Govern.
ment, admonshing us at the same time to be-
r have ourselves, or we would fare hard I; and
he and his Suite departed. The Overseers
whom the Superintendent placed over US
were men of the worst characters; being fell
ons and convicls, having been condemned for
the most awful crimes that shuddering Hu-
manity records larson, theft, murder. rape,
burglary, forgery. We were harnessed two
and two, four being placed before each cart.
We were then marched TO work distance Of
two miles whom wa had rea ched The quarry