Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1906-05-26


vice, and wore round his ankles two
iron rings, connected by a short and
heavy chain. To the middle of this chain
a leathern strap was attached, which,
splitting in the form of 7. buckled
round his waist, and pulled the chain
high enough to prevent him from STUN
bling over it as he walked His head
was bare. and his coarse, blue striped
shirt, open at the throat displayed an
embrowned and muscular neck. Emerg-
ing from out a sort of cell. or den. con-
trived by nature or art in the side Of
the cliff, he threw on a scanty fire.
which burned between two followed
| rocks, a small log of pine wood; and
| then. returning to his cave, and bring
| ing from it an iron pot which contained
water, he scooped with his toll hardened
hands a resting place for it in the ashes,
and placed it on the embers. 1t was
! evident that the cave was at once his
storehouse and larder. and that the two
followed rocks formed his kitchen.
| Having thus made preparations for
| supper. he assembled pathway which
led to the highest point of the rock. His
| letters compelled him to take short steps
and, as he walked, he WINGED as though
| "A
strip of cloth was twisted round his left
ankle, on which the circlet had chafed
a sore. Painfully and slowly he gained
his destination. and, fingng himself on
the ground, gazed around him. A brig
WAS being towed up the harbor by two
| convict-manned boats.
The sight of this brig seemed to rouse
in the mind of the solitary of the rock
1 - - +
chin upon his hand. he fixed his eyes on
tho incoming vessel. and immersed him
self in moody thought. The ship an
chored, the boats detached Themselves
from her sides, the sun sunk. and the bay
was plunged in gloom. Lights began to
twinkle along the shore of the settle
ment. The little fire died, and the water
in the iron pot grew cold; yet the watch
er on the rock did not stir. With his
eyes staring into the gloom, and fixed
steadily on the vessel, he lay along the
barren cliff of his lonely prison as mo-
tionless as the rock on which he had
stretched himself.
This solitary man was Rufus Dawes
In the house of Major vickers, com
mandant of Macquarie Harbor, there
was, on this evening of December, I'M
usual gayety. Lieut.. Maurice Frere.
late in command at Maria Island, had
Unexpectedly come down with news
from headquarters. The Ladybird. gov
eminent schooner. visited the settlement
on ordinary occasions twice year. To
the convcts the arrival of the Ladybird
meant arrival of new faces. intelligence
of old comrades. news of how the world
from which they were eXiled was pro-
crossing. When the Ladybird arrived
the chained and toi-worn felons felt
that they were yet human. that the uni
verse was not bounded by the gloomy
forests which surrounded their prison
but that there was world beyond. To
, the convicts the Ladybird was town
talk, theater. stock quotations and --latest
kilograms She was their newspaper
, postoffice, the one excitement of theil
! dreary existence, the one link between
| their own misery and the happiness Of
, their fellow creatures To the com
mandant and the ''freemen" this mes
, senger from the outer life was scarcel,
less welcome. There was not man OF
the island who did not feel his hear
, grow heavier when her white sails dis
| appeared behind the shoulder of tn,
E hill.
e On the present occasion business o
more than ordinary Importance had pro
e | cured for Major Vickers this pleasurabl
q | excitement. 1t had been resolved b,
. | Gov. Arthur that the convict establish
!. ment should be broken up. A succession
S of murders and attempted escapes ha,
= called public attention to the place. an,
e it's distance from Hobart Town render
e ed it inconvenient and expensive. Ar
q thur had fixed upon Tasmans PENN
sula as a future convict depot, and nam
' ing 1t Port Arthur, in honor of himself
. had sent down Lieut.. Maurice Frer
a with instructions for Vickers to conve
e the prisoners of Macquarie Harbo
/ thither.
/, Seven classes of criminals were es
S tablished, when the new barracks TO
/ prisoners at Hobart Town were finished
It The first class were allowed to slice
: out of barracks. and to work for them
It selves on Saturday; the second had onl
e the last-named indulgence; the thir
were only allowed Saturday afternoon
e the fourth and fifth were ''refractor
e and disorderly characteristic work i
d irons;" the sixth were linen of the mos
e degraded ana lncOrrlglDle CHARACTER
n be worked in irons and kept entirel
5. separate from the other prisoners
e while the seventh were the refuse Q
# this refuse-the murderers, bandits an
e villains, whom nither chain nor las
e could tame. They were regarded as Sc
g cially dead, and shipped to Hell's Gate
IS or Maria Island. Hell's Gates was tn
n most dreaded of all these houses Q
= bondage The discipline at the plac
IS was so severe, and the life so terribl,
e, that prisoners would risk all to escap