Tom —— was sentenced to two months on bread and water for running away; but although Tom bolted he only went a little way and brought himself to an anchor on a farm, which he never left. He used to go into a hollow tree in the day time, and, opossum-like, come out at night and eat the corn. Half-an-acre of this grain disappeared in a fortnight, and then he gave himself up, as there was no more corn to eat. This man had great storage capacity, as one Sunday morning I saw him eat eight men's allowance for a ration of corn bread whilst going a distance of about 200 yards. He was transported for taking a man-o'-war boat, in company with five others, and was a 7-year man. But he was a fearful glutton, for his allowance of food was no more satisfaction to him than a straw is to a bottle. I remember one day, returning from work, he saw a woman lying drunk on the road, and he picked her up, lifted her on to his shoulder, and ran away into the bush with her. The Police Magistrate who was in the vicinity, noticing what was taking place, sang out, "Put that woman down!" "If I do," said Tom, "the d—— police will have her" and he took no further notice, but continued on his journey, and there was not a sign of him till the next day. Then he was arrested and locked up by the police, and received 14 days on bread and water for his trouble. When he came out he bore a half-starved appearance—the bread and water did not suit him.
About the year 1839 the gang had completed the first road, and the lame, the blind, and those with wooden legs were furnished with a clean bed in honor of the occasion. These cripples were employed principally in taking goods to the settlers without payment, and the poor wretches often went short when their journey's end was reached. When not employed, they used to lounge about on the hills overlooking the sea sunning themselves, and it was not infrequent that they had quarrels amongst themselves. Just picture to yourself a man with wooden legs offering to "fight any b—— man on timber" as they used to put it. When these wooden-legged men had a quarrel in a boat they sat on the seats, with a man propped against the back of each, and in this fashion they would fight away in great style. I saw two of them on one occasion fight till they could not see each other. There were also one-armed men amongst them; these were employed in breaking stone, and they had a Jew for a boss, who was also a wooden-legged man. One day he went to sleep in the sun on one of the hills above the harbour, and another Jew named Lewis collected a quantity of old maize stalks and other fuel, and set fire to his wooden legs whilst he was asleep. They were not burning long, however, before he awoke and found one to be shorter than the other; and it was a sight for sore eyes to see him walking down to the Old Broken Barracks, singing out to everyone that he met—"That Jew-looking b—— down there has burnt my legs nearly off."
Just after this a poor fellow died in the barracks. A coffin was made for him, and his remains were being carried away for interment by four of his fellow-prisoners. After they had proceeded some little distance, two of them had a quarrel, when they threw the coffin down, and it burst, and out rolled the corpse on to the ground. They fought their quarrel out, and after receiving satisfaction at each other's hands, they picked the body and coffin up and carried it back to the barracks, where it was tacked together again, and four other men were sent to bury it.
The making of roads in the streets of the Settlement was now being actively proceeded with, and in some instances the hills which had to be cut through were so steep that a man could not comfortably ascend one of them without irons on his legs, let alone with them—but the hills had to be broken down by men with sore backs, and if one man happened to collide with another who had been recently flogged, it would be—"Oh, G——! mind my sore back." These were hard times; hard worked and half starved.
Six men once got "50" for refusing their allowance of beef—it being of inferior quality; but good meat was brought to court when they were being tried, not the kind that was refused. They were questioned, "What have you to say?" but were only allowed to get one word out when the order would be "50." And so it appeared to be "no use going to law with the Devil when the court was held in H——." Some men seemed to have a harder skin than others; a few would stand "50" like a piece of wood; they would sooner die than allow anyone to hear a groan. There was one poor little fellow named Mick whom the wretched overseer used to take a delight in bringing before the court; he would never pick out a flash-looking rascal, but only poor men who could just crawl about.
I remember one terrible schemer who came into the gang. He met Mr. —— one morning, and said, "If you do not give me five 'bob' I'll lay a charge against you for buying rations off the Government men." He was thereupon caught by the collar and taken off to the watchhouse, and was sentenced to two months in the iron gang. It was about 11 o'clock in the day when he came into the gang, and that evening he got "50" for doing something. The next day he tried the same dodge, but was walked off again and got another "50." The third day he went up to the overseer and said: "Do you expect me to work after the flogging I got yesterday?" The answer was a smack with a big stick. He was compelled to go to work with the other men, dragging hand-carts full of earth. There were three men to each cart, and a soldier always accompanied the men to keep them from running away or receiving tobacco, as if any of the weed were found on a man he would get "50." No spoons, knives, or forks were allowed men in the iron gang, for if they had them they would stab each other. Some used to eat their "hominy" with a piece of iron hoop, which they used as a spade-scraper. Others used a piece of bone. One fellow had a hat with a double-crown, and he used to secrete tobacco and other things in it. The overseer once picked this hat up and said to him: "You have a hat with two crowns." "Yes," he replied, "It's a good job you have nothing in it to-day," added the overseer. And so it was, for if there had been it would have meant trouble. Some of the men used to watch the boss, and scheme when his back was turned; but if he caught any of them they were sure of "50," for he never said a word—only just held up a stick and a policeman would come to the rescue.
Every Sunday the men got a small piece of soap with which to wash their clothes, and if rain happened to come on whilst they were doing it, orders were given to just gather up the clothes, and, wet or dry, they were brought into the room. These clothes then had to be worn to church by the men, who were safeguarded by a tyrannous overseer and a soldier: and there they sat listening to a minister preach, and looking at the hard-hearted wretches who were ruling them. If the men had got something to eat, it would have done them more good than hearing about the next world, for they thought very little about religion in their sad state.
Poor —— was sentenced to 12 months in the chain gang for running away, and he was only in the gang two days when the overseer brought him to court and got him "50." He then took the sulks, and would neither work nor eat. Then he was handcuffed and dragged up and down the street till some of the more tender-hearted officials could stand it no longer; and he was eventually chained to a bed-post, where he lay down, like an over-worked ox, and died. It was the custom to chain men to their bed when they became sick and were sent to the hospital, for fear that they would run away in the night. One man did bolt at night, and was not heard of again, the supposition being that he perished in the bush. This was a fine man, too, and once belonged to the Life Guards in London.
I was amongst a batch of men who were once marched down from the barracks to assist in unloading a little vessel—the "Waterwitch"—laden with corn, which had become wrecked whilst crossing the bar. We worked all day and were brought back at night, receiving cornmeal and water for our supper. All our clothes were wet, and we had either to sleep in them or else lie on the floor with nothing. Such was life in the iron gang.