Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-07-20
CHAPTER XIX

mind. Now that they had been captured
In a remarkable manner, popular belief
invested them with all sorts of strange
surroundings. They had been-accord-
ing to report-kings over savage island
ers, chiefs of lawless and ferocious pi-
rates. respectable married men in Java,
merchants in Singapore, and swndlers
in Hongkong. Their adventures had
been dramatized at a theater, and the
popular novelist of that day was engag-
ed in a work descriptive Of their won
drous fortunes.
John Rex, the ringleader, was related.
1t was said, to a noble family He had
every prospect of being satisfactorily
hanged, however, for even the most out
spoken admirers of his skill and courage
could not but admit that he had COM
mitted an offense which was death by
the law. The already crowded prison
was recrammed with half a dozen life
sentence men, brought up from Port
Arthur to identify the prisoners. Among
this number was stated to be the mo
torious Dawes"
This statement gave fresh food for
recollection and invention. 1t was re-
membered that ''the notorious Dawes"
was the abscender who had been brought
away by Captain Frere, and who owed
such fettered life as he possessed to the
fact that he had assisted Captain Frere
to make the wonderful boat in which
the marOoned party escaped. 1t was
remembered, also, how sullen and morose
he had been on his trial FIVE years before,
and how he had laughed when the com
mutation of his death sentence was an
nounced to him.
Miss Sylvia VickerS also received an
additional share of public attention. Her
romantic rescue by the heroic Frere, who
was shortly to reap the reward of his de-
votion in the good old fashion, made her
almost as famous as the villain Dawes
or his confederate monster, John Rex
1t was reported that she was to give evil
dence on the trial. together with her
afianced husband, they being the only
two living witnesses who could speak
to the facts of the mutiny. 1t was re-
ported, alsN that her lover was, nat
urally, most anxious that she should not
give evidence, as she was affected deep
~ by the Illness consequent on the suf-
fering she had undergone, and in a
state Of pitiable mental confusion as to
the whole business. These reports caus-
ed the court, ON the day of the trial,
to be crowded with spectators, and as
the various particulars Of the marvellous
history of this double escape were de-
tailed, the excitement grew more intense.
The aspect of the four heavily iron pris-
Oners caused a sensation which, in that
city of the ironed, was quite novel, and
bets were offered and taken as to the
line of defense which they would adopt.
Mr.. Meekin, sitting in the body of the
court, felt his religious prejudices sadly
shocked by a sight of John Rex. "A per-
feet wild beast, my dear Miss Vickers,"
he said, returning, in a pause during the
examination of the cOnvicts who had
been brought to identify the prisoner, to
the little room where Sylvia and her
father were waiting. He has quite
tigerish look about him."
Poor MANI said Sylvia, with a shud-
der.
The major tapped his fingers impa
tiently. "Come here, Poppet," he said,
land look through this door. You can
see them from here. and if you do not
recognize any of them, can't see what
is the use of putting you in the box"
The raised dock was just opposite to
the door of the room in which they were
sitting, and the four manaced men, each
with an armed warder behind him, were
visible above the heads of tn ecrowd.
mo, papa" she said, with a sigh of
relief; 81 can't recognize them at al"
As she was turning from the door, a
voice from the witness box behind her
made her suddenly pale, and pause to
look again. The court Itself appeared, at
that moment, affected, for a murmur ran
through it, and some official cried, ISL
lence!'
The notorious criminal, Rufus Dawes,
the desperate of Port Arthur, the wild
beast whom the newspapers had judged
not fit to live, had just entered the wit
ness box. He was a man of thirty, In
the prime of life, with a torso whose
muscular grandeur not even the lift
ting yellow jacket could altogether con-
ceal, with strong, embrowned and nerv-
Gus hands, and upright carriage, and a
pair of fierce black eyes that roamed
over the court hungrily.
Not all the weight of the double irons
swaying from the leathern thong around
his massive lons, could mar that ele-
Eance of attitude which comes only from
perfect muscular development. Not all
the frowning faces bent upon him could
frown an accent of respect into the con-
temptuous tones in which he answered
to his name, "Rufus Dawes, prisoner of
the crown"
"Come away, my darling" said Wick
ers, alarmed at his daughters blanched
face and eager eyes.
wait" she said, impatiently, listen
ing for the voice whose owner she could
not see. Rufus Dawes! Oh, have
heard that name before"
''You are a prisoner of the crown at
the penal settlement of Port Arthur