Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-06-07

ry, The broad blue sea was before them
and vessels arriving weekly from the United
States. The temptation was too strong to
be resisted, and they fled. After the first
month Of toll, it was frequent that we fainted
in performing the tasks that were imposed
upon us by the iouest of the convcts of the
known world and night after night have we
been dragged to the huts in state of utter
lprostratlon and insensiblity And if we
refused to do the tasks imposed upon US, we
were taken before magistrate mo defence
being permitted,) and sentence passed upon
us of seven days solitary confinement for
the first offence, and fed during the time up
on one-fourth pound of bread per day. This
living grave was vault without light, with
an uneven floor tagged with stone, aud with
out any room for standing erect; it was two
feet wide and six in length ventilated with
irregular crevices in the wall In some parts
of the body the blood almost stops circula-
ton while undergoing this nhuman torture
and this we received Cor the most trivial in
discretion, while the filth of these dens of
inamy surpasses all description. The first
time that | was incarcerated it was for the
following heinous mlsdemeanor On re-
turning from work in the midst of perfect
tempest of rain and piercing wind, and be-
ing wet to the skin, and seeing good cheer
full fire burning in the cooks room, com
United the awful outrage Of warming my
shlverlng limbs and that taste of comfort
cost me seven days solitary confinement
upon one-fourth pound of bread per day and
filthy water. | thought with Dr. Franklin,
1 had mid lttIo IL IL.
About this time, the four prisoners who had
escaped were captured upon desolate ISL
and, six miles from the shore The boat
in which they started from the shore was
wrecked upon the rocks. They had sub
sisted for two weeks upon cookies and other
shell fish; and for week had been in a de-
plorable and starving condition. When la
ken, two of them were nearly dead but the
others, by dlnt Of iron constitutions, had
survived the pains of starvation with unpar-
aleled Iortitude. They were tried, and SEN
fenced 10 Port Author, penal settlement,
to labor in irons for two years. Their work
was the carrying of shingles, and working
in water four feet deep, and every night they
were locked in separate cell.
After being here for some months, we
were removed TO a station in the interior
Our removal was made to prevent any fur
Their escapes. Our men at present were in
dreadful situation, and, like so many swine,
were seen to eat the potato skins and cab
bage stumps that were cast from the door of
chief felon, who presided over us. AT this
station we became acquainted with poor
fellow whose history is worth recording
lie was child of sin, begot at the "West
End" of London, and with his deserted
mother, "a victim of one of EngIand's lord
lings,) was turned out to shift for himself in
the streets of the metropolis, and for steal
ing penny loaf was sent to this Procrus-
ties bed of despotism for life Others were
sent for conspiracies and malice, and others
for not resisting temptation and quietly starry
ing to death in 'merre auld England. -
! The next station was that Of Lovely Banks. !"
1t was clear bright morning on which we
started, and arrived there at evening. Here
our labor was greatly increased as we were
engaged in building the road between Laun-
cestoR and Hobart Town. 1t was the law
of the land that any persons who gave the
convicts food or tobacco, and the same was
found on our persons, the donor was fined,
and we were subjected to not less than sew
en-, and not over twenty-one days solitary
confinement One evening, for refusing to
carry lin an over-worked and debiltated
state) bar of iron, weighing one hundred
pounds, to the station, The distance being
four miles, lay in one Of those living graves
one week and many time have we, bare
footed, and in the snow four inches deep,
gone to work shvering with cold, half ma
ked with our bodies wrapped in tattered
blankets, and so hoarse with colds that our
groans alone were audible. AT Sandy Bay,
Lysander Curtis's health began to decline,
and he was taken to the hospital, but was
remanded back to work, where he was put
again TO the wheelbarrow but his strength
was unequal to the task. But the overseer
said he should wheel the load, or he might
die at the quarry; and the poor fellow sup
plicated for mercy in vain, and that was his
last day labor. He tainted upon the ground
and was borne back to the hospital, where,
with no attendance, and in great agony, he
persisted in forty-eight hours after he left the
road. In his dying words, he prayed that
the good people of Ogdensburg would kind
Iy remember his wife and children. AT this
place, VIM. Malaga was blown up by blast
ing, and he fingered few days, and died in
dreadful spasns. He desired that his fami-
ly might be provided for by the lovers OF
liberty in Ohio. Thus the Wales of Van Die
mans Land are whitened by the bones OF
exies from the land of Washington. There
was scarcely station where some of our
number did not fade from the earth; and to
look back and think of our hideous situa-
ton, where without any attention, our breth-
rem were sick-died and were buried, as il
they had been the beasts of the fields or the
fowls of the air, is horrible. The scenery
of the island would require the pen of the