CONVICT LIFE IN NORFOLK ISLAND. AUTHENTIC RECORDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1811, 11 July 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

CONVICT LIFE IN NORFOLK ISLAND. AUTHENTIC RECORDS.

[ALL lUGIITS BKSKBVKD.]

No. 0.

THE EKEF GANG.

It has been said by someone— probably an Irishman, for that nationality are blamed for all the bulls committed — that in the lowest depths there are lower still, and withsome alteration that phrase might be applied to Norfolk Island, by saying, that although a convict might think he had touohod the lowest depths of punishment without having gone through s course of reef work, he would find when he joined the gang thai; worked on the coral bar that there was one step deeper than he had previously conceived. The reef gang was supposed to contain only the nioet desperate and irreclaimable oi.minals, although it was well known that many comparatively harmless felons — victimß of their gaoler's spite— were slaving in it. Norfolk Island, like most others in the Pacific, was of coral formation, and, as is usual in suoh geological formations, numerous reefs surrounded the islet. Near the entrance of the little cove, which was the harbor of the settlement, a heavy bar or reef existed, visible at low tide, and as it was Borne slight source of danger, the authorities deoided to remove it. The idea was, nn doubt, a good one, but the mode of carrying it into execution had nothiug to recommend it. The appliances fordoing the work were of the most primitive and inefficient description, and even in tho hands of well-fed, unincumbered free labourers very little oould be done with them. Wnen the work was entrusted to the industry of half-starved ironed oonviotß, many of them with sore backs from their last flogging, it will be readily understood that nothing but the most intense " Blave driving " could produce anything like good results on the obstinate bar. Many of the convicts who worked in the reef gang wore chains thirty-eix pound in j weight, and as they toiled up to their middles in the water they frequently bad to battle against the ocean for their very lives, j Sometimes they calmly resigned themselves to the iafeal embrace of tho watery element, and on more than one occasion ia the course of a year thore was a vacancy in the gang through this reason. If the convict 3 had been left alone it is quite certain that one half of them would ' soon have disappeared and sought the oom- • pany of the fishes, for innumerable attempts were made at suicide but were frustrated by the vigilance of the guard or perhaps the malice of a felon enemy. Those who by Htealth or the negligence of their keepers buoceeded in their deßign were regarded enviouely by their companions as being singularly fortunate men. j There was some reason for this, as the 1 convict who made an attempt and failed, was treated with the utmost rigor. Rescued from the water, half or three parts drowned, he was taken before the Commandant and ordered a flogging of one hundred and fifty to two hundred lashes, to be followed by a long-term of solitary. When that was concluded he was taken baok to the reef again under Bpecial guard and made tcelave vrosno than ever. Evidently he was much worse off than his comrade who had succeeded in drowning himself, and who had now (physically, at all events) won for himself the inestimable boon of enternal res s beneath the waves and amongst the coral gtottoa oi the Southern Ocean, The work was of a peculiarly distressing nature. The laborious toil of lifting the rook was heightened by the weakening action of the water, and intensified by the weight of the irons each man oarried. Through the bad' and insufficient food and the frequent floggings, most of the men had numerous sores, which the sea water rendered painful, and these torments added to the cruel treatment of their taskmasters constituted a , mental and physical punishment which no pen could adequately describe. It needed but a slight force to urge this wretched gang ' of bond slaves to the most desperate aota, and towards the end of 1816 this terrible force made itself felt in an unpleasant manner. On November tha2ad, 1846, a prisoner in the gaol hospital named Thomas Walters, who waa suffering from inflamed eyes, was accused by one of the attendants of interfering with his eyes, so as to retard recovery. In fact, the informant said that Walters wished to make himself blind, so that he could not be sent to work in the reef ! The convict strenuously denied the charge, ■ .find the doofcor bore him out to some extent In his statement. In spite of this he w&s ' brought before the Commandant and ordered ' to receive the inhuman sentence of one hundred and fifty lashes. This punishment was at ones carried out and the victim brought baok to the hospital, where he was plaoed in a straight jacket and strapped down, io that he oould not interfere with hiß eyes Again. His baok, as may be imagined, was in a fearful state, and the cords which laced the .straight jacket pressed into it and caused exorutiatiug agony. He -begged for some relief, but no notice was taken of him, and he was kept lying, bound hand and foot, and groaning in pain from the pressure on his lacerated baok. ' He called loudly for Major Harvey, who was a magistrate, to oome and see hiß oondition, find frequently protested his inno,oenca of the oharge that had been laid ag&inßt him, At last the man's back got so bad that Dr. Everet, who had been away for three days, on his return at once ordered that he be unstrapped, and the straight jacket taken off. The dootor had scaroelj left when the Commandant entered the hospital, and seeing the wounded wretoh uubonnd angrily told the attendant to ahain the man's hands to the bedetead. Suoh treatment as .this was sufficient to goad the Prinoe of Peace himself, and Walters nourished a terrible hate in his breast. When he was only half recovered he was again brought before • the Chief Officer and sentenced to a term of eighteen months on the reef in thirty-six pound irons. It was the 14th of December in the same year when he started with the gang. His eyes were not yet well, and his back was only half healed, but the pain of his body was as nothing to the burning mental agony he snffered at the fearful treatment he had reoefvedt He had not previously been a refraotory prisoner, and before going into the hospital he had only fourteen months longer to serve in order to complete his sentence. It ii little wonder that a consuming rage poaseßsed him as he thought of his blighted life fiaused by the unsupported statement of a hospital attendant. On this particular day a rather important operation was to be performed at the zeef. For a long time previously the gang had been employed constructing a strong ' Gdffer dam on the bar, inside of which they would be able to work with more effeot so they thought, but the filtration w~as, so great through the honeycombed reef that | one half of the men were kept pumping while the other half worked. The progress | made was co small and the danger of the sea breaking in so great that it had been deoided to take advantage of the comparatively dry ipace inside the dam when it wn pumped and place a large oharge of blasting powder in the reef, which would dislodge s considerable portion of it. Thif operation was justly regarded as one oi considerable danger, ts the materials on hand for the parpoM were at th« wont de«-

