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 THE 
 
 American Siberia 
 
 OR 
 
 FOURTEEN TEARS' EXPERIENCE IN A 
 SOUTHERN CONVICT CAMP 
 
 BY 
 
 J. C. POIVELL 
 
 CAPTAIN OF THE FLORIDA CONVICT CAMP 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 HOMEWOOD PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, la91, 
 I'.Y 11. J. SMITH A CO. 
 
 Copyright, 1893. 
 By W. B. CONKKY COMPANY.
 
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 In the fall of 1876 a singular spectacle might 
 have been observed at the little town of Live Oak, 
 in Northern Florida. A train had just arrived, and 
 from one of the cars some thirty odd men disem- 
 barked and formed in irregular procession by the 
 road-side. The sun never shone upon a more abject 
 picture of misery and dilapidation. They were 
 gaunt, haggard, famished, wasted with disease, 
 smeared with grime, and clad in filthy tatters. 
 Chains clattered about their trembling limbs, and 
 so inhuman was their aspect that the crowd of 
 curiosity seekers who had assembled around the 
 depot shrank back appalled. 
 
 These thirty starved and half-dying wretches 
 were about half of the convicts of the State of 
 Florida. They were those who had emerged alive 
 from as awful an experience as men were ever fated 
 to undergo. Florida had shortly before passed from 
 radical rule. Governor Sterns had been superseded 
 by George F. Drew, now a mercliant in Jacksonville, 
 and with the change of administration came a gen- 
 
 7 
 
 2G7i5; 
 
 ":i^~i p:j2
 
 6 THK AMLKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 eral overhauling of state institutions, including the 
 penal system. Prior to that time a penitentiary 
 had been maintained in a very old building at Chat- 
 tahoochee, since remodeled and used as an insane 
 asylum. The state was poor, largely unsettled, 
 torn with political strife, and as might have been 
 expected, the prison was run in a rather happy-go- 
 lucky fashion, and the history of its early years is 
 a story of experiments, expedients and make-shifts 
 of which little or no record was kept. 
 
 I do not pretend to say whose fault it was. A 
 man named Martin was warden, and the place was 
 liorror's den. He liad been placed in charge of the 
 building during the war, at a time when it was used 
 as an arsenal. The state got rid of its criminals 
 by turning them over bodily to him, and paid him 
 bonuses amounting to over $30,000 for accepting the 
 charge. He had vast vineyards and worked the con- 
 victs in them, manufacturing all kinds of wine, at 
 which he made a fortune. There were no restric- 
 tions whatever placed upon him by the state. The 
 punishments consisted of stringing up by the 
 thumbs, "sweating" and "watering." The first ex- 
 plains itself; sweating was shutting up in a close 
 box-cell without ventilation or light; and the last 
 named was no less than the celebrated torture prac- 
 ticed during the Spanish Inquisition under the 
 name of the "ordeal by water." Accounts of it 
 given by historians are almost identical with the 
 method then in vogue at Chattahoochee. The pris-
 
 THE ANfERICAN SIBERIA 9 
 
 oner was strapped down, a funnel forced into liis 
 mouth and water poured in. The effect was to enor- 
 mously distend the stomach, producing not only 
 great agony but a sense of impending death, due to 
 pressure on the heart, that unnerved the stoutest. 
 When deaths occurred, as they did quite frequently, 
 the remains were wrapped in a blanket and buried 
 in a shallow trench that barely covered the remains 
 from the air. Some horrible stories, too revolting 
 to repeat in detail, are told of graves desecrated by 
 domestic animals, and there was no record kept of 
 the dead or those who escaped. In brief, the state 
 turned over its charges body and soul, and thence- 
 forth washed its hands of them. And this was not 
 in the middle ages or Siberia, but in these United 
 States, about a decade and a half ago. 
 
 During this administration escapes were frequent, 
 and there are some tragic stories connected with 
 them. The guards were often negro convicts, and 
 the old maxim of slavery days, that a black overseer 
 was the cruelest to his race, was proven time and 
 again. One day a prisoner, a white man, made his 
 escape and succeeded in penetrating the wilds of 
 La Fayette County, some seventy miles to the 
 south. In that section of Florida there are not 
 only dense and trackless forests, but they" are inter- 
 sected by wide lagoons and palmetto flats, in which 
 the tropical monotony of the scene is such that a 
 man may wander for days and not be positive that 
 he has made any actual progress. None dare vent-
 
 lO THE ANfF.RICAN SIBERIA 
 
 ure into these wastes save trained backwoodsmen, 
 and even they are often lost in the forest laby 
 rinths. 
 
 In this natural man-trap the convict found him- 
 self. It was impossible to track him through such 
 a jungle, infested as it was by wild beasts, alliga- 
 tors and horrible reptile life from the swamps, and 
 there he was left to his fate. Months afterward a 
 party of adventurous hunters discovered a sodden 
 bundle of rags in a very lonely spot in the woods. 
 They disturbed the unsightly rubbish and lay bare 
 the bones of a man. The tatters of clothing bore 
 the tell-tale prison stripes, and by a peculiarity of 
 the shoes, one of them being a convict's brogan 
 and the other a gaiter, the remains were identified 
 as those of the fugitive who had disappeared in 
 the forest. It was a dreadful death, alone in that 
 awful solitude, and could the story of what he suf- 
 fered be told in its entirety it would doubtless put 
 romance to shame. 
 
 The story of this 7'(\c^ime is one of almost unre- 
 lieved barbarity, and the absence of records make 
 it almost impossible to give an idea of the state of 
 affairs, except by isolated instances. For example: 
 the guards were armed with muskets and bayonets. 
 The latter were carried fixed, and when the squadi 
 returned at night they were called into frequent 
 requisition to keep laggards in line. Often a man 
 would drop of fatigue, and he would be instantly 
 and mercilessly prodded wiih the cruel steel.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA II 
 
 The legs and backs of nearly all of the con\icts 
 were covered with the scars of bayonet-wounds. 
 The squads were run in, in this manner, to make it 
 possible to work them up to the latest moment. 
 On one occasion there was a prisoner who gave con- 
 siderable trouble by reason of his frequent attempts 
 to escape. His name has been lost, but his number 
 was forty-seven. At last he formed a plot to levant 
 through one of the windows, and a fellow-prisoner 
 who was in his confidence betrayed him to the offi- 
 cers. This furnished a good opportunity to get rid 
 of him, and guards were stationed before the win- 
 dows all night, to kill him as he came out. How- 
 ever, he suspected something wrong, and did not 
 come. Next morning he was placed in the black- 
 smith shop and purposely left alone near an open 
 window. The temptation was too great and he 
 made his way through, to be shot dead by a guard 
 who lay ambushed for him outside. I have these 
 statements from the then deputy warden of the 
 prison, who is now a resident of Jacksonville, and 
 there is no doubt of their accuracy. 
 
 At last, shortly before the close of Governor 
 Stern's administration, a great scandal, growing out 
 of these atrocities, became so imminent, that a sort 
 of compromise between the prison and the lease 
 systems was effected. The convicts were divided; 
 about half were sent to build a railroad between St. 
 John and Lake Eustace, and the balance were left 
 under Martin. It was hardly an improvement.
 
 12 TIT! AMFKK AN SIHF.KIA 
 
 The line of the proposed railroad was through a 
 virgin wilderness; there seems to have been no at- 
 tention whatever paid to proper equipments, and 
 the story of that terrible journey stands unparal- 
 leled in criminal annals. Dozens of those who 
 went into the tropical marshes and palmetto jun- 
 gles of Lake Eustace went to certain death. There 
 was no provision made for either shelter or sup- 
 plies. Rude huts were built of whatever material 
 came to hand, and in the periods of heavy rain it 
 was no unusual thing for the convicts to awake in 
 the morning half submerged in mud and slime, 
 The commissary department dwindled into nothing. 
 I do not mean that there was some food or a little 
 food, but that there was no food at all. In this 
 extremity, the convicts were driven to live as the 
 wild beasts, except that they were only allowed the 
 briefest intervals from labor to scour the woods lor 
 food. They dug up roots and cut the tops from 
 "cabbage" palmetto trees. Noble Hawkins, a ten- 
 year Nassau convict, lived for fourteen days on 
 nothing but palmetto tops and a little salt, and his 
 case was but one of ninny. 
 
 Of course there is a limit to human endurance. 
 It was not long before the camp was ravaged by 
 every disease induced by starvation and exposure. 
 The pestilential swamps were full of fever, and 
 skin maladies; scurvy and pneumonia ran riot. 
 Dysentery was most common, and reduced the men 
 to a point of emaciation difficult to describe or to
 
 THE AMEKJCAN SIBERIA I3 
 
 credit. Every stopping-place was a shambles, and 
 the line of survey is punctuated by grave-yards. 
 
 The camp was at different times in charge of va- 
 rious captains, and under some of them the pun- 
 ishments were excessive. Hanging up by the 
 thumbs was usually resorted to, and this led, one 
 night, to a grisly tragedy. A negro convict was 
 strung up for some infraction of the rules. Whip- 
 cords were fastened around his thumbs, the loose 
 ends flung over a convenient limb and made taut 
 until his toes swung clear of the ground. The 
 scared convicts huddled about the camp-fire and 
 watched their comrade as he writhed, and yelled ex- 
 pecting every moment that the cords would be un- 
 fastened and his agony ended. But the captain had 
 determined to make a salutary example, and he let 
 the negro hang. IMeantime the poor wretch's an- 
 guish was a hideous thing to see. They say his 
 muscles knotted into cramps under the strain, his 
 eyes started from his head, and sweat ran from his 
 body in streams. An hour passed — then two. His 
 shrieks had ceased and his struggles grown feeble, 
 so they let him down and he fell to the ground like 
 a log — dead. 
 
 It was then that the captain realized what a mon- 
 strous thing he had done, and he deserted his post, 
 slunk away in the night, and was never heard of 
 again. Here was a study for an artist. Night in 
 the palmetto woods, the flaming camp-fire outlin- 
 ing the circle of frightened convicts and the miser-
 
 14 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 able barracks where they slept, the distorted corpse 
 upon the ground, and the panic-stricken officer 
 creeping away among the trees. 
 
 Soon after the Drew administration assumed the 
 state government, the horrible condition of affairs 
 which I have outlined forced a change of some 
 character. The building at Chattahoochee was en- 
 tirely unsuited for prison purposes, and the lease 
 system was turned to, as a last resort, very much 
 as was the case when Georgia was saddled with 
 that institution. Advertisement was made for bids 
 and the Lake Eustace gang hired to Major H. A. 
 Wise, a general merchant of Live Oak. The bal- 
 ance were sub-leased to Green Cheers, a farmer who 
 lived in Leon County. My brother, W. F. Powell, 
 and myself were employed by Major Wise to take 
 charge of his camp, and thus began the system 
 which has been more or less under my eye ever 
 since. 
 
 The ragged battalion who disembarked at Live 
 Oak were the survivors of those who had penetrated 
 the wild morasses of Lake Eustace. The major 
 part of them were negroes, but it was impossible to 
 tell, as they stood, who were white and who weie 
 black, so incrusted were they all with the accumu- 
 lated filth of months. The sight staggered me, but 
 I saw at once that the first business on hand was to 
 get them clean, and I ordered them to strip. It was 
 not a difficult task, as scarcely a man of them pos- 
 sessed a whole garment, and I burned the vermin-
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 5 
 
 swarming rags as fast as they were removed. Tubs 
 of water were placed along the line; they bathetl^ 
 and clean clothes were given them. 
 
 While this operation was in progress, my atten- 
 tion was attracted in particular to two white men, 
 by reason oi the singular appearance of their hands. 
 They resembled the paws of certain apes, for 
 their thumbs, which were enormously enlarged at 
 the ends, were also quite as long as their index-fin- 
 gers, and the tips of all were on aline. This deform- 
 ity was occasioned by stringing up, and when one 
 stops to consider the amount of pressure necessary 
 to stretch out a man's thumb fully three inches, 
 some idea can be formed of the severity of the 
 punishment. The names of these two men were 
 Robert and Eugene Weaver. They were natives of 
 one of the northern states, and subsequently served 
 out their sentence and were discharged by me. 
 
 Another member of the squad was a negro named 
 Cy Williams, and as he had had a rather extraor- 
 dinary history, I may as well tell it at this point. 
 He was the first prisoner received by the State of 
 Florida, and was entered in the books as No. i. 
 He did not know his age, but when he was a mere 
 pickaninny, running about in the one garment that 
 forms the costume of all negro youngsters in the 
 South, he was arrested for stealing a horse. He 
 was not large enough to mount the animal, and was 
 caught in the act of leading it off by the lialter, for 
 which he was duly sentenced to twenty years impris-
 
 l6 THK AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 onmcnt. Warden Martin was somewhat puzzled to 
 know wliat to do witli so small a convict, but he 
 finally invented a task that certainly reflects credit 
 upon his ingenuity. He placed two bricks at each 
 end of the prison yard, and giving the black baby 
 two more, ordered him to carry them to one of the 
 piles, lay them down, pick up the other two, which 
 in turn he carried to the further end, exchanged 
 again, r.nd soon back and forth all daylong, always 
 carrying two bricks. He was warned that he 
 would be whipped if he failed to pile the bricks 
 neatly or broke any of them. He grew up at the 
 task, and the constant abrasion of merely picking up 
 and laying down wore out four sets of bricks be- 
 fore he was put to other labor. Owing to the ab- 
 sence of all system, he received no commutation upon 
 the first ten years he served, but on the balance of 
 the sentence he received what is called in Florida 
 "gain time," making the entire sentence seventeen 
 years and some months. 
 
 Major Wise leased the prisoners with rather 
 vague speculative views, and the squad was sent 
 originally to the Santa Fe River, where they were 
 emjiloyed for some months in "ranging" timber. 
 Meantime he closed a contract with Dutton, Ruff 
 & Jones, dealers in turpentine, rosin and naval 
 stores, by which he engaged to deliver "gum" from 
 the vast tracts of pine woods owned by the firm 
 in the vicinity of Live Oak. The leading spirit of 
 the firm wn? Major Charles K. Dutton, of New York
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I7 
 
 City, who subsequently occupied about the same 
 relation to the lease system in. Florida as that of 
 Senator Joseph Brown in Georgia. 
 
 It was evident that very few of these men were 
 able to stand the exhausting labor of turpentine 
 culture, and that it would be necessary to first get 
 them into condition. However, we went into camp 
 in the woods near a little station called Padlock. 
 There we built a rude log-house, twenty by forty 
 feet, for sleeping quarters. Like Solomon's temple, 
 it was erected without the sound of hammer, and 
 the roof was secured by a curious system of pegs 
 and weights. There was not a nail in the structure, 
 and it was altogether a fine specimen of wild wood- 
 craft. On each side two sloping platforms ran 
 from end to end, one built over the other, like berths 
 in a steamboat. The prisoners slept on them, and 
 midway between the two a long chain was stretched 
 at night-time, on which they were strung by means 
 of smaller chains fastened to their leg-irons. These 
 latter were technically known as "waist-chains," and 
 were attached in turn to the "stride-chain," which 
 passed from shackle to shackle, with play enough 
 to enable a man to walk by taking fairly short 
 steps. As both stride and waist chains were riveted 
 on, it would appear at first glance impossible for a 
 man to remove his pants with his ankles thus 
 fastened together, and in fact, when we first 
 received the convicts, they wore tlieni buttoned down 
 the outside of the leg, like Mexican vanqueros.
 
 l8 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 But ill time they learned to draw the garment down 
 between the ankle and the iron, and then np and 
 out; a simple but ingenious process, and slaslied 
 trousers were abandoned. 
 
 The front of this "cell-house," as it was 
 termed, was not sealed solidly, but slatted, so as 
 to permit a view of the interior at any time. 
 At night it was lighted by pine knots burned on a 
 sort of pyre in the middle of the floor, and a watch- 
 man sat with loaded rifle in front. The routine of 
 locking up the men was about as follows: As they 
 returned from work they filed in and took their 
 places on the sleeping-platform. The building 
 chain was then passed through a ring at the end of 
 each man's waist-chain and made fast outside. A 
 squad of guards were ready, torches in hand, and 
 proceeded to rapidly scrutinize each link of the 
 irons, a process familiarly known in camp as "chain 
 search." This over, supper was served and eaten, 
 and after a short interval a bell rang for every man 
 to lie down. That was the last thing in order for 
 the night, and if any convict desired to move or 
 change his position thereafter it was required tkat 
 he first call to the night guard and obtain his per- 
 mission. I may say that the same system, with 
 some immaterial modifications, is the one in vogue 
 at the present day. 
 
 We named our camp "Padlock," after the station. 
 Besides the cell-house, there were buildings of the 
 same priniitive character for the guards, but there
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 21 
 
 was no stockade, and the cooking was done hunter- 
 fashion, on a bank of dirt under a lean-to shelter. 
 The kettles and pots were suspended over it by bits 
 of wire, and, in brief, all the other appointments 
 were on the same scale. The food consisted of fat 
 "white bacon," corn-bread and cow-peas — the latter 
 a small red variety indigenous to the South. They 
 were wretchedly prepared, of course, and in summer- 
 time I have often taken my penknife and scraped 
 off a literal stratum of gnats from the top of the 
 pea pan before sending it to the men. 
 
 We discarded the old methods of punishment from 
 the start, and adopted the strap, which has been 
 used ever since to enforce discipline, and has of 
 late years been adopted by state law. It consists 
 of a section of tough leather about afoot and a half 
 long by three inches broad, and attached to a wood- 
 en handle. The castigation is applied below the 
 loins, and the convict placed upon his knees with his 
 palms on the ground. The clothing is then drawn 
 back and the leather applied until, in the judgment 
 of the captain, a sufficient punishment has been ad- 
 ministered. There is no legal restriction, and never 
 was, as to the number of blows, the frequency of 
 punishment or by whom it shall be applied; but 
 the rule has been that the warden, his assistant or 
 the captain in direct charge of the camp, shall do 
 the whipping. During the time that I was at the 
 head of the lease s^'Stem, I allowed no one else to 
 administer punishment, as the matter was always un-
 
 33 THK AMF.RICAN SIHERIA 
 
 avoidably the source of more or less outside criticism, 
 and I did not wish responsibility to be divided. 
 
 To return to the camp, the prisoners were worked 
 in the woods in a radius of a few miles, and con- 
 veyed to and from the spot on what was known as 
 a "squad-chain." In principle it was similar to a 
 building-chain, but it was shorter and lighter, and 
 the men were strung upon it by the rings of their 
 waist-chains like ribs from a central vertebra?. 
 Every man went on a trot. They kept this gait up 
 all day long, from tree to tree, and as the labor is 
 exhausting in the extreme, I have frequently seen 
 men on their way back to camp drop of fatigue, and 
 their comrades on the squad-chain drag them a 
 dozen yards through the dirt before the pace 
 could be checked so as to enable them to regain 
 their feet. There would be a prodigious clatter of 
 iron, a cloud of dust, a volley of imprecation, and 
 the fallen man would stagger up, dash the dirt 
 out of his eyes, and go reeling and running on. 
 
 But these scenes came later on, for the camp was 
 for a long time virtually a hospital. I found the 
 dysentery, with which most of the men were af- 
 fected, almost impossible to check, and the mortal- 
 ity was terrible. The disease was of the same char- 
 acter as that which was so prevalent on both 
 sides during the war, and many a corpse interred 
 at Sing Sing was almost literally nothing but skin 
 and bones. No records were kept of the number 
 of deaths, and I am unable at this lapse of time to
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 23 
 
 «r,timate them with accuracy, but it was a large 
 proportion of our prisoners, and it was nearly a 
 year before the balance were in what might be 
 lermed fairly good condition. 
 
 I shall frequently have occasion in this narrative 
 to speak of trailing convict runawaj's with hounds, 
 and I know that there is a prevalent impression 
 that bloodhounds are employed for the purpose. 
 This is an error, and I believe that the first and only 
 experiment of that sort was made at the beginning 
 of the Wise lease. Major Wise sent to New York 
 and procured two imported blood-hounds of pure 
 strain — one a male and the other a female. They 
 were sent originally to the Santa Fe River, to the 
 logging-camp, but afterward transferred to us at 
 Padlock. The male died from the effects of the 
 journey, but the other arrived in tolerably fair condi- 
 tion, and was certainly a formidable brute. She was 
 as large as a calf, pied like a leopard, and looked 
 less like a dog than some unknown wild beast. She 
 spread consternation among the natives, and when 
 they happened to encounter me with her they would 
 abandon the road and take to the tall timber. I 
 called the dog Flora. 
 
 The experiment was not a success. Beyond the 
 intimidation of her appearance Flora had no espe- 
 cial value, and was vastly inferior to a deer-hound 
 as a trailer. The hot climate proved too much for 
 her, and she eventually succumbed to it and took 
 the hydrophobia. I shut htr up in a shed upon
 
 -24 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 tile first appearance of thesj'mptonis, and the great 
 brute, liowling, foaming and dashing herself against 
 the walls in her paroxysms, was a spectacle of such 
 terror that none dare approach her. She crunched 
 some heavy boxes that happened to lie inside abso- 
 lutely into splinters, and in one of the fits she 
 died. 
 
 The fact is that fox-hounds are used for man- 
 hunting in nearly all the southern convict camps. 
 They are probably a trifle less keen of scent than a 
 deer-hound, but they have also a slower gait, which 
 is an advantage, inasmuch as it enables the horse- 
 men to keep up with them. But at any rate, their 
 marvelous powers of following a trail hours after 
 it has been made, holding it through turns and 
 back-tracks and over traveled roads, almost sur- 
 passes belief. The fox-hound used for the purpose 
 is slightly larger than a full-blooded pointer, and 
 built a little heavier about the shoulders, but resem- 
 bles it in general contour of the body. The head, 
 however, is that of the typical hound — long-eared, 
 sad-faced and deep-jowled. I can affirm that some 
 of them are natural man-hunters, just as a colt is 
 occasionally born with a natural trotting-gait. In 
 training puppies at the camp it was my custom to 
 order one of the "trusties" to run a few miles through 
 the woods, and then put the dogs on his track. I 
 have known them to trail the man over the most 
 intricate routes, and eventually follow up his track 
 into the cell-house and pick out the identical trusty
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 25 
 
 where he lay, among a hundred other men, upon 
 the sleeping-platform. 
 
 Another popular error in regard to chasing with 
 iiounds is that they attack the prisoner when they 
 run up upon him. Such is by no means the case. 
 The hounds are always closely followed by horse- 
 men, and if they once get out of sight and sound 
 the pursuit might as well be abandoned. In brief, 
 they are simply guides, and when once the game is 
 brought to bay, they are too wary to venture close 
 enough to run the risk of a blow. I have known 
 cases where dogs have been killed, but the convict 
 invariably employed some strategy to entice them 
 in range. On one or two occasions men have hid- 
 den behind trees, and the hounds, intent upon the 
 trail, have been brained as they rushed past. 
 
 By what faculty they follow a track is a disputed 
 question. They seem to have no difficulty in dis- 
 tinguishing the trail of one man from another, and 
 it is certainly not in all cases by reason of an odor 
 left upon the earth. I have one dog at the present 
 writing that trails entirely by air; that is to say, 
 he never touches his nose to the ground but invari- 
 ably holds his head high, and in this attitude runs 
 at full speed, immediately distinguishes cross-trails, 
 and rarely makes a mistake. i 
 
 There have at different times been some few men 
 under me who, by a freak of nature or some inexpli- 
 cable condition, left no trail and could not be fol- 
 lowed by any hound. I do not attempt to explain it,
 
 26 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 but simply state it as a fact — one, by the bye, that 
 has a bearing upon several cases I will detail fur. 
 tlur on. Whatever emanation lingers in the wake 
 of the average human being and furnishes the mys- 
 terious clue to the dog was certainly lacking in 
 their make-up.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 In addition tc the reasons that appeared upon 
 the surface, there was another, and a potent one, for 
 the employment of convict labor in the turpen- 
 tine woods. The work is severe to a degree almost 
 impossible to exaggerate, and it is very difficult to 
 control a sufficient quantity of free labor to properly 
 cultivate any great number of trees. The natives 
 follow it more as a make-shift tlian a vocation, and 
 are only too glad to abandon its hardships for any 
 other character of work that comes to hand. The 
 variety of pine from which the gum is obtained 
 covers immense areas of Georgia and Northern 
 Florida, and the process, which is curious and not 
 generally understood, is as follows: 
 
 Early in the spring large oval cups, technically 
 termed "boxes," are set into the trunks of the trees, 
 close to' the ground. They are several inches deep 
 and hollowed out at the bottom to receive the sap. 
 All this is done with a peculiarly shaped axe, hav- 
 ing an extremely long blade, and it is needless to 
 say the operation requires both strength and dex- 
 terity. When properly cut, the box has the appear- 
 ance of having been made by a chisel, yet it is pos- 
 sible to hew one out with as few as nine blows of 
 the axe. This of course requires a great expert, and 
 
 27
 
 28 THK AMERICAN SIHEKIA 
 
 few acquire that degree of skill. The average 
 daily task of a convict is from sixty to nincly 
 boxes. 
 
 Directls' after the box is cut a triangular wedge 
 is chopped out on each side immediately over the 
 top. This is called "cornering," and is usually done 
 by two men, one of whom strikes a right-handed 
 and one a left-handed blow. The object is to ex- 
 pose a fresh surface of the trunk from which the 
 sap may flow, running down into the concavity of 
 the box. The sap is of a pearly color, thick and 
 viscid, and the cornering usually fills the box for the 
 first time. It is then dipped into buckets with 
 a large lance-pointed tool known as a spoon," and 
 almost a facsimile, on a magnified scale, of a steel 
 ink-eraser. The buckets are emptied into barrels 
 which are collected by teamsters who range the 
 woods with their wagons and deliver the products 
 to the stills. 
 
 After the first flow is dipped a new incision is 
 made by slicing out two slanting lines at the top of 
 the cornering. A short tool called a hack, weight- 
 ed at one end and armed with a crooked blade at 
 the other, is used, and the operation is termed "chip- 
 ping." The fresh fiow refills the box, after which 
 the chipping is repeated, alternating with dipping 
 until the face of the box is so high from successive 
 slicing that it cannot readily be reached. "Pulling" 
 is then resorted to. This is identical with chip- 
 ping, except that a very long-handled tool with a
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 29 
 
 double blade at the end is used to cut the streaks, 
 the workman reaching up and sometimes raising 
 the face as high as twelve feet. 
 
 About the first of October the faces of the boxes 
 are thickly coated with coagulated sap, and other 
 work is suspended while this is removed, chopped 
 off with implements something like gardeners* 
 trowels. This occupies three or four months, and 
 the routine is commenced over again. The entire 
 product is distilled as gathered, heated in retorts 
 and the vapor condensed through worms into the 
 commercial spirits of turpentine. The residue left 
 in the vats is rosin. 
 
 Chipping is the hardest work of all. It requires 
 a man of immense stamina and in perfect physical 
 condition, for he not only has to stoop continually, 
 but drive the hack through the wood with one 
 muscular exertion. The crooked blade curves the 
 cut upward and inward, "shading," it is called, the 
 purpose being to cast a shadow on the incision and 
 prevent the sun from drying the fresh surface too 
 rapidly. Each branch of the work is done by differ- 
 ent squads, and they are worked as nearly as possi- 
 ble in lines^"drifting," it is called, and the word 
 well expresses it — through the timber, some cutting, 
 some chipping and some dipping. The guards 
 follow at a little distance behind. Occasionally 
 thick patches of undergrowth are encountered. 
 Hills and dales are to be crossed and swamps skirt- 
 ed, and altogether, a cool head, good judgment and
 
 30 THE AMF.RICAN SIBERIA 
 
 Steady nerve are needed to prevent continual es- 
 capes. But these qualifications were seldom ob- 
 tainable, for guarding was very poorly paid, and 
 this, as well as the other details I have entered in- 
 to, have an important bearing upon numerous de- 
 liveries which subsequently took place. 
 
 We had not been long in camp at Padlock before 
 I discovered that we had an exceptionally danger- 
 ous and desperate class of men to deal with. Most 
 of them were "Cracker" outlaws and cut-throat ne- 
 groes, sentenced, as a rule, for crimes of the most 
 atrocious character. The case of John Ponde will 
 suffice as an illustration and indicate the bloody 
 nature of certain of these wild woodsmen and their 
 contempt for law. Ponde was a white man, and had 
 settled in Bradford County, where he lived with 
 his wife in the style of the average squatter. He 
 was not on good terms with his father-in-law, but 
 nothing serious was thought of tlie matter until one 
 morning he saw the old man riding by on a horse, 
 and called his wife to the door. 
 
 "Do you see him?" he said. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, take a good look at him; this is the last 
 time you will ever see him alive." 
 
 He was as good as his word. Me followed the 
 old man to town, got on a spree, with him and the 
 two started back riding double, Ponde behind. 
 When they were nearly home Ponde wrapped his 
 arms around his victim and held him still while
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 3I 
 
 he slowly and deliberately cut him to death with a 
 pocket knife. P'^or this crime he was sentenced to 
 prison for life. 
 
 It goes without saying that this type of men were 
 continually plotting for liberty, and many things 
 conspired to favor escapes — the wild nature of the 
 surrounding country, the necessity of working the 
 convicts out of doors, and most of all a deep-seated 
 and bitter prejudice among the citizens against 
 the lease system. Frightful stories of cruelty were 
 constantly bruited about; and while it was easy for 
 a fugitive to obtain a hiding place and assistance, 
 every possible obstacle was thrown in the way of 
 those engaged in pursuit. 
 
 The first serious trouble we had of the kind oc- 
 curred in December. A guard named George Tur- 
 ner had charge of a squad working in the woods, and 
 in which was a white man named Freeman and 
 two negroes named McPherson and Perry, all des- 
 peradoes of the first order. Louis Fennison, a trusty, 
 accompanied the party, and had the privilege of 
 coming close to the guard to give him water, when 
 he desired it. At their first opportunity, Freeman, 
 McPherson and Perry took the trusty aside and 
 sought to enlist him in a plot to murder Turner 
 and set the quads at liberty. The plan was for 
 Fennison to seize him while he was drinking and 
 prevent him from using his rille, while the others 
 rushed in and brained him with their axes. 
 
 The trusty pretended to agree — it would have
 
 3^ THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 been suicide to refuse — and anxiously looked for an 
 opportunity to warn the intended victim. He was 
 watched so closely, however, by the plotters, that 
 none occurred until at the very moment fixed for the 
 Iced. The squad was at the time on the skirts of 
 the dense pine forest, and Turner, all unsuspicious, 
 called for a drink of water. As he raised the dip- 
 per the murderous trio began to close in upon him, 
 .\es in hanil. 
 
 "Look out, boss! " yelled Fennison; "they're 
 goin' to kill you! " 
 
 The guard leaped back, leveled his rif^e and called 
 a halt, just in time to save his life. Word was 
 sent into camp, each of the ringleaders whipped 
 and ornamented with a fifty-pound ball and chain. 
 
 While in the woods next day. Perry, who had, by 
 the wa}-, only one year to serve, made some pretext 
 to step aside, and picking up the huge ball attached 
 to his leg, started off on a lope. The guard fired 
 after him a few times, but the bullets flew aside, and 
 finally a trusty set off in pursuit, yelling as he ran. 
 Our commissary-man, Rodger Wah, hearing the 
 uproar from the camp, leaped on a horse and gal- 
 loped in that direction. He was not long in over- 
 taking the fugitive, whose act was simply madness, 
 for handicapped as he was by his irons, he stood 
 not a ghost of a show of success. Wah shouted 
 to him to stop, but he paid no attention to the order, 
 and when th*^ "lorse was elope at his heels, began 
 to run like a coursed fox, wheeling and doubling,
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 33 
 
 until the commissary-mar. finally fired his revolver 
 over his head to frighten him. But Perry was made 
 of stuff not easily frightened, and he ignored the 
 bullet as he had the order. Then Wah fired point- 
 blank at him and sent an ounce of lead through his 
 spine. The negro reeled, clutched at the air and 
 fell, mortally wounded. A little while afterward 
 he died. 
 
 This tragedy enormously intensified the popular 
 feeling against the camp. The shooting was re- 
 hearsed with the invariable embellishment of rumor, 
 and generally denounced as murder. At the next 
 session of the grand jury a true bill was returned 
 against Wah, but before the case was called sen- 
 timent had somewhat subsided, and the matter lan- 
 guished in court and was finally dropped. 
 
 We were at Padlock camp for a year, and this 
 was the most serious affair of the kind that occurred 
 during that period. But there was no lack of other 
 excitement, and it was during this sojourn that I 
 had a most curious adventure. I was working a 
 squad of fifteen negroes "dipping" turpentine gum 
 in the woods. It had been a pleasant day, warm and 
 genial, with no indication of storm, but just before 
 quitting work I heard a dull, roaring sound and 
 saw a singular figment of cloud bearing rapidly 
 down upon us from the southwest. It was the 
 dead-black color of soot and shaped like a vast 
 balloon, the lower end sagging almost to the ground. 
 I had never seen such a thing before, but I recog-
 
 34 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 nized it from descriptions as tlic famous funnel- 
 shaped cloud that has figured in the history of so 
 man)' terrible tornadoes, and I shouted to my men to 
 lie down. 
 
 As the monstrous apparition approached us the 
 noise increased to a roar and crash of sound that 
 beggars all description. The earth vibrated under 
 us, and I could see pine trees and innumerable de- 
 bris turning over and over in the black swirl, like 
 chaff in a puff of wind. I took it for granted that 
 we were lost, but with one supreme shock the great 
 cloud passed us and tore away with a strange bound- 
 ing or hopping motion, and finally disappeared. 
 
 During the passage of the cyclone it was impos- 
 sible to see or even think, but as it receded I found 
 myself standing in the midst of my prostrate squad 
 with at least half a dozen of the negroes clinging 
 to my legs like scared children. They were fright- 
 ened half out of their wits, as well they might have 
 been, for we were right on the edge of the tornado, 
 and the difference of a few yards would have swept 
 us all into eternity. As soon as possible I started 
 out to see what damage had been done, and made 
 an amusing discovery. An old negro known as 
 "Brit" was employed hauling gum barrels with a 
 four-mule team, and was quite close to us at the time 
 the storm-cloud appeared. He was in fact directly 
 in the track, but in one of the jumps I have alluded 
 to the monster passed over his head, tearing out 
 a swath on each side and inclosing him in a tangled
 
 THE AMERICAN blBERIA 35 
 
 circle of broken tree-trunks, like a barricade. 
 When we arrived on tlie spot the mules were lying 
 flat on the ground like frightened rabbits, and the 
 old man was on his knees, his eyes glued tight shut, 
 his very wool uncurled with terror, and his voice 
 lifted in that fervent prayer that only an African 
 can command : 
 
 "Oh, Hebbenly Fadder! " he moaned, "spar' yo' 
 sarbent ! Take de mewls an' take de convicts; 
 dey all sinner-men, oh, Lawd! but I'se a berry use- 
 ful man in dis community, Hebbenly Fadder! Dey 
 carn't well spar' me! You'se done teached me ales- 
 son, Lawd; you'se skeered me pow'ful, but don't 
 take me jist yet. Don' t do nuffin' you might 'gret!" 
 
 We had hard work persuading him that the peril 
 was past, and harder work extricating his team 
 from the mass of rubbish that surrounded it. This 
 was the first and only storm of the kind that had 
 visited Florida in the memory of man. Its track 
 was well defined, from three to four miles long and 
 about 200 yards wide. It is swept clear of timber, 
 and this boulevard of nature's cutting can be easily 
 and perfectly traced to the present day. 
 
 I have frequently observed, during my entire 
 prison experience, that the period of the greatest 
 despondency and desperation in a convict's term 
 is immediately after he is received. The rude sur- 
 roundings of the camp, the hard fare, the chains, 
 and the grinding toil combine to form an overwhelm- 
 ing conviction that he can never live to serve out
 
 36 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 his sentence, and lie is either seized with dull, de- 
 spairing apathy or nerved to escape at any cost, ac- 
 cording to what manner of man he is. Conse- 
 iiucntly I have made it my business to keep a close 
 eye upon new men, and an incident which occurred 
 about this time furnishes a good illustration of the 
 matter. 
 
 We received a negro on a five-year sentence, and 
 I put him to work in the woods. He was afflicted 
 with an incurable malady, which, while it did not 
 prevent his getting about, greatly preyed upon his 
 mind, and a few days after he arrived, he called 
 to me during one of my visits to the squad and 
 asked me if I would do him a favor. I replied that 
 I would if it lay in my power. Upon that he bared 
 his breast. "Shoot me then," he said; "lion't 
 wound me, but shoot me through the heart. I can't 
 do this work and there is no use trying. The 
 sooner I am dead the l)ftter for me." 
 
 I told him that I could not shoot him down in cold 
 blood, but if he v/as really anxious to court death, 
 all he had to do was to run or make an attack on me 
 and I would do my utmost to accommodate him. 
 This view of the case did not strike him favorably, 
 and 1 closed the interview by giving him a whip- 
 ping and telling him to go back to work. In the 
 course of the day he endeavored to get hold of a 
 knife, for the avowed purpose of cutting his throat; 
 but failing in that, he lapsed into a morose, brood- 
 ing state, from which he rallied in a month or so,
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 39 
 
 and eventually served out his sentence pretty cheer 
 fully. His case was a sample of most others. 
 
 In the course of a year we had the woods well 
 marked out in the immediate vicinity of Padlock, 
 and built a new camp, called Sing Sing, four miles 
 further on. In all of its appointments it was a con- 
 siderable improvement on Padlock. We built two 
 cell-houses, each a hundred feet long, and discarded 
 the uncomfortable and inconvenient arrangement 
 of double bunks. A single sleeping-platform was 
 built on each side, and the building-chain run 
 through eyelets in posts sunk at intervals in the 
 ground. No stockade was considered necessary, and 
 the yard was guarded by a man stationed at each 
 of the four corners. 
 
 Everything was done by convict labor, and when 
 the buildings were nearly completed and work in 
 fact commenced in the adjacent woods, the first 
 escape of the new camp took place. A negro, whose 
 name I have now forgotten, but who was at any 
 rate detailed for yard work, seized an opportunity 
 one morning and dashed past the nearest guard. 
 He was fired upon, and the sound of the shot reached 
 my ears where I v^as working a squad at no great 
 distance off in the woods. One of my most posi- 
 tive orders was that no weapon should be discharged 
 on the premises, unless in case of escape; so I knew 
 at once what had occurred, and surmising that the 
 runaway would be apt to come in our direction, I 
 called the squad instantly together, put them or 
 
 (j7id2
 
 40 THF. AMERICAN SIIJF.RIA 
 
 the squad-cliain and ordered them to lie down. As 
 soon as they were all well concealed, I rose u? 
 cautiously through the underbrush and looked to- 
 ward the camp. 
 
 Sure enough, there was the man coming full-tilt 
 toward us and heading a ludicrous procession. 
 Every available man on the yard, including trusted 
 prisoners, had joined in the puisuit. First came 
 the cook, flourishing a huge butcher-knife with 
 which he had been cutting meat at the time the 
 alarm was given, and after him, in order, were sev- 
 eral trusties and guards, all red-faced, panting and 
 yelling frantically at every bound. I sallied out to 
 head off the fugitive, but as soon as he saw me he 
 made a sudden tack at right angles with his course. 
 This was a cue to his pursuers, who also swerved 
 to intercept him in the new direction, but the move- 
 ment was observed and he tacked again, bringing 
 him in line with me. Tluis he was between two 
 fires, but he repeated his maneuver so persistently, 
 gaining a little every time, that I finally shot at him. 
 At the sound he turned a somersault in the air and 
 fell with a crash upon his face. I supposed, of 
 course, that I had killed him, and the next instant 
 the cook, who still led the procession, was astride 
 of his back. When I reached the spot the negro 
 had twisted his head around and was glaring up at 
 the cook, who had his big butcher-knife poised in 
 the air and swore he would kill him if he moved. 
 It seemed that my bullet had barely grazed the f el
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 4I 
 
 low's head, but such an impact will easily knock 
 a man over, and he was positive for the time being 
 that most of his brains had been blown out. The 
 cook was also a convict, and I shall frequently have 
 occasion to refer to cases where one prisoner assisted 
 in capturing another. Some of them were very 
 remarkable instances of zeal, where zeal would 
 naturally be least expected, but it was invariably at 
 the cost of universal hatred among the balance of 
 the men. The convict who so distinguished him- 
 self was marked for every affront that could be 
 offered him, and in one case for death itself. 
 
