Connecticut western news., 1900-05-17

nave stood tue insults and degradation put upon Black Jim during the next year. I know he tried his best, but there was no pleasing Stebbins. He was always bQasting that he had gen. tleman convict and that he was bound to "break" him, and he spent a good share of his time worrying the man. It was an almost daily thing for Black Jim to be fiogged, and four-flfths of his days were spent under lock and key and on a diet of bread and water. My interest in him saved him somewhat, but as the weeks went by I knew what the end would be. He would either rise up In his desperation and kill Steb- bins or he would bolt for the bush aud join a gang of rangers. There were times when I felt vexed with him that he didn't do one or the other and show a proper spirit, although 1t would have been my duty to hunt him down in either case. One day, as was return ing with the troop after hunting down a false alarm of bushrangers, my horse shied and threw me almost in front of Stebbins' house, and as I struck on stone and had several ribs broken I was carried in. He was not glad to see me, but under the circumstances was obliged to give me bed. Having got settled, the police surgeon would not allow me to be removed. The brute Stebbins wanted to show his in- dependence of the police and persecute Black Jim at the same time, and the insults he heaped on that convict for three or four days made me Itch to shoot him. On the fourth night of my accident four men and three women arrived for an evening visit. They were about the only friends Stebbins had in social way, and he made them very welcome. My being in the house was not permitted to interfere with the festivities. When dinner had been fln- lshed and the drink had gone around, Stebbins sent for Black Jim and or dered him to dance for the amusement of the company. The convict respect fully but firmly refused, and his master cried out in indignation:
 "You won't dance, eh? Too much of a gentleman to give us a hornpipe! Mebbe this company isn't swagger enough for the likes of a bloomin mur- dererv'
 I protested, but Stebbins went ahead. The men gave him their assistance and the women encouraged him. He had had ropes and pulleys fastened to the ceiling long before, and 1t wasn't five minutes before the convict was fasten- ed up. I saw desperation in his face as they laid hands on him, but he did not resist. His arms were drawn up till his feet were clear of the floor, and had I been able to reach a pistol know I should have killed some one The man had been hanging ten min utes, and the agony had almost brought unconciousness, when the door was kicked open and four bushrangers crowded in. It was complete sur prise. The women screamed out and began to cry, but the men, with the exception of Stebbins, took 1t rather cool. The bully and coward went white as death and fell into a chair, and 1t was almost pitiful to hear him beg for his life. He knew those bushrangers were escaped convicts, and he also knew that stories of his brutality had gone to them. While three of the rangers covered the people with their pistols, the fourth cut Black Jim down. Then he stepped over and took look at me and said he had heard of my ac- cident and was sorry for it. When Black Jim had recovered sufficiently to stand on his feet, the leader of the out laws put a pistol in his hand, and, pointing to Stebbins, said:
 "Shoot him dead in his chair. He deserves mercy from no man."
 Jim returned the pistol and shook his head. Next instant Stebbins toppled out of his chair with a bullet in his
 head, and the leader said:
 Sorry to have interrupted the fes- tivities, but 1t was our calling night. We were after Stebbins alone, and the | rest of you need not fear. Come, Jim;
 we want you"
 Two of them helped the forger con-
 vict out of the house and upon a horse,
 and that was the making of the most | notorious bushranger in all Australia. He had career of five years and then died from a bullet, and 1t was two years after his death before it became | publicly known that he had let the law make a convict of him in order to | shield brother. I had always be- | lieved him innocent of the crime, and, knowing how he had been persecuted and abused by Stebbins, I almost re- | joiced when the bushrangers carried ! him off to make leader of him.