New-York daily tribune., 1844-05-11

IL was Tor the following heinous misdemcanor -
oa returning from work IN the midst of i perfect
tempest ol ram and piercing wind, and being wet
10 tiie s,n, and seeing good cheerful fire burn
ing IN the COOKS room, comn!ited the awful
outrage oi warming my shivcring limbs and
tat taste OF comfort cost me seven days solitary
confinement upon one fourth pound of bread per
DAY and filthy water. | thought with Doctor
franklin, l had paid little too dear for nv
whistle. About this time, the four prisoners
who had escaped were captured upon desolate
island, SIX miles from the sho:e. The boat in
which they started irom the shore was wreck
cd upon the rocks. They had subsised for two
weeks upoa cookies and other shell fish and for
awee!i had been ia dcplorablc and starving con-
clifton. When taken, TWO OF them were nearly
cead; bn tic Others, by dint of iron constitutions,
"ad survived the pans OF starvation with un-
ptrai!ecd io:tttude. They Were tired, and SEN
t"nccdto Port Arthur, penal st lemcnt, 10 labor
m lyoms for two years. Ihcir work was the car
rylng OF sli,nglts, and working in water four feet
deep. and every night they were locked IN 4 sepa-
rate cell.
A'ter being here for some months, we were
removed to a station in the interior. Our re-
movai was made to prevent any further escapes.
Our mon at present were n dreatful situation,
y
potato SKINS and cabbage stumpS that were Cast
rom the door OF Il chez feon, VINO presided over
u>. At this Station we became acquainted with
:" poor ,c..ow whose history is woIh recording
lie was caiid OF sln, basut al the West End
~ London. a:d WIN ms dcsertcJ mother IA We
tlm OF one of Epliand'S nrdnes.) was tuFI.ed
put TO sat for hltlS Il N tnc strcriS o. Use metro
jobs, ana !': stealing penny loaf was s,nt 10
tn's Procrustes Ted o: despo:,sm 10. he. OiherS
we're sent rom consp'raclts and malice, and
o.ners Tor not resisting temptation and quietly
sfhrTng TO death n merrr tuia England." i'le
next station was that Of . Lovely Banks" l. was
| clear, bright morning oil which we started,
tnd arrived there at evening. Here our labor
vas greatly increased, rs we were engaged IN
building the road between Launccston and Ho-
bart Town. II was the law Of the land that any
person who gave the convcts food or tobacco,
and the same was found on our persons the do
nor was fined, and we were subjected to not less
than seven, and not over twenty days soil
tary confinement. One evening, for refusing to
carry lin an ovcr-worked and debilitated state)
bar of iron, weighing one hundred pounds, 10
the station, the distance being four miles, | lay
in one of those living graves one week and many
time have we, bareiooted, and in the snow four
inches deep, gone TO work shivcrlng with cold,
half naked, with our bodies wrapped in tattered
blankets, and SO hoarse with colds that our groans
alone were audible. At Sandy Bay, Lvsdndcr
Curtis's health began to decline, and he was
taken to the hospital, but was rcmandcd back 10
work, where he was put again TO the whec!5ar-
row but his strength was unequal to the task.
But the overscer SAID he should wheel the load,
or he might die at the quarry; and the poor icl-
low supplicated for mercy in vain, and that was
his last days labor. lie tainted upon the ground,
and was borne back to the hospital, where, with
no attendance, and in great agony he perlshed in
forty eight hours after he left the road. In his
diving words, he prayed that the good people oi
Ogdensburgh would kindly remember his wife
and children. At this place, William Nattaga
was blown up by blasting, and he fingered L few,
DAYS, and died in dreadful spasms. lie desired
that his family might be provided for by the
lovers of liberty in Ohio. Thus the wales OF Van
Dieman's Land are whitcned hy the bones OF
exiles from the land Of Washington. There was
scarcely station where some OF our number did
not fade from the Garth and to look back ard
think of our hidoous situation, where, without
any attention, our brethren were slck-dled and
were buried, as if they had been the beasts Of the
field, or the fowls Of the air, is horrible. The
scenery of the island would require Tic pen of d
poet, or the pencil of a painter, to do anything
like Justice 10 it. The trees were covered with 9
foliage of peculiar beauty, and hundreds OF war
bcrs from the wild wood soothcd us at our work
while the mountains rose in forms OF grandeur
whose tops were lost amid the clouds of heaven
Nature seemed to console us, and fell for th'
first time in my life that
| Mans inhumanity to
! Makes countless thousands mourn.