 But I never gave too much credit to these self- 
 ai^pointed officers. It was not a sense of duty that 
 prompted them, but axes of their own that they had 
 to grind, and in many cases they would prevent an 
 escape in order to inspire confidence and pave the 
 way to getting away themselves. The trusty who 
 figured in the instance I have just narrated was 
 named Henry Stevens. Major Wise, the lessee, 
 tliought so well of the act that he naturally look 
 him to Live Oak to drive one of his teams. This 
 was tiie chance Stevens wanted, and he turned up 
 missing one morning and has never since been heard 
 of. Louis Fennison, the trusty who frustrated the 
 plot to murder a guard in the woods, escaped not 
 long afterward, and was next heard of in the city 
 chain-gang at Albany, Georgia. We reclaimed him 
 at the expiration of his sentence, and in later years, 
 under a new lease, he escaped again with two oth- 
 3
 
 43 THE AMKKICAN SIHERIA 
 
 ers, and is still at large. Thus instances might be 
 cited at a tiresome length, but these suffice to make 
 the point plain. 
 
 Very shortly after the camp was moved en masse 
 to Sing Sing we received two prisoners named 
 John Roberts and William Revel, farmers' boys 
 who were sent to prison for one year each. They 
 had relatives living all through that part of the 
 county, and Major Wise being well acquainted with 
 their families, ordered me, very much against my 
 judgment, to make them both trusties on the spot. 
 A few days passed and one morning they started 
 out to get wood. They did not return, and by night- 
 time it became evident that they had violated their 
 paroles and ran away. 
 
 Here was a ticklish situation. They belonged, as 
 I have said, to an immense system of intermarriage; 
 it was only too likely that the whole neighborhood 
 would be up and in arms to protect them, and such 
 was the sentiment against us, that there was not 
 a settler in a radius of fifty miles but would have 
 deemed it a pious act to give them shelter. In 
 brief, none of my guards would consent to join 
 in the chase, regarding it as an open invitation for 
 assassination. 
 
 Roberts' father lived no great distance away, and 
 thinking it probable that the fugitives had gone 
 there, I persuaded a backwoodsman named Buck 
 Harder to guide me to the spot. We reached it 
 at about eleven o'clock, by a long, tortuous route
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 43 
 
 through the forest. It was a one-story log cabin, 
 standing in the midst of a little clearing and flanked 
 by a few dilapidated out-buildings. A stick-and- 
 dirt chimney rose above the ridge-pole of the dwell- 
 ing and a few dried skins were extended against 
 the walls. Beyond the outlying pines the moon 
 swung high, and all was silent as the grave. 
 
 I ordered Harder to the rear and hammered on 
 the front door. At last, after repeated knocking, 
 a quavering voice called out: 
 
 "Who's there?" 
 
 "Strike a light," I answered, "and see." 
 
 "But what do you all want?" drawled the voice. 
 Strike a light and I'll tell you my business." 
 
 There was a long pause, and then came the slowest 
 
 und of match-striking I ever heard in my life. It 
 seemed an interminable time before light shone 
 through the chinks, and then, determined to face the 
 music at once, I burst open the door and rushed in. 
 
 The cabin contained only one room; a few withe- 
 bottomed chairs stood on the floor, the bare cross- 
 logs formed the ceiling, and a long, old-fashioned 
 rifle, that had no doubt killed many a deer, hung 
 with its accouterments against the cliimney-piece. 
 A fire was smoldering on the hearth, and some one 
 lying before it covered with a quilt. An old, 
 wrinkled-faced man, bent and griz/.lctl, but tough as 
 a knot, his white hair and beard disheveled and 
 his whole aspect that of one just aroused from slum- 
 ber, stood holding a light. His sly little eyes
 
 44 THE AMERICAN SIHERIA 
 
 blinked against the flame as he regarded me, and 
 rightly surmising that he was Roberts' father, I 
 toM him, pretty briefly, what my errand was. 
 
 "Sakes alive!" he exclaimed with every signal of 
 dismay; "I can't believe it! Ye don't mean to say 
 that thar fool boy's done cleaned up an' runned 
 away? " 
 
 "That's it exactly," I replied; "and, furthermore, 
 I want to find out what )ou know about it." 
 
 "Me! " he said in a grieved tone; 'why, I don't 
 know nothin' 'tall 'bout it. Ain't seed hide nur 
 hair of the boy." 
 
 I looked around, and noticing a spare bed in one 
 corner with the cover disturbed, asked who slept 
 there. 
 
 "My darter," he drawled; "but she got cold and 
 kim down 'fore the hearth." 
 
 This struck me as suspicious, and at any rate I 
 made up my mind to know who was under that 
 quilt. So I seized the corner and pulled it back, 
 and instantly a pretty face, a pair of eyes, cute and 
 black as a weasel's, peered up at me. It was a 
 young girl en tiis/iai>i7/e, and I dropped the (juilt 
 and retired in some confusion. 
 
 I did not leave altogether, but hid in the woods, 
 after a search of the out-buildings, and watched 
 the house. It was one of those bitterly cold nights 
 that are occasionally experienced in sub-tropical cli- 
 mates, and by morning I was thoroughly benumbed 
 and forced to go without making any discoveries.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 45 
 
 But in after times I heard a curious story from this 
 same girl who slept under the quilt. Her brother 
 had gone straight from the prison to the house and 
 told of his escape. During the day he remained in 
 hiding, while a plan was carefully laid for his 
 journey out of the country. Meanwhile he changed 
 his clothes, hiding the convict stripes under the 
 shucks in the corn-crib, and at dark a ruse was pre- 
 pared to deceive me in case I should put in an 
 appearance. To that end the spare bed was pur- 
 posely rumpled to lead me to believe that he was 
 concealed somewhere about the premises, and detain 
 me there as long as possible — which afterward 
 turned out as arranged. In point of fact, he left 
 the house a short time before I arrived and made 
 straight off. Not only this, but the lonely road be- 
 tween the clearing and the camp was patrolled by 
 sympathetic neighbors, armed with their long- 
 barreled rifles and prepared for a rescue at any cost 
 in case I captured my man. Had I known this as I 
 rode through those midnight aisles, I confess my 
 feelings would have been peculiar, 
 
 Roberts was never heard of again, but Revel 
 made his way to Georgia, where, strange to say, he 
 sought and procured a position as guard at Jones' con- 
 vict camp, near Waycross. We learned of his pres- 
 ence there and prepared to go after him, but he got 
 wind of it and fled, and is probably still under 
 cover in some of the abundant fastnesses of the 
 neighboring states.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Meantime, what of the thirty and odd convicts 
 turricil over to farmer Green Clieers of Leon County, 
 something over a year before? Mr. Cheers un- 
 derstood his husiiicbs, hut unfortunately his busi- 
 ness was not the handling of convicts. He was a 
 farmer simply, with very indistinct notions as to 
 either the difTiculties or responsibilities of the 
 charge he haJ undertaken. There was a large, old- 
 fashioned house on his place, and he used the upper 
 story for his family, and the lower for the convicts, 
 who were at that time known by numbers instead 
 of their names — a plan since discarded. After the 
 prisoners were once turned over to him, there was 
 practically no intjuiry made as to their welfare, 
 certainly none by the state, which followed the 
 good old custom in this regard ; and they might as 
 well have been in Africa, for all that was known of 
 them until in the second year of the lease, when 
 suddenly, by some means or other, tiie ugly secrets 
 of the farm and manor-house came to light; and 
 startling they were indeed. 
 
 It was learned that these miserable people had suf- 
 ered constantly for food and clothing and the com 
 mon necessaries of life. No attention was paid to 
 cleanliness, or the conditions necessary to common de- 
 
 46
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 47 
 
 cency. The sick suffered and died without attention, 
 and the well were worked with less consideration 
 than is accorded to cattle. These are simply facts. 
 There were three or four women in the squad, and 
 what they endured cannot be easily or decorously 
 described in words. There was no system, no 
 records, and little or no management. I believe 
 Mr. Cheers lost considerable money by the enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Among other things, the very unwise course of 
 
 arming prisoners and using them as guards was 
 pursued, and this led to one of the most remarkable 
 deliveries on record. One of the squads was com- 
 posed of twenty workmen and six guards — all con- 
 victs. Among the guards was a man named Joseph 
 Alston, who had been at one time quite rich and 
 what is familiarly termed a "high-roller." 
 
 Before the war he belonged to the close corpora- 
 tion of aristocrats who controlled all the large 
 Floridian plantations, but labor reverses gradually 
 absorbed his property acre by acre, and he sunk 
 lower in the social and financial scale, until at last 
 he committed a larceny of some sort and was sent to 
 the penitentiary for a term of fiveyears. When he 
 was trusted with a gun he immediately began to plot 
 for liberty, and as he was a superior man mentally 
 to the balance, he soon had the other five guards 
 in his way of thinking. 
 
 When everything was ripe for action, these six 
 men, who had the full liberty of the place and
 
 4.8 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 access to the stores, slipped one niglit into a room 
 that was used as a sort of arsenal, and purloined 
 all the spare weapons they could lay their hand? 
 on. They took guns and revolvers, old-fashioned 
 army pistols, and plenty of cartridges, powder and 
 shot and percussion-caps, nearly enough in all to 
 arm the entire squad. These were concealed some 
 little distance away, where they could readily be 
 found, and when they took their squad out next 
 morning they halted at the spot. 
 
 "Bo)'s, " said Alston, "who's tired of prison?" 
 
 "Here! Here!" cried everybody except one man. 
 
 "Have you nerve enough to stand at my back," 
 continued the leader, "in case of a skirmish?" 
 
 "Yes! yes! " 
 
 Still one man was silent. 
 
 'All right. Th'^y are sure to come after us, and 
 f guess we will have to fight our way out. We have 
 weapons here for nearly all of you. Let every 
 true man step out and get a gun." 
 
 With that the arms were distributed. The man 
 wiio had not joined in the demonstration was sharp- 
 ly questioned, and for a while he had to talk for his 
 life. He pleaded fear of failure, and it was finally 
 decided to compel him to go along as a precaution- 
 ary measure. Thus the fugitives started, headed 
 by the six guards and making for a thickly wooded 
 ;ind swampy cleft not far from the Cheers place. 
 As they penetrated it, the unwilling runaway man- 
 aged to give the balance the slip in the underbrush.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 49 
 
 and ran back. The others halted, intrenched them- 
 selves and awaited developments. 
 
 It was not long before the convict reached the 
 farm. He was breathless and wild with excitement, 
 and when he told his story Mr. Cheers immediately 
 gathered together a posse of neighbors and started 
 in pursuit. In a short time they reached the spot 
 where the fugitives were massed, and were greeted 
 by a volley that poured into them from behind 
 palmetto trees, back of logs and every available 
 lodgment in the thicket. They returned the fire, 
 and a pitched battle ensued that raged for hours. 
 The combatants on both sides were trained back- 
 woodsmen as a rule, and versed in the tactics of 
 Indian warfare. They sought shelter and every 
 moment drew a galling fire. Gradually the posse 
 began to gain. They pushed by sallies into the 
 swamp, and hand-to-hand fights took place in the 
 thick of the morass, until at length the convicts 
 were routed. A number were captured, others shot 
 down, and the rest took advantage of tlie confusion 
 to push deep into the swamp and tluis made good 
 '^heir escape. 
 
 The facts of this strange fight were hushed up as 
 soon as possible, but it is reasonably certain that 
 there were several killed on each side and quite a 
 number wounded. Among the captured was Alston. 
 Ke eventually came under my management. I found 
 him a tall, slender, black-bearded man, with a cold, 
 determined face and quiet manners. He served out
 
 JO THE AMERICAN SlliERIA 
 
 a few years of his sentence, and through the influ- 
 ence of powerful friends at the capital obtained a 
 jiart-loii upon the condition that he would not drink 
 "intoxicating iiipiors" in the future. Whether he 
 fuililled this unitjue condition I cannot say. He 
 passed out of sight. 
 
 All these things resulted in the convicts being 
 taken away from Mr. Cheers in the second year of 
 his sub lease. They reached us in about the same 
 condition as those received from Lake Eustace, and 
 some of them were clad in the filthy renmants of 
 the very clothing they had worn at the time they 
 received their original sentence in court. I had 
 about the same experience in getting them into 
 condition for the turpentine work, and will not 
 dwell upon its details. 
 
 There were a good many odd stories connected 
 with the convicts we had, that came to light from 
 time to time, and I recall a singular accession to 
 our ranks at about this period. During the old 
 penitentiary /v.j,v///<- at Chattahoochee, one of the 
 negro sects at Live Oak desired to build a church. 
 The congregation, with infinite pains, collected all 
 the necessary material except the nails. This was 
 a matter of great tribulation to them until one of 
 the deacons, a big, tall, and very bow-legged Afri- 
 can, produced a keg of the necessary article. He 
 maintained strict silence as to where the nails came 
 from, and tlie rest of the flock were divided in opin- 
 ion between a miracle and a special interposition
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 5I 
 
 of providence. However, by a singular coincidence, 
 Major Wise, who had a general store at the place, 
 missed a keg of nails from his warehouse, and he 
 proceeded to have the law on the good deacon. 
 The jury refused to accept the miracle theory, and 
 gave him two years in the penitentiary. 
 
 After doing a little of his time the prisoner es- 
 caped and was not heard from again until, years 
 after, Major Wise happened to be at Eufala, Ala- 
 bama, and noticed an extremely bow-legged black 
 man hanging about the depot. It was the deacon. 
 The Major recognized him at once, had him arrested, 
 in spite of his pious protestations, and he was 
 brought to our camp on a requisition. He served 
 out the balance of his time without further trouble. 
 
 I have had occasion to mention the state of pub- 
 lic feeling against the camp and, indeed, it has an 
 important bearing in much that is told in this nar- 
 rative. An incident occurring at this time is direct- 
 ly in point. Not only were the people exceeding- 
 ly bitter on the subject of the lease, but stories of 
 dreadful cruelties were freely circulated and gener- 
 ally believed. Among them was one in which it 
 was said that I had killed a negro convict, stamped 
 his brains out with my boots, and hid the body un- 
 der an old church until I had an opportunity to 
 bury it at night. This tale was told with every 
 circumstance of truth, and eventually reached the 
 ears of the Governor. Consequently I was very 
 much surprised one day to receive a visit from a
 
 53 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 legislative investigating committee. I at once had 
 ilic men drawn up in line and the roll called, which 
 showed that none were missing, and, of course, 
 st'ttleil the qutstion, hut I was anxious to learn who 
 had started the story. 
 
 At last I traced it to a young man named Fry, 
 but I could never find him. He had always "just 
 gone," every place I inquired. One day, however, 
 while working a squad near what was called the 
 Macedonia Church, I learned that he was at a neigh- 
 boring house and sent a trusty after him. A man 
 named Hurst was lounging near the church door. • 
 
 "Tell Fry to bring his sliot-gun with him when 
 he comes," he called after the trusty. 
 
 "What have you to do with this affair? " I asked him. 
 
 He replied, pretty stoutly, that Fry had told 
 no lie about me and that he was prepared to vouch 
 for him or for anything lie said. Some further 
 words passed in which I think I said that I could 
 whip him and Fr}' together, if necessary. 
 
 "You can't whip me alone, yet," retorted Hurst; 
 and, seeing myself in for it, 1 handed my gun to 
 a guard and set to, not exactly according to prize- 
 ring rules, but actively enough to soon leave me 
 in possession of the field and put a stop forever to 
 the murder story. Fry remained discreetly indoors 
 during the combat. }Iurst afterward hired to me 
 as a guard and made a good one. He was involved, 
 later on, in an exciting shooting affra^)', whicfh I 
 will narrate at the proper place.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 53 
 
 One great need at the camp at that time was a 
 pack of reliable fox-hounds for trailing escapes. 
 We kept a look-out for such animals, and one morn- 
 ing an old woman went past with three puppies 
 bunched together in her arms. My brother called 
 to her and offered ten dollars for the litter, which 
 she accepted with alacrity, and thus we obtained a 
 start. To any one interested in dog-breeding, the 
 subsequent career of this little pack would be at 
 least a novel story, and the history of the progeny 
 that sprung from it is closely interwoven with the 
 history of the camp. They were pure-blooded 
 hounds, and also natural man-trailers, a thing that 
 does not always follow, by any means. When they 
 were still quite small I had a chance to test their 
 power in a manner that would seem quite incred- 
 ible to those not familiar with the traits of these 
 animals. 
 
 Early one warm, pleasant morning, when the air 
 was wonderfully still, but a dense fog hung over the 
 lowlands, I was preparing to ride to the squads on 
 my daily trip of inspection, when I heard the report 
 of a rifle. This being the signal of danger, I list- 
 ened to determine the direction. Such was the won- 
 derful tranquillity of the atmosphere, that the sound 
 seemed to pass me like something palpable and 
 and go echoing for miles beyond. I knew about 
 where the squads were; hastily gathering the three 
 puppies in my arms, I leaped on my horse and put 
 off at a gallop, when I was again arrested by two
 
 54 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 more shots from a different quarter. I faced about 
 and made for tlie direction of the last reports, and 
 reached a squad drawn close together in the woods. 
 
 The guard informed me briefly that a convict 
 from some other gang had run past them, and that 
 he had fired upon him, but that the fog was so dense 
 that he could see notliing but a shadowy form 
 throuLjh it an<.l was unable to aim accurately. 
 
 This indicated only one escape, and getting the 
 direction, I rode over to where the fugitive had 
 passed and put the puppies down upon the trail. 
 They were so small that I was doubtful of the re- 
 sult, but to my surprise, they took scent immedi- 
 ately and started off. 1 followed and was obliged 
 to constantly check my horse into a walk to keep 
 from stepping on them. It was a slow and proba- 
 bly a comical procession, but the little fellows 
 stuck to it like veterans, toddling along on their 
 short legs, until we had traversed a mile or so, 
 when I saw our man looming through the fog right 
 ahead. He had tired of rujining, and at the time 
 was pursuing his way at a leisurely walk, imagin- 
 ing himself perfectly safe and little crediting the 
 ability of my baby dogs to hunt him down. I shall 
 never forget the look of disgust that came over his 
 face when I shouted to him to halt and he saw who 
 his pursuers were. 
 
 Convicts naturally enough hate the animals that 
 have nipped so many hopes in the bud, and not long 
 after this all three dogs were taken violently sick
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 57 
 
 with every symptom of poisoning, and two died. I 
 ferreted the matter out and discovered that one 
 Cyru3 Cooks, then known as "number thirty-four," 
 had given them powdered glass — a favorite prison 
 poison, i'he survivor of the pack flourished to be- 
 come the sire of a race of dogs famous in southern 
 prison annals. 
 
 While we carried on the work steadily in the 
 woods, Major Wise started a brick-yard on a small 
 scale at Live Oak, and by the way, manufactured 
 the first brick used in that place, which is now a 
 flourishing little city. We sent over a squad of 
 eight men in charge of a guard named Hurst (no 
 relation to the man with whom I had a fight at 
 Macedonia Church) to operate the brick machines. 
 Hurst was a native, and apparently more richly en- 
 dowed with good nature than good sense. The sun 
 was very hot one day, and thinking to give his squad 
 a treat, he sent to a neighboring house and pur- 
 chased a quantity of buttermilk. The milk was 
 passed around, and finally he and a convict named 
 Sol Love stood drinking the balance. Love had 
 once before escaped and was not only a desperate 
 fellow but a conniver of the first water. He plied 
 Hurst with smooth talk, and while the guard had 
 his head in the buttermilk-can, imbibing the grate- 
 ful fluid, all the rest of the squad took to their 
 heels. Hurst, in his consternation, started after 
 them, firing as he ran, and as soon as the coast was 
 clear Love departed in the opposite direction.
 
 t^S THK AMERICAN SIHERIA 
 
 lliis completed the guard's bewilderment, and he 
 ran first one way and then the other, until all were 
 out of sight. 
 
 The case was quickly reported, and Major Wise, 
 a guard named Mclntyre, and I started in pursuit. 
 We held the trail up to tlie vicinity of the town 
 of Sanderson, near wliic h it became obscure, and we 
 concluded that several, if not all, of the convicts 
 were in hiding thereabouts. Not far from the town 
 there is a railroad bridge, and as night was coming 
 on and it was likely that some of the party would 
 attempt to cross under cover of darkness, we con- 
 cealed ourselves close by and watched. After it be- 
 came quite dark, Major Wise and I went to town 
 to get some supper, leaving Mclntyre on guard. It 
 subsequently transpired that he also got tired and 
 left; but at any rate, as we came back, groping our 
 way along, we ran directly into three men coming 
 down the road. The surprise was mutual, but as 
 they attempted to run we each seized one, and saw 
 then that they were in prison garb. The third was 
 rapidly making off in the darkness, and both the 
 Major and myself drew our pistols and fired at 
 him. The black figure seemed to reel for an in- 
 stant, but at the next the night had swallowed him 
 up. 
 
 The men we caught were two of the brick- 
 yard fugitives, nametl Peter Reddick and George 
 Gomez, and the other was the redoubtable Sol 
 Love. Wc were satisfied with what we had bagged
 
 THE AMF.KICAN SIIiERIA 59 
 
 that night, and it was altogether too dark to 
 search further for Love; but next morning we 
 looked over the ground and found indisputable 
 evidence that he had been wounded. We discov- 
 ered a place where he had stretched himself by a 
 log and bled freely, but the trail took us to a dense 
 swamp in which it was lost. 
 
 About two weeks later a rumor came that a 
 strange man had died under mysterious circum- 
 stances in a house on the outskirts of the town of 
 St. Mary's. Investigation proved that it was Love. 
 Our bullets had pierced his chest, but as he was a 
 man of herculean strength, he had dragged himself 
 from the swamp to the dwelling where he died, 
 which was occupied by a friend of his. He was so 
 far spent with suffering and fatigue when he arrived 
 that it was impossible for him to rally, and thus 
 ended a desperate man. 
 
 Reddick was shortly after the principal in 
 another attempt to escape, that terminated rather 
 grotesquely. He seized a favorable opportunity to 
 make a rush from the yard, and was tearing along 
 at a furious rate when a guard saw him, called on 
 him to halt, and then fired. The bullet went right 
 through his hat, stunning and scaring him so badly 
 that he dropped on all fours ami ran like a monkey 
 to a corn-crib which was sitting on piles above 
 the surface of the ground. He scrambled under- 
 neath and stretched himself carefully at length, for 
 dead. He was dragged out as stiff as a poker and
 
 OO rHK AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 revived with the strap. Keddick is still in prison, 
 now on his fifth sentence, and has made innumera- 
 ble attempts to escape, but has always been unsuc- 
 cessful. Between terms at the Florida prison, he 
 did one at Albany, New York, and is at present 
 under twenty years sentence for thirteen burglaries. 
 He is an expert at what is known as "second-story 
 work." 
 
 It might reasonably be supposed that amon< so 
 many men willing to risk life for liberty there would 
 be others nerved by desperation to a further step, 
 and that suicides would be frequent. But this 
 was not the case. During my fourteen years expe- 
 rience there has been no instance of the kind, and in 
 this particular our prison records are unique. How- 
 ever, there have been attempts — three during our stay 
 at Sing Sing, and they were sufficiently harrowing. 
 We had a negro preacher named Watson, sent from 
 Madison County for stealing cotton. One day his 
 guard threatened him with a whipping for laziness, 
 and the dread of it preyed greatly on his mind. At 
 last he determined to kill himself. He was in the 
 woods at the time, cutting boxes, and seizing his 
 box axe by the helve, he sawed the keen edge 
 back and forth a dozen times into his throat, com- 
 pletelj' severing the windpipe and inflicting a hor- 
 rible wound through which his tongue dropped. 
 The pain unnerved him and he let the axe fall and 
 tried to call for the guard, but only a ghastly, 
 whistling sound came from his mutilated throat.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 6l 
 
 Thus he stood for several minutes, a picture for a 
 nightmare, staggering, beckoning with his bloody 
 fingers and pointing to the open gash. The guard 
 recoiled in horror, refused to go near him, and sent 
 for me. I sewed up the wound as best I could, and 
 as the jugular vein had escaped by the merest 
 chance, the man eventually got well; but suicide 
 was ever after a subject in which he took no inter- 
 est. 
 
 The next case was that of Thomas Jump, a 
 Hernando County backwoodsman, who was sent to 
 prison for murdering his brother-in-law. Pie had 
 lived the usual life of a shiftless "Cracker, " hunting 
 and fishing, and hard work did not agree with 
 him. He was put to "chipping," and presently 
 stopped in disgust. The guard told him to go to 
 work or he would have him whipped. At the word 
 "whipped," the wild backwoodsman, who had never 
 in all his life suffered a blow in anger, started as 
 if a bullet had struck him. His eyes flashed fire. 
 
 "Do what?" he cried. 
 
 "Have you whipped," replied the guard coolly. 
 
 Jump pondered awhile in silent rage. 
 
 "Then it will be the first time," he said, "since 
 my mammy used to do it." 
 
 The bare possibility of such a thing stuck in liis 
 mind and in a few mom.ents he called wildly to the 
 guard to shoot him, and then attempted to knock 
 his own brains out with the weight attached to his 
 hack. He struck himself hard enough to fell an
 
 6a THE A^!KRI(•AN SIRERIA 
 
 OX, but his skull was too thick and he sun'ivcd the 
 hammering. He was afterward pardoneil out and 
 lived to be glad of his failure. 
 
 The third would-be suicide was Simon Moody, a 
 Brailford negro, who, under circumstances of pecul- 
 iar atrocity, murdered a white man who had raised 
 him. For this he was sentenced to prison for life; 
 and when the camp-agent called for him at jail, he 
 made some excuse to borrow the jailer's knife, with 
 which he cut his throat from ear to ear. He was 
 stitched up and lived, but, like the preacher Wat- 
 son, he ever after abhorred the very name of suicide. 
 
 While, as has been seen, there were few who 
 were willing to deliberately end their career, there 
 were many who were willing to resort to desperate 
 expedients to avert labor. The most curious case 
 was that of a man named Clow, a druggist and a 
 very well-informed man, who was under seven years 
 sentence for school-record forgery. He was incor- 
 rigibly lazy, and having but one eye he determined 
 to totally blind himself to escape work. He 
 procured a neeille and tried to liire a fellow-pris- 
 oner to hold it while he drove it into the pupil of 
 his remaining eye. He was afraid to undertake the 
 job alone, for fear of mutilating himself without 
 accomplishing his ends. I learned of the matter 
 and punished Clow severely, promising him a good 
 many repetitions if he tried the experiment. This 
 stopped him, but he moped and pined away until 
 he finally died in prison.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 63 
 
 James Peterson, a professional thief sent from 
 Gainesville, was a man of the same stamp. He made 
 up his mind not to work, and when sent into the 
 woods to cut boxes, drove his axe throuf^h his foot. 
 It was a very severe gash, but was healing and he 
 was able to hobble about, when I sent him into the 
 yard one day to split wood. He grumbled a good 
 deal, and when he reached the woodpile placed his 
 foot on a block and deliberately cut it again across 
 the old wound. The blood spouted out in a perfect 
 torrent and he was carried into the hospital depart- 
 ment. For this act he paid a dear penalty. The 
 wound, reopened as it was, refused to heal; both 
 foot and leg swelled to enormous size and finally 
 gangrene set in. After lingering in great agony, 
 he died. 
 
 Feigned insanity and pretended sickness were 
 also common dodges. We had a giant of a convict 
 in camp named Jim Johnson, and one morning while 
 in the woods he stuck his axe under his arm and 
 began to gibber idiotically at a tree-top. He 
 could not be moved or silenced, and finally the 
 guard chained him to a pine, clearing the ground 
 round about of sticks and stones, and went on with 
 his squad, first sending a trusty after me. When I 
 arrived he was still talking gibberish to the boughs, 
 and as insanity does not usually set in that way, I 
 concluded the gentleman was shamming. I laid my 
 whip on him pretty vigorously, and presently he 
 came to his senses and begged to be allowed to go
 
 64 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 to work. I told liiin to ^o ahead, but in a few min- 
 utes he resumed his tactics and began wildly cut- 
 ting down a tree instead of cutting a box in it, 
 making strange noises at the same time. On this 
 occasion I prolongeil the punishment until he 
 admitted the ruse and promised to drop it in the 
 future. lie had no more attacks after that, and 
 made it a point to take new prisoners aside and 
 warn them in a fatherly way against the insanity 
 dodge. 
 
 A female prisoner also tried it on in a some- 
 what similar manner. She simulated epileptic 
 iits and did it to perfection, writhing, shrieking, 
 and finally lying so still and inert that her breath- 
 ing could not be detected. On one occasion, 
 while she was in this condition, I put my finger on 
 her pulse and found the tell-tale artery beating as 
 steadily as ever, proving conclusively that there was 
 no collapse. She was punished, and that ended the 
 fits.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Of the native outlaws who were in our camp dur- 
 ing our stay at Sing Sing, no three more conspicu- 
 ous examples could be found than Columbus S^e, 
 John G. Lippford and John Williams. See was a 
 twenty-year man, and Lippford and Williams for 
 five years each. Of the three, Lippford was the most 
 intelligent; he had been convicted of some com- 
 plicated land fraud; but they were all fearless, 
 determined, inured to hardships from childhood — 
 in short, typical specimens of the wild, southern 
 backwoodsman. It was this trio who plotted and 
 carried out a very original and remarkable prison 
 delivery. 
 
 By good conduct and an oily tongue, See man- 
 aged to inspire sufficient confidence to obtain the 
 position of cook, and as such he had the run of the 
 yard. Shortly afterward the guards began to miss 
 rifle cartridges, but as these are always in considera 
 ble demand for hunting, they jokingly laid the loss 
 at one another's door, and nothing much was thought 
 of it. I had at the time a small squad composed 
 exclusively of white men, and Williams and Lipp- 
 ford were members of it. They usually worked in 
 f-he woods, but one day I left all but one of them 
 on the yard to build a shed. Including some 
 
 65
 
 66 THE AMF.RUAN SIHERIA 
 
 negroes, there were, in all, fourteen or fifteen con- 
 victs about the premises, and they were guarded by 
 W. J. Hillman, since captain of a convict camp. 
 Ilillinan had in some way managed to incur the 
 enmity of nearly all the white convicts, and they 
 hated him very cordially. There was only one 
 other guard on tlic place — the night watchman, who 
 was asleep in his room in the guard-house. The 
 commissary-man had gone bird-hunting that day. 
 
 This, then, was the situation when See came 
 through the yard, apparently on some errand con- 
 nected with the kitchen. He passed close to Hill- 
 man and the instant he was behind him wheeled and 
 grabbed him aroimd the waist, pinioning his arms 
 to his side. The next moment they were fighting 
 like tigers for possession of the guard's gun. 
 
 Hillman, who realized fully the feeling of the 
 men toward him, and the small chance he would 
 stand when once disarmed, struggled with the 
 strength of desperation, and would probablj' have 
 worsted his assailant had not two other men 
 dropped apparently from the clouds and taken a 
 hand in the fray. They were Lippford and Williams, 
 who had deliberately leaped from the top of the 
 high shelter where they were working, and escaping 
 injury by a miracle, joined with See and soon had 
 the gun. 
 
 Lippford instantly cocked it, and pointing it at 
 Hillman's head, ordered him to lie still. It is 
 needless to say he obeyed. See then ran into the 
 
 1
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 67 
 
 guard's quarters, secured the nigh-twatchman's 
 ririe, and going to the rear of the cell-house, dug 
 up a lapful of cartridges, which he had been bury- 
 ing, one by one, for weeks. 
 
 By this time they were joined by five others, and 
 the camp was in their hands. After See dug up his 
 ammunition he made a bee-line for the kitchen, 
 with the full intention of then and there killing a 
 negro named Henry Duncan, who was assistant 
 cook, and whose life he had often sworn to take on 
 account of some fancied affront. Duncan saw him 
 coming, and realizing his extreme peril, rushed out 
 and ran like a deer, taking the direction in which 
 the commissary-man was hunting. Common pru- 
 dence now dictated that the men leave at once, but 
 the temptation to "get even" with Hillman was too 
 strong; the long-restrained hatred broke forth, and 
 they cursed him in every vernacular they could lay 
 their tongue to. 
 
 His life, for the moment, was not worth a copper, 
 and See covered him with his rifle where he lay on 
 the ground, and attempted repeatedly to shoot him, 
 but Lippford snatched the muzzle away. 
 
 "I can't live satisfied until that man dies," cried 
 the convict, seeking to bring the rifle-sights on a 
 line with the guard's head. 
 
 "For God's sake, See!" urged Lippford, "don't 
 put our necks in a halter for a grudge." 
 
 At length this counsel prevailed, and the eight 
 men took their departure in a sort of triumphal
 
 68 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 procession, singing at the tops of their voices. 
 Before going tliey broke into the dog-kennel and 
 took with them two hounds used for trailing. Sev- 
 en or eight negroes refused to go, and remained. 
 
 I had a house near by and my wife witnessed the 
 whole scene from the front door. Wiien she saw 
 Killman disarmed, she ran to a bureau and taking 
 out a revolver of mine waved it to him. A few 
 moments later one of the escapes, a negro, dashed 
 past. 
 
 "Jim," she called, "go back to camp!" 
 
 "Can't do it. Miss Lizzie," answered the dark)' 
 grinning; "dis yere too good a chance! " 
 
 Finally Hillman came for the pistol and started on 
 horseback for Live Oak after help. As he rode off 
 the yard Duncan and the commissary-man came rush- 
 ing over a wooded slope. The harrowing experience 
 had so changed Hillman and he had turned so black 
 in the face from suffusion of blood that Duncan 
 thought he was a negro in the act of escaping, and 
 shouted to the other to shoot him down. The guard 
 yelled out his name just in tliC nick of time, and 
 galloped away. 
 
 As soon as possible after we received the news, 
 we formed a posse and started in pursuit. We traced 
 the convicts to the Suwanee River, which they 
 crossed, and there the trail was broken; so we were 
 obliged, reluctantly, to abandon the chase. None 
 of the eif^ht men were recaptured, although we oc- 
 casionally heard from them as they pushed south.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 6g 
 
 The fact was that, while repeatedly seen, they were 
 such notorious and acknowledged desperadoes that 
 no citizens dared to halt them. I should explain 
 that when I speak of citizens, both here and in other 
 places in this narrative, I use the word in the sense 
 applied in my calling. Just as in Utah all who 
 are not Mormons are known as Gentiles, so in pris- 
 on vernacular all who are not convicts arc alluded 
 to as citizens. The party of fugitives would enter 
 the lonely and isolated cabins of the section they 
 traversed, and force the settlers to give them such 
 food and shelter as they required. At one place they 
 traded one of our guns for a load of provisions. 
 
 Of the two dogs they took with them, one, a fe- 
 male, returned and afterward had a litter of puppies 
 that were destined at a later day to participate in 
 some exciting scenes themselves. The other, the 
 sire of the litter, which they carried along or made 
 away with, was the last of the three purchased, as 
 I have related, by my brother to start a pack. He 
 was a magnificent trailer, and I regretted to lose 
 him. 
 
 It may be interesting to trace the subsequent ca- 
 reer of the three ringleaders. Lippford went to Mar- 
 ion County, and in time the officers learned of his 
 whereabouts and a posse went to capture him. He 
 had cleared a little place in the woods, built him- 
 self a cabin and was living the life of the ordinary 
 settler. He was in the house at the time the posse 
 appeared, and when they reached the edge of the
 
 70 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 clearing he made a siuUien dash from the door and 
 rushed toward a dense and trackless swamp that 
 bordered on the place. When the officers saw that 
 he was about to escape in its impenetrable recesses, 
 they fired on him, and a bundle he was carrying on 
 his back fell to the ground. Lippford staggered 
 on and disappeared in the morass. That was the 
 last ever seen of him, but as two buckshot holes 
 were found passing clear through the bundle, it is 
 safe to say that his bones lie somewhere in the dark 
 morass that swallowed him up. 
 
 Williams met his fate at Brookville, Florida. 
 He was hiding in the vicinity, but in the course of 
 time he grew bold and would occasionally come into 
 town for a spree. His identity was at the time un- 
 suspected, but on one of these carousals he went too 
 far, and in a spirit of pure drunken deviltry he shot 
 down an inoffensive negro upon the street. He 
 took flight, sobered by the enormity of the act, and 
 was instantly pursued by a throng of citizens and 
 officers. A running fight ensued, and a deputy sheriff 
 named John Steele shot him dead. His body was 
 subsequently identified. 
 
 I have reason to l^clieve that See is still alive, 
 and shall have occasion to again allude to him. He 
 went into an unsettled portion of Taylor County, 
 where he lived the life of a wild man, terrorizing 
 the few who met him and holding his domain by 
 force of his sinister reputation. Occasionally the 
 citizens of the county would appeal to the officers
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 7I 
 
 to remove so undesirable a resident, but, as far as 
 I know, no one ever liad the hardihood to attempt 
 it. 
 
 Time and again during these days, the turbulent 
 and desperate nature of the prisoners broke forth. 
 Some weeks after the capture of the camp which I 
 have detailed, I sent a squad of eight men into 
 the woods in charge of a new guard named W. B. 
 Phillips, a tall, raw-boned, wild-looking native — 
 rather harum-scarum, but a nervy fellow and a dead 
 shot. They had not been out very long before three 
 of the squad — John Jacobs, James Goings and Will- 
 iam Alexander — dropped their tools and ran. 
 
 Phillips was instantly all excitement and began 
 whooping like a Comanche, but he retained enough 
 presence of mind to open fire. He first drew down 
 on Goings, and at the shot the man fell to the 
 ground, pierced through both legs. It was the 
 shock, however, more than the wound that upset 
 him, and he staggered to his feet again and disap- 
 peared in the underbrush. Phillips' next shot was 
 at Alexander, and he also showed signs of being 
 hit, but kept on nevertheless. We afterward 
 learned that the bullet had struck him in the side, 
 inflicting a painful but not a serious wound. By 
 this time Jacobs was nearly 300 yards away, lum- 
 bering along and greatly hampered by his chains, 
 which were so short as to prevent him from taking 
 a running gait. It was one chance in a hundred, 
 but the guard took a farewell shot at him, and by a
 
 72 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 curious accident the bullet struck the stride-chain, 
 cutting it in two. Thus unexpectedly relieved of 
 his impediment, the fugitive bounded like a deer 
 and soon vanished. We did not hear anything more 
 of him for years, and my subsequent experience 
 with him, which was to say the least peculiar, I 
 will relate further on. Alexander also made good 
 his escape and was last seen in Mobile, Alabama, 
 but Goings was less fortunate. 
 
 The night following the delivery, I was sitting 
 in m)- house when a little girl from a neighboring 
 settler's rushed in, as pale as a ghost. 
 
 "Oh, Captain Powell!" she exclaimed, "there's a 
 wounded prisoner just passed our house!" 
 
 "How did he look?" I asked, hardly able to be- 
 lieve that any of the runaways were still in the vi- 
 cinity. 
 
 "He has both legs broken," she said, "and is 
 pulling himself along with sticks." 
 
 Still incredulov.',, .jut willing to investigate, I 
 went back with her, and, sure enough, found the 
 track of a man in the dew that lay heavy on the 
 grass. He had been half-crawling and half-drag- 
 ging himself, by thrusting two sticks in the ground, 
 and the marks were very plain to be seen. By that 
 time it was too dark to do an}tliing that night, but 
 early next morning wc took the trail. It was easily 
 traced by the crushed herbage and occasional spots 
 of blood, and much to my surprise, for I knew the 
 man must be very weak and badly wounded, it led
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 75 
 
 US clear to Live Oak. There it was lost on the 
 hard roads, and we made diligent search for some 
 hours, but were unable to get trace of our man. 
 
