The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-07-12
.uTON COUNTY NEWS.
GREATEST OF PRISONS.
rs Ago 1t Held Thousands of Con-
victs.

. .e ADO lt F1elu ihOuSaHuo W OOH-
Victs.
,r tbe southwest corner of the
4 ,nont of Australia nestles the little
4 town of Ifremantle, and half .
hack of it, surrounded by sand
/ and malice scrub, Is n famous
| copylct prison-the largest penal
[,autlon in the world. And yet com
{.arely few people, even in Aus
IN, know of its existence. Western
A ,,olia. the division in which Ere
| .ae lies. was the last crown colony
he Australasian group, and 1t was
until twenty-five years ago that
steady stream of convict ships
4 ,,d to touch its shores.
|Ld Botany Bay, near Sydney, on the
coast. had been Britain's princi-
conylct settlement for nearly half
century, but the rapid growth Of
South Wales and the force of
4 Me- opiniOn turned the place with
4 Grim history from a living hell to
/ If the most beautiful little sub
+ an cities on the continent. 1t was
n that the town of Frcmantlc he.
10 fiji up rapidly, necessitating the
4 son of a stone Jail capable of hold
within its walls 2S.000 convicts-
4 majority of them being probably
most hardened criminals of the
my. The building of this prison
what Is known as crown job.
= like most British public works Of
kind, was completed on honor.
hbly centuries will pass before its
N seven-foot granite walls will
nbe or its battlements show signs
decay
|Egtem Australia continued to
v and, after bearing for many
N the stigma of convict settle
i st.' was at last freed from the
n n as her sister colony had been
n before, the home government an
ncing that it would send no more of
Wnvict classes to the continent of
aralia. The day that this proclama-
reached Western Australia the
De began Il week of joyful demon
tOns and fetes in celebration of
decision. And from that day, too,
T. began to let the very existence of
Place back back in the Fremantle
die out Of their memory.
be jailers in the prison, one to every
w. Pny.hyc conylcts, We're drawn ex-
Eyely from the ranks of war vet
E Old heroes of the Crimea and
Indian mutiny, many of them with
breasts covered with clasps and
FhlS. went down the road to the
he side by side with the men they
nled. With the passing of the
n the hand of time began to lay
by on all alike. In 1855 there were
about seventy veterans and four
ldIed cOnvicts left, and of these
rly all We're whlte-headed and tot
ig, Most Of them hobblcd slowly
hl the enormous quadrangles, pot
d about the gardens that latterly
bad been permitted to keep, and
m2ed and meditated together,
Nners and keepers alike. Every
Eday afternoon the veterans
Ad their thrcadbare and faded mil
Uniforms, pinned on their med.
ind, with their old flags carried
~ would march proudly but slow
@Wn through the principal street
Ae little town to the beach and
back again "home." Cut off by
years of absence from the old
ild held close to their prison life
W new colony, they had become
nous to everything but their old
memories, the village paper, and
rIsOn.
FcOhylcts were past all thought of
w Time and age had dried up
criminal propenslties, and they
'S harmless as little children, in.
lol unlike little children in many
mere were very few of them
uad not some black history of
and degradation as a prelude ia
wlVlct life, but on the peaceful,
1E immenSty of that almost
9pSonthey wire doing out their
'nalllhS years in pure and sim,
"Hg' Doll houses made from
cuhhlngly woven baskets, and
!" malice roots for sale to visitors
Y ulillgS with their flower beds
up all their time. Once, when
yuAe OF Edinburgh visited Western
'"m' the guards went out in q
/" 'ne Fremantle wharf to greet
DaHng the prison gates open
uO|en Of the conYicts followed
~ old fellows down to the water
WIN again. All could have gone
= uad liked, but they preferred
uome.' Fremantle jail is
wy the only penal institution in
'o'l where prisoners may wan
'uu out, basl in the sun in from
og frownlng entrance and sit
@Vp with their backs propped UP
||7s| 'ne outside of the walls. II
O'a mans without the
'rus and discord that usually ex
~OSe Institutions.
Thing of Beauty.
Dlu you get n good look at the