Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-04-22
AN EPISODE OF THE CANADIAN
REBELLION.
A CONNECTICUT MANS EXPERIENCE IN A
BRITISH PENAL COLONY.

y
house and applied for lodgings He
said he had travelled a long distance,
was tired and hungry and wanted sleep.
And the old man took from his back a
little bundle, withdrew a cane thurst
through the knotted handkerchief, and
sank down in chair as if utterly una
BILE to take another step. He was given
the best accommodation the station hnuse
afforded, and that was warm cell and a
bare plank But his old bones rested
sweetly, he said even in that bed, ''for
it's morn I've been used to for these
many years" Yesterday morning he
was taken before Justice Corbett, and
there he told sad story. Although ap-
pearing to be fully ninety years old, face
wrinkled, and back bent nearly double,
he was but forty-five years of age. His
name was Samuel Washburne, and he
has just returned from Van Dieman's
Land, whittier he had been sent as
convict by the British Government
He was born in Hartford, Conn, and
went to Canada when he was twenty-five
years old. This was the year 1885,
He engaged in chopping just across the
river from Clayton, when the Canada
rebellion took place in that year Wash
burne was near Prescott when the battle
was fought. A good many persons. from
this vicinity we're interested in that fight,
young men having gone from Selma,
Liverpool, and other places in this coun-
try.
One of the leaders of that rebellion
was Papineau, who has a relative now
living in this city. Washburne was an
American, and in the vicinity of Prescott,
as he says, walking along the road just
after the fight, when he was arrested
and thrown into chains on board a
British vessel He was given no opper-
tunity for trial. Although he strongly
protested his innocence he was sentenced
to banishment for life In Van Dieman's s
Land. He was sent to that colony with
some two hundred others. They were
crowded like sheep into the hold of a
prison-ship. After tedious and stormy
voyage they were landed at Sydney, and
here their trials began.
Reporter-Did they make you work ?
Washburne-Well they did make US
work like slaves
R.-What did you do?
WI ploughed and drew stone.
R.-You mean you held the plough ?
W.-No, l don't. [ mean that my
self and companion drew the plough
They hitched US up like horses. Here,
see my back.
And the old man tried to straighten
up, but no power on earth could ever
make that back erect again. He exclaim-
ed:
"You see my bent back Well they
put straps across and around me made
a regular harness, and hitched Miller
that's my partner myself to the
plough, and we were obliged to drag it
like brutes. But they treated us great
deal worse than brutes.
R.-What did they give you to eat?
W.-They fed us on pound of meat
and a pound of coarse bread per day,
and we slept in hut at night. Miller,
my partner, often told me he should try
to escape if possible. He made the at
tempt and succeeded, some years ago, in
reaching an American vessel that bro't
him to this country.
R.-How did you escape?
WI was pardoned. l succeeded in
getting letters to Canada, and some Of
my friends there interested themselves
in my case, and nearly two years ago
received pardon. But then could not
leave the country for lack Of means to
pay my passage. l worked year and
half-sometimes getting three cents
and sometimes five cents per day-until
had succeeded in raising S25. With
this and my promise to work on the pas
sage. | succeeded in reaching New York
week or two ago. left Sydney last
November, after a residence there OF
thirty-three years
R.-Have you any relatives in this
part Of the country?
W.-Yes Judge Foster, of Oswego,
is my uncle. My mother is his sister
| learned at Utica that two of my broth
ers were living at Canton (Memphis,) III
this country. Their names are Henry
and Benjamin Washburne, and l am on
my way to see them.-N Z. Standard
When seven years of age, Miss Hoae
of Evansville, Ill. fell and broke nee
die in her left breast, and the portion
which entered the flesh was never ex
tracted. The child grew to be a wo
man, and received no apparent injury
from the occurrence referred to. A
short time since Miss Hoag died very
suddenly, after a protracted but not vio
lent sickness. Her friends believed
that consumption was the cause of hel
death, but her physicians were skepti
cal. and held post mortem examination
They found that their theory was cor
rect. The woman did not die of con-
sumption the needle after making its
| ~o.- IL ,o,,ob 4ba bodu for co MANY wears