 We were about to leave when we learned that the 
 night before some one had broken into the house 
 of Colonel White, afterward Judge White, a promi- 
 nent citizen of the place. There was something 
 peculiar about the burglary. The thief, whoever 
 he was, had made no effort to take any valuables, 
 but had stolen nothing but food and was apparently 
 in a great hurry to get away. All things consid- 
 ered, I concluded to search the premises. They in- 
 cluded a large vineyard, in the rear of which was 
 what is called a "sink-hole." These are common 
 in the lime stratum that underlies much of North- 
 ern Florida, and are simply deep caverns open at 
 the top and often having a spring of living water 
 at the bottom. This one was densely masked by 
 trees growing in crevices and luxuriant vegetation, 
 and we clambered down to explore it. Crouched 
 upon the slippery rocks at the bottom, and utterly 
 exhausted by pain and fatigue, was our missing 
 prisoner. 
 
 We carried him back to camp and he eventually 
 recovered, but how he made so long a journey in 
 his condition is a mystery only to be explained by 
 indomitable nerve. 
 
 It so happened that other shooting affrays fol- 
 lowed in close order. The convicts knew full well 
 that when they ran they took their lives in their
 
 76 TH£ AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 hands, lull tlicrc was no lack of men prepared for 
 such a risk. The guards, in emergencies of the kind, 
 couKl not leave their squads, and the only mcssen- 
 f^cr ihcy could send was a bullet. It was hard, I 
 atlmit, but if blame attached to it, it was the sys- 
 tem that should receive it. 
 
 Two cases of the sort occurred in one ilay. In 
 one of them a guard named Hurst, whom I have 
 already mentioned, figured. He had in his s(}uad a 
 veteran sailor named Williams, and the men were 
 chipping pines. This operation necessitates stoop- 
 ing, and finally Williams stuck his hack into a tree 
 and faced about. 
 
 "Look here!" he said to the guard, "do you fel- 
 lows expect a man to work standing on his 
 head?" 
 
 "I don't care what you stand on," replied Hurst, 
 "just so you chip those pines." 
 
 With that the sailor dasheil off through the 
 woods. Hurst fired and the bullet struck him in 
 the hip, knocking him head over heels. In time 
 the wound healed, but Williams persisted that the 
 leg was entirely paralyzed, and went hobbling about 
 on crutches, doing no work at all for the balance 
 of his time — some two years. I frequently accused 
 him of shamming, but the prison physician thought 
 otherwise. On the day of his discharge my judg- 
 meut was vindicated. He made perfectly sure that 
 he was free, and then broke both crutclies across 
 his knees, roaring with laughter.
 
 IHE AMERICAN SIBERIA 77 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" he shouted; "a man that can't 
 beat his way in prison ought to be fried in oil!" 
 
 On the day that he was wounded, a negro named 
 Frank Johnson also attempted to run, but was shot 
 down by his guard, Louis Richard. It was a coin- 
 cidence that he also was wounded about the thigh, 
 and it turned out to be a serious matter for hiui, 
 for the joint stiffened permanently. He suffered 
 greatly, and was discharged at the expiration of his 
 sentence, lamed for life. 
 
 It may be well to note, in connection, that this 
 narrative is the only existing record of escapes. 
 Strange to say, no official register was kept or au- 
 thorized fey the lessee, and when the convicts were 
 turned over by Major Wise to his successor he 
 was unable to furnish anything but a list of the 
 men he then had. In consequence it is an undenia- 
 ble fact that there are at this day dozens of escaped 
 convicts living throughout Florida, who could not 
 be successfully reclaimed by process of court, 
 through inability to trace their cases or prove that 
 they ever did escape. 
 
 It goes almost without saying, that in the rude 
 back districts there was many an atrocity perpe- 
 trated in the name of the law, and instances of a 
 monstrous nature frequently came under my obser- 
 vation. Such a case was that of a negro named Tony 
 Tucker, who to my certain knowledge died from 
 the effects of an almost incredible piece of barbar- 
 ity. We received him from Sumpter County at about
 
 78 I UK AMrUI( A.. ■ 11:1 klA 
 
 tli; ;ii c\ I'lits, auii v. ikii lie arrived at camp 
 
 lie i 1 a singular and horrible apj^earance. lie 
 
 seemed to be suffering from an enormous goitre, 
 if a goitre can be imagined consisting of a circle 
 of separate swellings that puffed his neck out of all 
 semblance to anything human, and extended up upon 
 his head. It was caused in this wise: Wlicn 
 arrested he was some distance from the jail, and 
 the officers bound his hands and fastened one end 
 of a long chain around his neck. They attached 
 the other end to their buggy and started off at a 
 brisk trot. By a desperate effort the negro kept 
 up for a while, and then he fell repeatedly ami was 
 dragged th.rough the dirt for yards before the horse 
 could be slowed down to enable him to regain his 
 feet. He reached the jail more dead than alive, 
 and in a little while he was in the condition I 
 have described. 
 
 Each separate link had ground into his flesh and 
 produced an abscess, and the pressure threatened 
 every moment to strangle liim, besides producing 
 intolerable pain. I lanced the neck in perhaps 
 twenty places and pavi him some relief, but he was 
 mortally hurt and reail} dying by inches when re- 
 ceived. He lingered for a long time, being a man 
 of powerful physique, but eventually expired in the 
 greatest agon)'. This is no overdrawn or highly col- 
 ored picture, but simply a statement of facts. I 
 never learned tho names of the oflkors who so 
 cruelly misused him.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIDF.RIA 79 
 
 It may be remembered that our cell house at 
 Sing Sing was a double structure — two buildings 
 side by side. The doors were not customarily locked 
 at night; the fact that the prisoners were linked 
 on the building-chain, and an armed guard patrol- 
 ling the front wing being deemed sufficient protec- 
 tion. One night a convict, whose name has been 
 lost, cut his chain in two and crept off his bunk 
 toward the door. The guard was slowly pacing 
 from one house to the other, and when his back 
 was turned the prisoner made a sudden dash for 
 liberty. He flung the door wide open, thus inter- 
 posing it between himself and the guard, and 
 whipped around the corner of the house. Before 
 the night watchman could fire a shot he had dis- 
 appeared in the darkness. 
 
 We had the dogs on his track directly; but he 
 was the fleetest footed man I ever followed, and he 
 beat us in a fair race — the first and last case of the 
 kind on record. Not only did he outrun the swift 
 hounds through the pitchy darkness, but he did it 
 so easily that as he passed through watermelon 
 patches he would sit down and refresh himself 
 with a melon or two before resuming his flight. 
 We concluded it was no use chasing such a cham- 
 pion sprinter, and gave him up. 
 
 It was about this time, or near it, that a curious 
 affair, hushed up as speedily as possible, came under 
 my notice. 
 
 One day six prisoners were received in camp from
 
 8o THE AMF.klCAN SlhERIA 
 
 Brevard County on a fivi-}ear sentence each, for 
 cattle stealing. Tiny wire niidiile aged, substan- 
 tial looking, and while they had the rough-and- 
 ready exterior of frontiersmen, they were of an 
 altogether different type from the class that usually 
 finds its way into prisons. Two days later a mes- 
 sage came in hot haste to send the men to Live 
 Oak, as they had been granted a new trial. Ac- 
 cordingly they were sent away, and that was the last 
 I ever saw of them. Ihe explanation was after- 
 ward made that there had been some irregularity 
 about their first trial, but I subseqently learned 
 that the "irregularity" in question consisted of an 
 extraordinary conspiracy, made possible by the pe- 
 culiar condition of affairs in the section where they 
 lived. In order to understand it, it must be known 
 that Brevard and several adjoining counties were 
 largely given over at that time to the cattle busi- 
 ness. The market was Cuba, and vast herds ranged 
 through the cane brakes and grazed on the rich up- 
 lands. Those who engaged in the business on a 
 large scale grew rich, and it was no unusual thing 
 for rude backwoodsmen, almost reared in the sad- 
 dle and often not able to write their own names, 
 to have from twenty-five to fifty thousand dollars 
 in Spanish gold in their rough log cabins. The 
 retainers of th^ise cattle barons formed small armies ; 
 they were entirely isolated from the world, and they 
 ordained things to suit themselves. Of courts, law- 
 ofTicers, or any restraining influence whatever except
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 8x 
 
 force, there was none. Occasionally feuds would 
 spring up, usually arising from some quarrel over 
 the ownership of cattle, and were settled Indian 
 fashion, by a merciless bushwhacking warfare in the 
 woods. Many a skeleton lies moldering among the 
 palmettos to-day, the fruit of such encounters, and 
 many a smoke-stack stands as a monument of the 
 cabins burned and pillaged in these fierce internal 
 strifes. 
 
 It was in this country and amidst these condi- 
 tions that the six men who were so briefly my pris- 
 oners lived. They were all stock-raisers on a small 
 scale, and in that capacity incurred the enmity of 
 some of the cattle barons I have alluded to. As 
 they were desperate and determined fellows, it was 
 deemed inadvisable to attempt to frighten them out 
 of the country, and a plot was finally formed to get 
 rid of them by sending them to prison. I have said 
 that there were no courts. They proceeded to or- 
 ganize a bogus one in a cabin belonging to one of 
 the rich stockmen. Judge, jury, court officers and 
 lawyers were impersonated by his cowboys, and a 
 pretended sheriff was sent out to arrest the victims. 
 
 Of course such a ruse would not have deceived a 
 man of experience for a moment, but not one of the 
 six had ever been in a court before in his life, and 
 while they held the principles of law in contf^mpt, 
 they had a superstitious awe, common to natives, 
 of its outward forms. Consequcntl}' they came in, 
 hats in hand, and gravely faced the spurious judge
 
 Si THF AMKRI< AN SIPERIA 
 
 and villainous-looking cowboy jun-. Lawyers were 
 furnished them, and they were arraigned on the 
 charge of cattle-stealing. The solemn farce of trial 
 was proceeded with, and it is needless to say that 
 they were promptly found guilty and the judge 
 sentenced them to live years apiece in prison. Had 
 the least suspicion of the truth entered tlie minds 
 of the prisoners, there would surely have been blood- 
 shed then and there, but they saw nothing wrong 
 and were overwhelmed with grief at their conviction. 
 No time was lost, but one of the conspirators, person- 
 ating a deputy, started at once for prison with the 
 party. I cannot say exactly how they came to be 
 received without the fraud being detected, but it 
 was probably due to carelessness in handling the 
 commitment papers. At any rate, when the matter 
 leaked out, the state officials were horrified at the 
 boldness of the act, and lost no time ordering the 
 release of the prisoners and in as far as possible 
 suppressing the facts of the affair. It is possible 
 that a damage suit was feared, but if so, the state 
 was mistaken, for once they learned how they had 
 bern duped, the half a dozen quondam convicts 
 wore intent on nothing except to get back and take 
 personal revenge. 
 
 It was said that there were lively times in Bre- 
 vanl County when they returned, and that it needed 
 a good deal of hot lead as salve for their wounded 
 feclinps; but the stories came up from the wild 
 country byword of mouth and varied considerably in
 
 THE AMERICAN SIP.ERIA 83 
 
 detail. I am only sure of the fate of one of the 
 six. His name was Jonnaker, and very siiortly 
 after his release he was riding at break-neck speed 
 on an Indian pony when they fell headlong into a 
 sink-hole, and both man and beast were instantly 
 killed.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Of all our prisoners at camp Sing Sing, the out 
 whose case attracted the widest attention and wlm 
 was, in many respects, the most rcmarkahie chaia* - 
 ter, was Ricliard or 'Dick" Evans, cx-shcriff and 
 ex-city marshal of Fensacola, who received a fivo- 
 vear sentence for as cruel and barbarous a murder 
 IS was ever committed in Florida, which is saying; 
 ( good deal. He was the singular creation of very 
 singular circumstances. Coming originally from 
 the North, very poor and altogether obscure, he 
 grew to be a political power of the first magnitude 
 in his city. He arrived at just the right time 
 for an unscrupulous adventurer to make money. 
 Florida was under radical rule; wholesale looting 
 of the public fumls was going on everywhere, and 
 Fensacola was a hot-bed of political corruption and 
 general inimorality of every description. The city 
 never saw wiKlcr days, even when the Spanisli b»ir- 
 cancers used its harbor for an anchorage and built 
 their fortifications on its hills. The land-sharks, 
 outlaws, blackmailing officials, and desperadoes 
 from every state that thronged the approaches of 
 the harbor were as rapacious, infamous and nnri - 
 •traiiurd as the pirates of other times ever dared 
 to be. 
 
 64
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 85 
 
 It was wliile affairs were in this condition that 
 Dick Evans put in an appearance, and soon opened 
 a saloon and dance hall on Polifax street, a thur- 
 ouyhfare given over bodily to vice. His establi h- 
 nient was in the midst of similar dives, bagnios, 
 groceries and every sort of dead-fall in which the 
 drunken sailors, who formed the main patrons, 
 might be lured and robbed. Evans himself was a 
 man of desperate courage and considerable intelli- 
 gence, and his place soon became the headquarters 
 of the political rowdies, wire-pullers and ward- 
 heelers of the town. There was a cluster of rooms 
 in the rear where gambling was carried on, and he 
 naturally gravitated into the position of "boss" of 
 the politics of his section. 
 
 As he prospered he was not content with one 
 place, and opened another establishment for negroes, 
 which was speedily the rendezvous of all the black 
 ruffians in Pensacola. It was known as "The Tin 
 Roof, ' and a sort of variety performance with col- 
 ored performers was given every night. It was an 
 infamous den, and run ostensibly by a negress with 
 whom Evans lived openly as man and wife. 
 
 It seems incredible that such a character could be 
 elected to any position of trust, but he was neverthe- 
 less made at different times both sheriff ami city 
 marshal. One night wliile he held the latter oftice, 
 a political nieeting was held in the city and broke 
 up in something .'ike a riot. The street was full 
 of men fighting, when Evans rushed into the thick
 
 86 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 of tlic ti^y, wliipped out iu^ icvoivcr and shot five 
 niL-n. Such, however, was his political influence 
 that lie was never prosecuted, and the crime for 
 which he was sent to prison was the murder of a 
 3°oung man named Calvin GrifTin, in his own saloon, 
 (iriliin was intoxicated at the time, and reeling up 
 to the bar, seized a pitcher and said in drunken 
 fully: 
 
 "I am going to break this pitcher and pay for it." 
 Thereupon Evans sprang on him like a tiger and 
 beat his brsins out with a chair. It was undoubt- 
 edly due to his powerful political friends that he 
 escaped the gallows and secured his comparatively 
 light sentence. 
 
 I found him a sturdy, athletic man, on the riglit 
 side of middle-age, with a set, hard face, black 
 hair and mustaclie, and a very restless eye. He 
 was sullen and embittered over his sentence, and I 
 have no doubt determined from the first to escape; 
 but he had sense enough to adopt some strategy, 
 and conducted himself so well that he was eventual y 
 made hospital steward. Ihe hospital department 
 was merely a division of the cell-house, and thtr 
 whole building was guarded at night by one man 
 who sat with his rifle before the slatted door and thus 
 could see at all times what was going on inside. 
 
 One night the gu;ird heard a suspicious grating 
 sound, and located it as proceeding from where Evans 
 lay stretched on the sleeping-platform, covered 
 witli his blanket. In a few moments he was con\inced
 
 THE AMERICAN SIIERIA Hj 
 
 that the convict was sawing his chain in two, and 
 he naturally supposed that the next thing would be 
 a dash lor the door. Here he used very bad judg- 
 ment, for, instead of immediately giving an alarm, 
 he sat perfectly quiet, his finger on tlie trigger, 
 ready to shoot down the man on the first demon- 
 stration. 
 
 I have never approved of leading convicts on to 
 proceed with any infraction of the rules after I have 
 once discovered it, but the guard gave Evans every 
 opportunity to make the dash he supposed he con- 
 templated, desiring to catch him red-handed. The 
 sawing continued for some time and then stopped, 
 and the prisoner, after tossing about a little, finally 
 lay quite still. Satisfied that the door was about 
 to be besieged, the guard feigned sleep at inter- 
 vals, and then would walk a little distance away and 
 back again, but every time he looked through the 
 slats he could seethe rigid outline under the blank- 
 ets. 
 
 Several hours passed thus, and the watchman grew 
 puzzled. He was morally certain that Evans had 
 cut his chain, but why he did not make the dash 
 was something he could not understand. At last 
 he sent for me and explained the situation. Much 
 annoyed that he had not sumn.oned me before, 1 
 rushed immediately into the cell-house to investi- 
 gate, and the instant I laid eyes on the bunk some- 
 ching about the profile of the blankets struck 
 me as peculiar I went to them and Icund they
 
 88 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 were hung across a bunk plank, which had been 
 raised out of its place and set up edegwise, a gap 
 where it had been leading beneath the platform. 
 The bird had flown. 
 
 There was a trail through the sand under the 
 bunk, sliowing where he had crawled, and I followed 
 it, expecting every instant to encounter the fugitive, 
 until it led me to the rear of the cell-house. There 
 a hole had been cut througla the logs and masked 
 by a board set up before it. Evans had crawled 
 out and vanished, dropping in his hurry a pair of 
 pants, most ingeniously fashioned out of an old 
 blanket. These we picked up in front of the 
 aperture. 
 
 I called the hounds, and as soon as possible rode 
 off in pursuit. They took the trail well, although 
 the night was extremely dark, as happened upon 
 many another chase. In fact, fortune seems to favor 
 fugitives in that particular. Our direction was to- 
 ward the Suwanee river, and from the actions of 
 tlie hounds there was no doubt Init thai we were 
 close in Evans' wake. It afterward turned out that 
 the baying had jusr reached his ears, and here a 
 thing occurred tliat shows rlie desperate courage 
 and illimitable nerve of the man. The moment he 
 heard that fatal sound, a bold and perilous ruse 
 flashed into his brain, I can best explain it by 
 telling what he did. He never hesitated an instant, 
 but whirled about in iiis tracks and came running 
 back to meet us. As I have said, it was partly
 
 THE AMERKAN SIBERIA 8g 
 
 dark, and when he judged by ilie sound thai we 
 were alniosr face ro face, he gathered liimself to- 
 gether and leaped far to one side of the road. He 
 barely struck the earth when we swept past, the dogs 
 keeping the old track, as he had anticipated they 
 would, and leaving him there. 
 
 The fugitive did not wait, but rushing into the 
 road again, pursued his course toward the camp 
 over the same track that he had originally taken 
 in his flight. Meantime the dogs ran steadily, 
 until they reached the point where he had heard us 
 and turned, and, without slackening their speed, 
 they also turned and followed the scent back. 
 
 Evans was almost midway to the camp when the 
 baying sounded in his ears again. This was exactly 
 what he had calculated upon, for it was his plan, 
 as it subsequently proved, to double the hoimds 
 back, expecting that they would continue on the 
 first Track clear to the cell-house, thus giving him 
 an opportunity to retrace his route to the Suwanee 
 River. Once there, he knew he was comparatively 
 safe, for water effectually breaks a ♦^rail. 
 
 Again we pressed him close, and again he faced 
 about and ran back, ['"or the second time he 
 cleared the road with a wide bound, and we passed 
 him. But human cunning is no match for the mar- 
 velous instinct or perhaps marvelous intelligence 
 of a hound trained to the hunting of men ; and 
 instead of following the first track liack to the 
 camp, the dogs merely ran to the point where he
 
 go THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 had doubled upon himself, .ind doubled also. All 
 this was done without the slightest hesitation, and 
 proves conclusively that a good dog has no diffi- 
 culty in distinguishing between two trails made a 
 few hours apart by the same man, even when one 
 overlaps the other. 
 
 It was bewildering, this weaving back and forth 
 in the darkness, but I had conceived some notion 
 of Evans' plan and trust(!d implicitly to my 
 guides. In perhaps half an hour we pressed the 
 fugitive close again. Thistinie the melancholy bay- 
 ing meant to him failuit; of his subterfuge, so in- 
 geniously planned and daringly carried out; but his 
 indomitable nerve never left him. Hunted down 
 and exhausted as he was, he turned and came up 
 the road. A less determined man would have sur- 
 rendered then and there, but he coolly determined 
 to try the same tactics over. He leaped aside and 
 we passed, but only for a moment. The dogs, weary 
 of this game of hide-and-seek, and after running 
 for a few yards, they stopped, seemed puzzled, 
 sniffed the air, and then made for a tree that stood 
 dimly outlined b}' the roadside. They circled 
 round it, loudly giving tongue, and I knew I had 
 my man at last. 
 
 It was too dark to see, but I was convinced that 
 he was behind the tree-trunk and called on him to 
 come out. There was no reply. 
 
 I see you, Evans," I called again, "and if you 
 don't come I will certainly shoot you."
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 93 
 
 Still silence, save for the barking of the hounds 
 and blowing of my winded horse in the road. 
 
 To approach in that profound gloom would have 
 been simply an invitation for him to brain me with 
 the first knot he could lay his hands on, and at 
 last, at a venture, I fired my revolver in the direc- 
 tion of the tree. The explosion filled the midnight 
 woods with echoes, and Evans, while he made no 
 move to come out, stirred sufficiently to expose the 
 white outline of his shoulder. I dropped my 
 revolver sights as nearly as I could upon this 
 mark. 
 
 "Come out!" I shouted, "or I will kill you!" and 
 fired again. 
 
 This time there was an immediate response. 
 
 "Stop! Captain," came a voice from the gloom; 
 "that last l)ullet knocked the bark in my face. I'll 
 give up." 
 
 Upon that he stepped to the edge of the road. 
 Just then Mr. Mills, of the camp, rode up, and 
 leaving my horse with him, I walked over and 
 searched the runaway. I was afraid to remount, 
 for once in the saddle I could not see him, and, 
 linking arms with him, we made our way back to 
 camp in that fashion, arriving just before day-break. 
 
 During the balance of our stay under that 
 management, Evans made no more overt attempts, 
 but his bull-dog determination never loft him, and. 
 as it afterward proved, he was only waiting for a 
 favorable opportunity.
 
 9^ 1HK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 About tilis time I Imd a guard named Bill New- 
 land, who was the hero of two surprisinp; adventures, 
 one of wliirh resulted in a long, arduotis and thrill- 
 ing rhase. We had been using double-barreled shot- 
 gunr in guarding and had just tlu-n substituted Win- 
 chester magazine rifles. Newland liad never handled 
 a repeating gun before, and it was an entertaining 
 novelty to him. Armed with the weapon, of which 
 he was as proud as a boy with a red sled, he took 
 a squad of eight men and a trusty into the woods 
 and immediately sat down on a log to examine the 
 mechanism of the magazine. Presently he trnd 
 to see how rapidly he could operate it, and in jerk- 
 ing the lever up and down a shell was discharged 
 on the "carrier" before it reached the barrel, and as 
 it set off several others in the magazine, the explo- 
 sion was something tremendous. 
 
 The gun was blown to pieces; a fragment of the 
 wreck struck Newland a smart blow on the chest, 
 his face was filled with burnt powder, and fully be- 
 lieving he was killed, he fell backward over the log 
 and lay there. A general escape would undoubtedly 
 have taken place but for the extraordinary fidelity 
 nnd presence of mind of his trust)', a man named 
 William Filer. Before the eight convicts, several 
 of them desperate men, recovered from their sur- 
 prise and realized the situation, he had them strung 
 on the squad-chain, the end locked, and was stand- 
 ing guard over them with a bludgeon. In this order 
 he got tlirm back to camp, the guard bringing up
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 95 
 
 the rear and looking like the sole survivor of a big 
 railroad wreck. 
 
 Newland was not much the worse except for his 
 burns, and thinking he had learned a good lesson 
 in caution, I put him to guarding a squad that 
 worked near a marshy place called Gum Slough. 
 One of his men was a villainous negro named 
 Grififin, who in addition to being a desperado was a 
 cunning schemer, always plotting mischief, and I was 
 surprised to find that Newland had apparently taken 
 a great liking to the fellow. I warned him that the 
 man was a sly rascal who probably had some dev- 
 iltry in his mind at that moment, but Newland 
 scouted at the idea. 
 
 "Why, Griffin is one of my very best men," he 
 said; "there's no more harm in him than in a little 
 four-year-old child." 
 
 "There's no more harm in him than in a little 
 four-year-old wolf," I replied; "and you had best 
 keep him under the gun." 
 
 I failed to convince him, and in brief he made a 
 sort of pet of the man. This he had occasion to 
 bitterly regret. 
 
 One afternoon Newland was sitting down in the 
 woods reading a letter, his gun leaning against his 
 shoulder, when Griffin offered him some "chink-a- 
 pin" nuts he had just picked. 
 
 "Come and give them to me," said the guard — 
 
 thus violating the rule that a convict shall never 
 
 be allowed to approach within a certain distance. 
 6
 
 ,6 Till AMF.RUAN SinEkIA 
 
 He held out his hind abstractedly, still reading the 
 letter, and Griffin with a quick movement dropped 
 the nuts into his outstretched palm and seized the 
 Run. He ifaped Imck, cocked it, and presented it at 
 his head. 
 
 \e\vland was thunderstruck, but Griffin paid no 
 ttcntion to his plaints, and as he was immediately 
 'oined by a couple of the other convicts, the three 
 :orced the balahce of the squad to accompany them, 
 and all moved off. Ncwland followed, begging and 
 pleading for his gun and recalling his numerous fa- 
 vors, until Griffin finally turned on him. 
 
 "Yes, you white !" he said menacingly; "you 
 
 were very kind to me, and if you will just follow me 
 down into this swamp I will shoAV you how kind I 
 can be to you. " 
 
 At this the victim of misplaced confidence con- 
 cluilcfl that discretion was the better part of valor, 
 and not only dropped the chase but left the country, 
 and I have never laid eyes on him since. 
 
 After proceeding a short distance, the five men 
 who had unwillingly accompanied Griffin and his 
 party found an opportunity to give them the slip, 
 and hurried back to camp. They arrived at about 
 nightfall, and when they told their story I instantly 
 gathered my dogs together, and with Major Wise 
 and T. J. Leverelt, a guard, started in pursuit. 
 The hounds took the scent beautifully, and we fol- 
 lowed them through the dense forests, the tortuous 
 lagoons and tangled brakes of Gum Slough, heading
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 97 
 
 toward the town of Houston. We kept the pace 
 all night long, guided by the yelping of the dogs, 
 and day broke on the chase. At last, tired out and 
 discouraged, Leverett left us, and Wise and I pressed 
 on toward Live Oak, the trail still hot. Meantime, 
 however, the dogs began to show signs of fatigue. 
 The long and closely sustained effort was too much 
 for them and they gave out. But I felt that I had 
 gone too far to give up and I resolved to see it 
 through, if I had to go alone. 
 
 Now that we were without the dogs, we were 
 forced to follow the trail by such scraps of infor- 
 mation as we could pick up on the road. Fortu- 
 nately we were so close behind the fugitives that 
 we encountered numerous people who recollected 
 seeing them pass, and in this connection a curious 
 incident occurred. We encountered a party of ne- 
 groes driving in an ox-team, and Major Wise checked 
 his horse to make some inquiries of the driver, a 
 weazened and cunning looking old darky. I was 
 impatient, and called out at a venture: 
 
 "Don't talk to that old rascal! He is the very 
 man that knocked their shackles off." 
 
 This random shot struck home, and the effect 
 upon the old fellow was electric. His eyes bulged 
 out, and he attempted to stammer a denial, but the 
 words died on his lips, and he too evidently regard- 
 ed me as a conjurer of a very high class; for only 
 a short time before, he had actually knocked the 
 leg-irons off the runaways, and was subsequently
 
 98 THE AMFRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 arrested lor it, aiul the very dints of the hammer- 
 ing found on his wagon tire. But, of course, we 
 knew nothing of this at the time, and rode on. 
 
 At Lake City, Major Wise was so overcome with 
 fatigue that he stopped and took the train hack to 
 his home at Live Oak; but I pressed on, and by dint 
 of careful inquiry, I got track of my men on an old 
 public road running to Gainesville. This was a 
 valuable clue, for I remembered that I liad heard 
 one of the fugitives, a man named Thomas Net- 
 tles, often speak of one Prince, his brother-in-law, 
 who followed the trade of shingle-maker at Gaines- 
 ville. I felt sure that they were on the way to his 
 house, after help and clothes, and without taking 
 the trouble to make many more inquiries, I hurried 
 on in tlie direction of the town. Night fell, black 
 as ink, when I was near the Santa Fe River. I did 
 not know the country, the water was high, and the 
 (jucstic^n wns how to cross. A settler whom I en- 
 countered directed me to where he said the stream 
 was spanned by a natural bridge, and I soon located 
 the place by his landmarks, but could see no cross- 
 ing. I had no idea what the natural bridge looked 
 like, and time was too pressing and the darkness 
 too extreme to make a prolonged search; so, taking 
 chances that the water was shoal, I urged my 
 horse in. The next moment he was carried off his 
 feet and swimming wildly for the other side. 
 
 It was a situation to make one's hair stand on 
 end. A few belated stars shone in the sky, but their
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 99 
 
 faint light did not penetrate the murky darkness 
 that hung above the waters. I felt the flood swirl 
 and lap about my legs, and my ignorance of the lo- 
 cality and of the extent of the inundation forced the 
 realization home, that good luck alone could extri- 
 cate me. Could the runaways have seen me whirl- 
 ing down that inky current, they would no doubt 
 have considered their chances very much better 
 than mine. 
 
 The truth was that the river was so swollen by 
 freshets that it could no longer pass under the 
 natural bridge, and had overflowed it, spreading 
 over the adjoining woods and palmetto flats, and 
 converting them into an enormous swamp. Although 
 I did not dream it at the time, the top of the 
 bridge was almost beneath us as my horse strug- 
 gled along, and at length I found myself among a 
 growth of partially submerged trees on the other 
 side. My horse floundered up to a little palmetto 
 "tussock," lifting above the rock, and I let him 
 stand and blow a while. I peered about, through 
 the gloom, and gradually I discerned near me what 
 appeared to be the stranded remains of an emigrant's 
 outht. A wagon was caught between two trees and 
 hung with one side canted up, half in water and 
 half out, while boxes, bedding, and household uten- 
 sils floated about in melancholy confusion. 
 
 As I surveyed this flotsam, I noticed a light glim- 
 mering in the distance and made for it. It proved 
 to be a camp-fire at which two bedraggled men and
 
 lOO IHK AMERICAN SIHF.KIA 
 
 a woman were drying their clothes. They told a 
 harrowing story. They were the owners of the 
 strandei! outfit and were pusliing across the country, 
 looking (or a place on which to settle. That 
 night in attempting to make the ford, just as I had 
 lone, they were caught in the current and forced 
 lu abandon the wagon. The\' put the woman in a 
 hox, and the men swam out, pulling her along be- 
 tween them. Everything they had in the world 
 was left in tlie swamp, and they sat by the little fire, 
 iiomeless, helpless, and despairing. 
 
 I had only time enough to hear this story and 
 then pressed on to Gainesville, which I reached 
 after a continuous ride of seventy-two miles. I 
 tried to tind some local officer to assist me at this 
 point, but by bad luck everybody was either away or 
 busy, and I was again left upon my own resources. 
 1 k'arned that the house of Prince, the shingle- 
 maker, was on the outskirts of the town, near a 
 iensc canebrake. I located the place, and as night 
 came on, hid mj'self in the vicinity to watch. The 
 probabilities were that the three fugitives were by 
 this time all armed, and the outlook was somewhat 
 exciting. 
 
 This night was also very dark, but at length I saw 
 two figures coming across lots to the house. The 
 loor was opened to them, and as they stood moment- 
 irily outlined against its square of light, I recog- 
 .ized Griffin and Nettles, the former carrying a rifle. 
 They had not even removed their prison stripes.
 
 THE AMtklCAN SIHKKIA lOI 
 
 Without waiting a inoineiit, I slipped up to the 
 door and knocked. 
 
 "Wlio's dat?' called out Prince instantly, and 1 
 could hear his voice tremble. 
 
 "A man that wants to buy some shingles," I re- 
 plied, in a feigned tone. 
 
 "Hit's mighty late at night t' talk erbout shin- 
 gles," said the negro, evidently open for a bargain, 
 but still suspicious. We parleyed for a while, and 
 although he seemed ready enough to talk, he would 
 not open the door. 
 
 "Look here, my man," I said at length; "I never 
 saw you in my life, and if you don't come out, how 
 the deuce am I to know that you are the right one, 
 when you come to my house for pay for your shin- 
 gles?" 
 
 This argument convinced him, and lit; cautiously 
 unfastened the lock and stared out. As he did so, 
 I caught a glimpse, over his shoulder, of my two 
 convicts retreating by the rear door. I dashed 
 around and hred two shots almost point-blank, but 
 it was too dark, and the negroes reached the cane- 
 patch ahead of me. It was perfectly useless to 
 pursue them into its recesses, and after all my pains, 
 I was forced to go away empty-handed. 
 
 When the sheriff, who was away at the time, re- 
 turned, I put him on the track, and both negroes 
 were caught a few miles from town, working in a 
 cotton-patch. They claimed that the thirti man left 
 them at Welburn, and at any rate he was • never
 
 lOa THE AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 capturtnl. The old negro ox-driver whom I have 
 mentioned as meeting on the road was subsequent- 
 ly arrested upon the confession of the runaways, 
 who stated that they had met him in their Hif^ht 
 and that he had hammered off their shackles. This 
 was, of course, aiding and abetting, and the case 
 was a perfectly plain one, but the negro escaped 
 •)unishment by a means that sliows very clearly the 
 e-'xtreme carelessness in keeping uji the records at 
 headquarters. After all the evidence for the state 
 was in, and it was most conclusively proven that 
 the prisoner had removed the irons as charged, his 
 attorney simply asked that Major Wise be compelled 
 to prove that the nmaways were legally state con- 
 victs. This could be done by the commitment 
 papers which accompany each man to prison, but, 
 alas for the Major, he had neglected tu file them 
 and they were lost. The consequence was that he 
 was unal)le to show that he had a particle of legal 
 right to pursue the men, and the cunning old darky 
 was discharged. 
 
 It is due to a noble animal to say that I could 
 never have made my long ride — the longest of the 
 kind in Florida prison annals— had it not been for 
 the nerve and stamina of the horse I had. His 
 name was George, and he was a splendid bay, full 
 of fire and intelligence. I raised my dogs with him, 
 and they were the best friends imaginable. It was 
 a pleasant sight to see them bounding around him, 
 licking his face, and if by chance one of them lies-
 
 T!IF AMF.niCAV «:IPFRI\ IO3 
 
 itated before him on the road, he would walk rnre- 
 full)' around to avoid trampinp on him. He would 
 follow me all throupjh the turpentine woods and in 
 the chase, do{:;;s and horse worked like one machine. 
 George is fifteen vears old now and is a good horse 
 yet.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Some time in 1878 a very savage and unmanageable 
 dog spread general terror in the city of Savannah. 
 He was a cross between a blood-hound and a bull-dog, 
 but was a sort of brute monstrosity, with a strange- 
 looking, round head and an enormously muscular 
 body, pied like a leopard. This singular beast was 
 perfectly unmanageable from a puppy. He acted at 
 all times like a mad dog, and had no other instinct 
 than a ravening desire to bite, rend and tear anything 
 that came within his reach. I suppose that he was 
 kejn as a curiosity on account of his remarkable 
 malformation; but in the course of time he became 
 so dangerous to the community that the city council 
 ordered the police authorities to kill him or have 
 him removed out of the limits. 
 
 Major Wise happened to be in Savannah at the 
 time, and offered to take the brute. The police 
 were only too glad to get rid of it, and gave it to 
 him on condition that hv. would never bring it into 
 Savannah again. Major Wise at first attempted to 
 keep this formidable monster about his premises, 
 but he soon saw that he did so at the peril of his 
 life, and sent it to the convict camp. I was a little 
 
 104
 
 THE AMERICAN SIF^ERIA IO5 
 
 puzzled to know what use to put the creature to. 
 It is well enough to have a watch-dog that is savage 
 to others so long as he is tractable with one's self, 
 but this one was as willing and anxious to bite nic 
 as anj'body else. It was out o' the question to turn 
 him loose in the yard, and finally I struck the happy 
 idea of tying him at night to the door of the cell- 
 house. His presence there made it absolutel}' im- 
 possible for any one to come in or out. Guards, 
 trusties and convicts were all one to him, and he 
 flew impartially at anybod}' who approached. In 
 this capacity he was a great success, but the diffi- 
 culty in handling him made him a constant nuisance, 
 I worked witli him for a year, trying to teach him 
 to know me and obey my voice, and at the end of 
 that time was as far off from such a result as at the 
 beginning. When I tied Inm up for the night I 
 would be obliged to lead him along with a club in 
 one hand, and I usually had to knock him down half 
 a dozen times before we reached the post where nc 
 was fastened. If he happened to get loose during 
 the day, he would rush at anything he saw, regard- 
 less of obstacles. On one occasion he was chasing 
 a trusty who ran for his life toward the cell-house, 
 and finally got beliind a post, winch the dog ran into 
 full tilt and nearly knocked his brains out. The 
 career of this monster, for he was nothing less, 
 ended shortl}' after. I was leading him along one 
 day when he suddenly turned on me and seized me 
 by the hip, and I had a desperate fight to beat him off.
 
 106 THE AMERICAN SIRERIA 
 
 I concluded that he had lived about long enough, 
 and had him dispatclied with an axe. 
 
 Those recollections, which go well into the second 
 year of our stay at Camp Sing Sing, bring me to 
 a gloomy and memorable tra{;cdy, which has passed 
 into prison tradition, and is told with many embel- 
 lishments, around the convict camp fires to this 
 very day. It came about in this wise: Among our 
 trusties was a one-armed man named Jesse Simp- 
 kins, who had been sent to prison from Madison 
 County, and customarily accompanied the squad of 
 a guard named Gilchrist. In spite of his mutila- 
 tion, Simpkins was a powerful man, and aside from 
 being an inveterate yarn-spinner, he was to be de- 
 pended upon in most emergencies. He was ex- 
 tremely unpopular among the prisoners, who re- 
 garded him as a spy. 
 
 One day, while in the woods, two of Gilchrist's 
 squad edged gradually off among the trees and then 
 suddenly dropped all pretense and ran. The guard 
 fired on them several times, but failed to bring 
 either ilown and as they were rapidly disappearing 
 through the timber and underbrush, he shouted to 
 the trusty to catch them. Without hesitating a 
 moment, Simpkins bounded off, and as he was a 
 remarkably swift runner, it was not long before he 
 overtook the pair. They had carried with tliem 
 their heavy dip-irons, which are very fcrmidable 
 weapons, and brandished them menacingly when 
 they saw the trusty appear.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I07 
 
 ■'What do you want?" asked one of them. 
 
 "You," replied Simpkins laconically. 
 
 "Well, you get out, mighty quick, or we'll crack 
 your head open !" 
 
 "You'll have me to catch first." 
 
 The two fugitives made a dash at him, but Simp- 
 kins was fleet of foot and had no difficulty keeping 
 them at a distance. When they stopped he stop- 
 ped also, and when they advanced he retreated, 
 always holding them in sight. In a few moments 
 they saw that they had no time to waste at such a 
 game and plunged into the woods, the trusty dog- 
 ging their steps like a hound. Wlienever they 
 looked back he could be seen slipping among the 
 trees, alert, determined, implacable. 
 
 It can readily be understood that to men escaping, 
 in the midst of hopes and fears and all the mani 
 fold and multiplied anxieties of flight, such a situ 
 ation would soon become intolerable. At first they 
 were merely enraged, but finally the man's steadfast- 
 ness struck them into a kind of panic. It was like 
 being followed by a ghost. Time and again they 
 rushed at him, but he easily eluded them and slid 
 away like a shadow through the bushes. They tried 
 strategy. 
 
 "Simpkins," called one of them, "we're tired of 
 this. Come, let's talk the thing over, and go back 
 together." 
 
 "You start back and I'll keep after you, ' replied 
 the trusty.
 
 Io8 THE AMKKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 'My God! " exclaimed the baffled runaway, "how 
 long arc you going to keep this up?" 
 
 "Jest as long as you do. " 
 
 "We'll kill you, sure." 
 
 "Start in any time you want to." 
 
 The two men stared blankly at one another and 
 resumed their Hight. It was a question of who 
 lasted the longest. The route lay through twelve 
 miles of virgin wilderness, and several times they 
 thought they lost him in the forest depths, but, to 
 their bitter disappointment, the next clearing would 
 reveal their pursuer, still holding the trail. They 
 sought to ambuscade him, they tried to double on 
 their track, they attempted to outrun him, all in 
 vain — he was too swift and wary for them. It had 
 long since become a matter of life and death, and 
 had they encountered, Simpkins' bones would cer- 
 tainly have been left to bleach in the fastness of the 
 woods. 
 
