The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-04-15
BRANDON, Thursday, April IS, 184z

h ty-four, and their labor is of the hardest kin
In the morning they are fed with a sort
c dry, unpalatabIe bread, which is so hard tn
e it can with difficulty be masticated. The
e quid aliment is pure cold water. After tai
ing the morning meal, they are liberated fro
their cells, and harnessed together, eight in
team, and hitched to wagons. They are the
: driven to the quarry,which is about two mile
distant from the prison, and obliged to loa
the wagon with broken stone, which is use
for the purpose of building government road
The stone must then be drawn to the place {
its destination, which depends upon circum
stances. 1t is sometimes drawn not more thai
a mile or two, and l have known it to b.
drawn eight or ten. But certain amour
OF labor must be done, rain or shine, live O.
die. If q person is sick it makes no differ
cnce, his task is none the lighter, SO long a
the vital spark fickers in the socket No al
deviation is proffered when the pangs of sick
ness and distress rack the feeble tenement Of
| clay; no ministering hand presents itself tC
ease the sick bed posture no plaintive voice
falls In accents mild on the ear of the suffer
er, to soothe the forebodings of life and death
that pass rapidly in review before the mind
Of him that feels all this weight Of woe. No
instead Of these, the smarting command OF
the oVcrseers Of work, work or I'll fog you "
is all the salutation he gets and work he
must, beast like, if he falls dead in the traces.
lpso facto-I have been an eye witness to in
stances where culprits have been sick a long
time, but compelled to labor as usual, without
lntermiSsion, until at last they fell down dead
with their tools in their hands. Even it is all
that one in the possession of good health and
robust constitution can do, to sustain life
under such hardships; for, latter working hard
all day, and perhaps in the rain, he is taken
back to the prison, and fed on food of the
poorest quality, but not half enough of that,
and then locked up in a cold damp cell for
the night, and under the necessity of remain
ing there with two comrades, until morning,
in a room that is not sufficiently ventilated for
the admittanCe of fresh air. Ifhis clothes are
himself, and has no alternative left but to sit
with them on Or throw them of, and lie down
upon his pallet of straw, which is equally I'M
comfortable In the morning he finds vio-
lent cold settled upon his lungs which in the
end terminates in some fatal disease and to a
person we'll acquainted with the treatment
Of the eXilcs to Van Dieman's Land, it is no
wonder that they die off as fast as they do
But perhaps | have said enough of such mat
tiers.
Inow propose to give the method of my es-
cape. 1t was on 4 Sabbath morning of the
third year of my excitement, just as the god of
day had commenced driving his gildcd char
lot through the cloudleSs vault of heaven, that
| sat talking with the convicts that were lodg-
ed in the same cell with me, about the pleas
ant aspect Of things without, and our own sad
and lonely condition. when the hand of a
child thrust through the diamond hole let
tel, and let it fail upon the floor. 1t had hard
y reached its marble resting place, ere sciz-
ed it with an eager hand broke open the seal,
md read aloud to my companion, with tears
lowing from my eyes in gratitude, short
epistle from young American seaman, with
whom l had formed an intimate acquaintance
n Montreal, before my capture. 1t stated
hat the writer was then in port, and he cas-
lally remarked that the next time he came
ne would bring something that would taste
good. This was enough for us to take the
lint; but I suppose our august jailor did not
ully comprehend the meaning, From that
moment we began TO entertain a faint hope
hat at some future period we might again be
rec and imagine we awaited with as much
mpaticnce the looked for rescue, as Yelling
on did the arrival Of Butcher on the blood
tanned battle field of Waterloo After wait
ng nearly twelve month, it came. We had
ust been locked into our cells for the night,at
he close of a sultry afternoon in June. The
un had disappeared beneath the western
waters, and twilight was fast deepening into
he darker shades of evening, when | heard
he manly voice Of my friend at the turning
)oX. | fastened to grasp his outstretched
iand in mine, to receive the anticipated pres
mt; and as | let go his hand, little thought
he unsuspicous jailor that | held the article
With which | was to eXtricate myself and two
others from his vigi,ant watchcare, and from
he prison. But so it was for when | shook
lands with my friend, he rolled a small vial of
lqua forts into my palm. We were now in
he possession Of the necessary requisite and
hat night, when all was huShed to stiffness,
We emptied the contents Of the vial upon the
solid bars Of iron, that composed our window
crates, in such manner that it was to cat
lway whole square at once, of sufficient di-
for us to crawl through handily. All
hat was wan ting now, was, time to perfect
,ur design, and favorable opportunity to ac-
,omplsh the scheme. The metal corroded
asst, and in short time the huge bars we're
Is brittle as honey comb. When we saw that
he CRATES could be easily removed at any
line, we resolved to make our escape when !
he first opportunity offered. We were aware
hat the trial would be attended with dan
gers and difficulties, and perhaps it would not
succeed; but, hazardous as the enterprise
eemed, we we're determined to make the at
empt, and as the window fronted the beach, |
We should have no walls to scale, as that part
Il hn VIII
itlatcd on the rocks where they were per-
fifteen or twenty feet. This was
he reason why no walls were constructed .
lround the prison at that place, and we knew
hat if we could once get down upon the beach
n dark night, that we could creep along the
,dge of the rocks, and escape the observation
If the sentry. 1t was not long before nature
eemed to favor our undertaking. Dark and
leavy clouds doomed up from the southern
kics just as night had set in, and the sun
-