The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-05-24
ne WOULD NOT LEAVE THE coLoky.
A Prisoner Who Climbed Coeoanut Tree
and DGfied Regiment.

and Dcfied Regiment.
1t Is the custom in the British arm,
that whenever q regiment is transferred
from one colony TO another prisoners
who may be In the 3.il are handed over
TO the outgoing CORPS and continue their
sentences at the new station. In one
case one of these jailbirds made up hts
mind that he would not leave the colony
Private johnson was one OF the smar.~
est men in the corps. aud furthermore
he was an excellent groom and almost
Gordon bisu. He had one sad fail
ing. He WIS Il thief. Ills pec,.lations
had, however. been generally small. ana
he had escaped serious punishment. One
night a la-ge store in tire town was bro
Ken into and coasit!pra Die amount of
money stcacn. Ii was co1ci1lsivaly
proved thai johnson wSG the thief, and
he was sca3t ta5ail Nht1 the regiment
vas sG.tE1l.4r the colony. johnson. with
some Other soldier prisoners. was to he
handed over according to custom When,
however his cell was visited. it WAS
empty and there Was not sirn Of
JoI-n@o.l .lT9shere.
4 e2Tc U&s made in every directiC;i
and vi iastu prisoner pointed to cocoa,
nut tree which grew in the middle CT
the prison yard, and there comfortably
/ seated among the taft of leaves was
johnson li.e warden at first tried to
get the tlan down by quiet persuasion,
then he threatened then stormed and
| swore johnson laughed contentedly at
every mooa. but did not move The fact
| was reported to the colonial secretary.
| who recommended that the fire engine
be called ont and the man washed down.
The chief of the fire department hardly
| thought 1T was consonant with his dig
| nifty to wash a prisoner ont of cocoa
| nut tree and reported that there was not
rsessure OF water enough to get stream
| to the top of the tree, This was probs
| bly, true, for the tree was tall one.
| The case was again referred to the Co
lonial secretary. who took it before the
| governor His excellency was having
luncheon with some of the departing
| officers and their friends and was having
| a good time. He was vexed that at such
a time he should be troubled with official
work. as hastily giancing over the dccu-
ment he added the following instruc-
tions: Cut the fellow down mean
| the tree"
| This could only be done by the engi
neering department. 90 orderlies were
sent out to find the chief engineer
| While all this was going on, time was
slipping away. Almost all the troops
were on board the troopship. and as thesa
vessels wait for no one the escort which
had been sent to bring johnson down to
the ship had to hurry off. not to be late
itself Johnson beloved farewell. and
despite the strong language of the ward
en- still laughed and did not move. Be.
fore the engineer department had come
| to conclusion as to how to cut down
the tree and lower it gradually, the
troopship had up anchor and was steam
| ing out of the harbur.
Then johnson climbed down the tree
and finished his sentence on the island,
to which he had taken fancy. His con-
viction had carried with it his discharge
with ignoniny." He settled in the island
and was soon in easy circumstances. He
had undoubtedly hidden his stolen prop
| erty, and after his release dug it up and
started in business. When johnson was
Last seen. he was fourishing and had a
| large cocoanut grove around his cottage.
New York Tribune.