The star and Newark advertiser., 1908-02-18

ticulars of the voyage of the bark
Gloria Scott, from her leaving Fall
mouth on the Sth of October. 1855, to
her destruction in n. Lat. Is degrees 20
minutes. w. Long 25 degrees IA min
utes. on November g.. 1t is in the
form of letter and runs in this way:
"'My dear, dear son, now that ap-
lproaching disgrace begins to darken the
closing years of my life, I can write
with all truth and honesty that it is
not the terror of the law. 1t is not the
loss of my position in the county, nor
is 1t my fall in the eyes of all who
have known me which cuts me TO the
heart, but 1t is the thought that you
should come to blush for me-you who
love me and who have seldom, hope,
had reason to do other than respect me.
But If the blow falls which Is forever
hanging over me, then l should wish
you to read this, that you may know
straight from me how far have been
to blame. On the other hand, if all
should go well (Which may kind God
Almighty grant,. then, if by any chance
these papers should be still undestroyed
and should fall into your hands, / con-
jure you, by all you hold sacred, by
the memory of your dear mother. and
to hurl il into the fire and to never
give one thought to it again.
''If then your eye goes on to read this
line know that / shall already have
been exposed and dragged from my
home, or, as is most likely, for you
know that my heart is weak be lying
with my tongue sealed forever in death.
In either case the time for suppression
is past, and every word which l tell
you is the naked truth, and this |
swear as I hope for mercy.
"'My name, dear lad, is not Trevor.
I was James Armitage in my younger
days, and you can understand now
the shock that it was to me few
weeks ago when your college friend ad-
dressed me in words which seemed to
Imply that he had surprised my secret.
AS Armitage it was that | entered
London banking house, and as Armi-
tage I was convicted of breaking my
countrys laws and was sentenced to
TRANSFORMATION Do not think very
harshly of me. laddie. It was a debt
of honor. so called, which had to pay,
and / used money which was not my
own to do it, in the certainty that 1
could replace it before there could be
any possibility of its being missed.
But the most dreadful ill-luck pursued
me- The money which | had reckoned
upon never came to hand, and a prema-
ture examination of accounts exposed
my deficit. The case might have been
dealt leniently with, but the laws were
more harshly administered thirty years
ago than now, and on my twenty
third birthday found myself chained
as a felon. with thirty-seven other COIL
victs in the 'tween-decks of the bark
Gloria Scot, bound for Australia,
at was the year SO, when the
Crimean war was at it's height, and the
old convict ships had been largely used
as transports in the Black Sea. The
government was compelled, therefore,
to use smaller and less suitable ves-
sells for sending out their prisoners.
The, Gloria Scott had been in the Chi
nese tea trade, but she was an old
fashioned, heavy bowed, broad-beamed
craft, and the new clippers had cut her
out. She was a 500-ton boat, and be-
sides her thirty-eight jailbirds, she car
ried twenty-six of a crew, eighteen sol
diers. captain, three mates. a doctor,
chaplain and four warders. Nearly
a hundred souls were in her, all told
when we set sail from Falmouth.
"'The partitions between the cells OF
the convicts, instead of being of thick
oak. as is usual in convict ships. were
quite thin and frail. The man next to
me, upon the aft side. was one whom I
had particularly noticed when we were
led down the quay. He was a young
man with clear. hairless face, a long,
thin nose. and rather nut-craeker jaws.
He carried his head very jauntily in
the air, had a staggering style of
walking, and was, above all else. re-
markable for his extraordinary height.
I don't think any of our heads would
have come up to his shoulder, and ]
am sure that he could not have meas
urde less than six and half feet. 1t
was strange among so many sad and
weary faces to see one which was full
of energy and resolution. The sight
of IL was to me like fire in a snow
storm. I was glad, then, to find that
he was my neighbor, and gladder still
when, in the dead of the night, l heard
q whisper close to my ear, and found
that he had managed to cut an OPEN
ing in the board which separated us.
'"Hullo, chummy!" said he, what S
your name, and what are you here
for?"
ct answered him. and asked in turn
who ! was talking with.
"'"Tm Jack Prendergast," said he,
land by God! you'll learn to bless my
name before you've done with me-"
:" L remembered hearing of his case,
for it was one which had made an inn
imense sensation throughout the coun-
try some time before my own arrest.
He was a man of good family and of
great ability, but of incurable vicious
habits, who had by an ingenious system
of fraud obtained huge sums Of money
from the leading London merchants.