St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-10-01

| looking men in my time, but never any
| thing to compare with this half dozen,
who were under the leadership of the
notorious Joe Trimble. This man had
been transported for murder, and dur
| ing the two years he was in the colony
he killed two guards and led revolt.
He ESCAPED
from Tasmania by floating out of the
harbor Oh plank, being loaded down
with thirty pounds of chain at the time,
but whether he was picked up at sea
or driven to the Australian coast was
not known to the authorities. He got
there somehow, and for two years pre-
viOuS to my story had been terror in
district 100 miles square.
For a minute after the rangers rose
up about me not word was said. Each
man was heavily armed, and though l
had a rife in my hands, it would have
been folly to move.
wall, who are you?' asked the
leader, after we had taken good look
at each other.
gave him all the information asked
for, and was honest in stating the num-
Der OF the party in pursuit. They did
not know that the ranger whom / had
seen lying dead had fallen by our bull
lets, but supposed he had become sep
arated from them as they retreated.
When | admitted his death their rage
knew no bounds. Had l been an I'M
armed traveller they would doubtless
have taken my life just the same. for
this gang had meyer been known to
spare any one. But when they knew
that l was one of the party, and was
more or less responsible for the death
of their comrade, they would have
s1f 10 ffnr nd haH n NJ
occurred to them that such death would
be too merciful for me. And, too, they
were not aware of the fact that Shaw'S
party had retreated. After an outburSt.
lasting three or four minutes, L was
disarmed, my pockets emptied, my hat
appropriated by one, and my jacket by
another. and we set off for the raVine at
a dog trOt, two of the men going before
and the others following after me and
striking me at every opportunity.
The raYine was dark and dismal
spot, reached by a well-wOrn path,
winding about and making a gradual
descent. We went down in single
file, and when we finally got to the bot
tom, l found hut made of brush and
limbs and rocks, with the numerous
evidences that the place had long been
occupied as headquarters. 1t had now
come to be shutdown. and as nothing had
been heard from Shaw's party since my
capture,
TIE OUTLAWS
reasoned that they had given up the
pursuit. / got pretty good look at the
surroundings, and, as near as l could
make out. the path was the only way
out of the ravine. As we came down
one of the men took his seat on rock,
with his revolver in hand, to act as
guard, and, as he got no orders, L sat
down OH another rock near the hut.
One of the men started fire, another
cut some meat, and third went down
the ravine and got can of water at a
spring. While supper was preparing
the leader of the gang took long pull
at the whisky jug, and then came over
and stood in front of me and INDUCED
in a TRADE of OathS, threats and abuse.
He swore he'd clean out every ranch
man in the district, and that he would
have twenty lives for the death of his
eomrade. He boosted of the number of
his victims and the amount of his plum
der, and ended by declaring that l
should be skinned alive and my head
sent to Shaw as reminder of what was
in store for him. l made no answer,
knowing that anything / could say
v Il
less. | could net figure out the slight
est chance to escape my impending
fate.
A primitive meal was soon ready and
five of the outlaws sat down to devOur
it, while the sixth kept his place on the
rock. At this time 1 thought l heard
noise as of distant thunder, and the air
felt to me
ASH A STORM WAS BREWING.
1t had come to be fully dark now, and
after an interval of three or four min
utes came binding flash of lightning,
followed by crash of thunder, which
seemed to illuminate and shake the
whole island. The men suspended
their eating to look up, and the guard
rose to his feet. There was a min
ute of perfect silence, and then
there came another flash, followed
by rush up the ravine. A drove of
kangarOOs, which must have numbered
800, dashed right into our camp. SEEM
ingIy terrified by the storm, and as they
reached us there was another flash, a
crash. and | heard tine outlaws shout
ing. | opened my eyes to see the guard
lying on the earth and the path clear,
and guided by the instinct of self-pres-
ervatiOn, dashed up the path. Some
of the beasts had gone ahead of me, and
some behind, each one SQuealing in
alarm, and / have no recollection of my
trip out of the ravine. 1t came on to
rain at tremendous rate, and by and
by ] found myself alone in the
woods and compelled to fall down in a
heap from exhaustion. | believe was
then two miles from the raYine. The
storm lasted for two or three hours. and
after recovering my breath and my wits
l crept into thicket and remained there
until daylight. Two hours later had
the good fortune to come out OF the
woods in sight of the ranch where
Roberts had been killed, and before
noon ] was at Shaw's. Three days later
a new party was organized and descend
ed to the bushrangers' hiding place.
The fellows had departed bag and bag
gage, and none of their kidney were
seen in that section again for couple
of years.