, 1890-05-21

depth of six or seven feet from the surface,
one of them detected a small OBJECT which
on examination proved to be a laiys silver
ring ilIe seal consisting OF Il coin bearing
the proded contour OF the head Of a man.
Captain Phillips, o whom the ring was sent,
brought it to our Office, bur We were unable
to give or to get any Information as 10 the
date oft. 1t was the general impression
OF those who saw il that 1t must be very
OEd,-but this verdict was based principal
" on the circumstance of lts having been
found at IL considerable depth celow the
soil, in a hitherto practically uneXplored
district Of the colony. To decide the matter
we sent the coin to Professor Carruther"
of the British Museum, who with ready
kindness, obtained for us the information
that it was a ring Of native manufacture,
the coin being of the reign OF George the
Third, whose image it bore, OF date lSlO.2O.
The comparatively tender age Of the ring
will surprise those who were convinced OF
its antiquity by reason of the position in
which it was found. Occasionally pieces
of Indian pottery are found in piacers at Il
similar depth, and hitherto they have been
regarded as Of very old date. The date OF
the tiny proves lldb CllSliS EON' "" -
rapidly on the banks OF the Purunl.
The convict Sylvester who escaped from
the Penal Settlement and was captured by
MAGISTRATE McTurk, as mentioned in Onr
last number, is a lad OF rare spirit ana ex-
cellent nerve,-Qualities which the guards
at the Settlement are evidently not much
accustomed to find in the people Of whom
- g. - =, oIorrO IIa IL a St0nISI pTQnlA
bv birth, and a good looking fellow. The
prison at Mazaruni he describes as a paper
hOuse. 80 easy is it to break out OF. On the
night of his escape he left his cell by burst.
ing a hole in the wood over the window,
then slid across a water pipe to ~ tank,
down the side of which he found no diff
cultv in sliding TO the ground. Having
broken out of one of the bull lings he then
coollv began to break into the tailor's shop,
in which he furnished himself completely
with clothing suitable for a gentleman at
large. His next work was 10 break Into
the store room, and here he lit a candle to
make his search the easier. He found near.
" = hundred dollars in cash, which sup
Dlipd a suitable lining for the pockets Of
his new clothes and he found, which was
very useful TO him at the moment, a set
of master keys of the gates of the prison,
with one of which he opened a door and
walked from the prison into liberty. 1t
must have taken him some considerable
time to accomplish all he did and the in
terest he had in doing it must have been
heightened by the fact, we'll known to him,
Alat a police guard with a loaded rifle was
within a few feet of him all the while. When
Magistrate McTurk caught sight OF SyiveS-
ter four daysafter his escape, he was " dis
tance of ten miles from the Settlement, IN
the direction of the coast, at a spot named
Swartz Hook. AS soon as he saw that his
capture was inevitable he threw about nifty
dollars into the river and was proceeding
10 send the rest of the stolen cash after II
when he was prevented, After he had been
placed iYthe Magistrates boat he jumped
overheard, either intending to escape or to
drown himself, ond resisted his captorS so
enormously that they were compelled to
bind him hand and foot. He is now in the
Settlement hospital suffering from . severe
wound on his leg, the cause OF which he
declinusto explain. Sylvester lived for a
few years IN Essequebo where he earned a
living by repairing locks and other similar
handicraft.