Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-05-25

hedNy chaln. 10 the middle of this chain
leathern strap was attached, which,
splitting in the form of a L, buckled
round his waist, and pulled the chain
nigh 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. Emery
ing from out sort of cell. or den. con-
rived by nature or art in the side OF
the clih, 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 resting place for it in the ashes,
and placed 1t 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 a 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
the iron bit him. A handkerchief OF
strip, of cloth was twisted round his left
ankle, on which the circlet had chafed
sore. Painfully and slowly he gained
his destination, and, finging himself on
the ground, gazed around him. A brig
was being flowed 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
a strain of reflection, for, sinking his
chin upon his hand, he fixed his eyes on
the 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 a year To
the cOnvicts 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 toil-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 a world beyond. To
the convicts the Ladybird was town
talk, theater, stock quotations and latest
kilograms. She was their newspaper,
pOstofiCe, the one excitement of their
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 scarcely
less welcome. There was not a man on
the island who did not feel his heart
grow heavier when her white sails dis
aPPSaAOu bChlhu Ihc ShOulueT VI Jue
hill.
On the present occasion business of
more than ordinary Importance had pro-
cured for Major Vickers this pleasurable
excitement. 1t had been resolved by
Gov. Arthur that the convict establish
ment should be broken up. A succession
of murders and attempted escapes had
called public attention to the place, and
it's distance from Hobart Town render
ed it inconvenient and expensive. Ar
thur had fixed upon Tasman's penin-
sula as a future convict depot, and nam
ing 1t Port Arthur, In honor of himself
had sent down Lieut.. Maurice Frere
with instructions for Vickers to convey
the prisoners of Macquarie Harbor
thither.
Seven classes of criminals were es-
tablished, when the new barracks for
prisoners at Hobart Town were finished
The first class were allowed to sleep
out of barracks, and to work for them
selves on Saturday; the second had only
the last-named indulgence; the third
were only allowed Saturday afternoon;
the fourth and fifth were refractory
and disorderly characters-to work in
irons;" the sixth were linen of the most
degraded and incorrigible character-to
be worked in irons and kept entirely
separate from the other prisoners"
while the seventh were the refuse of
this refuse-the murderers, bandits and
villains, whom nither chain nor lash
could tame. They were regarded as So
cially dead, and shipped to Hell's Gates
or Maria Island. Hell's Gates was the
most dreaded of all these houses of
bondage. The discipline at the place
was so severe, and the life so terrible.
that prisoners would risk all to escape
from it. In one year, of eighty-fve
deaths there, only thirty were from nat
ural causes; of the remaining dead,
twenty-seven were drowned. eight killed
accidentally, three shot by the soldiers.