The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-05-01
BLACK jim, CONVICT.
BY M. QUAD.
Copyright, 1900. by c. B. Lewis.


3 Copyright, 1900. by c. B. Lewis. 4
9.N.0.@.A.e.0o.e-.-e-.-e.-o-.0.-3
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 l could never learn.
He 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 he had been
born Of gentle people and had no VI
ciousness 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 Stebbins. In
those days an Australian convict was
bid off-that is, settler In want of
help would bid a price for so many
men, and they were turned over to him
for certain length of time He was
responsible for their 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
eminent simply accepted his statement
of the affair." All convicts were glad
enough to get away from prison and
out upon the ranches, and in most
cases they found good masters and
were decently treated. AS a member
of the mounted police l knew that
Stebbins was a hard man to get along
with. He had been a tavern keeper
and a bully in England, and his wife
had committed suicide and his two
sons been taken away from him by the
law on account of his tyrannical and
brutal nature. AS the owner of big
sheep ranch at Woona Wally the man
had a sort of standing and a. few
friends, but there were plenty of peo-
pie who kept clear of him. A 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 Stebbins 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 police was not altogether
friendly.
Black Jim came up to Woona Wally
with six other men, and the gang were
locked up at police headquarters for
the night. 1t fell to me to take their
,.a11sc,ooe o1d most fhon ac fO fhQir
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,
advised to do his best to please his
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
convict of him, but 1t hadn't degrad-
ed him. He had kept an honest face,
clear eye and frank voice, and
hadn't filed out his blank when l was
wondering how he could have been
found guilty of crime. l detained him
for minute to ask for his story.
81 haven't any, sir" he quietly an
swered.
l saw that he did not mean to give
me any particulars and therefore press
ed him no further. had more frank
talk with him about Stebbins than
with any of the others, however. had
an idea that Stebbins would be down
on him from the first because of his
superior plane, and went pretty thor
oughly into details. When l had fin
ished the prisoner said:
81 thank you, sir, and shall do my
best to please"
Things came about as l 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:
$50 they have sent me a gentleman,
have they? They thought l needed
somebody to teach me manners per-
haps. Mebbe the idea was for you to
sit on the veranda 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 conceit out of
you.- Just give me the slightest excuse,
and I'll break you in to beat the band!'
The men were set to work clearing
land. At the prison Black Jim had
been detailed as a ''trusty" and had
not come in contact with hard work.
He took his place with the gang just
the same and was one of the most in
dustrious workers among them. He
knew that Stebbins 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 ak with which
he was working. Stebbins at once
seized upon the incident as pretext
for punishment. We should not have
known anything about it at the police
station, six miles away, but for
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 I'M
conscious for at least half of that time.
l soon had him down and being cared
for, and l had it hot and heavy with
Stebbins for half an hour. He con-
tended that the man had been In
subordinate and even threatened his
life, and some Of the convicts backed
him up in hopes Of making things
easier for themselves, but l knew that
1t was a false charge. 1t wouldn't do
to say too much to Stebbins, however.
Low and contemplate as he was, he
had pull" with the government and
did not hesitate to threaten revenge
on me for interfering with his disci-
pline, Neither one of us sent In q, re-
port, but we were open enemies after
that.
Not one convict in thousand would
have stood the insults and degradation
put upon Black Jim during the next
year. know he tried his best, but
there was no pleasing Stebbins. He
was always boasting 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. 1t
was an almost daily thing for Black
Jim to be logged. and four-ffths Of his
days were spent under lock and key
and on q diet Of bread and water. ny