 Some of the ruses they employed to trap him 
 had the ingenuity of desperation about them. Once, 
 one hid in the underbrush and the other rushed on 
 ahead. Simpkins, following the convict in advance, 
 was thus lured almost into the arms of the one in 
 ambush, but as he prepared to spring out, the break- 
 ing of twigs betrayed him, and the trusty had just 
 time to dart aside. Both turned and endeavored to 
 close in upon him from different directions, but he 
 was too wary for them and escaped their clutches. 
 After that the woods were unfavorable to a repeti
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA III 
 
 tion of the strategy, and the pursuer was able to 
 keep both men in view between the tree-trunks. 
 
 At last they reached the Suwanee River, the trusty 
 right behind. The place is a lonely waste of woods, 
 the river running darkly between stretches of deso- 
 late morass — a spot that seemed designed by nature 
 for a tragedy. Night was coming on, and there 
 they paused and agreed that one should swim first, 
 while the other held their pursuer at bay. One 
 plunged in, gained the other bank, drew himself 
 out, dripping and exhausted, and called on his com- 
 panion to follow. Simpkins was hovering close to 
 the other as he leaped, and when he rose from the 
 plunge, seized a huge stone and hurled it at his 
 head. The aim was true; he cracked the man's 
 skull like paper, and spattered his blood and brains 
 into the water. 
 
 The corpse turned over and over and floated down 
 the stream, while the other runaway, horrified at 
 the sight, darted like a madman into the woods. 
 Simpkins coolly watched the effects of his blow, 
 turned on his heel and retraced his long journey 
 through the forest. It was late at night when he 
 arrived at camp, and we had come to the conclusion 
 that he had joined the others in their flight. When 
 he told his story and insisted that he had killed one 
 of the men, nobody believed him. His reputation 
 as a fabricator was remembered, and it was gener- 
 ally supposed that he had made up the tale to cover 
 his lack of success in the chase. But about a week
 
 112 THt AMIKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 later he received sudden and unexpected confirma 
 tion. Governor Drew, who had a mill some d(S- 
 tance down the river, notified Major Wist that the 
 body of one of his convicts had been taken out of 
 the water at his dam, and tliat the skull bore marks 
 of fracture. The corpse was identified as that of 
 Simpkins' victim, and thereafter his reputation for 
 truth became rehabilitated. The other man was 
 never heard of. 
 
 At this time and in this connection, I have an- 
 other case to mention that was probably a tragedy, 
 and certainly a mystery. To begin at the begin 
 ning, I received notification to go to Monticello 
 after a life-time prisoner, a negro named Dave 
 Walker. He had made something of a history for 
 himself before I received him. It seems that he 
 was a desperate fellow and determined to escape. 
 In some way he obtained possession of an iron bar, 
 and one day when Mr. Hurst, the jailer, opened the 
 cell door, he struck him a terrific blow with it. 
 Before the stroke could be repeated, Hurst shot 
 him in the head. The bullet struck in front of one 
 ear, and circling under the skin, emerged behind 
 it, inflicting a mere flesh-wound, but sufficient to 
 knock the man over. He was thereupon placed in 
 a dungeon, where I found him when I arrived. He 
 was called upon to come out, but muttered some in- 
 articulate words and refused to obey. Finally I 
 went in after him, and groping around in the dark, 
 laid hold of the fellow's foot and dragged liim our.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1^3 
 
 He pretended that the wound had rendered him 
 stone-blind, and I had to lead him to the depot and 
 put him on the cars. On the way to the camp I 
 f thought I would try the effect of a little scare. 
 ^ "Walker," I said, "I think I can cure that blind- 
 ness of yours." 
 
 "How's dat, Captain?" he asked. 
 
 "Well, I have a piece of leather fastened in a 
 , wooden handle that I will apply to your back a few 
 : dozen times. It's a great cure for bad eyes." 
 
 He turned this over in his mind, and at length 
 he called to me. 
 
 "Captain," he said, "now's I come to try, I 
 b'lieve I can see a little." 
 
 "All right," I replied cheerfully, "the strap will 
 cure you entirely." 
 
 "I guess I can see 'bout as well as I ever could," 
 he said, and dropped the little ruse then and there. 
 
 We had a side-camp called Custer, near the rail- 
 road track, which I had placed in charge of Mr. T. 
 J. Leverett, whom I have mentioned once or twice 
 before in this narrative, and whom I will have oc- 
 casion to allude to again, in a somewhat tragic con- 
 nection. I left Walker there, warning Mr. Leverett 
 that he was a desperate and tricky fellow and likely 
 to embrace the first opportunity to escape. My 
 prediction came true. A short time after, while 
 working near the edge of an inclosure, he jumped 
 the fence and ran. He got out of gun-shot safely, 
 and Leverett immediately took his trail with a 
 7
 
 II^ THE AMFI-ICAN SII'F.RIA 
 
 couple of my dogs that happened to be at the side- 
 camp. 
 
 It was in the morning, and in making my daily 
 rounds I arrived on the spot an liour or two later. 
 I had three dogs with me, and after I heard the 
 particulars I rode off to reinforce Leverett. I met 
 him coming hack. 
 
 "Where is your man?" I asked. 
 
 "I have lost him, ' he replied. "He ran into a 
 little lagoon, and the last I saw of him he was in 
 the middle of it." 
 
 "Why didn't you go on the other side," I con- 
 tinued, "and take his track again at the place where 
 he came out?" 
 
 "That's just the point. lie didn't come out. I 
 was all around the lagoon, and I couldn't find his 
 trail anywhere." 
 
 This struck me as rather peculiar, and I asked 
 him why he had not shot when he saw the man. 
 
 "Oh, I sliot," he replied; "but when the smoke 
 cleared away I couldn't see him any more. Vou 
 might as well go back," he added; "it's perfectly 
 useless to look for the man." 
 
 It was as Leverett stated. The lagoon was a 
 very small one, and there was absolutely no trail 
 coming out of it. The approaches were thoroughly 
 beaten and it would have been simply impossible 
 for him to have emerged undiscovered, so I believe 
 I may state positively that whatever became of him, 
 he did not come out. I cannot say what happened
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA II5 
 
 to him in that little area of swamp, but he was 
 never heard of again, and the mystery of his disap- 
 pearance excited no little discussion in the camp. 
 
 My lines have been cast so largely among the hard 
 realities of life that it might be reasonably inferred 
 that I do not believe in ghosts, yet I have at 
 this point a ghost story to tell. It was what might 
 be called a family affair, and has no connection with 
 my experience as captain of the camp; but as it 
 occurred at about this period and made a deep and 
 lasting impression upon me, I will narrate it at the 
 risk of general disbelief. It was the ghost of a 
 little child that came to me, and it happened thus: 
 
 My brother and myself both had houses near the 
 camp. My wife had been for some time wishing 
 to visit her family in South Georgia, and finally 
 made the trip, taking with her the children, includ- 
 ing our youngest boy, a baby five months old, to 
 whom I was much attached. All through the ar- 
 rangements I was oppressed with a vague and inde- 
 finable presentiment of calamity, but as I could give 
 no reason for it, I could not well oppose the visit. 
 They had been gone three days, and at night, after 
 counting the men and going through the usual rou- 
 tine at the camp, I went home and retired. But I 
 could not sleep. The shadowy forebodings that had 
 weighed upon me grew into a keen sense of danger 
 — I knew not what — and thrilled me with appre- 
 hension. Finally I fell into a troubled doze, from 
 which I was suddenly awakened at about eleven
 
 Il6 1HE AMERlLAK SlbtKIA 
 
 o'clock by hearing my baby cry, plainly and distinct- 
 ly, seemingly right in the room. 
 
 I knew the child's voice in a thousand, and think- 
 ing my wife had returned, I sprang out of bed. I 
 was alone. 
 
 Completely nonplussed, I walked to the door and 
 listened. Meantime the crying had ceased, and at 
 length I persuaded myself that my senses had tricked 
 me, and went back to bed. The next moment the 
 cry sounded again, loudly, piteously — my child's 
 own voice, and somewhere in that room. 
 
 I was wide awake, and when I found positively 
 that no one was there I put on my clothes, and 
 greatly agitated, went to my brother's house, where 
 I told him and his wife the story, adding that I 
 was positive that something had happened to my 
 baby. 
 
 Of course they laughed at me, insisted that I was 
 dreaming, and finding the matter altogether too in- 
 credible for belief, I returned home, where I tossed 
 on the bed until morning, listening in vain for a 
 repetition of the cry. 
 
 I could not shake off the memory of the visitation, 
 or the conviction that it conveyed a warning, and 
 during the morning I told my brother repeatedly 
 that I was sure some accident had happened the 
 baby. Before noon a boy came galloping up on 
 horseback with a telegram in his hand. 
 
 'There is the bad news," 1 said; and so it was. 
 The message was from ni) wife, calling me to 
 
 I
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBF.RIA II J 
 
 Georgia and telling me that our little child had 
 been burned to death. 
 
 My distress, as I instantly started, may be im- 
 agined, but surely not described, for the certitude 
 was impressed upon me that the dead child's last 
 cry for help had been to me. It was raining hard, 
 but I did not notice it. Yet this storm followed 
 me like a Nemesis, delayed me twice by washouts, 
 and when I arrived the baby was buried. 
 
 The rest is soon told. My wife had taken the 
 child to bed, had missed it in the night, and it was 
 found dead in the open hearth where it had crawled 
 and fallen. It was the night I heard the cry, and 
 happened, as nearly as could be judged, at about 
 eleven o'clock. 
 
 I will close this chapter with an event which at 
 one time threatened to have considerable influence 
 upon my fortunes. The universal bitterness against 
 the camp and all officials connected with it, culmi- 
 nated at about this period in the indictment of 
 myself, my brother, and my brother-in-law, Mr. R. 
 A. Mills, who was a guard, for cruelty to prisoners. 
 The true bill was returned at Live Oak, and the trial 
 created a great sensation in the count}'. The prose- 
 cution had secured a number of volunteer witnesses 
 among the neighbors, while I had eight of my guards 
 summoned. The prisoners themselves were disqual- 
 ified under the law from taking oath, and consequent- 
 ly could not testify. 
 
 Feeling ran high, and the community took sides
 
 IlS THF. AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 SO Rcnerally against us that nothing but a clear con- 
 scicutcand the knowledge that I had in nocasegone 
 beyond the strict letter of my duty, held me firm. 
 No man knew better than myself the defects and 
 hartlships and miseries of the lease system, but I 
 did not feel that I could be justly saddled with 
 these. I was employed to perform certain duties 
 under certain conditions, and I performed them. 
 That was the long and short of it, and I faced the 
 miisK . 
 
 When the witnesses for the state were placed 
 upon the stand, they rehearsed the same vague 
 stories and general rumors that had been circula- 
 ting for over a year, but were unable to cite a single 
 fact. The truth is, there were no facts to tell. 
 The life of a convict was hard, and the punish- 
 ments often severe, but they were not inhuman, and 
 were invariably necessary, not only for our safety but 
 for the safety of the peaceably disposed prisoners. 
 In the lapse of fourteen years, I can conscientiously 
 say that I never whipped a convict in my life, whom 
 subesquent circumstances showed to be undeserving 
 of it. 
 
 The principal witness was a woman, the wife of 
 ? settler, and she swore that she had seen me knock 
 a prisoner down, stamp on him, and then whip him 
 with a big stick. She was asked, upon cross-exam- 
 ination, whether she knew Captain Powell by sight, 
 and rrplicvl that she did. My lawver then indica 
 led wlicrc I sat with my brother-in-law and brother,
 
 THE AMERICAN SlIiEUIA II9 
 
 and asked her to say which of the three she referred 
 to. She promptly pointed to Mills, a mere boy, who 
 did not resemble me in the least, and when the state 
 closed their case, the judge dismissed it without 
 calling a witness for the defense. 
 
 This ended the matter as far as I was concerned, 
 but my brother was pursued with a persistency that 
 smacked strongly of personal spite. He was reindict- 
 ed, and foreseeing that he would eventually be 
 bankrupted by attorney's fees, he left the business 
 and engaged in farming in South Florida. I stuck 
 to my post, but words cannot describe the petty and 
 continued annoyances to which I was subjected; 
 but I had a dogged determination to live down def- 
 amation, and I am happy to say that I succeeded, 
 and lived to see a reversal of public sentiment. 
 
 In my recollections of this time or about this time, 
 I have not the exact date, there is one of an odd 
 escape that is not only interesting of itself but has 
 something to do with events transpiring later on. 
 We had two convicts named Alexander Lege and 
 Nathan Shell. The former was a big, burly fellow 
 and the latter a slip of a boy, a mulatto or an oc- 
 toroon, at any rate very light-skinned and possessed 
 of unlimited nerve. These two plotted to escape 
 and one day dashed into the woods. The guard 
 sent a few vain bullets after them, and they disap- 
 peared. 
 
 The news was carried to camp, and I put the dogs 
 upon thcii track. It appeared that after traveling
 
 I20 THF. AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 together for a short distance, tlicy quarreled, ss 
 Mien in peril arc frequently foolish enough to do, 
 nnd separated. It was the means, however, of Shell's 
 I'.clivery, for the trail we took was that of his com- 
 panion, and in the course of the day we ran upon 
 him. lie was a curious spectacle when he hove in 
 sif;lit. In his intense anxiety to ^ct rid of his suit 
 of stripes, he had stripped it off altogether and went 
 on his way stark naked, trusting to luck to find an 
 opporttmity to steal an outfit from some settler's 
 clothes-line. None appeared, and when captured 
 he was so scarred with brambles and covered with 
 dirt and perspiration that he resembled some wild 
 man of the woods. We did not hear of Shell for 
 jcars afterward. He had struck directly through 
 the woods, was more fortunate than Lege in dis- 
 carding his prison suit, and eventually reached a 
 point in Central Florida where he was for the tirnp 
 being, safe.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 I will beg the reader's indulgence at this point 
 to call attention to a parallel that the great major- 
 ity of people probably believe could not exist in 
 this country without attracting general notice and 
 exciting universal comment. In Mr. George Ken- 
 nan's celebrated papers upon the Russian exile sys- 
 tem, he fully describes the "Kameras, " or cell- 
 houses, in use in Siberia, and his articles are 
 accompanied by numerous illustrations. I will 
 venture the assertion that if any Floridian convict 
 was shown these pictures without the accompanying 
 text he would be prepared to swear that they were 
 ruins of the camp in this state. It is not merely a 
 slight resemblance, or even a marked resemblance, 
 but the two are absolutely identical in every essen- 
 tial detail. The main difference is that there is no 
 building-chain used in the Siberian cell-houses, the 
 prisoners being given tlie liberty of the room after 
 they are locked in. The sleeping platforms, called 
 "nares" in Russia, and those in use here are exactly 
 alike; such scanty arrangements as exist for per- 
 sonal cleanliess are similar, and the general arrange- 
 ment and construction of the building and the stock- 
 ade are the same. The lowest order of Russian 
 prisoners are fastened with stride and waist chains 
 
 121
 
 laa THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 exactly like those used in Florida, and there is a 
 coincidenceof little details that is perfectly amazing 
 to one familiar with both systemt. 
 
 Mr. Kennan states that when he visited one of 
 the Kameras lie was horrified to observe that the 
 whitewashed walls were stained a dusky red for 
 some distance above the sleeping platforms, and was 
 toKl that the stain was made by the prisoners who 
 crushed there the innumerable vermin that infested 
 their beds. Mr. Kennan need not have gone so far 
 away from home. In summer time these insect pests 
 were almost impossible to exterminate, and it took 
 only a lew weeks for the convicts at the camps to 
 paint a dado on the vails exactly similar to that which 
 Mr. Kennan observed. These are unpleasant talcs, 
 but most of the minutiae of life in the state chain- 
 gang is extremely unpleasant, and v,ithout allusion 
 to it the hardships cannot be understood. Barring 
 the climate, it is certainly the Siberia of America. 
 I have had occasion to speak of the loose adminis- 
 tration of the law in those days, and the phrase 
 only partially describes the situation. Alachua 
 County in particular seemed to regard the prison as 
 a sort of clearing-house for its pauper incumbran- 
 ces, and while we were in Sing-Sing we received 
 from there a blind prisoner and an idiotic one. The 
 blind man was accused of stealing a gun, an article 
 that such an unfortunate would be scarcely supposed 
 to covet. We put him at work at a pump and he 
 proved to be at ratl.er rtMuarkable fellow. He
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I23 
 
 learned to find his way to liis post without difficulty, 
 and after he served out his sentence he made a 
 good living in the neighborhood by cutting timber. 
 He struck as true a blow with the ax as a man 
 with sight, and by some instinct or other managed 
 to get out of the way of falling trees. The idiot 
 gave us a good deal of trouble. He was sent into 
 the woods and tempted by the luscious appearance 
 of the turpentine gum, essayed to eat some. He came 
 back with the stuff solidified all over his face — a 
 spectacle for gods and men — and did little or no 
 more work for the balance of his term. 
 
 While I am on the subject of queer fish, I should 
 b}' no means omit reference to a certain trusty 
 known as John Key West, so called from the place 
 of his conviction. The woods adjacent to the camp 
 were full of a variety of large ground-tortoise, 
 known throughout the south as "gophers" and 
 esteemed as great delicacies by the colored popula- 
 tion. John Key West had an inordinate appetite for 
 gophers. Boiled, fried, stewed, or fricasseed, it 
 was all one to him, and the unfortunate gopher 
 that he encountered in the forest might as well 
 give himself up for lost. 
 
 One day he went with his squad into the woods, 
 and after his work was done, took a dip-iron and 
 started for the crest of a neighboring hill, announc- 
 ing that he intended to dig a gopher. These creat- 
 ures burrow deep into the sandy soil, and nothing 
 further was thought of the incident until the guard,
 
 I i^ lUk: AMIlKICAN siblkia 
 
 collecting' his squad together in the evening, noticed 
 that John Key West had not returned. He sent a 
 negro trusty up the hill to investigate, and pres- 
 ently he came bounding back yelling at every jump. 
 He said that upon reaching the summit he looked 
 about and saw a capiive gopher and John Key West's 
 hat, but nothing else. The sand near by appeared 
 to be disturbed, and scraping there he unearthed a 
 human foot, attached apparent!}' to a body farther 
 down. He did not stop to make further discoveries, 
 and the whole party proceeded hurriedly to the 
 spot. 
 
 There, sure enough, was a monstrous foot 
 sticking stiff and stark above the sand, and as it 
 was recognized by the brogan as belonging to John 
 Key West, several laid hold of it and pulled and 
 tugged, but in vain. The guard sent to the house 
 of a Baptibt minister close by, to borrow a shovel, 
 but the good man replied that they could not 
 kill convicts and stick them in gopher holes and 
 then expect to dig them out with his tools. So the 
 men went to work with their dip-irons, and at 
 length unearthed all that was mortal of John Key 
 West. He had evidently captured a gopher, 
 tracked another to its lair and then dug deep into 
 the hole after it. With sportsmnn-like enthusiasm he 
 had crawled headfirst after his prey when the sand 
 caved in and buried him alive. But the ruling 
 passion was strong in death, and when they pulled 
 out the corpse, the other gopher was found clutched
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 125 
 
 in its stiffened hands. I think that had John Key 
 West been asked how he would like to die, he 
 would probably have chosen this way. 
 
 Dick Evans was not the only ex-officer we had at 
 Sing Sing. There was another in the principal of 
 a very noted case, of which the facts were as fol- 
 lows: Gus Pottsdamer, a prominent young Jew, 
 was city marshal of Lake City, and some bitterness 
 arose between himself and the sheriff, a man named 
 Henry. They met, and a hand-to-hand fight ensued, 
 in which both drew weapons, and Pottsdamer shot 
 his opponent dead. The evidence showed that 
 Henry was beating him over the head with his pis- 
 tol-butt at the time the shot was fired, but the mar- 
 shal was nevertheless found guilty of murder and 
 sentenced to life imprisonment. 
 
 I received notice from Major Wise to come in 
 person to Live Oak for a prisoner, and not knowing 
 who it was I rode in, carrying an old shot-gun that 
 I desired to have repaired. The case had created 
 a sensation all over the state, and there were good 
 grounds to fear that the prisoner wpuld either be 
 lynched by one faction or rescued by another. When 
 the train from Lake City pulled in, a large crowd 
 had assembled about the depot, and five men with 
 shot-guns first disembarked. Then came the pris- 
 oner, a frail, pallid young man, so loaded down 
 with chains, handcuffs, shackles, and manacles of 
 every description that he could hardly walk, and 
 another guard of five men brought up the rear.
 
 126 THE AMKKICAN «IRERIA 
 
 Almost all oi ihe prominent Hebrews of the state 
 came pouring out of the cars after this procession. 
 
 The guards closed in and Tottsdamer hobbled to 
 Major Wise's office, where the formalities of turn- 
 ing; over a convict were complied with. These con- 
 ( luded, some one asked where the posse was to con- 
 vey him to tiie penitentiary, and Major Wise stepped 
 to the door and called nie in. A roar of pro- 
 test immediately went up, and Ix^th tlic sheriff and 
 Colonel Taylor, the state's attorney, who was present, 
 insisted that a rescue would certainly take place. 
 When tiiey learned that my shot-{;un was empty and 
 destined for the locksmith's, their fears redoubled, 
 but I said that I would risk it, and told them to 
 takeoff the irons. At first the sheriff refused point- 
 blank, btit I told him emphatically that I would not 
 walk a man four miles in that condition, and at 
 length he handed over the keys. I removed all the 
 chains and manacles, returned the mass of hard- 
 ware, and we started off down the road alone. Of 
 course I ha«l no trouble and we arrived at camp all 
 rij^ht, but the episode was not unnoted by the He- 
 brews who witnessed it. Without knowing it, I 
 made some stanch friends, and liad occasion in 
 after years to know that tliis race never forgets a 
 kindness in adversity. 
 
 Pottsdamer spent thirty days in prison and was 
 then released on bail, pending a hearing by the 
 Supreme Court. He remained at liberty a little 
 longer period, when the decision of the lower court
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 29 
 
 was affirmed and lie was ordered back to prison for 
 life. He was brought in with less ceremony than 
 on the former occasion, and for a month his friends 
 worked like beavers in liis behalf. At the end of 
 that time they secured a pardon tor him. Potls- 
 damer subsequently mo\ed to Live Oak where he 
 became a leading business man, and was elected 
 sheriff a few years ago. He is inclined to take his 
 convict experience good naturedly, and is fond of 
 speaking of me as his "old boss. ' 
 
 I had then and have still a good many men in 
 prison, who not only followed stealing for a liveli- 
 hood while they were free, but were so unregenerate 
 that they kept up the practice after they donned 
 the stripes. One of them was a trusty named 
 William Hadley, known as Number "54." Part of 
 his duty was to carry dinner at noon to the men 
 who worked in the woods, and complaints began to 
 come in that the^ rations were short. The cook 
 took a solemn oath that he sent the requisite num- 
 ber of portions, but when they reached the men, 
 they had always contracted in some mysterious 
 manner. Hadley protested that he knew nothing 
 about it and seemed grieved that his integrity 
 should be questioned. 
 
 I concluded to play the detective in the matter, 
 and one day I first counted the bread and meat, and 
 then when "54" started I put off quietly in liis 
 wake. I had followed him some little distance 
 when he swerved from his route and made for the
 
 I30 
 
 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 cabin of a well known yoting ncgress, who ii not 
 fair, certainly liad the reputation of being frail. He 
 went into the house, and after remaining a moment 
 jnirsucd his way to the squad. Satisfied that it was 
 in this cabin that the mysterious shrinkage took 
 j'lacr, I lingered in the neighborhood and presently 
 ll.tilUy came jauntily tripping back from delivering 
 dinner, carrying tlic empty pan in his hand. 
 
 The few negroes of ih'j vicinity greatly prized 
 ■"corn pone," while fat pork was regarded as a deli- 
 cacy that might well tempt one to desperate deeds ; 
 so I immediately and concctly surmised that the 
 missing portions had been left with Hadley's in- 
 amorata, and that he would pause for a tete-a-tete, 
 before returning to camp. So it developed. The 
 dusky belle came out to meet hnu and together 
 they repaired to their trysting place, which proved 
 to be a nest amidst the thick branches of a great 
 prostrate pine tree. I gave them time to bill and 
 too a while, and then suddenly appeared on the 
 cene. No ghost ever created greater horror and 
 ' onstcrnation. They were unable to speak, and 
 • imply stared at me with big milky eyes, while 
 they obeyed my order to come out. 
 
 I told Hadley to get down for punishment, and 
 handing my strap to the negrcss, requested her 
 pretty shortly to lay it on to the best of her ability. 
 
 She looked at me appealingly, and hit her lover 
 a few gingerly strokes. Mc glared around with a 
 world of reproach in his face.
 
 THE AMERICAN SinERIA I3I 
 
 'Lay it on!" I shouted, for what I wanted was 
 to get Hadley mad. 
 
 Bang! bang! bang! went the strap. 
 
 "Keep it up! " I ordered 
 
 Bang: bang! bang! this time witli a will. 
 
 Hadley ground his teeth. At this stage, the 
 negress fulh' believed that her life depended upon 
 her vigor, and she beat a devil's tattoo upon the 
 prostrate trusty. At last I judged him to be in a 
 properly wrathful condition, and putting on a finish- 
 ing touch or two myself, I told him to get up. He 
 rose sullenly to his feet, and the negress, who was 
 breathless with her exertions, began to move off. 
 
 "Hold on." I said; "I have a little business with 
 you first. Get down where Hadlry was." 
 
 "Why, cap'n — " she began, but 1 cut her short. 
 
 "Get down!" I thundered, and she mechanically 
 obeyed. I handed the strap to Hadley. "Now put 
 it on," I said. 
 
 An instantaneous change came over the darky. 
 His sullen look disappeared like magic, and he 
 snatched the leather as drowning men snatch straws. 
 
 Revenge is sweet. He whirled the strap and 
 brought it down with a resounding whack. 
 
 "Oh, Lord! Oh, Mr. Hadley!" yelled the negress. 
 
 "(live it to her, Number 54," I said; "remember 
 how she tanned your hide.' 
 
 He settled down to business at the word, and the 
 scene of their late loves reechoed to the thuds of the 
 strap and the screams, pleas, and protests of his 
 8
 
 13a TUK AMEKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 luondani s\vcctlieurl — lo ull c-f wliicli he turned a 
 (leaf car. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. lladlcy!" she roared, "you tole me to 
 <m\v'. Vou knows ycju did I" 
 
 "You lie, you hussy I" he heartlessly replied, and 
 bent his exclusive attention to the flogging, which 
 1 must confess was artistically performed. When 
 I thought that she had obtained a good lesson and 
 Haillcy's revenge was sufficiently glutted, I bade 
 her get up and be a good girl in future. The meat 
 was never short after that. 
 
 With all his faults Hadley was a good fellow, and in 
 matters of importance could be depended upon. 
 Ater serving out his sentence he went to work in 
 the extensive sawmills of Drew & Buckley at Ella- 
 villp. One day a convict ran away, ami for some mys- 
 trrious reason the dogs refused to track him. He 
 was evidently one of those peculiarly constituted 
 individuals, that I have mentioned elsewhere, who 
 Ifave no trail. At any event, the hounds hung back, 
 would not taki- the scent, and we gave the man up 
 for lost. That night at about twelve o'clock there 
 wns a thunderous knocking at the stockade gate, and 
 Iladley strode in, hauling along the runaway by 
 the scruff of the neck. It appeared that he had 
 taken the direction of Ellaville and accidentally 
 encountered the ex trusty, who at once recognized 
 him. The fugitive claimed that he had been sent 
 to look for a convict, who had run away, but Had- 
 ley was too old a prison-bird to be caught with
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 U3 
 
 such chaff, and he promptly took him in. 1 paid 
 him ten dollars for his trouble, and he went on his 
 way rejoicing, declaring that all convicts who wished 
 to get away had best give Ellaville a wide berth. 
 
 Sometime afterward there was a wreck on a log 
 train, which hauled enormous loads of timber from 
 the woods, over a private railroad belonging to Drew 
 & Buckley. A gigantic pine log had slipped cross- 
 wise on its car and, striking against a tree near the 
 track, derailed the whole train, smashed the engine, 
 and killed several workmen. Hadley was on the 
 train and went down with the wreck. He was taken 
 out with both legs broken, but he was one of the 
 kind of men who are hard to kill; and when con- 
 valescent, he came hobbling out on crutches to pay 
 the camp a visit. One of the guards commented 
 upon the dangers of his new vocation, and he as- 
 sented emphatically. 
 
 "If Governor Drew wants to keep dat train ob 
 his," he said, "he better not run obcr me. Sakes 
 alive man! I jes' tored dat ingine all ter pieces!" 
 
 I last heard of old "54" in Jackson County, where 
 he got into trouble. He had a quarrel with a no- 
 torious woman, who drew a dirk and tried to stab 
 him, but he whipped out a revolver and put a 
 bullet through her heart before she could strike 
 the blow. He was tried for murder but acquitted, 
 and has since drifted out of sight. 
 
 The turbulent history of Major Wise's lease sus- 
 tained itself to the bitter end, and terminated in fact
 
 I ;^ THF AMF.RILAN SIBERIA 
 
 With a liiKlily sensalional episode- one that gave us 
 in insif^ht to the character of a man subsequently 
 ilcstincd to make mucli trouble. At the close of the 
 iliiril year at Sing Sinp, and the last year of his 
 case, bids were again advertised for and the convicts 
 wcTf Itt in a body to the South Florida Kail- 
 roatl Company. This contract was concluded a few 
 months before the close of the year, although it did 
 not go into effect until January i. Of course in 
 the interim the Wise lease was in force, but by some 
 means or other several of the convicts conceived the 
 idea that they were then the property of the rail- 
 roatl company, and that no one else had a right to 
 woik them. The chief promulgator of this theory 
 was a man named Walter Shavers, a desperado who 
 feared nothing, and who tock an impish delight in 
 inciting others to mischief. 
 
 He talked fourteen of his comrades into his way 
 of thinking, and when I came to call the men out 
 in the morning, these conspirators took their stand 
 l)y the door armed with clubs, and refused to move. 
 They had nerved themselves to desperation, and, 
 like the mutterings of a storm, I heard the word 
 passed back and forth, to stand firm. I was very 
 much surprised at such a demonstration, and in- 
 quired the cause of the strike. Shavers stepped 
 boldly to the front, bludgeon in hand. 
 
 "We don't intend to work for Wise," he said. 
 "The railroad companv has leased us, and we 
 won't come out for anybody except their men."
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 35 
 
 The balance of the convicts, some seventy-five in 
 all, were huddled in the rear of the cell, thoroughly 
 intimidated. It was my desire to save them all 
 trouble over what was so palpably an error, and I 
 attempted to reason and explain, but Shavers cut 
 me short. 
 
 "I have told you the reason," he said; "we don't 
 intend to come, and now you can make the most 
 of it." 
 
 Then I realized that it was time for heroic treat-^ 
 ment, and flinging open the gate, I called on those 
 in the rear, who were evidently not parties to tlie 
 revolt, to come out. They obeyed with a rush, 
 and the impetus carried Shavers and his fellow- 
 plotters with them. 
 
 Once outside, all weakened and went upon the 
 squad-chain but the ringleader and two others, 
 who declared that they would die then and there 
 before they surrendered. I looked around and saw 
 a huge trusty who went by the sobriquet of "Jack 
 o' Diamonds" — I forget what his real name was. 
 He was a herculean fellow, his eyes were snapping 
 at the prospect of a fight, and he was evidently 
 itching to take a hand in it. 
 
 "Jack," I said, pointing to Shavers, "throw that 
 man into the cell." ^ 
 
 At the word he pounced upon him like a cat, and 
 a wrestling match ensued that would have put pro- 
 fessionals to shame. Both were very strong, both in 
 deadly earnest, and their very sinews cracked as
 
 136 THE AMFRfCAN SIRFRIA 
 
 ihcy swayed b;ick and forth, grappled, and rose and 
 (ell. The whole camp looked on in breathless ex- 
 citement. It was nobody's fight for a while, but at 
 last, Jack o' Diamonds obtained a back lock on his 
 man, lifted him off the ground with a supreme effort 
 and hurled him tll^oll^;ll tli' open cell-door. 
 
 I slipped the latth and called assistance to put 
 the otlur two in. This was accomplished without 
 much diflicultv, and, accompanied b'' two men, I 
 stepped inside to discipline the trio. One sub- 
 mitted gracefully, but Shavers had to be held down 
 wliile he was whipped, and the other I tied lio^'- 
 fashion. When the three promised submission, I 
 turned them out and put them on the squad-chain; 
 but no sooner was the key turned in the padlock at 
 the end, than Shavers shouted to the others tcj 
 stand h^- him, and they all attempted to break off. 
 
 "Ar«! you all curs?" he yelled. "'Give me a hand 
 and we'll snap this chain like a string!" 
 
 We had them at a disadvantage however, and 1 
 began at one end of the chain and went down the 
 squad, whipping them nil. This fjuieted things 
 temporarily, and I took advantage of the lull to send 
 them down the road toward their work, and tlispatch 
 the others in different directions. 
 
 Although he had been twice punished with suf^- 
 cient severity to subdue any ordinary man. Shavers 
 was still unconquered, and after nis squad had gone 
 a little distance, he s«!ated himsflf nnd declared 
 positively that he would not work. The guards
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 37 
 
 sent for me, and I found Shavers sitting at the 
 side of the road, sullen and defiant. 
 
 "Haven't you dropped this yet?" I asked. 
 
 He replied by a furious look. 
 
 "Will you get up and go to work?" 
 
 'No!" he exclaimed. "Whip me — kill me if you 
 want to, but by — I will not give inl" 
 
 "That rests with you," I answered. The otiier 
 convicts were beginning to move uneasily, mutter 
 and look at one another, and I felt that affairs were 
 critical. Such an example could have but one re- 
 sult, and that a general revolt, in which blood 
 would surely be spilled. So when I applied the 
 whip to him again I did not spare him, and at last 
 he yielded and gave up the struggle. That was the 
 end of the strike. We subsequently kept a close 
 watch upon Shavers, and he served out liis sentence 
 of five years without any other serious trouble. 
 But he was a curse to the camp, incessantly watch- 
 ing for an opening, desperate, embittered, and re- 
 vengeful, and having withal the dangerous influence 
 among his fellow-prisoners that a man utterly care- 
 less of life is sure to possess.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 I was employed by the East Florida Railroad 
 Company to continue with the prison. Their lease 
 was for two years, anil the breaking up of the old 
 camp and removal of the convicts to their new 
 quarters was a formidable undertaking. The last 
 of the year found us in the midst of bustle and 
 preparation. We decided to take the cars from 
 Custer, our side camp, which stood (juite near the 
 track, and was tour miles distant from our headquar- 
 ters in the woods. The start was made at four o'clock 
 in the morning, just at that black margin between 
 night and day, when the moon had set, and not a 
 single star relieved the deep gloom of the skies. 
 l!.ich man carried a torch, and the long procession 
 hied slowly out of the cell-houst.', and wound its 
 way through the inky depths of llie forest, looking 
 like some unearthly troop of liobgoblins, that would 
 Mii-lt into thin air at cock-crow. To add to the 
 grotestpie impressiveness of the scene, the negroes 
 struck up one of those strange, wailing, unintelli- 
 gible chants, that are born in the mouth of every 
 genuine African, and the echoes caught the weird 
 melody and moaned it back and forth for miles. 
 
 Many of the men were sick <n maimed, and every 
 
 few monjents a torch woultl go down and show 
 
 US
 
 THF AMERICAN SIRERIA I35 
 
 where someone had fallen. The otliers staggered 
 under enormous bundles, and bristled with frying 
 pans, stew-pots, skillets, and almost every imagin- 
 able utensil of camp-cookery, for we not only carried 
 all of the camp equipments, but every man brought 
 along that little hoard of private possessions- that 
 a prisoner is morally certain to, accumulate, if he 
 stops long in one spot. At the latter end of the 
 journey we were obliged to place the weaker ones 
 on horse-back. I dismounted myself and lifted a 
 sick convict in my saddle, and in this order we 
 reached Custer. Such a moving-day was never be- 
 fore seen in Florida. 
 
 The railroad company sent four freight cars 
 to the camp, and we divided the convicts among 
 them, well guarded artd on squad-chains. An engine 
 was furnished, and between the schedules of other 
 trains we ran to a point near Jacksonville, where 
 we disembarked, and had a further journey of :.ix 
 miles on foot to the camp, which had already been 
 prepared by free labor. It was on what was known 
 as Trout Creek, and the route lay over the partially 
 finished grading of the then new Jacksonville & 
 Waycross Short Line. When we left the cars, we 
 found the adjacent fields literally packed with spec- 
 tators, most of them negroes, and so eagerly did 
 they press forward, that the cordon of guards we 
 hastily threw out could scarcely keep them back. 
 
 Our procession left the gaping crowd behind, and 
 toiled, hampered as we were by the sick, over the
 
 I jO TMK AMF.RK AN SIRKKIA 
 
 rough roadway, through i iits and across log-spanned 
 creeks, until, thoroughly tired out and at about 
 dark, we reached the camp. 
 
 The appointments were vastly better than those 
 of Sing Sing, a substantial double cell one hundred 
 feet long had been constructed, together with suit- 
 able guards' quarters, kitchen and other buildings, 
 and the yard inclosed by a solid stockade. Many 
 little details, however, were lacking, and as there 
 was no building-chain, we literally surrounded the 
 house with guards, on the first night. For many 
 days we were occupied in supplying those little de- 
 tails that experience alone can suggest. The con- 
 victs were then put to work constructing the line of 
 the Jacksonville &: Waycross Railroad. 
 
 I did not originally accompany the party as cap- 
 tain, but as first assistant; and the reasons for this 
 management may be gathered in part from what I 
 have already told. It was the earnest desire of the 
 Plant Investment Company, which was the owner 
 of the railroad and the real lessee, to free the sys- 
 tem, as far as possible, of the odium that then 
 attached to it, and as I had been captain under 
 Major Wise's regime, and had received, of course, 
 a share of the smirching, it was deemed expedient 
 for some one else to figure as the head. A man 
 named Henderson, who had been a guard at the 
 Georgia prison, was sent or and placed in com- 
 mand. 1 felt that I had always done my duty and 
 that this was only a concession to popular opinion,
 
 THE AMERICAN SIHERIA I4I 
 
 SO I spared nothing to render things as amicable as 
 possible. But I must confess that Mr. Henderson 
 and I did not live very happily together. He went 
 upon the assumption that the prisoners had been 
 barbarously abused during the Wise lease, and 
 never missed an opportunity to draw them out upon 
 the subject. 
 
 "A rogue ne'er felt the halter draw, 
 With good opinion of the law." 
 
 says the proverb, and it will be readily understood 
 that many of the convicts, and particularly igno- 
 rant negro convicts, were delighted at this oppor- 
 tunity to make things unpleasant for their old cap- 
 tain. They certainly told some monstrous stories. 
 
 It was only human nature, but I felt keenly the 
 false position it placed me in, and I several times 
 sent in an application for dismissal, but the rail- 
 road company insisted that I remain. 
 
 I stood these trials with what patience I could 
 command, and applied myself to my work, which 
 was the management of the construction train. 
 Among other things the company gave me strict 
 orders to allow no unauthorized person to pass on 
 the grading where the convicts were at work, or to 
 approach nearer than certain limits, and this rule 
 led to two ludicrous incidents. We had pushed the 
 grading about a mile be3'ond the end of the track 
 when, one day, Mr. II. S. Haines, the general su- 
 perintendent of the S. F. & W. Railroad, came out 
 upon a special engine to pay us a visit. The East
 
 "42 THE AMERK AN SIBERIA 
 
 Florida Railroad Company was part of the S. F 
 tS: W. system, and Mr. Haines' position made him 
 chief of us all. 
 
 He dismounted from the engine and walked a 
 mile or so up the road, to where the picket line of 
 fiuards was extended. A long, big-jointed native 
 named Press Amhrnsc, who was, by the way, a 
 thoroughly good fellow, but as obstinate as a mule, 
 presented his rifle and halted him. 
 
