The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-05-10

eucalyptfan belfry, and all hands were
recalled by it between s and al night.
Sunday was a nominal day OF rest
which included two long compulsory
/ services in the courtyard beneath
savage sun. DR.. Sullivan read the
prayers with the voice Of an execu-
toner. his bamboo cane on the desk
IN front Of him for use as a baton
or as an instrument Of correction for
the man who dared to smile or to
whisper within his reach. The terrible
old man would also take this weekly
opportunity Of animadverting on the
lost souls and abandoned character Of
his conyicts in general, with particular
illusions to those whose enormities had
earned them the lash during the pre-
ceding week. He never failed to as
sure future offenders that they would
be punished without mercy in their
turn and would slash the desk with
his cane to emphasize his words So
religion and ferocity ran hand in hand
at Castle Sullivan, nor was hypocrisy
very far behind. Mr.. Nat led the
hymns in a devout, sustained. stem
torian below, while a maiden sister,
the only lady of the establishment,
whose voice the convicts never heard
and whose face they seldom saw but
on these occasions, supplied a per-
functory accompaniment on the piano
forte.
Amid the branches of the red gums
without docks Of parrots would chat
ter mockingly, their vivid reds and
yellows lighting up the somber hues
Of those perennial leaves that whis-
pered none the less enticingly Of cool
siestas in the shade Yet Sunday after
Sunday these tyrannical observances
were maintained and enforced, and
the evangelical doctor loved TO boast
of the device whereby he had enforced
them in the beginning. On the first
Sunday nine-tenthS OF his men had
announced themselves Roman Cath
olies. So he had drawn up these gentry
in line outside the palisadc and there
kept them standing out of earshot, but
in the full glare of the sun, during the
entire service. And on the Sunday fol
lowing there was not Roman Cath
Ole among them.
What remained of their ruined day
the convicts spent in breaking as many
as possible of those commandments
which DR.. Sullivan had been dining
in their ears. Larceny, however, was
the crime most in favor at the farm,
whose boundaries were seldom exempt
from that foul parasite of the convict,
the squatter of the early days. He
must not be COMPOUNDED with the
squatter Of subsequent civilization.
The former was usually a ticket-of-
leave man, who built himself a hut in
n n J1nnoaYIDiad with
for the near neighborhood of plenti-
full contingent of assigned conyicts
The squatter would supply the convicts
with rum. The convict would pay the
squatter with the only currency with
in his reach-namely, that of stolen
property. The squatter was sly pub
lican and sly pawnbroker in one, and
a pretty specimen of his class had his
wigwam and his black gin on a creek
not a hundred miles from Castle Sulli- |
van.
Hither was Tom taken by one of his |
fellows on an early Sunday evening. |
Half a dozen others were there before |
them. Not one of these were sober |
when they arrived. And the strong
fumes tempted Tom. Smolderng mis- |
cry was in flames at this chance of |
quenching it for the nonce. He might |
have followed suit had not his COM |
panion produced a screw hammer in |
payment for the liquor. Tom glanced |
at the implement and then at his mate |
You're never going to pay with that,
Mac?'
AN what for no?"
There's the farm brand staring you
in the face! 1t isn't yours"
whats ABBOTT it? If a man mayn't
blk the eoves. wha may he blk? They
gle US nae wages for our work. SO we
maun help oursels,''
And as this was the principle of all
present and indeed of the average CON
Wet throughout the colony. honest Tom
and walk away amid the excavations
of his fellows. But not a hand was
raised against him. He had still the
eye and the bearing that discourage
blow Even the elder Sullivan had
given up tapping and rapping him
with that bamboo wand which was !
forever quckening felon fingers and
sowing black murder in felon hearts.
But the incident OF the screw ham,
ne. maze an unpopular man or Tom
among his fellows, and worse was to
come of it. The theft was brought
home to the man Macbeth. and the
very next night Tom met him with
white, pinched face and his coat on
back to front
Why. Macr' cried Tom. What
1ow?''
The foulest maledictions We're his
only answer, a white lip quivering
with the words.
What on earth have | done?"
You ken weel. This them
He turned his back and Tom started
pack with horror. The shirt beneath
he open coat was sOpping red.
In vain Tom protested that he had
never told a soul about the hammer
Nobody would believe him. His in
iignation and his sympathy were treat
ID with scorn as so much hypocrisy.
His name was execrated in the con-
-ict huts. and so much of the convict :
pirit Survived in Ginger that he was
With the men in this and never spoke
o Tom now The overseer besides
haired Nat Sullivan's grievance against
rou 4 furtiya admiration for the girl