Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1893-06-02
nc WOULD NOT LEAVE THE COLONY.


prisoner who climbed a Cocoanut Tree
and Deled n Regiment.
II l. the custom in the British army
.bot whenever a regiment is transferred
trnn one colony to another prisoners
Who may be in the Jail are handed over
90 +be outgoing corps and continue their
sortences at the new station. In one
case one of these jailbirds made up his
Ind that he would not leave the colony.
Private johnson was one of the smart
ast men in the corps, and furthermore
he was an excellent groom and almost
= ..cordon bleu." He had one sad fail.
inc He was Il thief His populations
had. however been generally small, and
he had escaped serious punishment One
Digbt a large store in the town was bro
Ion into and a considerable amount of
money stolen. 1t was conclusiyely
rroved that johnson was the thief, and
he was sent tojail When the regiment
was leaving the colony, Johnson, with
some other soldier prisoners, was to be
handed over according to custom. When,
however his cell was visited, it was
emnty. and there was not a sign of
Johnson anywhere.
A search was made in every direction,
and at last prisoner pointed to cocoa
nut tree which grew in the middle of
fine prison yard, and there comfortably
seated among the tuft of leaves was
Johnson. The warden at first tried to
get the man down by quiet persuasion,
then he threatened then stormed and
swore Johnson laughed contentedly at
every mood, but did not move. The fact
was reported to the colonial secretary.
who recommended that the fire engine
he called out and the man washed down.
The chief of the fire department hardly
Thought it was Consonant with his dig
nity to wash prisoner out of a cocoa
nut tree and reported that there was not
pressure of water enough to get a stream
to the top of the tree. This was proDa-
blv true, for the tree was a tall one.
The case was again referred to the CO.
lonial secretary, who took it before he
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
time he should be troubled with official
work, as hastily CHANGING over the docu-
ment he added the following instruc-
tons: "Cut the fellow down. mean
the tree,
This could only be done by the engi-
neering department, so 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 thesn
vessels wait for no one the escort which
had been sent to bring johnson down to
the ship had to hurry off, not 10 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 a 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 harbor.
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 ignominy." lie 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 nourishing and had a
large cocoanut grove around his cottage.
New York Tribune.