Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-05-24


rocks and mud. After we had been there
about four months, four Of our number effec-
ted their escape. They had been so dread.
fully worked, that they made up their minds
to die IN being taken rather than 10 endure
longer the loathsome curse Of slavery. The
broad blue sea was before them, and vessels
arriving weekly from the United Staies.-
The temptation was too strong to be resist
ed, and they fled. After the first month Of
toll, it was frequent tina, we tainted III per-
forming our tasks that were imposed upon
us by the fouest of the convcts of the known
world and night after night have we been
dragged to the huts in a state Of utter pros
tration aud insensIbIlity. And il we refused
10 do the tasks imposed upon us, we were
taken before "a magistrate (no defence being
permilted,) and sentence passed upon US Of
seven days solitary confinement for the first
offence, and fed during the time upon one.
fourth pound of bread per day. This living
grave was "A vault without light, with an une-
ven floor tagged with stone, and withou, any
room for standing erect, i, was two feet vide
and six in length, ventilated with irregular
crevces in the wall. In some paris of tho
body the blood almost stops circulation while
undergoing this inhuman torture and this
we received for the most trivial indiscre,on,
while the filth Of these dens of infamy sur
passes all description. The first time tina, I
was incarcerated it was for the following
heinous msdemeanor On returning from
work in the midst Of perfect tempest of
rain and piercing wind, and beng wet to the
I skin, and seeing ii good cheerful fire burning
in the cooks room, | committed the awful
| outrage of warming my shivering limbs and
3 that taste of comior, cost me seven days snl-
itary confinement upon One.fourth mound of
S bread per dav aud filthy water. | though,
. with Doctor Franklin. l had paid little too
: dear for my whistle. About this time, the
r four prisoners who had escaped were ,sp,u-
: red upon desolate island, six miles from the
E shore. The boat in which, they started from
the shore was wrecked upon The rocks-
? They had subssloa CIR two weeks upon cock.
e les and other shell fish AID for a week had
y been in starving condition. When taken,
It two of them were nearly dead but the 9th.
S ers, ny dint OF iron constitutions, had survived
S the pains of starvation with unparalleled for.
+ titude. They we're tried, and sentenced to
d Port Arthur, penal settlement, to labor in
i irons for Two years. Their work was the car.
: rying of shingles, and working in water four
iee' deep, and every night they were locked
j in separate cell.
D After being here for some months. we
we're removed to IA station in the Interior
Our removal was made to prevent any fur,h.
er escapes. Our men at present we're in n
dreadful situation, and, like SO many swine.
d were seen TO eat the polatoe skins and cab
. bage stumps that were cast from the door of
y Chief ielon, who presided over US. A, this
l station we became acquainted with a moor
: fellow whose history is well worth recording,
tie was child Of sin, begot al the West
End of London, and with his deserted mo.
), Their IA victim of one Of Englands lordIings, J
was turned out to shift for himself in the
e streets OF the metropolis, and for stealing
: penny loa! was sent 10 this Procrustes bed of
@ despo,ism of life. Others were sen, from
o conspiracies and malice, and others for no,
9 resisting temptation and quietly starving to
$ death in " merrie auId Eng land" The nex,
p station was that of "Lovely Banks" II
p was clear, bright morning on which We start
= ed, and arrived there ut evening. Here our
v labor was greatly Increased, as we were en-.
u gagged IN building the road between Launces.
IS ton and ifobar, Town. II was the law of
o the land that any person who gave the CON.
IT victs food or tobacco, and the same was found
II on our persons, the donor was fined, and wo
J. were subjected to not less than seven. and
n not over lwenty-one days solitary con6ne.
9 ment. One evening, for refusing 10 carry
IS I'm an over-wofked and debitaled s,a,el a
l. bar OF iron, weighing one hundred pounds. to
IT the station, the distance being four miles. 1
II lay IN one OF those living graves one week .
e and many time have We, barrfoo,ed. and in
the snow four inches deep. gone to work shiy-
!. cring with COLD, half naked. with our bodies
= wrapped IN ,a',ered blankets, and so hos,,s
l. with colds that our groans alone were andihv.
e Al Sandy Bay, Lysander Cnrlis's health
IS began to decline, and he was taken to the
y hospital, but was ren'anded back to work
t. where he was put again to The wheelbarrow:
o but his strength was unequal 10 the task.
i But the overseer said he should wheel The
= 'oad' or ne might die al the quarry; and the
d poor fellow duplicated for mercy in vain.
G and that was his last days labor. He G,in,,
= ed upon the ground, and was borne back 10
II the hospital, where, with no attendance. and
y IN grcat agony, he persisted in for,y.eiph,
S hours after he left the road. In his diving
n words he prayed that the good people Of Or.
e densburgh would kindly remember his wife
S and children. Al this place, William Nat.
: !asa was blown up by blasting, and he lineer.
= ed few days, and died in dreadful spasm,.
h tie desired that his family might e provid.
g ed for by the lovers of liberty IN OHIO, Thu.
$ the wales of Van Dieman's Land are whi,sn,
S I'd by the bones Of exiles from the land of
y Washington. There was scarcely station
: where some of our number did not fade from
= the earth; and to look back and think of
; our h'deous situation. where, without any Al.
attention, our brethren were slck-died and
we're buried. as if they had been The beasts
of the field, or the fowls of the air, is horri.
ble The scenery of The island would re-.
S q"lre the pen Of poet, or the pencil Of
S painter, to do anything like justice to il,
The trees were covered with "a foliage of ne.
r c"liar beauty. and hundreds of wsrb-rs from
the wild wood sooihed us at our work will,