Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1900-07-07
BLACK jim, CONVICT.
BY n. QUAD.
.s.e..e.a..e.ee.a.e.ssa.e,..s
BY NJ. QUAD.

The man known as "Black Jim" had
been sent out to the penal colony of
Australia for forgery. How they came
to call him thus | could never learn.
lie was not dark faced man. On the
contrary, he was light and fair haired,
and you didn't have to talk with him
five minutes to realize that Ii" L ii been
born of gentle people and hati no vi
ciOuSncSS in his nature. They sent him
up to Woona Wally after his first two
years of Imprisonment, and he fell into
the hands of George StcbbinS. In
those days an Australian convict was
bid oif-that is, Il settler IN want of
help would bid price for so many
men, and they were turned over to him
for a certain length of time. He was
responsible for thcir feed and care, and
his word was law. He could work
them as hard and as long as he wish
ed. He could Starve and beat them,
and there was no one to come be
tween. In case of INSTRUMENTATION he
could shoot them down, and the gov
ernmcnt simply accepted his statement
enough to get away from prison and
out upon the ranches, and in most
cases they found good masters and
were dcCcntly treated. AS Il member
of the mounted police | knew that
Stebbins WAS a hard man to get along
with. He had been Il tavern keeper
and Il bully in England, and his wife
.,inI,itt,,.l S,ni.iIn nnl his tNVn
sons been taken away from him by the
law ON account of his tyrannical and
brutal nature. AS the owner of Il big
sheep ranch Il; Noona Wally the man
had sort OF standing and Il few
friends. but there Wcr" plenty of peo
pie who kept clear of him. \ part of
the duty of the police was to keep an
eye on the hired cOnvictS in a certain
district. and We thus came to know
that Stcbbins had less care for the
men he hired than for his dogs. On
two or three occasions we had been
compelled TO report him for excessive
punishment, and the feeling between
him and the olce was not altogether
friendly.
pli'h 'illl N'sllit up w W t'lI'i w any
with six other men, and the gang were
locked up ut police headquarters for
the night. 1t fell to me to take their
pedigrccs and post them as to their
new master and what would be expect
ed of them. In our district we always
gave a convict fair start. He WAS
told what would be required of him,
,1,-;.. u LAT. ,,1n hi
master and given to understand that if
he went straight we would see that he
had fair usage. | was Interested in
Black Jim at once. The law had made
Il convict of him. but it hadn't degrad-
ed him. He had kept an honest face,
Il clear eye and Il frank voice, and |
hadn't filed out his blank when was
wondering now he could have been
found guilty of crime. detained him
for minute to ask for his story.
Il haven't any, sir" he quietly an
swcrrd.
| saw that he did not mean to give
me any particulars and therefore press
ed him no further. | had a more frank
talk with him about Stebbns than
with any of the others, however. | had
an idea that Stcbbins would be down
on him from the first because of his
superior plane, and went pretty thor
oughly into details. When | had fin
ishcd. the prisoner said:
81 thank you. sir, and shall do my
best to please"
Things came about as feared. AS
StebbinS inspected his gang he picked
Black Jim out for special attention.
He had little to say to the others be-
yond making blood curdling threats Of
what would happen if they didn't toe
the mark, but to Jim he said:
80 they have sent me a gentleman,
have they? They thought | needed
somebody to teach me manners per-
haps. Mebbe the idea was for you to
sit on the vcranda and give me daily
lessons, Well. you've come to the
wrong shop. Look, now, I'm going to
keep an eye on you. You think your
self head and shoulders above the
crowd. but I'll take the conccit out Of
you. Just give me the slightest excuse,
and I'll break you in to beat the band"
II" men were set 10 WORK clearing
land At the prison Black Jim had
been detailed as "trusty" and had
not come in contact with hard work.
lie took his place with the gang just
the same and was one of the most i'll
duStrious workers among them. He
knew that StCbbinS was watching him
and hoping for an opening, and he was
determined to disappoint him. 1t was
two weeks before anything happened.
Then Black Jim had the misfortune to
break the handle of the aX with which
he was working. Stebbins at once
seized upon tn, incident as n preteXt
for punishmcntt We should not have
known anything about it ut the police
station, six miles away, but for 4
black boy, who reported that Stebbins
had one of his men hung up by the
thumbs. | was sent over to investi-
gate. Black Jim had been hanging
by the thumbs for two hours when
reached the place and had been un-
conscious for ut least half of that time.
| soon had him down and being cared
for, and | had il hot and heavy with
StelbinS for half an hour. He con-