Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-23
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY'S ESCAPE.
The Dead Poets Own Account Of His
Adventures.

The Dead Poets Own Account Of His
| Adventures.
From the Philsdelphia Times.
The narrative Of John Boyle O'ReiIlys escape
from Australia b worth recalling. The follow
ing Is . condensation Of the dead poets own
| words:
''Ths man to whom / owed my liberty was
Catholic priest, the Rev. Patrick McCabe,
whose parish extended over hundreds Of miles
OF bush, and whose only practitioners were con-
| victs and ticket-of-leaye men. He was Q scholar
and gentleman of rare accomplishments, al
most always in the saddle, riding alone from
camp to camp and sleeping in his blanket under
| the trees at night
Zone day this rom arkable man rode to myhut.
and We walked together into the bush 1 had
then made all my plans for escape, and freely
| told him my intention.
Its an excellent way to commit suicide
he said, and he would not speak of it any more.
As he was leaving me. however. he leaned
from the saddle and said: Don't think of that
again. Let me think out plan for you. You'll
hear from me before long
| HE went away, and / waited weeks and
4 months aud never heard q word I was not
compelled to work with the criminal gang ON
the roads, but had charge Of their stores, and
carried tho warder's weekly report to the Bun
bury depot
Finally one day, on my way with the re-
port came to a plain known AZ the race
course. As crossed it 1 heard a coo-ee, or
bush cry, and saw a man coming toward me.
| his shoulder.
HE came to me with friendly smile. MY
name ia Mcguire he said; Il am q friend Of
| Father Macs. and he's been speaking about
you Seeing my hesitation he drew a card
| from his wallet, on which Father McCabe had
written a few words to me. Then l trust d
| him.
This was in December, 1868 Some Ameri-
can whalers were expected to touch at Bun
bury In February for water. After two
months OF suspense news came to OReilly
OF the arrival of the barks. Mcguire an
| nounced that lie had arranged with the cap
tain Of one of the whalers. the Yigilant of New
Bedford, to cruise for two or three days just
outside Of Australian waters and take the fug-
| tive on board from q small boat.
On the night of February Is OReilly waited
until the warder had visited his hut, put on a
pair OF freemans shoes. as the crackers
convict's boot, and struck into the bush
about II o'clock l came to the old convict
station and lay down behind an old gum tree
at the roadside. In half an hour or SO two men
rode up. but they passed on. They were farm
ers. probably, or may be q patrol of mounted
police. Shortly after heard horses coming at
a sharp trot They halted near me and heard
'Patrick's Day whistled clear and low. In an
instant was with them-Maguire and another
friend, M. They led spare horse. I
mounted at once and without a word we struck
into the bush az gallop. For hours We rode
on in silence.
ave reached the shore, found small boat
ready for us and pulled about forty miles along
the coast to the point where we expected to
meet the New Bedford whaler. No one had
thought TO bring food or water. and for twenty
four hours or more the sufferings OF the party
we're intense.
"At o'clock on the third day we made out
the Vigilant, under full sail, steering north
She was steering straight toward US, 30 we
stopped pulling and waited for her. But we
we're bound to be wofully disappointed.
when she was within two miles of our
boat she fell of several points, as if to avoid
us. Every one started in amazement Mcguire
kept saying that Capt. Baker had given his
word as a man, and he could not believe that he
would break it. One of the men stood up in
the boat and gave a loud hail that must have
been heard on board. No answer. Again he
hailed and we ali joined in the shout No
answer. 1t only seemed that the Vigilant
turned q point further from u.s. At last she
came abreast OF our boat She was then
about three miles distant. Mcguire hoisted
white shirt on the end OF an oar and we shouted
again. But the yisilant passed on and left our
boat to its fate"
They landed on the beach and O'Reilly's
friend went back to Bunbury, promising to re-
turn in week and leaving him hiding in se-
cluded sand valley close to the shore
He climbed a tree and caught an opossum
and also captured a few kangaroo rats These
animals supplied him with food After three
days U Reilly, still believing that Capt Baker
must be cruising for him somewhere off the
coast resolved to make another attempt to
board the whaler.
The rowboat was too heavy for him to pull
alone. Six or seven miles further up the
sand. He dug the dory out, launched it,
made it water tight by plugging the cracks
with paper bark, and put to sea alone.
Before night l had passed the headland,
and was on the Indian ocean. l knew there
was current going northward. Next morning
gave up pulling and sat down to watch and
wait. 1t was very hot. The sun famed above,
and the reflection from the water was scorch-
ing. That day toward noon l saw a sail I'll
was the Vigilant-there was no other vessel
there. She drew near to me, so near that
heard voices on deck. / saw the men aloft on
the lookout, but they did not see meat least
Capt. Baker says so. She sailed away again and
was out OF sight before night. The dew and the
back to shore and wait for Maguire's return.
! pulled all night, off and on, and in the morn
ing saw the sand hills at the headland of
Geographic bay
After that second bitter disappointment
O'Reilly left his sand valley no more, lie slept
most of the time for five days. and then Ma
guire came back with the good news that
Father McCabe had arranged for O'Reilly's
passage on another New Bedford whaler, the
Gazelle, Capt. Clifford But Mcguire also
brought an unwelcome travelling companion in
the person OF criminal convict one Martin
Bowman. ticket-of-leave man, and one OF the
worst characters in the colony. He had dis
covered O'Iseillys escape, and had threatened
to put the police Oh the track unless he was
taken off too.
That night We slept little, some one always
keeping an eye on Bowman. We were ND at
daybreak and soon after we we're afoat. We
pulled straight out toward the headland as
Captain Clifford had instructed BY noon We
saw the two whale ships coming along with a
tne breeze. Toward evening we heard a hail. |
and somebody shouted my name and cried out |
Come on boardp We were all overjoyed We
pulled alongside and was helped out of the |
boat by the strong arms Of Henry Hathaway |
the third mate. Captain Clifford made me wei |
come and gave me place in the cabin. Mar
tin Bowman the escaped criminal, was sent |
forward among the crew.
''Six months afterward, when the Gazelle |
touched at ROderique, an English island in the |
Indian ocean, the governor came aboard search |
ing for an escaped convict from Australia a |
back-hnired man l was standing with MIR |
Hussey, the mate, when the governor made the |
demand. The governor answered that he had |
information that q man had escaped on the |
Gazelle |
''Mr. Hussey feared that they might seIze the |
ship, SO he said that man of that description |
who had come on board off the coast of Aus |
traiIa might be the person. He called man |
named Bowman, whom every man on board
ha mt In,