i Then oatne the question as to who I would lire the fuze. It would hnvo to bu done from inside the coffer dam of course as there was only a few feet in length of the artiole, and it was so erratic in its results that it was exceedingly risky to trust one's self with it. A couple of email pieces had been tried on the shore and whilst one burnt with light Ding rapidity the other Bmouldered along for a few inches and then went out. Under ordinary circumstances many of the oonviota would have gladly volunteered for the dangerous dufy, but in this case if a constable undertook the woik there waa a probability that he would be blown to pieces, and to see one of their persecutors demolished in such a manner would he much more acceptable than to make a hasty exit themselves. Striotly speaking the officer in oharge of the gang — a rough and severe man named Weston — had no sight, under the regulations, to send a prisoner on a duty that was well known to be a menace to life, but at that spot and at that time the law of might was the chief guide to men's aotions, and the dootrine of mere abstract right had no place in the teaching of tho island.' Like the old feudal days the strong oppressed tho weak. After Weston bad gone through the formality of asking the constables present if they would fire the fuze, and none of them expressing their willingness to do so, he turned round on the miserable felon, Walters, and sternly ordered him to go over to tho coffer dam and fire the oharge, as the water would be getting in and there would bo no time to lobb. Walters reflected for a moment, and then asking for matches, oommenoed to wade painfully to the reef. Weston bad no particular dislike to the convict, but hearing how he had been treated at the hospital, he conoluded that he was not a persona grata with the authorities, and that it would be good policy to follow their lead. Such a spirit frequently actuates people in the ordinary walks of life, who take their cue from those above them whether it be a good or bad one. Walters soon reaohed the dam, which w»o but a short distance away, and painfully clambered over its side. His mind was torn by conflicting emotions. He now had a chance of ending his misery such as he might never again have, but then he had a mad longing for revenge If he oould but slay one of his tormentors he would die happy, but that seemed to be impossible. They were too well guarded for that, and after all what satisfaction would it be to him after death. Perhaps he would suffer for it in another world. I That thought brought him some relief, for though he knew little of religion be had been told that a merciful providence weighed : the sufferings of man in this world against I his funs, and recompensed him in the herealter. Yes, he would fire the charge and die alone, without the stain of murder on his pool. With this idea in hia mind he went to the fuze whioh was still dry, and calmly ignited i».' Instead of spluttering and hissing along, to its fateful destination, it smouldered at a rate so Blow that it would take folly ten j minutes to reach the powder. Then the ; devil prompted him and the vengeful J thoughts surged through his brain. j Climbing to the top of the wall he called out to the impatient men on the shore that [ tha fuza woild not burn, and then he quietly j seated himseir on the timber. When hio j signal reaohed the shore he saw Westou make a gaature of angry disappointment, ! and the next moment, in company with a I enb-overeeer *bt a chain gang close by, ana who had plaoed the charge, he made his way over to where Walters sat. The convict was looking with fixed eyes and bated breath et the ppark that was faat nearing the end, but he sat ss immovabio as a statue. Weston and his companion were within a dozen feet of the coffer dam when those on shore saw the reef and ocean for fifty yardß around it rise in one chaotic mass to a height of forty or fifty