 "My name is Haines," shouted tlie superintend 
 ent; "I hnve a riglit to pass liere." 
 
 "No right that I know of," replied Ambrose, 
 coolly, 
 
 "But, man, I'm superintendent of the road." 
 
 "That may be," said the guard, "but I don't know 
 you." 
 
 Mr. Haines was beginning to get annoyed. The 
 long walk had tired him and he was anxious to in- 
 spect the grading. 
 
 "Look here," he called, "I have no time for any 
 'ooling. My rwime is Haines, H. S. Haines, and 
 I'm general superintendent of the S. F. & W. 
 Railroad. Now let me pass." 
 
 "H you have no time for fool in'," replied Am- 
 brose slowl}', "ycu'd better be moving off, for you're 
 foolin' away your time powerful talking to me." 
 
 Mr. Haines scratched his head. Finally he lo-st 
 all patience. 
 
 "Oh, confound it!" he exclaimed; "I can't st^-^d 
 here all day. I'm going across anyhow."
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 HS 
 
 Ambrose instantly covered him with his rifle. 
 
 "Mister," he said earnestly, "I don't know who 
 you are, but if you move one step toward me, you 
 do it at the risk of your life." 
 
 The superintendent looked into the muzzle of the 
 rifle and looked into the face of the guard. He 
 saw death in both. He paused, pondered a moment, 
 and then turned on his heel and walked back to 
 the engine. He had the engineer blow the whistle 
 for me, and subsequently passed through the lines, 
 under my escort. Before he left he said: "Who is 
 that guard at the end of the line?" 
 
 "Press Ambrose," I replied. 
 
 "Keep him under all circumstances," hereturned; 
 "he knows his business." 
 
 Labor, on the line of the road, was being carried 
 over a wide and dangerous quagmire known as Fox 
 Swamp. An embankment was thrown across it, and 
 one squad was at work at one end and another in 
 about the middle. Late one afternoon, a negro 
 tramp came along, and, desiring to cross the swamp, 
 made a detour around the first squad and crawled 
 up the embankment some little distance beyond. 
 Just then the men at work in the middle started in, 
 and their guards, catching sight of the negro, ordered 
 him to go back out of the way. He retreated a 
 little distance, which brought him near the lines of 
 the other squad, and immediately several rifles were 
 leveled at him and he was warned away. He was 
 between two fires, and with his teeth chattering and
 
 144 T"* AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 eyes protruding, he ran first in one direction and 
 then tlie other, until the two squads came so close 
 to^^cthcr, that he was brouj^ht to a standstill, 
 
 "CJetoutof the road!" shouted one set of guards. 
 
 "Keep back!" warned the other. 
 
 At last he gave a yell of terror and jumped off the 
 embankment into the quagmire. He sank up to 
 his neck in the slimy ooze, and the bog would have 
 undoubtedly claimed him for its own had not the 
 squads stopped and quickly let down men to pull 
 him out. He was escorted to the further side and 
 when last seen was footing it up the right-of-way 
 like a scared deer. 
 
 In the course of three months we moved to Camp 
 Hillyard, thirty two miles from Jacksonville, on 
 the line of the road. This camp was substantially 
 like the other, although in general appointments 
 it was again its superior, and, indeed, from the be- 
 ginning of the railroad lease, it was apparent that 
 better times had set in. The Plant Company man- 
 aged their charge generously, the food was good 
 and abundant, and no expense was spared to keep 
 the standard of the camp at a first-class point. 
 Nevertheless, one of my earliest experiences was 
 unpleasant in the ext|[eme. Measles in a virulent 
 form were in the neighborhood, and the disease 
 broke out upon me, while on a car with my gang. 
 I went in and on the way picked up a sub-foreman 
 n.tmed Jason Moore, who was also just taken ill. 
 William Rich, one of the guards, was attacked at the
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1^7 
 
 same time, and I left them at the camp and went to 
 my home at Live Oak, where I remained until con- 
 valescent. Not long after my return, Moore, who 
 was a capital fellow, died of the disease, and Rich 
 followed him a little later. One in three was rather 
 a close call, but this was as nothing to what fol- 
 lowed, for the camp was destined to shortly become 
 the scene of a frightful and devastating epidemic — 
 a prison horror, in fact, of the first magnitude. I will 
 explain, as best I can, the circumstances that at- 
 tended it and leave the reader to draw his own con- 
 clusions. 
 
 The weather in the fore part of the year was cold 
 and inclement, but Captain Henderson abandoned 
 the old plan of bathing inside the cell-house in tubs, 
 and on Sunday would marshal the convicts in the 
 yard, stark naked, and turn the hose upon them. 
 The wa^er was icy, a keen wind was often blowing, 
 and the effect of such a bath was to chill the men 
 to an almost paralyzing degree. I have seen burly 
 fellows turn literally blue under the stream, and 
 stagger like drunken men from the shock. They 
 would go shivering into the cell-house, don their 
 clothes in dead silence, and then sit apparently half • 
 stupefied around the fire. 
 
 Not a great while afterward, one of the convicts, 
 who came in laughing and singing, to all appear- 
 ances never in better health and never in better 
 spirits, was seized with a. sudden and violent pain 
 in the back. In a little while he screamed out that
 
 ,^S nik AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 iiis whole spine was like a bar of red-hot iron. 
 I'hin he went into convulsions, so uncontrollable 
 that it was impossible to hold him, and his head 
 Ucnt until it touched between his shoulder-blades. 
 •Mternately lie writhed ami yelled and stiffened with 
 reactions that left liini rigid. This torture contin- 
 ued for a few hours, when he died. 
 
 Next night, while this mysterious and terrible 
 taking off was still the subject of general conversa- 
 tion and conjecture, two other men were seized 
 with symptoms identical with the first case. Both 
 lingered in agony for a while and both died. For 
 many a man this was the beginning of the end. 
 The strange malady that came so swiftly and killed 
 so surely was one of those quick and deadly types 
 of spinal meningitis, that make it, when it once ob- 
 tains a foothold, tlie most terrif) ing scourge known 
 to humanity. 
 
 After that the camp became a human shambles. 
 Man after man was stricken down, and while many 
 recovered, the deaths predominated, and their ap- 
 palling suddenness and the uselessness of any pre- 
 cautions invested the visitation with a superstitious 
 horror impossible to describe. Every man felt 
 that death walked beside him, and no one who laid 
 down at night could say with any certainty that he 
 would be alive by morning. The disease seized its 
 victims with absolutely no warning, and indeed most 
 of those who were attacked seemed to be in un- 
 usually buoyant health just before they felt the first
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 149 
 
 pang. Men fell back in paroxysms while they were 
 eating, while they were cooking, while they were 
 talking, with the words half-uttered on their lips. 
 Little groups would be seated on the edge of the 
 sleeping platform, waiting for the bell that was a 
 signal to retire, when one of their number would 
 turn livid, stare blankly for an instant at his fel- 
 lows, and then fall back, writhing in mortal anguish. 
 Sometimes two or three would be attacked out of one 
 party, and their comrades, pale with the knowledge 
 that death had brushed their very elbows, would creep 
 under their blankets and lie trembling until morning. 
 Our hospital acccommodations were limited and 
 they were almost immediately overtaxed. In a week 
 or two the cell-house itself was half full, and the 
 spectacle of the stricken, the dead, and the dying 
 half-crazed the balance with fear. New victims 
 were almost invariably seized at night-time, and as 
 evening advanced, terror could be seen to visibly 
 lay hold of the squads. They worked mechanically, 
 spoke almost in whispers, and seldom talked to one 
 another. As they entered the cell-house, they 
 flinched and hesitated at the door and cast haggard 
 looks inside, as if they expected to see the plague 
 standing in some material form, ready to strike 
 them down. The scenes that constantly repeated 
 themselves can only be partially described in 
 words. Here is an example: One morning at break 
 of day, when the men began to stir, a yell of dis- 
 may came from the sleeping platform. 
 9
 
 130 IHE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 "Oh, my God!" came a voice from among the 
 newly awakened convicts; "there's a dead man here 
 next to me!" 
 
 "Here's another, stiff and cold!" said a cooler 
 prisoner, who liad just made a similar discovery in 
 mother quarter of the building. 
 
 There was silence for a moment, broken by the 
 awe-struck tones of a third convict. 
 
 "There must be three then," he said, "for the 
 Mian beside me is dead, too!" 
 
 The cries of these three, as they lay in mortal 
 travail, had been drowned by those of the stricken 
 all around them, and had not awakened their com- 
 j>anions, worn out as they were by nights of sleep- 
 less anxiety. The corpses, distorted by the pangs 
 of death, and stiffened to the posture in which life 
 had left tliem, were hastily carried out and buried 
 in a potters' -field, that was already rivaling the 
 roster-roll of the camp. So the days wore on. 
 
 The only treatment we could employ was that of 
 counter-irritants. The backs of tlie sufferers were 
 blistered heavily with cantharides. Tubs of boil- 
 ing water were kept in the cell, blankets were dipped 
 in them and then wrnpped around the body. Often 
 the skin would come off in patches, but this seemed 
 to be all that would give relief or hold out any 
 hopes of a cure. Those who recovered convalesced 
 slowly and felt the effects for months. 
 
 The panic was by no means confined to the pris- 
 oners. One day, ten of the guards stepped into the
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I5I 
 
 headquarters in a body and asked for their dis- 
 charge. 
 
 "We like the place," said their spokesman, "but 
 life is sweet. " 
 
 This left us very short-handed, but we needed 
 nurses more than we needed guards, so it did not 
 materially interfere with the work. Those in charge 
 could not leave, and we simply had to summon such 
 courage as we could and see it out. It must be 
 remembered that we had none of the facilities of a 
 city, none of its ready and abundant aid, but were 
 alone in a rude convict-camp with this pestilence 
 for a guest. It raged until it might fairly be said 
 to have exiiausted itself for lack of material. 
 Twenty-seven died in one week, and while I am un- 
 able to state, from lack of hospital records, exactly 
 what the total mortality was, it is no exaggeration 
 to say, that it fairly decimated the camp, and it was 
 a long time before affairs dropped into their accus- 
 tomed channel and we recovered from the shock of 
 the visitation. I was myself attacked, but it was a 
 comparatively light case and 1 was soon able to be 
 up and about again. 
 
 My recollection of the early daj's of the railroad 
 lease is not altogether one of gloom, but is enliven- 
 ed by several incidents of a different character. 
 One of our guards was a raw native who had been 
 raised in the piny forests, and who was as com- 
 plete a specimen of the backwoodsman as I ever 
 laid eyes upon. This guard invited me to a coun-
 
 152 
 
 THF A.MKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 try entertainment known among the natives as a 
 "frolic," and we started after dark for the scene of 
 the festivities. A frolic is about the only relaxation 
 these people have, and bears the same relation to 
 them that a fashionable ball does to the denizens 
 of cities, f may add that the affair is generally all 
 that the name implies. 
 
 We plunged into the wilderness and made our way 
 through miles of dense woods, underbrush, and pal- 
 metto thickets until at last the merry strains of a 
 fiddle broke upon our ears, and we emerged insight 
 of a lug-huusc, overflowing with people. An up- 
 roarious welcome awaited us, and we were soon in 
 the thick of the fun. It was a curious sight to un- 
 familiar eyes. The walls of the house were lined 
 with guests, who crowded back to clear a space for 
 the dancers, and blazing torches of "fat" pine cast 
 a grotesque and flickering light upon the assemblage. 
 No waltz, schottische, or polka found place among 
 the dances. Such things were as unknown to the si m 
 pie dwellers of the forest as Greek to a South Sea 
 Islander. The partners merely faced each other 
 and executed a sort of double shuffle, more or less 
 garnished with pigeon-wings and such fantastic 
 figures as the inspiration of the moment suggested. 
 
 The fiddlers were home artists. It had "come to 
 them natural," as the backwoodsmen say, and they 
 sawed away at such good old southern country tunes 
 as "Miss Cindy," "Run, Nigger, Run," and "Liza 
 Gincy." There were plenty of pretty "cracker"
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 53 
 
 fjirls, blushing and giggling in the corners, and big, 
 raw-boned, young woodsmen, looking a little sheep- 
 ish and embarrassed before so many people, but 
 bound to have a good time, all the same. By and 
 by things warmed up, the rustic belles conquered 
 their diffidence, their beaux came gallantly to the 
 front, and merriment went on apace. 
 
 I found that my guard was a very popular char- 
 acter, and the fact that I was a captain at the camp 
 secured me more attention than I knew what to do 
 with. The party grew more and more hilarious as 
 the night wore on,' the dancers capered their levrl 
 best, the fiddlers sawed away for dear life, the 
 pine knots flared and flickered, and now and then 
 somebody would emit a whoop, and the echo would 
 be taken up by the deer-hounds outside until they 
 filled the forest with reverberations. At intervals 
 one of the men would inform his friends, in a husky 
 whisper, that he had "a quart hid out in the woods. " 
 -This meant moonshine whisky, pure from the secret 
 stills of the wilderness, and an immediate adjourn- 
 ment would be made to sample it. At midnight the 
 festivities were at their height, and I managed to 
 escape, against the hospitable protests of all the 
 frolickers. But before I was allowed to depart I was 
 obliged to accept at least a dozen invitations to 
 attend similar entertainments that were being 
 planned in the neighborhood, and as I afterward 
 concluded that one frolic was enough for a year or 
 so, I have no doubt that I missed a good deal of fun.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Part of my diitv, iintlcr the new prison adminis- 
 traticm, was to act ;is forwarding agent to bring in 
 new recruits, and in this capacity I had a number of 
 novel experiences. The first of any moment was 
 a trip I made after Jack Powell. 
 
 I'owell and his step-father, a man named W. A. 
 Durden, were settlers living in a thinly populated 
 district near the town of Ochesa, on the Appalach- 
 icola River. They were convicted of the murder of a 
 neighbor, and the jury in their verdict returned 
 Durden guilty in the first degree and Powell in the 
 second. The jury was composed of backwoodsmen, 
 unfamiliar with legal terms, and by first and second 
 degree they intended to merely enumerate the pris- 
 oners, r)urden first and Powell second. They wanted 
 both hung. Consequently when Powell was sentenced 
 to life imprisonment, their indignation knew no 
 bounds. They considered that justice had been 
 cheated, and determined to take the law Into their 
 own hands. 
 
 Powell was in custody at Appalachicola, and for 
 security placed in the upper story of a store-house, 
 w'lere he was guarded by a heavily armed sheriff's 
 posse. This was the situation when I arrived, and 
 the sheriff scowled at the idea of my getting him 
 
 154
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 55 
 
 away, alone. lie turned him over to me with great 
 reluctance and the squad of guards accompanied 
 us in a body to the boat which I took, up the river, 
 for Chattahoochee. I saw no signs of any lynching 
 party at Appalachicola, and concluding that it was 
 a false alarm, I rested easy until we neared Ochesa, 
 when my prisoner reminded me that it was his home, 
 and expressed some apprehension that a vigilant 
 committee might be in waiting. 
 
 His fears proved well-grounded, for when we 
 came in sight of the landing, a party of determined 
 looking men appeared around the corner of a solitary 
 warehouse that stood near the river bank. We 
 stopped to discharge freight and passengers, and 
 looking around the deck of our little craft, I noticed 
 ;r number of flour sacks piled aft. I pointed them 
 out to my prisoner and told him to go and secrete 
 himself behind them. He immediately suited the 
 action to the word, and I stationed myself at the 
 gang-plank, drew a heavy Colt revolver, and awaited 
 developments. 
 
 I did not want to make any blunders, but I felt 
 reasonably sure that the men ashore were lynchers. 
 They had an indescribable, half -uneasy, and half-res- 
 olute air, and all carried rifles. A negro was the 
 first person on the gang-plank, and as he passed me 
 he whispered: "Look out, boss! Dose men gwine 
 tor take Powell way from you, suah!" This laid all 
 doubts at rest and I made up my mind imm^^diately 
 to allow no one else to come aboard.
 
 156 THK AMERICAN SIPRRIA 
 
 Meantime the group by tlie warehouse consulted 
 together and finally moved toward the boat, one of 
 them in advance and evidently the leader. As he 
 put his foot on the phmk, I ordered him to halt. 
 
 "I know your purpose," I said, "and you cannot 
 come on board this boat." 
 
 "It's none of your business tliat I can see," he 
 returned, stopping however, "whether I come on 
 board or not." 
 
 "I'll make it iii\- business to the extent ol putting; 
 a hole tiirough you if you attempt to cross that 
 plank 
 
 We parleyed for a moment, and then the party 
 threw off all concealment and openly declared that 
 they intended to take Powell. 
 
 "He deserves death," said the spokesman, "and 
 seeing that the law didn't hang him, we will. We 
 are here to get him, and if necessary we will com- 
 mit another murder in doing it." 
 
 "Men," I replied, "if this man deserved hanging 
 you should have hung him before he was sentenced 
 to the state prison. He has been turned over to 
 me, and it is my duty to protect him, which 1 will 
 surely do. As far as another murder is concerned, 
 I think 1 can get as many of you as you can of me, 
 and you can rest assured that I will blow the first 
 man off that gang-plank tliat puts his foot on it." 
 
 The lynchers hesitated and looked at one another. 
 They were reckloss backwoodsmen, all of them, in- 
 sensible to fear; liut it is n pretty well established
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 57 
 
 fact in the liistoryof mobs that where certain death 
 awaits the one wlio takes the initiative, there is 
 never anything done. Had they been able to make 
 a rush, I could never have saved the situation, but 
 none of them cared to adventure on the narrow 
 path down the gang-plank. The captain of the 
 boat, who was very much alarmed, approached me 
 at this juncture and begged me to give up the pris- 
 oner and save trouble, but I covered him and ordered 
 him to stand back and keep out of the fracas. 
 Eventually we got away from the landing in safety, 
 but several of the lynchers ran down the bank and 
 shouted that they would have their man before morn- 
 ing. 
 
 At this it dawned upon me that I was probably 
 just at the beginning of my trouble, for owing to 
 the imperfect facilities for travel at the time it 
 would be necessary for me to stop at Chattahoochee 
 Junction over night, before I could get a train east. 
 Now Chattahoochee Junction was about the worst 
 place in the world to stop, under the circumstances. 
 There was nothing there except a warehouse and a 
 small hotel, and at the latter there was no prospect 
 of obtaining accommodations, as the landlord had an 
 inveterate aversion to entertaining an officer with pris- 
 oners. I had good reason to know of this rule of 
 his, for on one occasion he had refused me even a 
 meal, when I was taking a convict to prison. The 
 town of Chattahoochee was two miles up the river, 
 but it was a town in name alone, containing nothing
 
 158 MHt: AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 but a few slianlies and a general store or two. 
 So there was every prospect tliat I would be obliged 
 to remain with my charge out of doors all niglit 
 at the Junction. 
 
 I conjectured that all these facts were well known 
 to the lynchers ami, as Ochesa and Chattahoochee 
 were no great distance apart, tney would neau me 
 off at the latter place and atttempt to seize my man 
 sometime during the night. This it turned out was 
 exactly what they intended to do, and the land 
 route being much shorter than that by water, they 
 were at the Junction in full force ahead of me. 
 
 On the way up the river, I racked my brain for 
 some plan to escape them, and finally hit upon one. 
 
 The boat's trip did not end at Chattahoochee, but 
 it kept on up the river to Bainbridge, Georgia, where 
 it was due to make connection with a train for 
 Waycross. My scheme was to get off when the boat 
 made a landing, as if I intendeil to stop, but jump 
 on again at the last minute and keep on to Bain- 
 bridge. 
 
 In pursuit of this ruse, I stepped off with mj- pris- 
 oner at the Chattahoochee Junction wharf and walked 
 with my prisoner up the bank, directly through the 
 crowd of lynchers, who eyed us menacingly. They 
 fully believed that they had us in a trap, that we 
 would be obliged to spend the night in the open air; 
 and I afterward learned that elaborate plans were 
 laid for an attack under cover of darkness. They 
 never dreamed of my taking Powell through Geor-
 
 THE AMERICAN SlHtKlA I59 
 
 gia, for tiie iiii^iic^sion prevailed that it was unlaw- 
 ful to carry the prisoner of one state through an- 
 other. 
 
 I looked around, as if in search of some place in 
 which to spend the night, listening meantime with 
 keen anxiety for the boat's whistle. At last it blev, 
 and telling my prisoner to run for his life, we madt 
 for the wharf at full speed and gained the deck just 
 as the cable was cast off. The lynchers saw through 
 the trick a moment too late and came crowding 
 down to the landing, cursing and waving their guns, 
 but we were already in mid-stream, and I wavea 
 them adieu from the deck. 
 
 After this narrow escape, all went well. We 
 made connections with the train at Waycross, went 
 from thence to Dupont, Georgia, and then to Live 
 Oak, from which place we reached Jacksonville and 
 the convict camp earlier than we could huv-e done 
 had I stopped over night at Chattahoochee. 
 
 The people of Ochesa were so exasperated at the 
 escape of Powell from th.eir clutches, that it was 
 necessary to remove Durden to Tallahassee, for safe 
 keeping. His sentence was eventually commuted 
 to life imprisonment, mainly on account of his ven- 
 erable appearance, and he was certainly a singular 
 spectacle when he arrived at the camp. His beard 
 reached to his waist, and his hair fell far below his 
 shoulders. Both were as white as snow, and he 
 could tie his enormous mustache back of his head; 
 great, shaggy brows overhung his eyes, liis nose
 
 lOO THK AMtmCAN MbtklA 
 
 was like the beak of a hawk an J he was as wild and 
 alert as a catamount. A visitor at the Florida 
 State Prison to-day might see an old man, much 
 bent and quite decrepit, who hobbles around the 
 yard with a stick. He is too feeble to do any reg- 
 ular work but potters occasionally at some little 
 odd job, and dozes between times in the sun. His 
 face is almost expressionless, listless, vacant, ex- 
 cept for his eyes, which have a sinister look and 
 now and then flash with the fire of other days. His 
 hands tremble a good deal, and he tells in a thin, 
 quavering voice, how he used to be able to kill a 
 deer every time with a riHe, but thinks he would 
 have to use a shotgun now. When he gets otjt, he 
 says he intends to hunt considerably and get back 
 his healtli, and if this prompts a question as to liis 
 hopes of liberty, he broods a while and then mut- 
 ters piteously that he guesses the governor will par- 
 ilon him pretty soon. He has guessed so now for 
 thirteen years. This is what time and prison ex- 
 perience have made of the wild old woodsman. His 
 step-son, Powell, died in the stripes, and I shall 
 have occasion to mention him again, further on. 
 
 Shortly after the trip 1 have described, Hcnder- 
 snn's career as captain ended. He had received an 
 order from headcjuaiters to do a certain piece of 
 work, and taking it upon himself to disregard it, 
 was relieved, and the camp was turned over to a sub- 
 foreman named Jack Forrester, to hold temporarily 
 until I returned from one of ni} trips. Henderson 
 
 I
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA l6l 
 
 went bick to Ccdartown, Georgia, where both he 
 and Forrester originally came from, and the last I 
 heard of him, he was a guard at a ccnvict camp 
 there. When the position of captain was tendered 
 to me, I declined it, preferring the lesser responsi- 
 bility of the other situation; but events soon culmi- 
 nated in throwing me into the old harness again. 
 
 During Forrester's administration, which was 
 brief, Walter Shavers, who will be remembered as 
 the desperado who led the convict revolt at Camp 
 Sing Sing, committed a robbery at Jacksonville, and 
 as he was a professional criminal and thoroughly 
 incorrigible. Judge W. J. Baker, of the District 
 Court, sentenced him to ten years' imprisonment. 
 When this sentence was passed. Shavers sprang to 
 his feet. 
 
 "Curse you! " he exclaimed, dramatically; "you 
 can sentence me for ten hundred years if you want 
 to, but mark my words, you white-headed scoundrel, 
 I will escape and come back and kill you inside of 
 a week! " 
 
 Several officers laid hold of him and pulled him 
 down, and he was hurried out of the court-room; 
 but as he reached the door lie turned and shouted 
 back: 
 
 "Look for me in a week, and consider 3-ourself 
 dead !" 
 
 Judge Baker turned pale and pondered silently. 
 He knew the desperate character of th'^ man. and 
 the threat so preyed upon his mind that when I came
 
 J^-X THE AMF.RICAN SIBFRIA 
 
 to Jacksonville after the prisoners of thai term, he 
 sent nic word to keep Shavers well guarded and not 
 give him the slightest opportunity to get away. 
 I repeated this warning to Captain Forrester, who 
 laughed and remarked that Shavers would be an old 
 man before he got away from him. However, he 
 reckoned without his host. 
 
 A few da\s after Shavers arrived, he was put to 
 work with a squad in a deep railroad cut, then 
 in course ot excavation. At dinner-hour the 
 guards sent to a neighboring house and procured 
 a huge pot of lioiled "greens," which they grouped 
 themselves around, at one end of the cut, and 
 proceeded to devour. The convicts were in the 
 middle, and this left one end clear. In a few mo- 
 ments seven of them made a dash for liberty. As 
 they ran out, the balance of the squad, who did not 
 attempt to escape, rose i.i confusion and were thus 
 interposed between the guards and the fugitives. 
 This may have been part of a cunning plot, and 
 may have been merely an accidental circumstance, 
 but at any rate it prevented immediate firing, and, 
 before the guards could obtain a clear shot, the 
 runaways were practically out of range. They 
 reached a belt of adjacent timl)cr in safety, im- 
 mediately disappeared, and, in brief, all made good 
 tlieir escape. Among the numlier was Walter 
 Shavers. 
 
 Captain Forrester was present at the time of the 
 delivery and at once sent word to Jacksonville.
 
 THE ANfERICAN SIBERIA 165 
 
 Judge Baker heard the news with consternation. It 
 was in direct confirmation of the first part of 
 Shavers' threat, and having no doubt that he would 
 carry out the balance if he got an opportunity, 
 he lost no time in surrounding himself with detect- 
 ives. I arrived in the city the next day with some 
 prisoners in charge, and the request of Mr. Drain, 
 the agent of the railroad company, I remained o\cr 
 to assist in searching tor Shavers and guarding 
 the judge.'. 
 
 We had reason to believe that our man had made 
 his way straight to Jacksonville, where he would 
 have little difficulty in hiding away, as he was a 
 gambler and thief by profession, and hand in glove 
 with all the very large criminal* negro population 
 of the place. This made it unlikely that he would 
 be found upon the streets, and for two weeks I 
 searched the rookeries unremittingly, da)' and night, 
 and made it my business to penetrate every den 
 where I thought it at all probable he might be. 
 Jacksonville's poorer quarters have a dense and 
 teeming aspect that is out of proportion to the 
 size of the city and resemble those of a metropolis. 
 This is particularly true of the tracts on which the 
 lower element of negroes have settled. These are 
 packed with tenements, threaded with crooked alleys 
 and blind passages, and full of squalid little court- 
 yards, that were, in those days, roosts for human 
 birds of prey of every description. Vile bagnios, 
 dance-halls, tumbledown groggeries, and indescrib-
 
 X66 THE AMEKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 able (ieadlalls abounded, while in the many gam- 
 bling dens of the locality the famous negiodice game 
 of "craps" or "oontz" was in full blast every night. 
 
 This was exactly the sort of neighborhood thikt 
 Shavers woulfl naturally gravitate into, and I 
 haimtcd it persistently night after night, hoping to 
 encoimtcr him. Karly onr morning, while darkness 
 was still intense, I was on one of its narrow streets 
 and saw a bright light sinning through the chinks 
 of a door and heard the hum of voices inside. It 
 was a house that I had sometime before "spotted" 
 as suspicious, btit I had found no means of enter- 
 ing It, for the place was carefully guarded, and the 
 door opened to none rave those known to be 
 habitues. To use force was out of the question, for 
 besides the odds that I would be apt to encounter, 
 such a step would scare away the game, if there. 
 I made sure that a pass-word was used, and while 
 I was cudgeling my brains for some scheme to get 
 hold of it, a man came along and knocked in a 
 peculiar manner at the tioor. 
 
 I immediately stepped behind him and, when the 
 door was opened, walked in, before the sentry 
 could stop me, at the same time drawing my pistol. 
 I found myself in a robber's roost of the ugliest 
 type. Several gambling tables were in the room, 
 and a crowd of sinister-looking negroes around 
 them, engaged at play. Others looked over their 
 shoulders, and still more were carousing with a dozen 
 or so of abandoned women, who mingled in the
 
 THI AMERICAN SIBERIA 167 
 
 throng. The scene was ilhimined by big, smoky 
 lamps, bracketed against the wall, and several driink- 
 ar-ls snored, all oblivious, amidst a litter of torn 
 c;*rds upon the floor. 
 
 The sudden apparition of a stranger, revolver in 
 hand, seemed to turn everybody into stone. The 
 gamblers sat as if transfixed, open-mouthed and 
 staring; those who were coquetting with the women 
 stopped in the middle of a caress and a dead silence 
 fell as I rapidly surveyed the place. I realized 
 that I must make the most of the surprise I had 
 occasioned, and, without speaking, I quickly mads 
 a round of the room, scrutinizing everybody briefly, 
 but narrowly. One young mulatto woman was 
 seated against the wall and wore a large, old-fash- 
 ioned sun-bonnet. She sat there as rigid as the 
 dead, but her eyes snapped as they momentarily 
 met mine. I recognized no one and was gone the 
 next minute, all, without a word being spoken. I 
 gained a dark corner of the street, keeping the 
 house still in sight, and from there T witnessed the 
 result of my visit. 
 
 Instantly I disappeared, the spell was broken, and 
 the place in an uproar. Frightened negroes poured 
 out in every direction like a swarm of bees, and 
 the uppermost thought on the minds of all seemed 
 to be to find a spot where they might hide. The 
 silent quarters awoke to the slamming of doors and 
 echoing of footsteps along passage-ways, and before 
 the excitement calmed down, I quietly slipped away. 
 10
 
 f68 THF AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 \Vlu;n two wciivs had j).issc<l ..way without a sign 
 of Shavers, or an attempt upon Judge Baker's life, 
 that gentleman's apprehensions abated somewhat, 
 and I returned to the camp, leaving the case in»the 
 hands of the local authorities. It chanced in after 
 times, that I had under me as con\icts some cf the 
 very men who were in the room at Jacksonville on 
 tlu- night of my somewhat ghostly appearance 
 among them. They told me, and the story has been 
 amply corroborated, that I looked Walter Shavers 
 in the face on that occasion. It seemed that when 
 he arrived at Jacksonville, he went immediately to 
 the house of a woman he knew, and was dressed in 
 a full outfit of female attire. His somewhat fem- 
 inine cast of countenance lent itself to the dis- 
 guise, and he was the young mulatto girl who sat 
 against the wall in the gambling den. He remained 
 in Jacksonville for months, and time and again 
 passed the very men who were searching for him. 
 This bold and clever villain is still at large, and as 
 he was entirely too well-known to elude the recogni- 
 tion of some one who would be morally certain to 
 betray him within this lapse of time, he has prcb. 
 ably gone north, or is in some other penitentiarj' 
 under an assumed name.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 About the middle of March, 1881, my duties as 
 prison agent took me to Key West, the famous 
 city of cigars, wiiere we were notified that seven 
 prisoners awaited transportation. As it lies on an 
 island, off the west coast, I took passage from Ce- 
 dar Keys on the "Lizzie Henderson," a steamer 
 plying between that point and Havana, touching 
 Tampa Bay and Key West on the down-trip. This 
 lengthened the journey considerably, but it was 
 the best I could do at the time. The Lizzie 
 Henderson was a stanch little craft, and well forme, 
 as it afterward turned out, that such was the case. 
 
 According to schedule, we were to stop but a 
 short time at Key West, and I arranged to put in 
 an appearance with my charges immediately before 
 the boat cast off, and thus avoid crowds. The cap- 
 tain promised to blow the whistle as a signal, and 
 then wait for me, and I proceeded to the jail. 
 
 Some of the prisoners were Cubans, and knowing 
 the excitable nature of the large Cuban population 
 of Key West, I had kept my coming as quiet as 
 possible; but the news spread in some way, and I 
 presently saw through the jail window, that the 
 stree was black with people. They were appar- 
 ently actuated simply by curiosity, but I knew that 
 
 1G9
 
 170 THF AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 escapes would be almost certain if we ventured 
 among so many, and took steps to circumvent them. 
 I ordered an omnibus brouRht quickly into an alley 
 in the rear of the jail, that seemed to have been 
 unnoticed by the throng, and proceeded to hand- 
 cuff the prisoners. 
 
 When I had the irons on six men, I looked 
 around for the seventh convict, and was amazed 
 when the sheriff pointed to a very pretty and 
 handbomely dressed young woman seated by the 
 door. 
 
 "There is your seventh prisoner," he said. 
 
 I had noticed the girl when I entered, and sup- 
 posed her to be his daughter or perhaps a member 
 of some charitable, visiting committee, for she had 
 every appearance of intelligence and refinement, and 
 rathe: shocked I stepped to where my valise stood, 
 to put away the extra pair of cuffs. She under- 
 stood my purpose, and supposing that they were 
 about to be placed upon her wrists, she lost the 
 composure that she had maintained up to that 
 moment and burst into wild sobs. I looked at her 
 with a sinking at heart. She was a tall, pale girl, 
 with not one of the unmistakable marks of vice, 
 and if, as I began to surmise, she had been well 
 reared and wr.s there through some error of justice, 
 I dreaded to think of the fate that awaited her — 
 the only white woman among a horde of depraved 
 nf>[;resscs and desperate and abandoned men in an 
 isolated convict camp with nothing, absolutely
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I7I 
 
 nothing, to sustain or fortify her for the ordeal. I 
 thought then and still think that no matter how 
 guilty, a better end would have been gained in 
 releasing her there, while she was impressed with 
 the menace of prison, but unhardened by its expe- 
 rience. Her story was a singular one, and I shall 
 have more to say of it presently. 
 
 We succeeded in partially quieting her, when the 
 boat's whistle sounded and the party were hurried 
 to the omnibus. The sheriff jumped up in front 
 and put the lash to the horses, but although we 
 went at a gallop, the crowd immediately discovered 
 the ruse, and we were soon in the thick of it. Most 
 of the people were Cubans and tumbled over each 
 other to get near to the omnibus. "Adieu, amego," 
 they shrieked, "adieu! adieu!" It was pandemo- 
 nium. 
 
 It must be remembered that it was no ordinary 
 situation to the actors. From their point of view, 
 I was taking their friends across the water to prison 
 exile in a strange land, of which they had heard 
 vague rumors and always horrifying ones. The 
 entire wharf and for blocks around was a dense, 
 clamoring mass of people, and it was with the utmost 
 difficulty that we got near the boat. By dint of 
 fairly driving over all obstacles, we managed to 
 describe a turn and back the vehicle up to the end 
 of the gang-plank. Two sailors stood ready to cast 
 off the cable. 
 
 "Now run for it!" I shouted, and my little party
 
 172 THF. AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 went aboard with a rush. I jerked the gang-plank 
 in after thcni. 
 
 At tliat moment a strange and pathetic incident 
 occurred. A grizzled old Spaniard, his wrinkled 
 face all running with tears, leaped from the wharf 
 to the deck, and one of my prisoners, a young 
 native named Marccllus Fernandez, sprang for- 
 wartl witli despairing gesture. They meant no 
 harm ; lliey were father and son, devoted to one 
 another with all the passionate affection of the 
 Spanish race, and the old man could not bear 
 tu SOL- his boy taken into captivity without one 
 more farewell. The boat's propeller was be- 
 ginning to revolve; there was' no time for senti- 
 ment or explanations; so I caught up tlie poor 
 old fellow in my arms, he was as light and thin as 
 a child, and literally threw him back. He alighted 
 all right; but the haggard face of his child, looking 
 across the now rapidly widening interval of water 
 was too much for him, and he threw uji both arms 
 and went crashing down in a swoon. The last I 
 saw of him, the crowd was carrying him away. 
 
 The vessel had covered but a short distance from 
 tlie wharf, when the captain rushed excitcdl)' to the 
 bell and signaled the engineer to stop. He had 
 just made the curious discovery that we had a 
 dozen or so of the Cuban spectators on board. It 
 appeared that they had slipped over the gang-plank 
 before we arrived at the dock, hoping to thereby 
 obtain a good view of the scene, and afterward were
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I73 
 
 SO absorbed in contemplating my prisoners that 
 they did not notice that we had pulled out. When 
 they observed this circumstance, the uproar they 
 raised was like the jabbering of a liundred parrots, 
 all at once. Th*jy screamed, gesticulated, and swore 
 by all the saints on the Spanish calendar, that they 
 were ruined unless the boat put about at once. The 
 captain replied that if he touched the wharf again, 
 he was satisfied that the crowd would board him, 
 until they sunk the ship, and at last he compro- 
 mised by sending them back in a row-boat. We stood 
 to until it returned, and then steamed on, the 
 crowd watching us to the very last. 
 
 The vessel's next stopping-point was Havana, 
 and we steamed away southward toward the turbu- 
 lent, Spanish-ridden, little island that lies only ninety 
 miles across the gulf. I turned all my prisoners 
 loose once we were at sea, believing that they 
 would rather take their chances with me than with 
 the leopard-sharks that thronged those waters, and 
 they roamed over the deck at their will. That 
 night we cast anchor in the beautiful harbor of Ha- 
 vana, under the lee of the ancient fortress of El 
 Moro. There was scarcely enough light to ■appre- 
 ciate the picturesque surroundings of this port, which 
 is one of the loveliest in the world, and the soft 
 night air was our most certain indication that 
 we were in the tropics. We did not mnko a landing, 
 but discharged cargo by another boat, and as soon 
 as possible started on the return trip.
 
 174 f"''- AMKkKAN SIBERIA 
 
 I had retired to my berth and was sleepinij; 
 soundly, when I was suddenly pitched head-fore- 
 most across the cabin, and before 1 could recover 
 inNsclf, I was hurled in the oilici direction. The 
 vesse/ A'as pitching like mad, and there was a deaf- 
 ening tumult, in which 1 could distinguish the crash- 
 ing blows of the waves, like so many quick cannon- 
 shots, and between them the sharp snapping of cord- 
 age, the pounding of feet overhead, and the deadly 
 missile like humming of a swift and concentrated 
 wind. 
 
 The uproar and the shock bewildered me, but 1 
 managed to reach the dead-light window and throw 
 it open. It was black as ink outside, and instantly 
 a shower of spray washed in and left me drenched. 
 1 made my way outside with difficultN and found 
 that we were in the midst of a gulf tornado. 
 
 Such visitations are the terror of sailors in these 
 waters, and they say that they are like the typhooF»s 
 of the Chinese Sea. I am v.illing to take their 
 word for it. This one swooped down upon us with- 
 out a particle of warning, or at least the signs of 
 its coming had been so slight that the first any one 
 knew of its presence, we were in the midst of it. 
 Any description of mine would convey but a slight 
 idea of its incomparable fury. It did not bear to 
 one fixed point, but fell upon the water like a flash, 
 tearinjj; it in all directions. The vessel seemed to 
 }>itch in every way at once, and in fact was so bat- 
 tered to and fro by tlie waves, and so constanuy
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I75 
 
 overwhelmed by them and stood almost literally 
 upon her beam-ends, that it was very doubtful 
 whether she would survive. At one time, when 
 every soul was clinging for dear life to whatever sub- 
 stantial thing happened to be at hand, and the tem 
 pest had reached a volume that simply stunned one 
 out of the power of thinking of anything, except 
 that death was right at hand, the sailors ceased 
 their exertions and gave up the ship for lost. It 
 proved that this was the turning-point of the tor 
 nado, and its violence abated with a swiftness that 
 was almost as bewildering as its fury. In what ap- 
 peared to be an incredibly short time after this, it 
 had passed us by. 
 
