Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1900-05-05
BLACK jim, CONVICT.
By M. QUAD.
Copyright, 1900, by c. B. Lewis.


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 a 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 a 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
ernment simply accepted his statement
of the affair. ALI conyicts 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 member
of the mounted police l knew that
Stebbins was hard man to get along
with. He had been tavern keeper
and 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 a big
sheep ranch at W0ona Wally the man
had a sort of standing and a few
friends. but there were plenty Of PEG
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
pedigrees and post them as to their
new master and what would be expect
ed of them In our district we always
gave a convict a 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. I was interested in
Black Jim at once. The law had made
convict of him, but it hadn't degrad-
ed him. He had kept an honest face,
clear eye and a frank voice, and
hadn't filed out his blank when l was
wondering how he could have been
found guilty of crime. detained him
for a minute to ask for his story.
81 haven't any, sir" he quietly an
swered
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:
Il thank you, sir, and shall do my
best to please
Things came about as feared As
Stebbins inspected his gang be 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:
so they have sent me gentleman,
have. they? They thought needed