feet, then avaßtoloud of smoke shot out, the air was filled with rcoks flying up and around as though impelled from the mouths of innumerable cannons, followed by a rumbling sound aa of a great peal of thunder, which shook the earth beneath their feet, and when they looked again the smoke was slowly lifting, dnd all that could be seen was the sea churning around like boiling mud, and pieces of rook falling baok into it. Not a vestige of the wooden structure or the men could be seen, andit was little wonder, for the oharge must have been an enormous one. One of the most remarkable oiroumstancee in conneotion with the explosion was the fact thai Cotteril, the hospital attendant, who was the cause of Walters being bo terribly punished, was rendered a criple for life by it. In common with several others whoße duty permitted it, he had come to the beach to see the charge fired, and when it occurred, a piece of rook flying with great velocity etruck him in the baok, and so severely injured him that his life was despaired of, and he was never after able to leave his bed. It is not very often that Heaven's justice is manifested so readily and clearly; but now and then an exceptional oase is vouchsafed us, that proves the rule of divine vengeance for human wroDga, even in this mundane sphere. It almost seemed as if destiny had decreed it, for though many othsra were injured by the unexpected force of the mine they speedily recovered. The three men at the coffer dam were simply annihilated, but a couple of days afterwards a portion of Walter's irons — recognisable by the number — was picked up on the island a quarter of a mile away, and bent nearly double. On examining the reef ii was found that for thirty yards in length it had been shattered to a depth of twelve feet, and the convicts grimly thought that if two or three more suoh ! oharges were put in with similar effeot they would not only do away with tha occupation of the reef gang but also leave vacancies in the ranks of their keepers. They thought, too, with a fearful sort of grim joy, what a glorious thing it would be if they oould only compass such a catastrophe every day. In imagination they saw, in the not very distant future, the time arrive when the number of their guardian tyrants would be so greatly reduced that to rise and overpower them would be a very simple matter. I Of course, the convicts greatly outnumbered their guards— forty or fifty to one, perhaps— and two guards blown to pieces daily to^one conviot would completely decimate the former in a compartively ahort space of time. Bu t, alas for human hopes 1 No chance of the sort ever presented itself again. A searching enquiry was held, but very little was elicited, and the officers were left in doubt as to whether it was the result of accident through the imperfeot fuze or whether Walters did it intentionally. The latter supposition was soon established beyond doubt by oertain hint a the oonvicts in the gang gave of their comrade's intention to have vengeance at the first opportunity. In fact, a friend of Walters' died not very long afterwards in the hospital, and told a very pitiful story of what Walters had said to him on the night preoeeding the I fatality. I The poor fellow seemed to have some sort of a premonition that he would be chosen for the dangerous work of firing the fuze, and went over the whole ground of the matter with his friend, as to whether he would make away with himself or not, and also whether, even if he' had the chance, he would endeavor to compass the death of I any of the tyrants by whom he was so I cruelly treated. However, he must have finally deoided to do the latter ; and, no doubt, succeeded better than he hadantioi- ; pated. I Blasting operations were never again ; oarried out at the reef, but the ohain gang still toiled there in misery until the foul settlement was swept away.

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