 We escaped by the merest luck. A hundred 
 times during the storm, the chance of a point in 
 anv direction of the compass would have sent us to 
 the bottom, and we realized it with a reaction of 
 feeling that I shall never forget. The tornado left 
 a dead calm in its wake, and as the vessel rockrd 
 on the flattening waves, like a tired child panting 
 after a struggle, the officers investigated the extent 
 of the damage. It was discovered that the strain 
 had cracketl the stout iron of the boiler from end 
 to end and the propeller was, of course, useless. 
 As soon as possible, all sails wore set, but thcrr 
 was then hardly a cap full of wind stirring, and wo 
 lay for a long time becalmed, with intervals of snail- 
 ing progress that was scarcely perceptible. I wa^^ 
 anxious enough to get ashore again, and the delay
 
 176 THE AMERICAN SIHERIA 
 
 seemed almost intolerable. It took us thirty-six 
 liours to make thr trip to Cedar Keys, and the bal- 
 :ice of the journey back to camp was accomplished 
 without any incident worthy of note. 
 
 To return to my young woman prisoner: She 
 had heard tales of the convict camp and was pros- 
 trated with terror and grief. She wept bitterly 
 during the whole trip, ate nothing, and arrived in 
 a pitiable condition. Her sentence was for one 
 year, and at this point I may as well tell her brief 
 histcry with us, and her story prior to that time, 
 wliich I learned from several sources and am satis- 
 fied is true. 
 
 Her real name was Maud Foster, and her father 
 is in business in New York City. The family was 
 well-to-do, eminently respectable, and slu had been 
 well -reared and carefully educated. But she was 
 uf a romantic disposition, had probably b< en read- 
 ing trash}' novels, and in a fit of picjue or some freak 
 of heaven only knows what, she ran away from 
 home with another silly girl, and the two went to 
 Cuba. It is needless to say that they did not find 
 any of the noble dons or gallant hidalgos that their 
 fancy had painted, but were simply very much of 
 strangers in a very strange city. In a short time 
 their senses partially returned to them, but as they 
 were ashamed to go home and did not know, in fact, 
 exactly what to do, they came to Key West. By 
 that time tluir money was pretty nearly gone, ab 
 though they had plenty of clothes and some jewelry,
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I77 
 
 and it can be readily imagined that these two New 
 York girls, now thoroughly disenchanted, were in a 
 state of mind bordering on distraction. At this 
 point one of those smooth young villains who lay 
 in wait for unprotected women, scraped an ac- 
 quaintance with Maud and stole a valuable orna- 
 ment from her. She immediately complained to the 
 police, and they prepared a complaint which she 
 was requested to swear to, but upon reading it she 
 found that it charged too much, and pointed out the 
 errors. Thereupon another was drawn up and she 
 subscribed to it. 
 
 The man was arrested, and at his hearing the girl 
 was asked whether she had signed a certain com- 
 plain'.. She was greatly agitated, and in lier con- 
 fusion supposed that the first document was alluded 
 to and replied that she had not. On the strength 
 of this denial, the young thief, who was much ex- 
 asperated and had influential friends, procured her 
 arrest for perjury. I have endeavored to state the 
 case as plainly as possible and am aware ihat it 
 appears preposterous that such a charge could lie. 
 But the man, as I said, could command influence; 
 she was a stranger whose story sounded highly im- 
 probable, and she was rushed into trial, found guilty 
 and sentenced, before she realized her danger. Then 
 she gave herself up for lost, and shame prevented 
 her from communicating with her parents and 
 friends. The girl who ran away with her did what 
 might reasonably be expected. She went to the bad,
 
 I-S THK AMFRK'AN SIIIFRIA 
 
 .111(1 in tiiii»' ti-tmiuil tn C ul'.i .i> .1 member of the 
 leiiii-niondc. Siuli is the true story of the fate of 
 these two foolish runaways, andit certainly furnishes 
 food for reflection. 
 
 When I reached the convict camp with the un- 
 fortunate girl she was in sjich a flutter of terror 
 that she walked right h(hiiul me, clinging to my 
 coat. I hail inspired her with some confidence, and 
 she was afraid that I might leave her alone among 
 all those people. Hcndeison spoke to her roughly, 
 and his words sent the blood rushing to her face, 
 while her limbs fairly sank imder her. It was al- 
 together a sorrowful sight. I regret that I ever saw 
 it. I felt sorry for the girl, and as time passed it 
 hurt mc to sec how shame and desperation did their 
 work. She donned the stripes in a paroxysm of 
 wild grief, but before long she hardened herself to 
 her degradation and abandoned herself to it. It 
 made a bad woman out of her, and her beauty was 
 practically all that remained of her former self. I 
 attempted 'to remonstrate with her one day, but she 
 stopped me with a passionate gesture. 
 
 "My God I Captain'" she answered bitterly. "You 
 talk of my degrading myself! You must be jesting 
 with me. How can I degrade myself more than I 
 am? I am at the bottom ground now and I have 
 quit carinp what I become." 
 
 During her confinement in prison tlie wrote 
 privately to her mother, but adopted a curious sub- 
 terfuge to conceal her disgrace She dated all her
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 1 79 
 
 letters from Cuba, sent them to her gin friend, 
 who mailed them so as to secure tlie proper post- 
 orfice stamp, and forwarded the answers from Ha- 
 vana to the convict camp. In this way she kept 
 up the deception for a whole year. While she was 
 in the deepest despondency, she would sit down and 
 write a cheerful, spirited letter describing imaginary 
 scenes and travels. I had not the heart to interfere 
 with what seemed to me a pardonable piece of 
 duplicity, for at any rate she was determined to 
 bear her burden alone. The answers she received 
 were undoubtedly from a person of refinement. 
 
 The last I saw of this singular prisoner was on the 
 day following her discharge. She had ordered her 
 clothing, which was elegant and costly, to be sent 
 to Jacksonville, and happening to be in that city, 
 i noticed a finely attired lady drive past in an open 
 carriage. She smiled at me rather wanly, and for 
 a moment I failed to recognize in her the woman 
 I had last seen in convict stripes. I believe she 
 afterward went to Cuba. 
 
 I had no sooner delivered the Key West prisoners 
 than I had orders to report to Pensacola for a noted 
 desperado named Jim Ota, whose subsequent career 
 furnished numerous incidents in prison history. He 
 had been convicted of burglary, coupled with assault 
 with intent to ravish, and sentenced to life impris- 
 onment. The atrocious character of the offense, 
 c&upled with the fact that the complainant was the 
 Wife of one of the leading citizens of Pensacola,
 
 I bo THE AMKklLAN SIUEKlA 
 
 laised popular indignation to such a pitch tliat the 
 jail was several times besieged by lynchers, and the 
 prisoner was only saved from their clutches by the 
 strength and determination of the sheriff's posse. 
 Ota had both Indian and negro blood in his veins 
 and was a cool, clean-cut fellow, with determina- 
 tion stamped visibly on his face. 
 
 I have alluded to the diflTiculties of travel in those 
 days. They were extreme. To reach places that 
 are now only a few hours' journey by the air-line 
 railroads, we were obliged to make long detours, 
 and the only route to Pensacola from Jacksonville 
 was by way of Montgomery, Alabama, from thence 
 to Mobile and then back, via Flomaton junction. 
 
 A reference to the map will show tlu.t this is al- 
 most a loop. I arrived thorougly fatigued, and after 
 only a few hours' stop took the train again with my 
 ticklish charge, whom I well knew I must watch 
 every moment. I was altogether three days and 
 nights without sleep, and as the journej' progressed I 
 fell into a state of exhaustion not easily described. 
 
 My mind was bent to the imperative necessity 
 of vigilance, but nature was meantime asserting her- 
 self, and I began to move and act automatically. 
 
 The result was a curious dual state. I was awake 
 and yet asleep, and I wondered with keen apprehen- 
 sion whether Ota noticed anything peculiar about 
 me, and whether 1 would be able to move in case, 
 anything happened. 
 
 At Waycross, two friends of mine came aboard ths
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 183 
 
 car and addressed some questions to me. My eyes 
 were wide open; I saw my prisoner and knew per- 
 fectly what was goinf< on, but I was so chained by 
 fatigue that I was unable to speak and sat motion- 
 less, staring at them like one mesmerized. It was 
 some time before I could break the spell. 
 
 "That man is a dangerous prisoner, " I exclaimevi 
 at last, "and I am dead for sleep. For God's sake 
 watch him awhile for me." 
 
 I barely heard them say "yes, "and then fell back 
 almost in a stupor. At the last station my friends 
 aroused me, and Ota and I reached the camp all 
 right. I mention this incident to show how 
 severe the strain often was upon the officers in 
 those days. 
 
 Tampa was another bad point to reach and the 
 route was curiously indirect. I went there shortly 
 after the experience I have just narrated. First I 
 went by rail to Callahan and then took a new road 
 completed to within a few miles of Ocala. At that 
 point a stage was advertised to connect with the 
 train and carry passengers to Tampa via Ocala. The 
 stage proved to be a two-seated, primitive wagon, 
 remarkable for its absence of springs and general 
 discomfort, and as there were a couple of lady pas- 
 sengers with an abundance ot trunks, we were terri- 
 bly cramped and crowded. The distance was over 
 a hundred miles; the road was indescribably bad in 
 places, and we reached our destination half dead. 
 I found hut one prisoner, a six months man, and
 
 184 1>I£ AMERICAN bIbEKIA 
 
 not relishing another wagon experience I concluded 
 to take a steamer to Cedar Keys and thence pro- 
 ceed by rail to Jacksonville. 1 had to hire a sail 
 lioat to reach the vessel which lay across the bar, 
 ix or seven miles away, and Aas then obliged to 
 use in all lour diKcieiit modes of travel, to bring 
 in one man. 
 
 We passed through Bradford on our way to Jack- 
 sonville, and to save time I wired to the sheriff to 
 have his prisoners at the train. Accordingly he was 
 at the di pot with thiee men, one of them a savage- 
 looking negro, whom he informed me would escape 
 it he saw llie slightest chance. 1 ordered them on 
 board, but this fellow, whose name was Smilh 
 Oliver, refused to budge. 
 
 1 laid hold of him and after a sharp tussle man- 
 aged to get him on the cars, just as the train pulled 
 out. 
 
 1 took a seat in the rear of the men, and for the 
 next hour or two Oliver kept furtively looking 
 around at me. 1 cautioned him against these tac- 
 tics, and while I was speaking, he sprang to his 
 feet and leaped for the open car window, head iirst, 
 like a diver. He was half-way out before I could 
 lay hold of him. I seized his legs and drew him 
 in, struggling desperately, although he was mana- 
 cled and the train was going at full speed. As 
 soon as I got him into the seat again I drew my 
 revolver, and presenting it at his head told him 
 that the next time he moved or looked around I
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 185 
 
 would blow his brains out. Under this powerful 
 persuasion he remained quiet for the balance of the 
 trip. 
 
 When I turned him over to Captain Forrester, I 
 told him of the character of the man, and a few days 
 later he fully sustained his reputation. He was 
 with a squad on a construction train moving at full- 
 speed, and while passing over a twelve foot em- 
 bankment he seized an opportunity to leap off. He 
 wore a 'stride-chain" on his ankles at the time, riv- 
 eted from shackle to shackle, but strange to say, he 
 alighted unhurt and instantly darted off into the 
 timber. Captain Forrester was on the train, saw the 
 leap, and jerked the bell-cord. The engine was re- 
 versed, and when the speed of the train was slack- 
 ened a little, he also jumped off. However, he was 
 not as sure-footed as the negro, and rolled head- 
 over-heels to the bottom of the embankment. 
 
 When he regained his feet, his eyes were so full 
 of sand and he was so jolted up generally that he 
 had no idea which direction the fugitive took. 
 Thus he made good his escape. 
 
 II
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A bad example is just as dangerous in a convict 
 camp as elsewhere, and the day following the escape 
 of Smith Oliver, described in the last chapter, two 
 other prisoners leaped from the train at nearly the 
 same spot. They were both white men — Jack Pow- 
 ell, whom I saved with such difficulty from the 
 lynchers, and Thomas Nix, a big, gaunt "cracker." 
 who was under fifteen years' sentence for an infa- 
 mous crime in which his daughter was complainant. 
 
 A few shots were fired, but they reached the woods 
 in safety, and as I happened to be at the camp, I 
 was detailed for the pursuit. I surmised that the 
 men would separate as soon as they gained cover, 
 for they were an ill-assorted pair, Powell being a 
 loutisli, chuckle-headed fellow, while Nix, with all 
 his rough exterior, was sharp as a needle, and, more- 
 over, an adept at woodcraft, perfectly at home in 
 the wilderness, and as skillful at hiding away as 
 an Indian. Such a man would not be likely to en- 
 cumber his flight with a companion, and when the 
 dogs took a trail that led straight to a densely 
 overgrown swamp, I felt sure that this was Nixand 
 not Powell I was following. 
 
 I rode through the rank fringes of the morass right 
 behind the dogs, and presently the track began to 
 
 18Q
 
 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA I 87 
 
 lead toward a wild region know as "Trail Ridge." 
 This is a chain of little eminences lying along the 
 St. Mary's River, in the midst of a country almost 
 unknown to the outside world, although it has been 
 penetrated and occupied, to some extent, by advent- 
 urous settlers, and outlaws hiding from arrest. 
 But what made the chase assume a very serious as- 
 pect when it entered this domain was that nearly 
 all of the settlers subsisted from the proceeds of 
 illicit whisky. Hidden in secret spots all through 
 the swamp and forest were their rude stills, and 
 although the profits were beggarly, these moonshin- 
 ers, like all others of their class, believed that they 
 had a perfect right to manufacture all the whisky 
 they wanted, and were prepared to assert it to the 
 bitter end. Consequently they regarded all officers 
 in general and United States marshals in particular 
 as their natural enemies. They bitterly hated any- 
 body and everybody connected witli the law, and 
 would not hesitate for a moment to bring down 
 such game with their long-barreled rifles, and 
 I fully realized that I had entered hostile terri- 
 tory. 
 
 It was impossible for a stranger to penetrate the 
 bewildering maze of tropical wood and undergrowth 
 that masked the approaches to Trail Ridge, so I 
 was forced to hire a native as a guide. I did not 
 have unlimited confidence in him. He had a shifty, 
 evasive manner, common enough among the coun- 
 try people, but under the circumstances it seemed
 
 l88 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 to me highly suspicious, and I made up my mind 
 that the chances were about even that he would lead 
 me into a trap. 
 
 I kept my e^es on him, determined to put a hole 
 through him at the very first sign of treachery, but 
 he made no move to confirm my suspicions and led 
 the way steadily toward the St. Mary's. The river 
 is a deep but narrow stream, tliat has driven its 
 channel through the midst of a pestilential swamp, 
 abounding in quagmires and pretty nearly overgrown 
 with lush, heavy vegetation. Its approaches are 
 thick with palmetto trees, growing on little hum- 
 mocks that rise above the stagnant water and are 
 festooned with slender parasitical creepers, which 
 keep up a constant, fantastic motion, no matter 
 how still the day, and have an uncanny air of reach- 
 ing out and grasping at the passer-by. The huge, 
 fan-like palmetto leaves, interlacing overhead, darken 
 the scene even at midday, and millions of south- 
 ern water weeds tangle in ine.\tricable confusion in 
 the gloomy reaches underneath. Rotting tree-trunks 
 barricade passage everywhere; fat, bloated water- 
 moccasins, indcsci ibably loathsome in appearance, 
 wriggle through the ooze; the stench is fearful; 
 poisonous little winged insects cloud about one's 
 head like smcke; now and then the checkered 
 snout of an alligator slides through the slime; big 
 spiders, spotted red and black, and venomous as 
 serpents, scramble up their airy ropes, and as night 
 advances, the croaking of marsh frogs and hooting
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 189 
 
 of owls combine in an infernal chorus that smites 
 the ear like thunder. 
 
 We entered this foul morass, sometimes walking, 
 but more often crawling and floundering. Occasion- 
 ally we came upon a little tongue of land intersect- 
 ing the quagmire, and found these bits of solid ter- 
 ra-firma almost invariably occupied by some squat- 
 ters. There would be a small clearing, perhaps a 
 little garden cultivated by the "wimmen folks," and 
 the rudest imaginable cabin, surrounded by a 
 "snake" rail fence. Here the possessors of the 
 place lived in perfect security and almost perfect 
 solitude. It was getting dark when I knocked at 
 the door of the first house for the purpose of mak- 
 ing some inquiries, and the greeting I received was 
 characteristic. 
 
 "Who's thar?" called out somebody, without 
 opening to me. 
 
 I briefly explained. 
 
 "We ain't seen no convict," replied the voice, 
 "and we ain't lookin' fur none fur you." 
 
 "How far is it to the river?" I asked. 
 
 "Look-a-here, '■ said the voice again, and this 
 time it was menacing; "if you all have business 
 anywhar's else, you'd better go rightofl an' 'tend to 
 it!" 
 
 It would have been folly, suicide perhaps, to 
 linger, and I followed the advice. Happily the 
 people at the next house were better disposed, and 
 gave some valuable information. They had seen a
 
 190 THF AMKRrf'W SIRERfA 
 
 convict passing throuRh the woods, with his stripes 
 on, ami a singular hat, made of tree moss, upon 
 his head. There was no doubt, from the descrip- 
 tion, hut that the man was Nix. He was evidently 
 pushing toward a place called King's Ferry, which 
 was the only point where he could cross the river. 
 Upon obtaining liiis information, my guide told 
 me tliat he hail a boat hidden not far away, and we 
 pushed to the spot where he drew a rude bateau 
 from among the reeds of the river's margin. We 
 both scrambled in and paddled through the gather- 
 ing darkness, to the ferry and beyond, making all 
 the inquiries possible. But Nix was too clever 
 for us. Several people had seen him, noticing 
 particularly his curious cap, but he might have 
 taken any one of a thousand different directions 
 afterward, and night made his escape sure. The 
 wilderness had swallowed him tip, and it was 
 years before I found the broken end of the trail, 
 to pursue it hundreds of miles away amidst scenes 
 of considerable greater peril. I will tell the story 
 at the proper place, and leave him for the present as 
 we loft him then. 
 
 Powell had, it afterward turned out, gone but a 
 short distance into the swamp, where he secreted 
 himself for two or three days, until hunger drove 
 him out. Then he went to the house of a settler 
 and begged for food. Help was quietly sent for 
 and he was captured and brought ignominiously back 
 to camp.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA I9I 
 
 It may be remembered that among the runaways 
 from Sing Sing was a negro outlaw named John 
 Jacobs. He had baffled pursuit and it was not 
 until this period that we heard from him. The 
 news came from a wild district in Marion County 
 adjoining the Ocklawaha river, which he had pene- 
 trated, and occasionally did work for farmers in the 
 neighborhood. Although remote from any town 
 and practically hidden in the forest, his evil name 
 followed him, and in time the sheriff, Pump Crutch- 
 field, was notified that he was there. He forwarded 
 the information to us, and I was sent after the 
 fugitive. 
 
 I went to Ocala, the county seat, where I met 
 Crutchfield, and we drove near where Jacobs was 
 said to be. We had minute information. He had 
 hired to a farmer and was then at work in a large 
 cleared cabbage-field, plowing. But so wary was 
 he that he never stirred without a weapon at hand, 
 and we were warned to take him suddenly or there 
 would either be bloodshed or another escape. 
 
 We found the cabbage-field easily, and there, 
 sure enough, was my old prisoner, diligently turn- 
 ing a furrow, with a rifle hung to his plow-handle. 
 The clearing was surrounded by thick woods, and 
 the question was how to take him before he could 
 break for them. It was done by a bit of strategy. 
 I left Crutchfield hidden at one side, with instruc- 
 tions to rise at the proper time and attract his 
 attention, while I executed a flank movement from
 
 rgi THE AMERICAN SIBBRIA 
 
 jhf otluT. I then crept alonj^ the underbrush, and 
 paining the tlesired point, waited until Jacobs 
 tiinird his plow and began to move away. Upon 
 that I jumped noiselessly over the fence and tiptoed 
 liter him. He did not hear my footfalls on the 
 oft ground, and presently I was close to his back. 
 At tiiis juncture, Crutchfield slowly rose up from 
 beliiml the fence. The nc(;ro stopped and surveyecl 
 him dubiously. He did not know the sheriff, and 
 it was obvious that he was debating in his mind 
 whether to stand his ground or run. While his 
 eyes were fastened upon him, I suddenly seized him 
 by the collar. A more astonished darky never 
 gasped. lie jimiped clear through the plow-handles 
 and tried to snatch his gun, but I had my pistol 
 against his head before he could reach it. 
 
 "Do you know nic, John?" I asked. 
 
 He twisted his neck around and rolled his big, 
 white eyes upon me. 
 
 "Good Lawd, yes! Cap'n," he ejaculated; "whnt 
 on dis yearth you want wif me?" 
 
 "You owe the state of Florida a little work, John." 
 I replied; "so you'll have to drop this job until you 
 squ.Tre up the debt." 
 
 I slipped the bracelets upon him and we filed out 
 of the cabbage field. I intended to go back by river, 
 so Crutchfield left us with the team, and I and my 
 prisoner proceeded to a little landing on the 
 Ocklawaha, where the Silver Springs boat, owned by 
 Colonel Hart, stopped on the wny up. The river
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBCRIA I93 
 
 schedule was very uncertain, and although the boat 
 was due at dusk, hours passed without its putting in 
 an appearance, and the few passengers grew tired 
 of waiting and went home, leaving Jacobs and me 
 alone. There was no town at the landing, nothing 
 but an old freight house and a dilapidated wharf, 
 built out over the water. This wharf was so low 
 that the river weeds had overgrown it from end to 
 end, and all that could be seen of it, in fact, 
 was a square of green, rising a little above the other 
 reeds and vegetation that grew in the shallows 
 near the bank. The surroundings were desolate in 
 the extreme. Night was upon us, and I began to 
 realize that I was in an ugly position, particularly 
 as it was possible that the boat would not arrive 
 before morning. There was no moon, and it was 
 soon difficult to see more than a foot or two 
 through the thick, tropical darkness, into which 
 my prisoner might at any moment dash and make 
 his escape. 
 
 As night fell, woods, swamp and river awakened 
 to a din of animal voices. Swarms of owls screeched 
 and hooted right over our heads, long-drawn cries 
 came from the forest, aad the water around the 
 wharf seemed literally alive with alligators. These 
 monsters emit a hoarse bellow, something like that 
 of an angry bull, but louder, and that night they 
 fairly shook the earth. Between the roars I could 
 hear the vicious swish of their tails, and it seemed 
 highly probable that some of them would crawl up
 
 194 
 
 THE AMKklCAN SIBIRIA 
 
 among the weeds of tlic wharf and take a nip at our 
 legs. Jacobs was breathing hard, and I felt instinct 
 ivcly that he was half frightened and half-meditat- 
 ing a dash. 
 
 ■John," I said to him finally, "if an alligator 
 would happen to grab you just now, you would 
 stand a poor show with those irons on your wrists. " 
 
 "'Deed I would, Cap'n, ' he replied fervently. 
 
 "Well," I continued, "I'll tell you what I am go- 
 ing to do. I won't see a man killed if I can help it, 
 and I intend to take those cuffs off even if you run 
 away from me. " 
 
 He protested that such a thought had never en- 
 tered his mind, and I slipped one of the locks. 
 While pretending to unfasten the other, I snapped 
 the loose cuff on my own left wrist and then said 
 cheerfully: 
 
 "Well, John, if a 'gator gets you now, we'll both 
 die together, and by the way, if you make any at- 
 tempt to escape, I will be pretty sure to put a bul- 
 let into you." 
 
 He did not reply, but I could see the whites of 
 his eyes as he glared at me indignantly through the 
 darkness. We sat down on the wharf and waited. 
 The owls and alligators kept up their dismal concert, 
 and a night never passed slower or more wearily. 
 Now and then Jacobs would say in a hoarse whisper, 
 "Don't shoot me, boss!" "All right, keep quiet 
 then," I would reply. At about one o'clock the 
 boat's whistle sounded like sweet music in my ears,
 
 IHE AMEKICAN SIBERIA I95 
 
 and shortly after I was on board, cramped, tired 
 out and entirely grateful. We arrived at camp 
 without further incident, and Jacobs made a good 
 prisoner for the balance of his time. 
 
 While acting as prison agent, I had another ex- 
 perience with Sheriff Crutchfield that was, to say 
 the least, lively. He notified us that an escaped 
 prisoner named Beverly Lewis had been seen, hang- 
 ing around Ocala, and I went after him. We learned 
 that he was to beat a negro festival on the outskirts 
 of town, and thither went Crutchfield and I, to 
 surprise him, if possible. At the suggestion of the 
 sheriff, who thougiit that the man might otherwise 
 see me and take the jilarm before he could be 
 caught, I secreted m}selfin the vicinity and he went 
 to the house. He saw Lewis in the crowd, and with- 
 out waiting to call me, rushed in and placed him 
 under arrest. But the game was not so easih' bagged. 
 Lewis instantly broke away, tore through the 
 crowd and jumped right into the open fire-place. 
 The chimney was a frail affair of mud and stick, 
 occupying an aperture in the rear of the house, and 
 the whole back of it gave way before the fugitive. 
 The last Crutchfield saw of him he was disappearing 
 through the ragged opening. 
 
 I saw the fiasco, and both Crutchfield and I started 
 on a run for the opposite side of town, where a 
 sister of Lewis lived, and where we supposed he 
 would be likely to goat once for arms and assistance. 
 It was '^uitc dark, and as we neared the spot I saw
 
 Iiy6 IHK AMIlKICAN SIBtKlA 
 
 a man running at the top of his speed in our di- 
 rection. \\ ith no other tli'ju{;lit than that lie was 
 Lewis, I gave chase, and coming up with him in a 
 little street, I clapped a pistol to his head and 
 ordered him to surrender. The man threw up his 
 hands and stood there, chattering and gibbering, 
 while I discovered that it v/as a case of mistaken 
 identity, and left him no doubt under the impression 
 that he had been attacked by a highwayman and had 
 a narrow squeak of it for his life. 
 
 We saw no more of Lewis, but he was foolish 
 enough to linger about the town and eventually meet 
 his death at the hands of Crutchfield. One day, 
 sometime after the little comedy of errors I have 
 described, the sheriff caught sight o( him slipping 
 along a back street, and ordered him to halt. Lewis 
 looked around, instantly recognized his whilom 
 captor at the festival and began to run like a deer. 
 Crutchfield rushed after him, but as it became plain 
 that the negro had the best of the race he drew a 
 heavy revolver and fired. The bullet passed clear 
 through the fugitive; he leaped in the air and fell 
 on his face, dead. 
 
 These adventures were continually alternated by 
 my journeys after newly convicted prisoners. Noti- 
 fication came that there were recruits in Marianna 
 and in Washington County, and my trip after them 
 resulted in another odd experience with the moon- 
 shiners. In order to reach the localities named, I 
 was obliged, as usual, to take a circuitous route. I
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA ig7 
 
 went in over our own line of railroad to Bainbridgc, 
 Georgia, where I hired a buggy and driver and 
 struck across the Florida boundary, southward. The 
 drive was pleasant as far as Marianna, but soon after 
 that we entered the wilds. The country there is 
 practically a virgin wilderness, and the main indus- 
 try of the scattered settlers is the distillation of 
 illicit whisky. This district is the terror of United 
 States marshals, and those who have gone into it 
 have usually stayed here. At least they have not 
 come out yet. I did not take prisoners at Marianna, 
 intending to stop on my way back, and drove as 
 directly as possible toward Vernon, the county 
 seat of Washington County. 
 
 As we made our way through the primal woods, 
 our solitude was broken by a woman who rode up 
 to the buggy on a mule. She was sallow-skinned 
 and sharp-featured, and her flimsy calico gown hung 
 limply on the many angles of her form. Her head 
 was half buried in a huge sun bonnet, and altogether 
 she appeared to be a simple, unsophisticated native. 
 I took in these points over the edge of a newspaper 
 I was reading, and when she came quite close she 
 opened a conversation with my driver. In a short 
 time I discovered that she was plying her tongue 
 with considerable shrewdness, and was evidently 
 bent upon finding out who we were and all about 
 us. Putting one thing with another, I made up my 
 mind that she was a spy of tlic moonshiners, and 
 took occasion to let her know what my businesi
 
 IqR IHF WERICAN SIPERIA 
 
 was, for I had no relish for being shot by mistake. 
 
 "Don't you all have nothin' to do with the 
 courts?" she asked innocently. 
 
 "Only to get men after they aie sentenced," I 
 explained. 
 
 "Oh!" and she fell into a brown study. Present- 
 ly she said, in an off-haiul way: "If you folks wants 
 to know whar anybody lives hereabouts, I reckon I 
 kin tell you. I know nigh about everybody in 
 these here woods." 
 
 I hastened to decline this bait. 
 
 "1 don't want anybody but my prisoners, and I 
 don't know or care who lives here. Much obliged 
 to you but 1 know the way to the jail and that's 
 enough. ' 
 
 This satisfied her to some extent, but she still 
 plied her questions. Finally 1 turned the tables and 
 asked a few myself. 
 
 "How far are you going, madam?" I inquired. 
 
 "Oh, just down the road a bit," she replied. 
 
 The "bit" proved to be twelve miles, during which 
 distance she followed us like a shadow, prattling 
 on all the way, and then, evidently convinced that 
 I had no United States warrants to serve, she 
 turned suddenly into a side trail and disappeared. 
 I subsequently learned that I had taken her correct 
 measure. She was a well-known native female de- 
 tective, who guarded the avenues of approach for 
 the moonshiners, and it was a cunning stranger who 
 penetrated the country without her knowledge. For
 
 THE AMERICAN SIHF.RIA 20I 
 
 all I know to the contrary, she still patrols the 
 road on her old mule. 
 
 At Vernon I found nothing but a few dilapidated 
 dwellings, a court-house that looked like a corn- 
 crib, and a jail "down by the creek." The sheriff 
 was a veritable Poo-Bah, being also, I thi^k, clerk 
 of court, postmaster, road-supervisor, and probably 
 mayor, marshal and coroner. At all events, he was 
 vastly the most important personage in the village, 
 and kept the only house of entertainment there. 
 He informed me that he would have a fine supper 
 prepared for me, and a little while later I sat down be- 
 fore a dish of boiled potatoes and one of boiled eggs. 
 That was the supper for which I was charged three 
 dollars, and I instantly recognized the landlord as 
 the original type of the Florida summer hotel pro- 
 prietor. In the morning I handed my papers to the 
 sheriff. They called for two prisoners. He exam- 
 ined the documents and drawled out: 
 
 "I'm all-fired sorry, Captain, but I ain't got but 
 one. " 
 
 "What!" I exclaimed, "have you had an escape?" 
 
 "No, not 'zactly. One of the fellers hung hisself 
 t'other da}', when he heard you was comin'." 
 
 The unfortunate man had committed suicide in 
 his cell. I took the remaining prisoner and drove 
 away. We arrived at Marianna without incident, 
 and I picked up two more, all negroes. It was my 
 intention to pass the night at a littlf place called 
 Greenwood, and before I left Marianna, the sheriff
 
 302 THE AMEKICAN 5IKERIA 
 
 approached me with a serious air and drew me ro 
 one side. 
 
 "Captain," he said, "I think it my dut}' to warn 
 you that there is a Ku-khix society at Greenwood, and 
 they have declared that they would take all offenses 
 l>y nc{;roes into their own liands. I wouldn't be sur- 
 prised if they made an attempt to capture your 
 prisoners." 
 
 "For what purpose?" 
 
 "Oh, I guess they'd lynch them, of course." 
 
 "Are they strong enough to make an attack right 
 n town, do ycu think?" 
 
 "No, hardly. It is more likely to be an ambus- 
 cade. They may not trouble you at all, but if I 
 were you, I would keep my eyes open." 
 
 I thanked him for the warning and determined >o 
 follow his advice. We arrived in the village at 
 about dusk, and there being no jail, I deposited i*y 
 prisoners in a vacant house and hired a guard Vo 
 watch them for the night. Then I strolled back to 
 the hotel where I found a crowd had assembled, 
 attracted by the news of our presence. They fol- 
 lowed me into the dining-room when I went to get 
 supper and annoyed me with all manner of ques- 
 tions, the general drift of which was todiscover my 
 plans for the night. I gaveevasive replies, but this 
 in connection with the sheri.'^'s warning, made me 
 very uneasy, and after I had gone to bed I could not 
 sleep. The more I thought about the matter the 
 more I felt that I was not fulfilling my duty to my
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 203 
 
 prisoners in leavinfj them until morning. At last 
 I jumped up and hastily dressing, ordered the team, 
 paid my bill, and drove to the improvised jail. I 
 took out the three men, told them to get in, and 
 gave the driver the word to whip up. 
 
 At that hour the little town was pretty well de 
 serted and our exit did not appear to attract any 
 attention. Our objective point was the Chattahoo- 
 chee River, which we intended to cross at a place 
 called Neal's Landing. All went well until we were 
 about midway between there and the town, when I 
 heard the muffled sound of hoofs behind us, up the 
 road. In a few moments a party of horsemen gal- 
 loped past, closely followed by a second detach- 
 ment, at an interval of a few hundred yards. They 
 went by so quickly and the darkness was so extreme 
 that I could not make out their faces or even de- 
 termine their number exactly, but there were a 
 dozen or so of them, and broken fragments of a 
 most disquieting conversation reached my ears 
 through the night. 
 
 "That's them, sure!" exclaimed one voice. 
 
 "Where shall it be?" said another, and then came 
 a murmur in which I several times distinguished 
 the words — "Neal's Landing." There was no room 
 for doubt but we were heading straight for a Ku- 
 klux ambuscade. 
 
 My prisoners and my driver both took in the sit- 
 uation at once. The latter was also a darky, and 
 no doubt supposing that he might be included in 
 12
 
 a04 TMF AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 the lynching fesiivities on general principles, his 
 teetl) rliattered as he pulled up the horses. My 
 inclination was to stop and prepare to defend the 
 party, but the ciriver informed me that he knew of 
 another road, somewhat longer, but leading by a 
 circuitous route to the ferry. I ordered him to take 
 it and make the very best time possible, so as to 
 arrive ahead of our pursuers. He did not spare the 
 lash, and we dashed through the forest at break-neck 
 speed, escaping accident a dozen times by the merest 
 luck. At one o'clock in the morning we emerged 
 on the bank of the river. 
 
 There was a profound hush everywhere and not 
 a sign of Ku-klux, but I felt instinctively that there 
 was not an instant to lose and hastened to put into 
 execution a plan that I had formulated on the way. 
 
 The river at this point was crossed by a flat-boat 
 tliat plied back and forth in answer to the hails of 
 passengers. It was moored at the ferryman's shanty 
 on the other side at the time, and getting down 
 with my prisoners, I told the driver to shout over 
 and cross as quickly as he could. I particularly 
 cautioned him to instruct the ferryman to say that 
 tlie buggy had passed over, in case any one after- 
 ward inquired. He was to await us at the other 
 side, and as soon as I saw him well away I took my 
 three jirisoners a couple of hundred yards up the 
 river bank to where the current had washed out a 
 tiny cove or bay, well sheltered by high banks. We 
 scrambled down and I made my men sit on one side
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 205 
 
 while I took up my position on the otiier and watch- 
 ed and waited. 
 
 In about an hour the delegation that had passed 
 us on the road came galloping up tc the landing. 
 I cast an anxious glance at my charges, fearful lest 
 in their excitement they would inadvertently make 
 some sound that would betray us, but they were 
 sleeping peacefully, their heads on each other's 
 shoulders. The Ku klux reined up at the bank and 
 gave a loud halloo. Presently the ferryman came 
 drifting across on his cumbersome craft. 
 
 "Have you seen a buggy pass here?" shouted the 
 spokesman. 
 
 "Yes, it went over about an hour ago," replied 
 the boatman, speaking literally the truth. 
 
 "Curse it all!" exclaimed the Ku-klux; "what 
 shall we do, boys?" 
 
 They had a general consultation and finally deci- 
 ded that I had too much start for them to hope to 
 overtake me, and that they had best abandon the 
 chase. Little they thought that the game lay then 
 within gun-shot, and at last, with a feeling of inde- 
 scribable relief, I heard their horses' foot-falls die 
 away in the distance. I devoted the balance of the 
 night to closely watching my prisoners, and in the 
 morning called over the boat and resumed our jour- 
 ney, which ended without further adventure, at the 
 camp.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 In my account of our experiences at Camp Sing; 
 Sin^, I have mentioned the escape of Alec. Lige and 
 Nathan Shell, the latter of whom was not recapt- 
 ured. Shell was one of those negro outlaws, occa- 
 sionally encountered in the South, whose despera 
 tion partakes of the nature of insanity; who on the 
 impulse of the moment will dare anything, do any- 
 thing, and take any chances without apparent regard 
 for their own life or the possibilities of success. 
 A couple of years passed after his escape, and, al- 
 though we had reason to believe he was in Florida, 
 he could not be definitely located. At last he was 
 recognized at the town of Enterprise, on the St. 
 Johns River, and arrested. 
 
 The jail there was a two story wooden structure, 
 the lower floor of which was used as an office for 
 the deputy in charge. When Shell was brought 
 into this building, he seized an opportunity to rush 
 over the guard, leap out of the window and nm. 
 He was immediately fired upon and before he could 
 gain cover three balls struck him. One pierced 
 his shoulder, another passed through his thigh, and 
 the third wounded him in the calf of the leg. He 
 staggered at the shock of each bullet but did not 
 fall and did not ce;i''" to run. and when the smoke 
 
 2U(}
 
 THE AMKklCAN SIBERIA. 207 
 
 cleared away, he was out of sight. His wounds 
 were bleeding profusely and he was in a condition 
 that would have prostrated an ordinary man, but 
 he gained the margin of a little lake that lies upon 
 the outskirts of the town and unhesitatingly plunged 
 in. By an almost superhuman effort he managed 
 to swim across, and drew himself out, half dead, 
 upon the other side. 
 
 He was too exhausted to continue his flight and 
 he crawled into a clump of underbrush, where he 
 succeeded in partially stanching his wounds. For 
 hours he lay hidden in this spot while search was 
 prosecuted in every other direction. Nobody for a 
 moment dreamed that a wounded man could swim 
 the lake, and consequently nobody looked in the 
 right place. 
 
 At last pain and hunger drove him out. He 
 dragged himself to a cabin not far away and begged 
 for food and help. The people who lived there 
 seized him and brought him back to jail. 
 
 This was the situation when we were notified of 
 his presence there. The authorities requested that 
 we come and take him away as soon as possible and 
 I was sent upon the errand. There were some 
 doubts as to the man really being Shell, but these 
 were dissipated as soon as I laid eyes upon him. 
 He was alone in the jail proper, at the time, and 
 professed great gratification that I had been sent 
 after him instead of some stranger being intrusted 
 with the business. His wounds were giving him
 
 3o8 THF AMERICAS SIIlF.RIA 
 
 intense pain, and ho was hardly able to move; in 
 fact, he seemed to be anything but a dangerous 
 character. 
 
 I had arrived in the evening and intended to take 
 the St. Johns Kivcr steamer next day. When I re- 
 tired, at the hotel, I found that by chance my room 
 faces the jail, and I had a clear view of it from my 
 window. At about midnight I was awakened by a 
 cry of fire, and jumping up, I saw at once that the 
 conflagration was at the jail. Dense volumes of 
 smoke were pouring from the roof, and the window 
 on my side was a square of iurid red against whicli 
 the bars stood in black and checkered relief. I hur- 
 ried on some clotlies and ran at the top of my speed 
 for the scene. When I got there a bucket brigade 
 was hard at work and the upper story apparently a 
 mass of flames. 1 hastily inquired after my con. 
 vict. 
 
 "'He is up there," said the jailer; "I was afaid to 
 open the door for fear he might run." 
 
 "Come with me I" I shouted, and rushed up an 
 outside stairway that led to the upper story. 
 
 I peered through tl « grated door as the jailer 
 nervously fumbled with the lock, and distinguished 
 Shell, lying prone on liis face. At last the door 
 was opened, and we were immediately enveloped in a 
 cloud of smoke. I groped my way in, half-suffo- 
 cated and dazed by the roar and crackle of the 
 flames, but managed to lay hold of him, and dragged 
 him to the stairs. He was unconscious, and
 
 THK AMERICA>f SIBERIA 209 
 
 seemed at first to be dead, but he recovered his 
 senses in the fresh air. He was not burned in any 
 particular place, but the heat and smoke seemed to 
 have fairly dried him up — no otlier words describes 
 his condition. The color of his skin was changed, 
 liis face was shriveled into a thousand wrinkles, and 
 I would not have recognized the man had I seen 
 him on the street. He looked twenty years older. 
 
