Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-01-05


water he scooped with his toll hardened
hands a resting place fer 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 ascended 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
a sore. Painfully and slowly he gained
his destination, and, flinging himself on
the ground, gazed around him. A brig
was being lowed 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
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 world beyond. To
the convicts the Lady bird was town
talk, theater, stock quotations and latest
kilograms. She was their newspaper,
postoffice, 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
appeared behind the shoulder of the
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 PENN
sula as a future convict depot, and nam
ing it Port Arthur, in honor of himself,
had sent down Lieut.. Maurice Frere
with instructions for Vickers to convey
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 characteristic work in
irons;" the sixth were "men of the most
degraded and incorrigible characterize
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 Helrs 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-fyes
deaths there, only thirty were from nat
ural causes; of the remaining dead,
tventy-seven were drowned, eight killed
accidentally, three shot by the soldiers,
and twelve murdered by their comrades
II another year one hundred and sixty
nine men out of one hundred and eighty
two were punished to the extent of two
thousand lashes. During the ten years
of its existence one hundred and twelve
men escaped, out of whom sixty-two only
were found-dead. The prisoners killed
themselves to avoid living any longer
and, if so fortunate as to penetrate the
desert of scrub, heath and swamp which
lay between their prison and the settled
districts, preferred death to recapture.
Successfully to transport the remnant of
this desperate band of doubly convicted
felons to Arthurs new prison was the
mission of Maurice Frere.
well, Mrs. Vickers," he said, as he
took a cup of tea from the hands of that
lady, Il suppose you won't be sorry to
e. ~ oh