 Some idea of tiie terrific heat to which he had 
 been subjected may be formed from the fact that 
 the soles of my own feet were blistered through 
 the heavy shoes I wore, and I was not in the cell 
 to exceed fifteen seconds. 
 
 No one but a southern darky, inured to the ver- 
 tical sun of the tropics, could have endured that or- 
 deal and lived. 
 
 The fire originated in a curious effort on his part 
 to escape. He had broken a heavy wooden bunk to 
 splinters and built a fire witli them in the center of 
 the cell floor, intending to burn his way through to 
 liberty. 
 
 There was a large jug of water in the cell, and 
 he kept a circle dampened to prevent the flames 
 from spreading. In time the heavy flooring was 
 burned completely through, but here an unforseen 
 accident occurred. Between the floor and the ceil- 
 ing below there was a space into which the flames 
 instantly entered and spread beyond control of the 
 prisoner. 
 
 When he saw that he was about to l)e burned
 
 2IO THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 alive he gave the alarm, and a close call he had of 
 it. 
 
 1 naturally concluded that wiien a man was shot 
 almost to pieces and then half-roasted he would 
 give mc no further trouble, except to attend to his 
 injuries; but 1 was deceived. When we took the 
 steamer next day, I dressed his wounds and turned 
 ni) back on him for a few moments, aiui in that brief 
 interval he crawled to the side and attempted to 
 jump overboard. 1 was finally obliged to chain 
 him to a stanchion, and in that condition he made 
 the balance of the tiip. 
 
 He served out his unexpired term of sentence, 
 but never ceased his endeavors to get away. When 
 iie was at work on the railroad one day he made 
 some excuse to step aside, and climbing down an 
 embankment, began to crawl over a large brush 
 heap. The guard saw him when he was on top 
 ot the brush and fired four loads of buckshot with- 
 out hitting him. By that time he had gained the 
 open beyond, and was running at good speed, but 
 another guard, seeing that he was about to escape, 
 also fired on him and one buckshot hit him in the 
 back. He fell over, and before he could regain 
 his feet, a trusty had overtaken and seized him. I 
 do not know what became of this desperado. He 
 is probably dead or in some other prison. 
 
 I have frequently pondered over the motives 
 which induce men to escape and the impulses 
 that iiLMc them to the act. To an outsider it
 
 TflM AMERICAN SIBRRIA 211 
 
 seems a very simple matter, namely: that liberty is 
 sweet and that one will dare much or little for it, 
 according to his personal courage. But there is a 
 great deal more to the question than that. A man 
 who has any hopes at all of regaining his liberty, 
 either by expiration of sentence or pardon, usually 
 prefers that method to becoming a fugitive, yet 
 there appear to be times when the craving for par- 
 don grows so strong that it is irresistible, and a 
 prisoner will forfeit then and there the most certain 
 prospects of clemency, and throw away all the ben- 
 eficial consequences of years of good conduct, when 
 a little patience would insure legitimate delivery. 
 For that reason 1 do not regard a convict as at all 
 times exactly responsible for what he does, and be 
 lieve that he should always be watched, like a luna- 
 tic, for the appearance of these morbid impulses. 
 
 To illustrate, I once had a convict known as 
 "Number 102." I forget his right name, but at any 
 rate he had commenced his sentence amidst the 
 horrors of the old penitentiary at Chattahoochee, 
 had worked on steady through the terrible times 
 that followed, never violating a rule, until he had 
 largely won the confidence of all the oflficers with 
 whom he came in contact. At last his time was 
 drawing near a close. He had lived it through, and 
 all his years of toil and suffering laj' behind him. 
 like a dream. He was to be released ne.\t day. I 
 had received his discharge papers, giving him the 
 benefit of the commutation won by his faithful serv-
 
 ?I2 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 ire, and on the morrow lie was to go into the world, 
 a new man so to speak, to begin life over again. 
 
 That morning he was one of a squad working out 
 of doors, and I had occasion to use a barrel which 
 had been left over the brow of a little hill, near by. 
 I saw no one else to send and called up "102." 
 
 "Do \ou think you could come back," 1 said, 
 half joking, "if I send }ou over that hill for a bar- 
 rel?" 
 
 He laughed back at me. 
 
 "Why of course I could, Captain," he replied. 
 "I've had a hundred chances to escape and I will 
 be a free man to-morrow, " 
 
 "Go ahead." I said. 
 
 He started over the hill, and in a little while I 
 saw him coming back with the barrel. Then I 
 turned to direct some work and when I looked 
 again he was gone. I was thunderstruck, but 
 called immediately to one of the guards to get the 
 dogs and pursue him. The chase was a short one. 
 The man had run for about a mile and then sat 
 down and began to hammer off his irons, but before 
 he accomplished it he was recaptured. He appeared 
 to be half dazed wl\en he was brought back, and 
 the only explanation he could offer was that he 
 "just couldn't help it." 
 
 The act cost him punishment, the loss of many 
 privileges, and servitude for months of "pain time" 
 that he would otherwise have been granted. 
 
 Another prisoner was more honest with me. He
 
 TnE AMERICAN SIBERIA 21 3 
 
 also had nearly served out his sentence, and com- 
 mon sense should have counseled him against at- 
 tempting to escape, at the risk of life, when he 
 would be a free man anyhow in a few days more. 
 1 had some errand that I wanted done which would 
 take a man temporarily out of range of the guard's 
 gun, and I called him to me. 
 
 "Do you think it would be safe for me to send 
 you over there?" I asked. 
 
 A singular expression overspread the man's face, 
 and in a sudden burst of candor the truth came out. 
 
 "Captain," he said, "you'd better not send me. 
 If I got that far away, I couldn't come back if 1 
 wanted to." 
 
 I let some one else do the errand. This man 
 was named Horace Stalsworth. He came from 
 Pensacola, and was subsequently murdered by Smith 
 Oliver, whom I have mentioned elsewhere. 
 
 And so I might cite instances by the dozen. 
 Men have been made trusties and in this capacity 
 have gone miles from camp, have had abundant 
 and excellent opportunities to leave, and then at 
 some moment when the odds were perhaps all 
 against them, have suddenly levanted. At another 
 camp a cook who had the entire freedom of the 
 place, and who was up and about before day-break 
 every morning was seized with the impulse of 
 flight just as he struck a match to light the kitch- 
 en fire. He carefully blew out the match, laid it 
 on the edge of the stove, went into the guard's
 
 214 "^^^ AMKUlLAN SIRFRIA 
 
 (juarters, picked up a Winchester rifle and a handful 
 of cartridges, and took his departure. Men who 
 were afterward recaptured have told me that the 
 craving for freedom woukl come upon them without 
 warning while in the middle of a conversation, while 
 eating, or when they awoke at night-time, and that it 
 was absolutely impossible to resist its promptings. 
 
 But to resume the thread of my story: Wlit-n I 
 took my prisoners from tlu- Marianna jail, I left a 
 white man named Jackson Cox who was under ten 
 years' sentence for felonious assault upon his daugh- 
 ter, but who had obtained a stay pending a hearing 
 in the upper court. His sentence was shortly after 
 confirmed, and I made the trip after him. I was in 
 a hurry and essayed to make the drive to Bain- 
 bridge, a distance of forty miles, in one day, but 
 night overtook us on the road and we were obliged 
 to stop at a farm house until morning. Both to 
 spare the feelings of my prisoner and to insure our 
 reception I removed his handcuffs and agreed to 
 represent him as simply a traveling companion. 
 
 None of the family suspected the ruse, although 
 I dare say they thought I was very mucli attached 
 to my friend, for I never took my eyes of! him, 
 and after a pleasant evening we retired to the 
 "spare room." There was only one bed, and after 
 handcuffing Cox, I told him to occupy the rear, 
 and that if I felt sleepy I would lie down in front. 
 In the course of the night I did so, with my arms 
 back of my head and my revolver in my hand.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 21 5 
 
 I closed my eyes and was pondering over the fact 
 that misfortune makes strange bed-fellows, when I 
 became aware that Cox was watching me. He rose 
 softly to his elbow, surveyed me once or twice and 
 then gently touched me. I siuuilated sleep, and 
 ♦^hen very quietly and gradually he began to lift 
 liimself out of bed. He was half over me when I 
 suddenly threw him back and thrust the pistol into 
 his face. He crouched for an instant glaring at 
 ine, and then tremulously begged me not to kill him. 
 I reminded him rather sternly of my efforts to save 
 him mortification and the advantage he had taken of 
 them, and spent the balance of the night watching 
 him, weapon in hand. In the morning, irons off 
 and smiling, he reappeared in the role of traveling 
 companion, and the whole family followed us out to 
 say good-bye, little dreaming of the somewhat dra- 
 matic scene that had taken place under their roof a 
 few hours before. Cox served four years of his sen- 
 tence and died in prison. 
 
 This brings me to an event which made a con- 
 siderable change in my fortunes. I had obtained a 
 fifteen days' leave of absence to visit my family at 
 Live Oak, but on the first evening I received a tele- 
 gram from Mr. Haines, the agent of the railroad, 
 to report at Jacksonville at once. I found him 
 greatly perturbed. 
 
 "You must assume charge of the camp immediate- 
 ly," he said; "things are going to the deuce there. 
 Ten men escaped in a body yesterday
 
 2l6 THK AMKRU AN SIRF.KIA 
 
 I inquired the particulars anu learned that a plot 
 had been formed among some of the more desper- 
 ate of the convicts, and when the construction train 
 was coming in, ten of them leaped from different 
 points on one of the cars. Such a wholesale deliv- 
 ly threw the guards into confusion and they fired 
 almost at random. The result was that nobody was 
 hit, and all escaped to the woods. The company 
 had been for some time dissatisfied with the man- 
 agement, and this incident capped the climax, but I 
 was most reluctant to accept the responsibilities of 
 the position. However, at the urgent request of 
 Mr. Haines, I agreed to take charge and went back 
 to camp, armed with an order to Captain Forrester 
 to turn over the keys and effects to me. When he 
 read this document he drew a bunch of keys from 
 his pocket, and exclaiming, "There they are! " flung 
 them down and instantly left the premises. In 
 this manner I was placed once more at the head 
 of the lease system. 
 
 This terminated my duties as prison agent, al- 
 though, as will subsequently be seen, 1 was fre- 
 quently called upon to act in special cases. During 
 the year that fullowi-d I had exactly two escapes. 
 
 Our work on the Jacksonville & Waycross road 
 was meantime approaching completion, and six 
 months more wountl it up. Everything in that 
 time passed off smoothly with one exception, which 
 occurred in this wise: I had gone out to inspect 
 some road vturk and one of the foremen complained
 
 THE AMERICAN SIHKRIA 
 
 219 
 
 to me that a convict named Joseph Williams had 
 refused to obey orders and made threats. The 
 malcontent was a burly fellow, a new arrival, who 
 had made up his mind not to work, and determined 
 to have it out on the spot. I spoke to Williams, 
 and as he answered me very sullenly and reiterated 
 his determination to do nolhiug, 1 ordered him to 
 get down for a whipping, at the same time step- 
 ping up quite close to him. 
 
 "No, by heaven!" he shouted, and sprang upon 
 me. 
 
 I had a pistol in my pocket with the handle slight- 
 ly protruding, and he made a violent effort to seize 
 it, but I got my hand upon it first, and snatching 
 it out, fired point-blank at him. The bullet plowed 
 a furrow across his back, and the pain and shock 
 brought him to his knees, f-fe instantly gave up 
 the fight, but if ever a man had murder in his face, 
 he had. I knew that he would kill me unhesitat- 
 ingly if ever an opportunity afforded, but he was 
 kept "under the gun," as the saying goes in camp, 
 and never had a chance for further mischief. 
 
 Very shortly before we left Camp Hillyard, Dick 
 Evans, the ex-sheriff of Pensacola, whose sensa- 
 tional attempt to escape I have detailed else- 
 where, tried his luck again and learned with toler- 
 able certainty that fate was against him. He had 
 been once more placed in charge of the hospital, and 
 while I was out with the men upon the road one 
 afternoon he managed to slip away from the yard,
 
 aao Hit AMKKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 undetctlt-d l)y any of the guards. In some manner 
 he had secured a suit of citizen's clotlies during 
 the morning and carried them to the rear of the 
 cell-house in a wheelbarrow full of rubbish. In his 
 flight he stopped long enough to secure the bundle. 
 He then cut across the Ileitis and down a little 
 road, making for the woods at the top of his speed. 
 
 This happened late in the afternoon and a few 
 moments before 1 had disembarked the squads at 
 the railroad track. Instead of coming in by my 
 usual route, which would have taken me entirely 
 out of the path of the runaway and which I had 
 never before varied, I obeyed a sudden impulse 
 which seems ne-\t door to a premonition, and took 
 another way back. This led me into the road which 
 Evans had stiuLk, and we almost collided as he 
 came dashing down, bundle in hand. He stopped 
 thunderstruck and smiled a sickly smile. He was 
 too heart broken to resist, and I simply turned him 
 right-about-face and led him back to camp. 
 
 Our work on the short line was now drawing to a 
 close. The road was built as usual, from both 
 terminals; we started the construction north from 
 Jacksonville and another force pushed it south from 
 Waycross, Ga. This latter labor was done by 
 Georgian convicts, but as under the law they could 
 not be worked out of their own state, it was planned 
 that we meet at the St. Mary's river, which forms 
 the northern boundary of Florida at that place. 
 However, the Georgian party arrived at the river
 
 THE AMKRICAN SIBERIA 22 1 
 
 first, leaving a radius of about twelve miles on our 
 side, over which the grading had been completed, 
 leaving the ties and iron yet to be laid down. 
 
 Thereupon the company put a force of about two 
 hundred free laborers, mainly negroes, at work at 
 the St. Mary's to push down to us, and an exciting 
 race began. The civil engineers drove a stake 
 midway between both gangs, and they pressed for 
 it as if life itself depended upon who arrived there 
 first. I had only eighty available men, but they 
 were all infected with the general enthusiasm, 
 largely due to the fact that they also were principally 
 negroes. It was really a race of a race. No driv- 
 ing was necessary, but on the contrary I was obliged 
 several times to slacken their pace to keep the 
 force in condition. One might have supposed that 
 every convict was a stockholder from the way the 
 ties went on the road-bed and the heavy rails as- 
 sumed position. We averaged a mile and a fourth 
 of track a day, while the best the other party did 
 was three-fourths of a mile, and there was a howl of 
 triumph when two men j^assed the half-way post 
 before the others were in sight. 
 
 We were two miles on the other side when we 
 encountered them, and I shall never forget that day. 
 The free laborers came over the brow of a hill, and 
 such deafening cheers and acclamations rose from 
 both sides that it was impossible to hear one's self 
 speak. Upwards of forty railroad officials were 
 
 present when the last rail was laid. The final tie 
 13
 
 222 THF AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 was made of magnolia wood, and a solid silver spike 
 completed the work. We all had a hand in driving 
 it in, and had not each official been limited to one 
 light blow, a spike a 3 ard long would have scarcely 
 ufficed for the ceremony. It was subsequently re- 
 placed by one of brass, and the silver spike made 
 into a cup for H. S. Haines, present general man- 
 ager of the S. F. ilv: W. It was a unique piece ol 
 work. The sides were engraved with a view of a 
 squad of convicts, track laying, with "Post Boy," 
 as our construction engine was called, in the back 
 ground. This engine had, by the way, some inter- 
 esting associations for me. In earlier years it had 
 been in service in Georgia, and one of my earliest 
 recollections was riding behind it to school, when 
 a boy. I never saw the little locomotive without 
 feeling that it was an old friend, and many a day 
 when sick, tired and harassed I have wished that 
 I could jump upon its foot-board and ride back 
 through time and care, to school again. 
 
 When the work on the short line ended, I made 
 immediate preparations to move the convicts to 
 Live Oak, from which point the Plant Investment 
 Company proposed to construct what was called the 
 Live Oak & Rollins Bluff Railroad, afterward known 
 as the Savannah, Florida & Western. There was 
 ditnculty in secuiing transportation over the Florida 
 Central, the direct line from Jacksonville to Live 
 Oak, which was in the hands of a rival company, 
 and it was decided to take a roundabout route by
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 223 
 
 way of Waycross and Dupont, Georgia, and tlience 
 south to our destination. When we arrived at the 
 first railroad camp, a httle less than a year before, 
 we came in four freight cars; it required eight to 
 remove the men and equipments. We embarked 
 at Camp Hillyard; the best engineer of the railroad 
 was sent down from Savannah and we had the right 
 of way for the journey. Some apprehension of 
 trouble had been felt by the railroad ofticials, owing 
 to the prevalent idea, which I have once before 
 alluded to, that the prisoners of one state could not 
 be legally carried through another. They were 
 afraid that this mistaken impression would gain 
 ground among the convicts, and that when we were 
 once over the state line, they would attempt a 
 revolt. But no such difficulty occurred. We took 
 the cars very early in the morning in the midst of a 
 dense fog and ran the distance at top speed and in 
 safety, without making a stop between Jacksonville 
 and Waycross, and only one or two afterward. When 
 we reached Live Oak, we found the approaches to 
 the depot thronged with people. Not only the 
 townsfolk were out in force, but settlers had flocked 
 in from the country, so eager to witness the disem- 
 barkation of the convicts. We pushed with diffi- 
 culty through the throng and took up the line of 
 march to the new camp, which was two miles dis- 
 tant. Wagons conveyed the sick, and we arrived in 
 pretty goo" order. The buiklings at tl:c camp had 
 been commenced by free labor, but were not nearly
 
 224 THE AMERICAN SIHFRIA 
 
 completed. The roof was not on the cell-house, no ' 
 stockade was erected, and there was altogether work 
 enouf^h to occupy a large squad for a considerable 
 length of time. 
 
 The balance of the convicts were put to work at 
 once on tlie line of tlie road, grading back to Live 
 Oak; but before anything was done I took a shovel 
 and turned the fust earth in the new enterprise. 
 The surveyors had fixed the lines, and this twc 
 miles of roadway was constructed without much dif- 
 ficulty and with only one special incident that clings 
 to my memory. About midway, between the camp 
 and the town, an old fellow, one of the original set- 
 tlers of the county, had a small farm, in the midst 
 of which was a pond of water. He set great store 
 by this little lakelet, and when he learned that the 
 line of survey ran directly through it, his indigna- 
 tion knew no bounds. 
 
 "Plaf^ue gone these new-fangled steam railroads! " 
 he said: "1']) shoot a hole right inter the fust mnn 
 that conies fooling round my pond!" 
 
 He took down his old rifle and stood guard, but 
 we paid no attention to him and built an eighteen 
 foot embankment right through the middle of his 
 cherished water-supply. During the construction, 
 he stood in his yard, shaking his gun at us and in- 
 voking every curse known to crackerdom upon our 
 heads, but in the course of time he resigned him- 
 self to fate, and found the railroad a very handy 
 thing to ride to town over.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIRERIA 225 
 
 This calls to mind another odd episode of a some- 
 what similar character. The railroad purchased the 
 right of way through Live Oak, through the medium 
 of Ivy Brothers, merchants, who owned considera- 
 ble property there themselves. They perfected 
 title to all the land needed, and turned over the 
 deeds in good order, but there was one obstinate old 
 man named Bill Harrison, who claimed that he must 
 be settled with before the road could pass on. He 
 kept a small store in a shanty upon apiece of prop- 
 erty that he held by what is called "squatter's 
 title," supplemented by force of arms. His title 
 was very shadowy, but he was a belligerent old fel- 
 low, capable of using his long-barreled deer rifle at 
 the drop of a hat, and the force of arms part was 
 extremely real. 
 
 The property in question was at the outskirts of 
 town and directly upon the right of way. The rail- 
 road company held a valid title from the real owner, 
 but they desired to avoid all trouble with citizens 
 and made Harrison a number of friendly overtures, 
 all of which he repulsed. They offered to move his 
 store out of the way and send wagons and men to 
 cart his goods. He replied that he would kill the 
 first person who laid his hands upon the premises 
 for the purpose of disturbing them. I did not 
 care to assume too much authority and finally had 
 the track constructed up to one side of the shanty 
 and commenced again at the other. An engine, 
 coming along, would have run right through it.
 
 226 THl AMPKKAN SIBERIA 
 
 Affairs were in this attitude when the superinten- 
 dent sent me most positive orders to have the place 
 moved. I sent Harrison notice for two or three 
 days, but as he paid no attention, I determined to 
 take the bull bj' the horns, and put in an appear- 
 .>nce one morning with all my men. Harrison and 
 his clerk had barricaded themselves inside, and we 
 could see them, guns in hand, throu^li the open 
 door. Their supposition was that I would begin 
 operations by attempting to remove the goods. I 
 stepped up to the threshold and notified the old 
 man for the last time that he would have to move. 
 
 "I'll kill the first man that pokes his head in!" 
 ro.'irrd the store-keeper. 
 
 "Very well, Mr. Harrison," I replied, anJordered 
 a cordon of guards to surround the premises and 
 fire inside, the moment he pulled trigger. Then I 
 liad some skids adjusted, ropes passed around the 
 shanty, and gave the word to the convicts to lay 
 hold. They obeyed with a will; there was a tre- 
 mendous creaking of timbers and snapping of sup- 
 ports and the old house started on her journey. 
 Harrison and his clerk stood it until the house had 
 advanced about ten feet. Then some loose boards 
 on the ceiling fell, covering them with grime; and 
 fully convinced that the whole structure was about 
 to tumble about their ears, they fled {:)recipitately. 
 
 "Dog gone you fellers! " shouted Harrison, shak- 
 ing his ritlc at us. "I believe you would tear a 
 man's house down right over his head!"
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 227 
 
 We moved the shanty the requisite distance, nailed 
 on the loose boards, and a company building now 
 stands on its site.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Things had settled down into first-rate working 
 order, and I was beginning to hope for a little respite 
 from the troubles and dangers that so continually 
 beset us at the other camp, when a curious story 
 reached my cars, that eventually sent me upon an 
 exciting chase mto distant wilds. It came about 
 tluis: In the evening the guards off duty frequently 
 lounged into my office and chatted around the fire 
 over their experiences. While such a conversation 
 was in progress I happened to mention my pursuit 
 of Thomas Nix, the escaped convict wlio vanished 
 in the woods of the St. Mary's, wearing his hat of 
 tree- moss. One of the guards, a young Georgian 
 named Hardy Hays, listened to me attentively and 
 when I concluded remarked : 
 
 "That's an odd story. Captain, and the fellow in 
 it reminds me of an old chap who moved into our 
 neighborhood about that time. What did }Ou say 
 his name was?" 
 
 "Thomas Nix," I replied. 
 
 "By George! you don't say so !" exclaimed Hays; 
 "u'ny. my man is named Thomas Nix, too." 
 
 He then proceeded to relate to me how a woman 
 with one grown daughter and a family of little 
 ones had moved into Randolph County, Georgia, and
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 229 
 
 settled upon a small piece of land. They were na- 
 tives of the state, although they came immediately 
 from Florida; and the woman said that her husband 
 was detained there by a lawsuit but would join the 
 family before long. In time he put in an appear- 
 ance, and upon his arrival the eldest daughter went 
 away. It may be remembered that the complain- 
 ant against Nix at his trial was his own daughter, 
 and all things taken together, including the simi- 
 larity of names and coincidence of dates, I became 
 satisfied that the long lost fugitive was at last lo- 
 cated. This episode shows upon what slender threads 
 the safety of a man, who is once "wanted," hangs. 
 He may be ever so far and the past apparently as 
 dead as Csesar, when some chance word or trifle 
 light as air, knocks over the whole fabric of his 
 security like a house of cards. In this case, Hays 
 happened to stroll in among a party of story-tellers, 
 and the consequence was that a man at that moment 
 eating his supper in fancied safety, far away in an- 
 other state, lost his liberty and died in chains. 
 
 But I anticipate. We moved as cautiouslj' as 
 possible in the matter, quietly applying for a requi- 
 sition upon the Governor of Georgia for a fugitive 
 from justice. In due time the document arrived, 
 and I was named in it as state agent to make the 
 arrest. Hays gave me all the directions he could 
 and supplemented them with a letter of introduction 
 to his father, who lived quite close to Nix's house. 
 
 The nearest stopping point on tlic railroad was
 
 230 THE AMF.RICAN SIBERIA 
 
 a little town called Ward's Station, and arriving 
 there, I went at once to the Hays' place. I was 
 kinilly received, and after I learned the lay of the 
 land, I determined to stop over night and make the 
 capture just at day-break. I adopted this plan be- 
 cause I knew Nix to be a desperate man, who under 
 the circumstances would be likely to resist to the 
 bitter end. So I determined to take him by sur- 
 prise, if possible. 
 
 One of the Haj's boys volunteered to act as my 
 guide, and wliile it was yet dark we drove close to 
 Nix's house and awaited light enough for action. 
 As dawn broke I discerned a primitive, two-room 
 log-house, standing in a small yard, surrounded by 
 a low rail fence. All was as yet still and there were 
 no signs of life; but in an hour or so I was warned 
 by a thin wreath of smoke that curled up from the 
 stick-and-dirt chimney that the family were stir- 
 ring, and I told Hays to drive to the fence 
 
 He did so, and we had barely reached it when a 
 woman came to the door, evidently attracted by the 
 soimd of wheels. She scrutinized us for a moment 
 and called shrilly over her shoulder: 
 
 "Thomasloh, Thomas! thar's some strangers out 
 here." 
 
 That brought matters to a sudden crisis. It had 
 to be now or never, so I leaped from the buggy, 
 cleared the log fence at a bound, and ran straight 
 into the house. Nix was coming out of the rear 
 room, pulling his suspenders over his shoulders, and
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 2^1 
 
 we encountered face to face. He recoiled violently, 
 for he recognized me on the instant and turned a 
 ghastly yellow — the color of dirty tallow. 
 
 "Hello, Nix, old man! " I cried, holding out my 
 hand to hini; "how a'-e you?" 
 
 He did not reply, but backed away a pace, keeping 
 his corpse-like visage turned on me. 
 
 "Don't you know me, Nix?" I said. 
 
 The blood rushed into his face as though some one 
 had smitten him, and he found his voice. 
 
 "Yes, by God!" he replied hoarsely; "I do know 
 you! Get out of my house, or I'll cut your throat 
 from ear to ear! " 
 
 As he spoke, he whipped a huge dirk from the 
 waistband of his pants and whirled up his arm, 
 with a lightning gesture, to strike; but I was pre- 
 pared for something of the sort, and before the 
 blow could fall I had a frontier Colt six-shooter in 
 line with his heart. We stood in this position for 
 perhaps a minute, looking each other in the eye — 
 he with his blade raised, I with my linger on the 
 trigger. Then I said to him: 
 
 "Nix, you know my business. I am here to take 
 you and if necessary I will take you dead. Drop 
 that knife or I will drop you!" 
 
 "You'll never take me alive!" he answered fierce- 
 ly. "Get out of here or I'll kill you as sure as you 
 are a man! " 
 
 "That is a two handed game," I said, lieeping 
 him covered.
 
 Z}2 THK AMERICAN SintKIA 
 
 I knew that \vc were balancing upon a deadly 
 climax point, where a breath either way would 
 turn tlic scale. The whole soul of the outlaw 
 seemed in his eyes — wild, dilated, fastened upon 
 me with the quivering eagerness of a panther wait- 
 ing to spring, and had I flinched for one instant, the 
 dirk wouKl certainly have been in my vitals. I did 
 not want to kill the man, although it looked very 
 much as i( I would have to in order to emerge 
 alive. Meantime his wife began to cry and scream. 
 "Don't kill him here! Don't kill him herel " she 
 kept repeating. "Take him away if you are going 
 to kill him! I don't want to see it! Oh, Thomas! 
 you told me it was all settled!" 
 
 Throughout this tumult we stood motionless — as 
 strange a tableau as can well be fancied. At length 
 I tried again. 
 
 "Nix," I said, "we can't stand this way all day. 
 Will you drop the knife or will I have to shoot 
 you?" 
 
 "I'll die before I go!" he screamed. 
 
 Upon that I pulled out my watch with my left 
 hand and held it up so as to bring the dial within 
 my range of vision. 
 
 "\'try well," I said; "I will give you half a min- 
 ute to decide whether you want to live or die. 
 Suit yourself, my man, but don't think for a mo- 
 ment that I'm trilling. If you don't drop that knife 
 when the time's up, you're a dead man." 
 
 "Curse you! Kill me then!" he replied.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 233 
 
 I cast a sidelong glance at the little second-hand, 
 and as it neared the thirty mark, I began to pull 
 the trigger. The revolver was self-cocking, and 1 
 saw Nix's haggard eyes riveted upon the hammer 
 as it rose until it was on the point of falling and 
 his life hung absolutely by a hair. Then a sudden 
 anil deadly contraction crossed his face and he cried 
 out: "Stop! Don't shoot me, Captain! I'll give 
 the knife to my wife!" 
 
 "Throw it down!" I answered, holding the ham- 
 mer suspended above the shell. 
 
 His fingers slowly unclasped, and the blade fell 
 clattering to the floor. 
 
 "Now then," I said, still keeping him under the 
 muzzle of the pistol, while I returned my watch to 
 my pocket and drew out a pair of hand-cuffs, "we 
 are getting down to business. I'll trouble you to 
 slip on these bracelets." 
 
 He caught the manacles and clasped them on his 
 wrists, but he had evidently not yet resigned him- 
 self to his fate, and he fastened them so loosely 
 that I was sure his hands could be easily drawn out. 
 1 told him several times to tighten them, and then, 
 watching my opportunity, rushed in and pushed them 
 up to the last notch. At that I saw a glance of 
 swift intelligence pass between him and his wife 
 and slie immediately moved toward the rear room. 
 I followed her with my eyes and saw a rifle leaning 
 in one corner, but before she could reach it I called 
 her back.
 
 ?Tl THF AMFRICAV SlftFRIA 
 
 "So you too mean niurtlcr," 1 saiJ. "I know 
 what to look for now, and if you stir out of this 
 room I will kill you just ascjuicklyas I would your 
 husband. '■ 
 
 She protested that she meant no harm, but the 
 expression of her face convicted her. Thereupon 
 neither made any further attempts at resistance, but 
 when Nix's excitement liad passed away he became 
 deathly sick, and after tliat paroxysm was over he 
 was the hungriest man I ever saw. He implored 
 me to allow him to breakfast, and I marveled at the 
 singular effect of emotion in that section as I watched 
 him store away a liuge kettle of "greens," bacon 
 enough to feed a family, and a pot of coffee almost 
 as large as a water pail. 
 
 On our way to the station Nix tried another tack. 
 ilc told mc that lie had an orange grove of two 
 hundred bearing trees in Florida and that he would 
 deed it to me if I would permit him to escape. 
 I heard him through and then told him that I was not 
 in the market and he had best abandon hope in 
 that direction, which I presume he did, for we 
 made the trip back without further overtures from 
 him. He served four years of his eighteen years 
 sentence and then died of pneumonia. One of his 
 last acts, while lie was lying at death's door, was 
 to attempt to slip off the building-chain and escape 
 from the hospital. 
 
 Nix came of a family with a history, but it was a 
 history so strange and infamous that there is no
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 237 
 
 language in which it may be told. There were 
 many of them and there may have been a strain of 
 insanity in the blood, but at any rate their methods; 
 of life were those of the beasts of the field, and they 
 peopled the wilderness where they lived with idiots 
 and hideous human monstrosities. The tales told 
 of them do not bear repeating. In time they were 
 systematically hunted out, like wild animals, and 
 fled to the south, where they disappeared in the 
 trackless regions of tropical Florida. Some of them 
 stopped over night, during this migration, in a 
 shed near where I lived. There were two horrible 
 hags in the party, that ran on the ground on all 
 fours and had faces like things seen in a night- 
 mare. They were a sister and an aunt of Thomas 
 Nix. 
 
 The two escapes which I have mentioned as oc- 
 curring during the first year of my administration, 
 took place shortly after my return from my trip 
 from Georgia, and were of a decidedly unusual 
 character. Two of our white convicts were men 
 named James McDaniels and John Kelly. The 
 latter was a thief sent to prison from St. Augustine, 
 a rather ordinary character, although he had plenty 
 of nerve. McDaniels was a professional crook from 
 Washington, D. C, a man of quick wit, ready re- 
 sources and great determination. Ho was big- 
 framed, with a sinister face and a look of such 
 ferocity when angered that he had almost the entire 
 camp, guards included, intimidated. His crime
 
 238 IHK AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 was a sensational one. lie had shot a policeman 
 at Jacksonville, and when pursued rushed to the 
 St. Johns River and jumped in near the market 
 iiouse. He had on all of his clothes, but swam, 
 against tide, among the wharves and shipping, con- 
 fusing the chase and emerging above the Florida 
 Central depot. Not one in a thousand could have 
 (lone this and lived, and the general impression was 
 that he was drowned. 
 
 When he gained terra-firma, he started off, with- 
 out resting, in the direction of Baldwin, and crawled 
 into a freight-car that stood upon a siding near 
 that place. He had hopes that the car would be 
 attached to some train, but such was not the case, 
 and he lay in it for two days and nights, when at 
 last he called to a passing negro and attempted to 
 hire him to bring him something to eat. The 
 negro proved his undoing, for he went straight into 
 Baldwin and reported that there was a suspicious 
 stranger hiding in a box-car. A crowd sallied out to 
 investigate, and when McDaniels saw them coming, 
 he leaped from his hiding place and ran. He was 
 pursued into the woods where he was captured, and 
 subsequently taken to Jacksonville and tried. He 
 received a fifteen year sentence. 
 
 This was his history, and he was a man I usually 
 kept my eye upon ; but one day he and Kelly re- 
 mained in camp on a plea of sickness, while I took 
 the s(]uads out to work. There was a commissary- 
 man on the premises, an armed guard at each of
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 239 
 
 the four corners of the yard, and everything was 
 considered secure. 
 
 In the course of the morning the two convicts 
 managed to secure an ax from the yard and struck 
 off their leg-irons. McDanicls immediately ran 
 into the officer's quarters, burst in the door of my 
 private room, and forced the lock of my trunk. He 
 hurriedl)' threw the contents upon the floor, select- 
 ing two suits of clothes, a box of cartridges ajid a 
 large Colt's revolver, the same weapon with which 
 I had brought Thomas Nix to bay, made them into 
 a bundle and rushed back into the hall. It so hap- 
 pened that my son Sam, a little fellow then of about 
 six years, had runaway from home at Live Oak that 
 day and came out to camp to see me. He was in the 
 hall when McDaniels emerged with his plunder, and 
 at once began to give the alarm at the top of his 
 voice. 
 
 "McDaniels has papa's pistol!" he shouted, until 
 the whole place rang. 
 
 The desperate convict turned, weapon in hand, 
 but when he saw his tiny antagonist, he broke into 
 smiles and hurried on, without harming the boy. 
 
 He was rejoined in the yard by Kell)\ The com 
 niissary-man had heard the uproar, and, when he 
 caught sight of the pair, he very promptly ran to 
 his quarters and locked himself in. This left the 
 coast clear, and they deliberately walked out be- 
 tween two of the guards. Such was the terror that 
 McDaniels inspired, that they were not fired upon, 
 14
 
 240 IHI". AMI KI( AN SIIiEkIA 
 
 the guards afi«jr.\aicl claiming in excuse that both 
 were armed, Kelly with a Winchester rifle. My boy, 
 who gave the alarm, said that Kelly had nothing 
 hut a stick, and, as no guns were missing, he was 
 very likely correct. Only one guard, Sol Phillips by 
 name, made any attempt at pursuit. He started 
 after them, as they pushed their way toward the 
 woods, and when they reached the margin of the 
 timber, McDaniels turned on him and said: 
 
 "Phillips, I have always liked you. You are a 
 good fellow. I don't want to kill 3'ou. Now, take 
 my advice; go back to camp as quick as you can 
 trot, for if you don't, I will surely put the contents 
 of this six-shooter into your head." 
 
 lie said this coolly, calmly — like a man offering a 
 friendly suggestion. Phillips looked into the muzzle 
 of the pistol for an instant and acted on the hint. 
 
 I did not return until toward evening, and mj' 
 b(>y, who ran down to the train to meet me, was the 
 first to tell me the news. Directly I learned of the 
 delivery I prepared to give chase, but I could per- 
 suade none of my guards, except young Mills, to 
 accompany me. The best of them firmly declined, 
 and we rode off alone with the dogs. Although the 
 trail was cold, it was struck without much difllculty, 
 and we followed it through the intervening woods 
 until the railroad was reached. 'By that time night 
 had fallen, and, as we forged ahead toward Live 
 Oak, the darkness grew intense. Road, woods, and 
 everything was swallowed up in the profound gloom.
 
 THE AMEUICAN SIHERIA 241 
 
 But, fortunately for us, a trained hoisu finds liis 
 footing by a sort of sixth sense, and we dropped our 
 reins on our animals' necks and allowed them to fol- 
 low the baying of the hounds after their own fashion. 
 
 We realized fully that a fight was morally certain 
 to follow an encounter, and between pursuers and 
 pursued the advantages were certainly all on the 
 side of the latter. For we made an unearthly 
 tumult as we swept along, and were helpless targets 
 for a shot from the way-side. The dogs were our 
 only reliance, and they kept the trail steadily, still 
 holding to the direction of the town. When near 
 Live Oak, they made a detour and ran around it, 
 keeping straight on at the other side for several 
 miles, when they struck a cross-trail and plunged at 
 a tangent into the woods. 
 
 The scent was evidently so fresh, that it seemed 
 probable they had taken it at a point where the 
 fugitives had rested and then changed their route; 
 and we looked for some speedy developments. 
 Those who have gone pleasuring on the saddle, 
 through only daylight forests, can form no concep- 
 tion of a dash into them by night. Everything is 
 magnified. The little inequalities of the ground 
 seem like hills and valleys; there is constant danger 
 of being swept off by unseen boughs, or daslicd into 
 collision with tree-trunks; for all one knows, the 
 next bound may send him plunging down some 
 sink-hole, and the impossibility of guarding against 
 these perils brings on a sense of helplessness that
 
 242 TUF AMFRICAN SinERIA 
 
 no nerves are proof against. The man who first 
 described death as a leap into the dark, selected a 
 good comparison. 
 
 To return: the baying sounded directly ahead of 
 us, and by a certain tenor of its note, that to prac- 
 ticed ears is unmistakable, we were satisfied that 
 the hounds were close upon some one. A few mo- 
 ments later a darker patch of gloom, that we knew 
 to be a man, P.itted through the trees, and Mills, 
 after calling upon hini to halt, opened fire with his 
 revolver. 
 
 He sent a couple of bullets in that direction, and 
 we heard the dogs baying around their game. Our 
 disappointment and disgust may be imagined when 
 we found a scared negro huddled up on the ground, 
 and begging for mercy as fast as he could wag his 
 tongue. He lived somewhere in the woods, and was 
 on his way home when the dogs took his trail. 
 There was nothing to do but retrace our route, ard 
 wc called off the dogs and made for the railroad, 
 where, after some hard riding, the old and cold 
 trail was resumed. 
 
 It led us to the town of Ellaville, but there it 
 was effaced in the general passage of travel, and, 
 while we felt certain that our men were somewhere 
 in the vicinity, wc were unable to unearth them. 
 How they made tlieir way out, nobody knows, but 
 ni.ike it they ilid, and were never lieard of again. 
 We rode wearily back to camp, with nothing for 
 our risks and pains. 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Several curious thinj?s happened in toleraby rapid 
 succession at about this period. We had three 
 cooks named Hewett, Fennison and Green. Hewett 
 was a white man and the other two were colored, 
 Fennison being the trusty who has already figured 
 to come extent in these pages. One morning, 
 when I had most of the men at work on the road, 
 these three started off, stating that they were going 
 to a neighboring house to get some eggs. In tlie 
 evening, when I returned, I went to the kitchen to 
 order in supper and was surprised to find the place 
 dark and deserted. I asked the commissarj'-man, 
 who had had charge of the premises during the 
 day, where the cooks were. He did not know, and 
 in brief, they had not come back yet. The trail 
 was too cold for the dogs, and prisoners never made 
 an easier or more leisurely escape. 
 
 Not a great while aftt.T, I prevented, by a mere 
 accident, what would otherwise have been a whole- 
 sale delivery of our most desperate convicts. I had 
 quite a large squad at work in a cut, and among 
 the number were half a dozen or so who were ac- 
 knowledged to be dangerous outlaws. In tlie party 
 were Nathan Shell, to whom I have already devoted 
 considerable space; "Doc" Montague, a life-convict, 
 
 343
 
 244 ^'"^ AMERICAN SIliKRIA " 
 
 wanted for niiirdcr in two other states; Jim Ota, 
 tlic desperado whom I brouj^ht from Pcnsacola; 
 Frcnk Manning, an outlaw wlio had once before 
 attempted escape and been shot down by the guard; 
 Ilanly Todd, one of the coolest and most formidable 
 fellows wlio ever wore stripes, and Alexander Gad- 
 sen, Henry Williams and Samuel Johnson, all men 
 with "records." Taken altogetlier it was as fine a 
 {;alaxy of prison talent as could well be brought to- 
 getlier; and I made it a practice to scrutinize the 
 squad with more than ordinary vigilance whenever 
 I passed that way. 
 
 One evening, shortly before time for quitting 
 work, I arrived at the cut on my usual rounds, and 
 seated myself at one side, where I could watch the 
 jirogress of excavation. While so employed, Frank 
 Manning passed me, trundling a wheelbarrow of 
 dirt, and instinctivel}' eying liis stride-cliain I was 
 startled to observe that one of the links had been 
 cut and the two loose ends tied together with a bit 
 of string. 
 
 "What's the matter with your chain?" I asked. 
 
 He changed countenance instantly but did not re- 
 ply, and I walked over to him and saw tliat the links 
 had been fastened in such a manner that a slight 
 pull woul(] break the string and leave him free to 
 run. I told him, in a low voice, to stand to one 
 side and not to move or I would shoot him down. 
 He obeyed mechanically, and the rest of the squad, 
 who were eying us furtively, redoubled their work.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 245 
 
 and I burst into loud song, apparently unconcerned. 
 
 It was necessary for them to pass, one at a time, 
 before where I sat, to empty their wheelbarrows, and 
 it was not long before I espied another chain, cut 
 and tied exactly as Manning's. This time it was 
 Doc. Montague, and I had him also step to one side. 
 Presently I bunched, in this manner, all the des- 
 peradoes whom I have named and enough more to 
 make an even dozen. The balance of the men were 
 all right. 
 
 When I made sure that I had all who had tam- 
 pered with their manacles, I called for a "squad- 
 chain," and strung the conspirators upon it, passing 
 the chain between the shackle-iron and ankle of 
 each of them. This done, I hurried them aboard 
 the construction train and went back to camp, where 
 I made a searching investigation, and the whole plot 
 came to the surface. The men had planned to 
 revolt in a body just at the hour for knocking off 
 work, and the chain-cutting had been most ingen- 
 iously done, right uner the eyes of the guards. 
 It was accomplished by driving a pick-point into the 
 links, and even the men who were at work at the side 
 of the plotters were unaware of what was going on. 
 
 Some time after we went into camp on the new 
 road, Dick Evans came to the surface again as the 
 principal in a very sensational conspiracy. It was 
 discovered by so mere a chance, that it seemed from 
 my stand-point to he providential. 
 
 Among the teauistcrs who plied between the
 
 246 TUV AMERICAN SIRERIA 
 
 camp and Live Oak was a negro, a free man, who 
 slept in the loft of the barn in the yard. I was 
 always on the lookout for plots, and one morning 
 it occurred to me to go to the barn and inspect this 
 man's sleeping (piarters. I diil so, and the first 
 thing lliat met my eyes was a letter lying upon 
 liis Idankets. It was sealed and addressed to the 
 negress who had figured as Evans' quondam wife 
 in Pensacola. Here was evidently surreptitious 
 mail, and as such is contraband in prison, I tore 
 it open and read it. 
 
 The contents astounded me. It was from Evans 
 to his mistress and it began by detailing a number 
 of barbarities, for which he had drawn upon his 
 imagination. He told her that when a new pris- 
 oner arrived it was my habit to strike him one 
 hundred lashes, merely to see how he would take 
 j>unishment, and that the convicts I had mur- 
 dered with the strap would stock a cemetery. He 
 then went on to say that 1 had become so embittered 
 against him, owing to his attempts to escape, thai 
 his life was in momentary danger, but that he had 
 succeeded in enlisting ample and powerful aid 
 that would soon result in his delivery. My com- 
 missary-man, the prison physician, and another offi- 
 cial in a position of responsibility, were named as 
 those who had consented to assist him; and the fact 
 that these three were prominent masons, as was 
 also Evans himself, was afTirmed to be the lever he 
 had used upon them.
 
 FHK AMERICAN SIBERIA 247 
 
 He concluded by urging the woman to stand in 
 readiness to furnish assistance at her end of the 
 line, as soon as things were ripe for action, and 
 cautioned lier to forward all her letters to him under 
 cover to any oiie of the trio he had named. 
 
 He did not describe in terms the character of 
 the projected escape, but the inference was that 
 they would stop at nothing; and the thought that, 
 if what he wrote was true, I was surrounded by 
 traitors among my own corps, startled me beyond 
 measure. I acted ininrediately upon such a possi- 
 bility and went to the coinmissary-man with the 
 letter in my hand. He was visibly perturbed, but 
 he positively denied all knowledge of the affair, 
 and I next interrogated Evans, who at fust refused 
 to talk, but under the lash made a confession, in 
 which he said that the men named had certainly 
 formed a plot to liberate him, and that he h.ul 
 given the letter to the commissary-man on the pre- 
 vious evening to be mailed. 
 
 When the teamster came in, he was badly scared 
 at the developments, and stoutly insisted that he 
 had been handed the letter b}- the official in ques- 
 tion, but that in going off in a hurry in the morn- 
 ing, he had forgotten it and left it on his bed. 
 
 I will not aver that Evans told the truth. He 
 was a bad man and capable of anything, but I have 
 given the facts as far as I know them and leave 
 conclusions to others. The commissary-man was 
 discharged and there the matter dropped, which,
 
 2\S THK AMFRITAN SIRERIA 
 
 liail it not been for my acciilcntnl visit to the stable, 
 might very easily have involved the entire lease 
 system in a very ugly scandal. 
 
 The railroad lease had as yet about a jcnr to run. 
 Our objective point in construction was Rollins 
 Bluff, a little river station named after a Mr. Rol- 
 lins, an old settler, but subsequently called New 
 Hranford and now an important railroad point in 
 North Florida. We pressed on and in time reached 
 the village of McAlpin, which is associated in my 
 mind with something remarkable in the way of 
 railroad casualties. A siding had been constructed 
 there, and it was my habit to run a few flat-cars 
 upon it to carry the convicts back to camp at the 
 conclusion oi the day's work. While this was in 
 progress, early one evening, Jesse Simpkins, the 
 one-armed trusty who figured in the bloody tragedy 
 on the Suwaneo River, described some chapters 
 back, had taken his stand on the end of the first flat- 
 car, pin in hand, ready to make a coupling when an 
 engine, which had just entered the siding, ap- 
 proached close enough. He was holding some 
 oranges, and being crippled, his attention was some- 
 what divided between his duty and the safety of 
 the fruit. 
 
 The engine was not backing in, but coming 
 pilot first, and when the coupling-bar struck the 
 socket, the shock threw Simpkins off his feet and 
 the men were horrified to see him fall in between. 
 Before the engine could be stopped, the pilot
 
 THE AMERICAN SIMERIA 249 
 
 Struck the trusty, doubled him together and ran up 
 over his body, lifting the truck wheels clear off the 
 track. I rushed to the spot and found him wedged 
 into a ball, sustaining the whole enormous weight, 
 and the pilot canted over him at an angle of forty- 
 five degrees. 
 
 I supposed the man dead, of course, and it was 
 more to get out the corpse, than with any notion of 
 saving him, that I yelled to the convicts to pry up 
 the engine at once. They ran at the word. Beams 
 were thrust under, and in less time than it takes to 
 tell it, the great mass of metal was raised by main 
 force and Simpkins pulled out. To my amazement, 
 he stretched himself, felt his limbs and body, 
 slowly regained his feet, and said: 
 
 "Whar's my oranges?" 
 
 I almost hesitate to tell this story, for I am well 
 av,?are that it seems incredible that any one could 
 survive such an experience, but it is true to the 
 letter. 
 
 Simpkins suffered from lame back for a few days, 
 but was afterward none the worse for his squeezing, 
 and is a free man to-day, and as sound as a dollar. 
 
 When I speak of villages throughout this country, 
 I use the word for lack of a better term, for in nine 
 cases out of ten, they were the smallest imaginable 
 focus of the scattering settlement, and usually one 
 general store embraced the sum total of busi- 
 ness enterprise. There the natives came at inter- 
 vals to trade for coffee, tobaoco, and the few other
 
 250 
 
 THC AMF.RICAN SIBKRIA 
 
 necessities that the woods and waters did not pro- 
 vide theiii witli. All i[;.itors' hide's and teeth, bird 
 plumes antl various kinds of pelts were the niediuiii 
 of barter. They were curious people, and there are 
 plenty of them there yet, born and bred to the for- 
 est and as ignorant of the affairs of every-day lite 
 oMtsitic of their domain, as are the bears and deer 
 upon which they mainly subsist. A man who would 
 venturt: to tell them that the earth moved instead 
 of the sun, or that there was a device by which a 
 mcssat^e could be flashed for leagues across a wire, 
 would run the risk of being lynched, as too danger- 
 ous a liar to be at large. 
 
 There are scores of these folks who have never 
 seen a train of cars, and only heard of such things 
 as a vague rumor of doubtful reliability. It is not 
 surprising, therefore, that as Our work progressed, 
 there were plenty of natives who came out of the 
 woods and marveled at such strange proceedings; 
 and I will anticipate the course of my narrative far 
 enough to detail an incident that will illustrate the 
 p<;int. 
 
 We had completed the line to a spot near Rollins 
 Bluff, at which place the track made about a three 
 degree curve, partly masked by the walls of a cut. 
 I was directing some work there when a backwoods 
 family approached. They consisted of a tall, gaui:t 
 cracker, carrying a baby in his arms and closel}' 
 followed by several women, all evidently from the 
 interior.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIliERIA 251 
 
 "Cap'n," said the man, when I was pointed ou* 
 to him, "we all have hearn a right smart about the 
 railroad, and we've come to see it." 
 
 I pointed out the track and told them to feast 
 their eyes upon it fco their hearts' content. They 
 stared for a wl.ile at the iron highway in childish 
 glee, admired the regularity of the ties, and 
 eveness of the track, and then one of them said: 
 
 "Where is the engine?" 
 
 The engine and construction train were away on 
 some errand, a short distance up the road, and I 
 told them to sit down and wait for a few 
 moments. They did so, and presently the whistle 
 sounded around the curve. They shrank a little 
 closer together, and I could see their color come 
 and go as they waited anxiousl}' for the ap- 
 pearance of the strange machine. It so hap- 
 pened that the engine was pushing a long line of 
 flat-cars, and, as they began to come around the 
 curve, the amazement of my visitors knew no 
 bounds. 
 
 "Sakes alive! What's movin' them little houses 
 with wheels onto 'em?" screamed one of the 
 women, and it seemed marvelous to them that the 
 wheels kept the curve instead of going ahead in a 
 straight line. When the engine finally appeared, 
 the whole party sprang to their feet, the women 
 seized the man by the coat-tails, and he nearly 
 dropped the baby in his alarm. I thought for a 
 moment that they meditated a dash for the woods.
 
 252 THK AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 One experience of the sort was clearly enough 
 for them, as they never put in a second appearance. 
 
 On one occasion, a native of these wilds, a ven- 
 'rable, white-bearded settler, by the name of Hays, 
 was subpoenaed as a witness in an illicit whisky 
 case, on trial at Jacksonville. Had he been left to his 
 own devices h* would as soon have thought of going 
 to the planet Mars to appear as a witness againsf 
 the Man in the Moon, but a United States marshal 
 came after him and he had to go. He had liopes 
 that he would be allowed to walk, and when he was 
 informed that the trip would be made by rail, he 
 was filled with consternation. He had never ridden 
 on a car in his life, and to venture aboard one 
 seemed to him to be wantonly tempting a violent 
 death. He had to be fairly dragged up the steps 
 and forced inside. 
 
 When the train started, he burst into tears. He 
 'Explained, between his sobs, that lie was no coward; 
 he had faced destruction a thousand times in the 
 woods and killed more bears than could be packed 
 into that passenger coach, but the idea that he would 
 never see his wife and family again filled him with 
 sorrow. 
 
 "Don't be alarmed, ^^r. Hays," said the United 
 States marshal; "there is not a particle of danger." 
 
 At that instant another car was coupled on with 
 the usual jolt. Hays leaped from his seat as though 
 he had been shot. 
 
 "Thar, she's struck a stump!" h€ yelled, "just as
 
 THE AMLKICAN SII'.EkIA 
 
 235 
 
 I knowed she would! Lord a-mighty! I'll never 
 see Betsey agin!" 
 
 I brought many a man to prison who made his 
 first, and for that matter his last, railroad ride un- 
 der those circumstances; and cases of the sort are 
 by no means infrequent, even at the present day. 
 
 Although, as I have said, the duties of recruiting 
 agent were now out of my province, the contractors 
 continued to call upon me, from time to time, to 
 bring in men who were considered especially dan- 
 gerous. Such a case was that of George Ball or 
 Balf (it appears both ways on the prison records), 
 an outlaw of Pensacola. Ball had been a convict 
 under me before, and I had discharged him at the 
 expiration of his sentence, very glad to get rid of 
 him, for he was constantly in trouble of one sort 
 or another. He was perfectly desperate, cared 
 nothing for punishment, and was, in short, one of 
 those characters who have the worst possible in- 
 fluence upon their fellow-prisoners. 
 
 It was not long before he was in trouble again, 
 tried and sentenced to two years imprisonment. 
 I went to Pensacola after him. 
 
 I remember the trip chiefly because I happened 
 to arrive there on Sundaj', a day which was in those 
 times dedicated to the wildest sort of debauchery 
 along the harbor front. Palafox street, the prin- 
 cipal thoroughfare in that section, was lined from 
 end to end with dives and dens where sailors off 
 duty were lured and robbed by every device known
 
 2^6 THE AMrklCAN SIKEKIA 
 
 to crime. Jack ashore is proverbially an easy vic- 
 tim, and on the day I was there, iii schooners laj' 
 111 the harbor, and the crews of most of them were 
 carousing in the neighborhood. There was no pre- 
 tense of concealment. Drunken mobs of men and 
 women went howlii.g from door to door, every bar 
 was doing a roaring trade, tlje faro banks were in 
 full blast, and fighting, drinking and gambling were 
 the order of the day. 
 
 Sailors were in demand that season, and "shang- 
 h.iiing," or even stealing whole ship's crews bodily, 
 Wis a common offense of the Jand-sharks who 
 nijisqueraded as boarding-house "runners," and for 
 which they were paid round prices by captains of 
 belated ships, unable to leave for lack of hands 
 \ case of that kind was reported to the sheriff, 
 while I was talking to him. The entire crew of a 
 Norwegian bark had been kidnaped while drunk 
 ashore, and there was evidence to show that they 
 had been delivered to a vessel lying some distance 
 out and which was known to be short-handed. 
 
 The sheriff promised to look after the matter, and 
 later in the day he invited me to accompany him 
 to the United States Navy Yard, where he wished to 
 secure a prisoner in another case. We started 
 across the bay in a little sail-boat, and when we 
 were well under way saw a similar craft approach- 
 ing us from the direction of the vessel suspected 
 of having received the abducted sailors. It con- 
 tained the very "runner" who was thought to have
 
 THt AMERICAN SIBERIA 257 
 
 conducted the affair, and it was highly probable that 
 he was returning with the pay for his villainy. He 
 was a practical looking fellow, one of the most dan- 
 gerous and notorious men in the business, and no 
 doubt supposing that the sheriff was after him, he 
 sailed on such a tack as to circle around us and 
 close in from the rear. It was evident that he in- 
 tended to make a fight of it, and not knowing at 
 what moment he might open hostilities, I covered 
 him with my revolver and ordered him to stand off. 
 That was as good a thing as he wanted, and he sailed 
 away in short order. The episode shows how ex- 
 ceedingly bold and desperate this class of out- 
 laws were in those times, and the fact was that 
 most of them lived in constant defiance of law and 
 arrest. 
 
 I took Ball to prison, and while there was nothing 
 peculiarly sensational about it, our experience with 
 him was a constant struggle — more or less a repeti- 
 tion of his first term. On the night following his 
 discharge, on expiration of sentence, the ruling 
 passion was too strong for him, and he secreted him- 
 self in the house of one of the guards, a married 
 man, who lived near the camp, fie was on dut}', 
 and his wife, who had retired, heard a noise and 
 started to get up to investigate. Instantly the 
 burly convict leaped clear over her, but she dodged 
 out the door and ran for the cell-house, Ball in hot 
 pursuit with a bludgeon in his hand. She was in 
 
 her night-clothes, bare footed and badly frightened, 
 15
 
 258 THK AMF.RICAN SIBERIA 
 
 but slie fairly outran the fellow, wlio, seeing him- 
 self distanced, broke for the woods and escaped. 
 
 The subsequent career and fate of this rran is 
 interesting, and as it has nothing to do with my 
 story proper, I will narrate it here. He was not 
 long at liberty when he was again arrested and sent 
 back to prison. Major C. K. Dutton was the lessee 
 at the time, and Ball was sent to work on a turpen- 
 tine farm at a camp called "Passum Trot." The 
 captain was Charles P. Jolly, an officer subsequent- 
 ly well known in connection with the lease system, 
 and more or less trouble was experienced in keep- 
 ing up the commissary department. It was said, 
 how truthfully I can not personally affirm, that 
 sweet potatoes were sometimes the only food of 
 the prisoners, and that even they could not always 
 be obtained. At any rate some of the bolder of 
 the prisoners, with Ball at their head, determined 
 to revolt unless they were better fed. 
 
 An opportunity was offered one morning, when a 
 provision wagon was said to be delayed and no 
 breakfast given the men. Captain Jolly entered 
 the cell-house, explained the situation, and told 
 them that they would have breakfast in the woods, 
 sometime during the morning. Upon that. Ball and 
 a number of others flatly declared that they could 
 not and would not go to work without food. 
 
 At this point conflicting stories are told. Some 
 say that Ball, who was undoubtedly still linked 
 to the building-chain, atttempted to strike T. J.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 259 
 
 Leverett, a commissary-man formerly with me, and 
 all that is positive is that in the midst of the con- 
 fusion a shot was fired and the convict fell dead in 
 the arms of the next man chained by his side. No 
 one has made any particular effort to claim the act. 
 But the tragedy ended the food-riot, and the scared 
 men ceased resistance and went to work on empty 
 stomachs. Ball's corpse was drawn off the heavy 
 bu/Iding-chain, buried in the little camp grave- 
 yard, .ind so ended his history.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 It was when the road was rapidly approaching 
 New Branford that a crime of a peculiarly cold- 
 blooded character was committed near the town of 
 Troy in La Fayette County. William Bryant and 
 Daniel Bass were two horse-traders who followed 
 their calling in the place whenever opportunity 
 afforded, and the former had purchased an animal 
 of a young Georgian named Moore, out on a trad- 
 ing trip. The price agreed upon was Sioo, and 
 Bryant paid a part down, giving his note for the 
 balance. 
 
 Moore was a free-handed fellow, and the impres- 
 sion prevailed that he carried a large amount of 
 money on his person. Acting on this supposition 
 and for the further purpose of getting back the pur- 
 chase money paid for the horse, and the promissory 
 note, Bryant and Bass formed a deliberate plot to 
 decoy him into the woods and murder him. 
 
 Toward the close of the day the two miscreants 
 invited the unsuspicious Georgian to accompany 
 them a little way on the road to their home. Moore 
 accepted and went, laughing and joking, to his 
 death. 
 
 The road took them toward the Suwanee river, 
 into a neighborhood where the timber is thick, the 
 
 260
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 267 
 
 underbrush dense, and the way very lonely and lit- 
 tle traveled. In this desolate spot Bass suddenly 
 seized Moore and held him while Bryant coolly and 
 deliberately shot him to death. They at once pos- 
 sessed themselves of what money the trader had 
 upon him, which was very little, and leaving the 
 body where it fell, went on their way home. Both 
 murderers were soon arrested, and on trial all of the 
 facts came out, although each stoutly denied his 
 individual guilt. Bryant was sentenced to death, 
 and Bass to imprisonment for life. 
 
 I was ordered to Troy after Bass, and popular 
 feeling ran so high at the time that on the day of 
 m}' arrival, the other prisoner was removed to the 
 Madison County jail for safe keeping. He did not 
 stay there long, but escaped under peculiar circum- 
 stances, right under the nose of the guard. It was 
 said that he was armed, but the only weapon he 
 .vas known to possess was a hundred-dollar bill. 
 At all events he got away, gained the gulf-swamps 
 and there became the nucleus of a band of forest 
 robbers and desperadoes with whom I had some- 
 thing, later on, to do. 
 
 But to return to Bass: I found him in an, extra- 
 ordinary jail. I doubt if its equal exists in the 
 United States. It was a tall, square, two-story 
 tower, built of enormous logs. The upper section 
 was used as a living-room for the guard and en- 
 tered by an outside stairs. A trap-door, bristling 
 with bolts and bars, opened through the middle of
 
 2^12 THF. AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 the Hoor, into the lower compartment, which had 
 no window, and was as dark as midnight. When a 
 prisoner was received, a ladder was lowered and 
 raised again after he descended, leaving him in a 
 veritable dungeon into which neither light nor sound 
 could penetrate. The floor was dirt; there was no 
 ventilation, no drainage; it was the Black Hole of 
 Calcutta on a small scale. A man immured in this 
 horrible place would have nothing to do but stum 
 ble back and forth in the darkness until he was 
 tired, and then stretch fiimself on the dirt. He 
 might shriek and howl; not a murmur would pass 
 through the ponderous log walls; he would not 
 know whether itwas dayor night, and the stench in 
 that confined space would soon grow almost unbear 
 able. Without knowing it, these backwoodsmen 
 had constructed a very formidable torture-chamber. 
 
 Bass was the only inmate of this dungeon and had 
 been there for some time. He crawled out gladly 
 enough, through the trap-door, and without any de- 
 lay, I started back with him. On the way he 
 showed himself to be indeed a hardened wretch. 
 Our route happened to be the same as that taken 
 by the three men on the evening of the murder, and 
 some sympathetic friend had placed a little tab- 
 let at the spot where Moore was shot. When we 
 reached it, Bass gave the slab a careless kick. 
 
 "Here's where we did that fellow up," he said. 
 
 "What do you mean?" I asked.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 263 
 
 "Why, we killed Moore here," he replied with an 
 idiotic laugh. 
 
 "So you admit it," I said in unconcealed disgust 
 at his brutality. 
 
 "I might as well. I didn't do the shooting, but 
 I had hold of him to keep him from kicking." 
 
 He afterward told me the whole story, claiming 
 that he was drunk at the time of the tragedy. He 
 conducted himself pretty well for a long period in 
 prison, until he ultimately figured ir a plot long to 
 be remembered and which I will describe further 
 on. 
 
 An escape of some importance took place shortly 
 after Bass' arrival. As a matter of convenience, 
 we had constructed a side-camp at New Branford, 
 a temporary affair, at which a squad stayed during 
 the week, returning to the main camp on Saturday 
 evening. One Friday I was taken suddenly ill 
 and forced to return to my home at Live Oak. 
 Late the following evening, Mr. Phillips, one of 
 my guards, came rushing in and reported that when 
 the count was made a short time before at the main 
 camp, it was one short, but that they were unable 
 to determine who it was that was gone. They had 
 not yet thought of calling the roll, and after think- 
 ing for a moment, I asked whether Jim Ota was 
 there. Phillips slapped, his thigh and rushed out. 
 I had guessed correctly; it was Ota, the Pensacola 
 outlaw, who was missing. I knew the cool, des- 
 perate character of the man, and was not surprised
 
 264 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 in ilie least; but tlie question was how he had man- 
 aged to so cleverly effect his escape as to avoid all 
 notice until so late an hour. VVc afterward 
 learned that he had managed it very simply. When 
 tlie men were called out of the cell-house at the 
 side camp, to go to headquarters, there was always 
 more or less of bustle ami rusii, and in the con- 
 fusion he had hidtlcn under a bunk. He was not 
 missed among so many and had plenty of lime 10 
 gel away at leisure. It was useless to think about 
 l>ursuit, for oy the lime the facts were discovered 
 the trail was too cold for the dogs. 
 
 All we could do was to send out descriptions, 
 but these intercepted his flight, and he was arrest- 
 ed as he left a St. Augustine steamer at Jackson- 
 ville. I went after him and he remained under me 
 until, in changes of management, he finally passed 
 out of my hands. 
 
 A Nemesis seemed to pursue this man, and al- 
 though he repeatedly made his escape in after years, 
 lie was invariably recaptured, and is at this writ- 
 ing a convict under me. Some of his dashes for 
 liberty were thrilling in the extreme. While 
 under Captain Jolly at "Passum Trot"- camp in the 
 turpentine woods, he rushed right from under the 
 guns of the guards and was on the verge of mak- 
 ing good his escape, when a load of buckshot 
 struck him full in the back and stretched him on 
 the earth. The distance saved his life, but he lay 
 for a considerable time in a precarious condition
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 265 
 
 and will carry tlie scars to his grave. When he 
 recovered he tried another plan. The trusties were 
 called from the cell-house some time before the 
 other men and while the morning was yet quite 
 dark. Ota noticed tliis fact and acted upon it. 
 One night he filed his chain in two, and when the 
 trusties were called out he fell into line with them 
 and passed out of the cell-house undetected. Ae 
 he went down the aisle, he picked up a bludgeon, 
 from a stack of fire-wood, and when he passed the 
 night guard at the door he suddenly wheeled and 
 dealt him a crushing blow over the head and 
 stretched him senseless on the ground. Ota picked 
 up the rifle that had fallen from his hand and 
 rushed off in the darkness. 
 
 An alarm was instantly given, and the guard car- 
 ried to his quarters, bleeding at the mouth and 
 ears, and apparently dead. After hovering for two 
 weeks between life and death he finally recovered 
 and Ota, meanwhile, was arrested while pushing 
 north, and returned to prison. 
 
 On another occasion, while still in Captain Jol- 
 ly's charge, Ota and five others ran directly from 
 under the guns of the guards in the turpentine 
 woods. He was slightly in the rear of the rest of 
 the runaways, and the fire, wliich was opened im- 
 mediately, was mainly concentrated upon him. 
 For two or three perilous minutes he well deserved 
 the trite description of bearing a charmed life. 
 Bullets whizzed all around him, cutting the bushes
 
 266 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 as he pushrcl tliciu aside, piercing his clothing 
 and mowing ilic grass between his feet, but none 
 touclied him. There was a narrow strip of thinly 
 wooded ground to cross, and then a hill, all in easy 
 range. When he reached the crest of the eminence 
 he was a splendid target against the sky, and it 
 was fairly raining lead; but he stopped, turned 
 around deliberately, and raising his hat waved the 
 guards a polite farewell. Then he vanished on 
 the further side. 
 
 The whole surrounding country was aroused, and 
 after three weeks chase an armed party ran upon 
 him by the merest accident while he was crossing 
 a little bridge in the dead of night. They halted him 
 at the muzzle of their guns and brought him in. 
 The other five, who were not to be compared to 
 Ota for either nerve or fertility of recourse, made 
 good their escape. 
 
 Shortly after Ota's escape from our side-camp, 
 the Plant Investment Company decided to put a 
 line of steamers on the Suwanee river to ply from 
 New Branford to Cedar Keys, and from thence on 
 to Cuba. A corps of engineers were sent down the 
 river to determine the draught of the boats, and 
 word was sent that a party of leading railroad offi- 
 cials, including young Mr. Plant, son of the presi- 
 dent of the company, and himself a chief manager, 
 would pay us a visit. The day before Mr. Plant 
 and his immediate party were due to arrive, several 
 of the magnates put in an appearance, bringing
 
 THE AMERICAN SIKKRIA 267 
 
 with them a beaiitifui yacht carried in a casing 
 on two freight cars. She was probably the must 
 luxurious craft of the kind and size ever built in 
 ihe United States. Her name was "The May, "and 
 her entire hull, from stem to stern, was constructed 
 of solid mahogany, producing a rich effect, perfectly 
 indescribable in words. A tiny engine, that was 
 as daintily fashioned as a watch, moved a propel- 
 ler blade about the size of a shark's tail, and the 
 interior finish was of fine, carved, natural wood, nick- 
 el and hammered brass. Although strong, stanch 
 and entirely serviceable, she seemed more like some 
 curious toy for a velvet case than an actual vessel 
 to do duty in the water. 
 
 It was the intention to take a pleasure trip upon 
 her, but it was a serious question how to accomplish 
 the launching without damaging the costly hull, on 
 which a pin would make an unsightly mark. 1 
 turned a force of men over to the visitors, to do 
 the work, and one of the superintendents labored 
 all morning at the job. He brought all his knowl- 
 edge of engineering to bear, but "The May" stub- 
 bornly refused to budge an inch. In the afternoon 
 he washed his hands of the matter and turned it 
 over to me. I did not know anything about engi- 
 neering, but I knew a plain, every-day way of mak- 
 ing an incline, and I proceeded to put it into exe 
 cution. I had a number of pens of logs, constantly 
 diminishing in height, built between the track and 
 the river, and over these I lashed a pair of skids,
 
 268 IMK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 SO as to form a tolerably smooth roadway. I then 
 had the yacht, just as she la), inclosed in a frame 
 so as not to mar her timbers. This enabled us to 
 handle her with impunity, and I had my whole 
 lorce of about two luuuhcd hands push her, by 
 main force, upon the skids. Once on, it required 
 all of them to hold her back and ease her passage 
 down. 
 
 The upshot of it was that she was aunched in 
 safety, and I turned my attention to the removal of 
 the frame, which still surrounded theliull. It was 
 cut away by a man in a row-boat wiih a large 
 bridge-saw, and by evening "The May ' rested on 
 the water as lightly as a duck. 
 
 Next morning a special car brought in our distin- 
 guished visitors. I had considerable curiosity to 
 see Mr. Plant, not only because he was one of my 
 employers but on account of his great wealth and 
 the prominent position he occupied in the manage- 
 ment of the powerful company that bore his family 
 name. 1 had never seen a millionaire before, and 
 1 confess that my fanc) had pictured an Individual 
 liccked with dininonds and attired in purple and fine 
 linen, unapproachable by the common herd. When 
 the party arrived I saw nobody who filled this ideal 
 until a tall young man, elegantly dressed, gloved and 
 surmounted bv a silk hat, stepped from the plat- 
 form. He lit a cigarette, assumed a languid atti- 
 tude near the platform, and I promptly made up my 
 mind that this was Mr. Plant. While 1 was ey-
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 269 
 
 ing him furtively a man of perhaps thirty, dressed 
 in a very ordinary blue suit and wearing a black 
 slouch hat, walked up to me and asked for Captain 
 Powell. 
 
 "That's my name," I said. 
 
 "My name is Plant," he replied. 
 
 I was never more surprised in my life. The 
 young gentleman by the car turned out to be his 
 clerk. Mr. Plant proved to be as affable as he 
 was unassuming, and he insisted on my accompany- 
 ing the yatching party. He would not take no for an 
 answer, and we had royal good time. There was 
 no ceremony on board "The May," and as servants' 
 room was limited, every man took a hand at the 
 work. Mr. Plant was wood-chopper, Mr. E. D. 
 Owens, a New York general manager, "toted" water, 
 and Captain Fitzgerald was cook. The rest of us 
 played the role of as'^istants. We went as far up 
 the river as Troy and back again, past New Bran- 
 ford to the mouth of the Santa Fe River, a total 
 trip of about fifty miles, through magnificent tropic- 
 al scenery. My work called me back, but the bal- 
 ance of the party subsequently made a journey to 
 Tampa in their stanch little craft. 
 
 This episode calls to mind another notable visit. 
 One day two distinguished looking strangers 
 alighted from the passenger train, and made their 
 wa)' to my office at the camp. One was a young 
 man and the other rather elderly. They were fol- 
 lowed by a couple of colored men, loaded down with
 
 7jn THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 valises, guns, baps and various luggage, mainly of 
 a sporting character, and a pair of fine dogs brought 
 up the rear of the procession. 
 
 The two visitors proved to be a young English 
 lord and a commander in the British navy. They 
 had created a social furore in other parts of the 
 country and had determined to give a novel finish 
 to a pleasure trip, by taking a look at a southern 
 convict camp and incidcptally liilling some game. 
 The railroad superintendent had given them a 
 letter to me, in which I was instructed to show 
 them all the attention possible, and to detail 
 whichever of my guards was the best hunter, to 
 accompany them in the field. They were the first 
 specimens of British aristocracy I had ever seen, and 
 I eyed them pretty curiously while I did the honors 
 of the camp. They were both very polished and 
 affable gentlemen and were filled with interest over 
 the novelty of their surroundings. The equipments 
 they brought were simply princely, and must have 
 cost a small fortune. Their guns in particular, 
 which were magnificently mounted and inlaid with 
 precious metals, excited the admiring envy of all 
 my men. 
 
 It was about supper-time and presently I invited 
 them to the table. Here an embarrassing contretemps 
 occurred. The commodore had no sooner seated 
 himself than he began to exclaim: "Where is Jack? 
 poor Jack! I fear he must be lost." I supposed 
 Jack was one of their dogs, but he continued with
 
 THK AMERICAN SIHKKIA 1'] X, 
 
 an air of relief: "Ah, here he is! Is there noplate 
 laid for him? No matter. He can sit here by me." 
 
 I looked around in ama^^enient and saw Jack. 
 He was a big and very black southern plantation 
 darky, whom they had picked up, partly as a valet 
 and partly as a curiosity, and who was evidently 
 much embarrassed at this unexpected condescension. 
 
 Hospitality has sacred laws, but this was carrying 
 the joke too far, and I informed the commodore that 
 among us the negroes ate apart from the whites, and 
 that I did not fancy Jack's company at my table. 
 Instantly the courtly old gentleman was all confu- 
 sion and apology. He told me that in England no 
 color line is drawn, and that negroes are practically 
 unknown there. In brief, the episode passed off 
 harmlessly, although it seemed strange enough to 
 southern eyes, and Jack gorged himself to his 
 heart's content in the kitchen. 
 
 Our visitors stayed with us for two days and shot 
 away man}' a pound of powder. They stood upon 
 great ceremony in the field, and the right to the first 
 shot was determined by a code of eticjuette, which 
 they would discuss at length, while the bird flew 
 away. But no harm was done, for neither one 
 could hit a barn at twenty yards, and despite their 
 beautiful breecli-loaders, their elegant hunting suits, 
 and imported dogs, they killed nothing but one 
 sparrow and a black-snake. The guard who guided 
 them, a raw-boned backwoodsman who had been 
 raised with a rifle in his hand and who could knock
 
 ^74 '^^^^- AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 over a running deer almost as he could see it, could 
 scarcely conceal his aniazenient and disgust; but I 
 was sorry to see the pair leave, for they were capi- 
 tal company, and their stay formed a pleasant varia- 
 tion of the routine of camp-life. They took ihe 
 sparrow and black-snake with them.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 The lease of the Plant Company expired with the 
 year 1882. We had completed the railroad by that 
 time to a point seven miles beyond New Branford, 
 and when bidding for convict labor again took place, 
 the contract was awarded to Major C. K. Button, 
 the turpentine operator. I was invited to retain 
 my position, and finally accepted, after hesitating 
 for some time between that and an offer from the 
 railroad company. 
 
 I at once made preparations to move the men. 
 Major Dutton proposed to work them entirely upon 
 his extensive turpentine property, in the vicinity of 
 Live Oak; and a camp, afterward called "Newburn," 
 was planned, about seven miles from town; but as 
 the securing of the lease had been a matter of ex- 
 treme uncertainty, no buildings were erected before- 
 hand. Consequently I first took only a part of the 
 men to the spot, and, leaving tlie balance at the 
 old railway camp, I proceeded to put things in 
 order. The hrst thing on the program was a cell- 
 house, and its construction received a curious in- 
 terruption. We had erected the frame of the build- 
 ing, put on the roof, and, in fact, almost finished 
 it throughout, when Mr. Hildreth of Live Oak, 
 Major Diitton's local representative, concluded that 
 
 16 ""
 
 276 IHE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 a huge pi lie tree, growing by the side of one of the 
 walls, ouglit to be cut down. The tree was a per- 
 fect giant and inclined slightly toward the building, 
 and I told him that it could not be felled without 
 fa. ling upon the roof. He insisted that I was mis- 
 taken, and, at last, I washed my hands of the affair 
 and told him to go ahead if he thought he could 
 get it down in safety. Some choppers were sent 
 for, and, while they were at work, I stepped quietly 
 inside of the building and had some sick men re- 
 moved and placed under guard outside. Mr. 
 Hildreth had props wedged against the trunk, and 
 the chips flew merrily. At last the monster began 
 to crack, and swayed directly toward the cell-house. 
 The next instant it was in full fall, and he shouted for 
 the convicts to hold the props; but they very 
 prudently paid no attention to his orders and ran. As 
 I expected, the tree crashed straight across thereof, 
 and the entire structure came to the ground in ruin. 
 Mr. Hildreth surveyed the wreck ruefully for a mo- 
 ment, ordered his horse, and drove away. With the 
 exception of this mishap, all progressed smoothly, 
 and in due time I sent for the balance of the men 
 and resumed in earnest the old work in the turpen- 
 tine woods. 
 
 Soon after this, our first death in the new camp 
 occurred. The man was Dick Evans, frequently 
 mentioned in these pages, and the circumstances of 
 his end were these: It maybe remembered that he 
 had but five years to serve, and although he was
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 277 
 
 constantly plotting delivery, the sentence was mean 
 time slipping away, and at last four years passed., 
 leaving but a very short time to serve. A little 
 while before the situation assumed this shape, I 
 was at Pensacola, and happened to see the negress 
 who had formerly been his mistress and business 
 partner, and with whom he had maintained a con- 
 stant, and on his part, very loving correspondence. 
 She was a thick-lipped, repulsive harridan, and 
 coolly remarked that Evans had caused her trouble 
 enough, and that she had another lover. That news 
 was shortly conveyed to him by letter, and there- 
 after this strong and desperate man, who had been 
 ;it all times willing to do and dare anything, pined 
 away like a baby and died, when liberty was right 
 at hand. He babbled about his "Ellee," as he 
 called this wretch, and opened to me a depth of 
 depravity and vicious fascination that I had never 
 dreamed of- We buried him in the woods, by the 
 side of the tram-road, and built a pen of logs over 
 the grave to protect it from the invasion of wild 
 beasts. In this spot he lies to day. 
 
 Three convicts were shot duiing our stay at New- 
 burn, and the circumstances gave rise both at the 
 time and afterward, to a great deal of comment. I 
 will detail them in the order in which they 
 occurred. 
 
 The first case was that of Henry Simmons. He 
 was one of the convicts in a "chip" squad, and for 
 some time had been quietly looking for a good chance
 
 iyS THF. AMFRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 to lun 111 the woods. One day, when his guard, 
 wliose name was Henry Howell, was looking in 
 .mother direction, he dropped his tools and took to 
 his heels. 
 
 He had a pretty good start before he was seen, 
 and was about one hundred and fifty yards away 
 when Howell, after vainly calling on him to halt, 
 opened fire with his repeating rifle. One of the 
 big bullets struck the fugitive in the middle of the 
 back, tearing a hole clear through liim and just 
 grazing the left of the spine. Simmons sprang into 
 the air and fell head foremost to the ground. 
 
 A little while afterward, a trusty dashed into 
 camp all out of breath, and told me of the affair. I 
 sprang into the satldlc and rode immediately to the 
 pot, where I found the squad bunched together, and 
 the guard holding them under the muzzle of his 
 gun. Simmons lay some distance away, where he 
 fell, weltering in a pool of blood, and to all appear- 
 ances dead. The ball had passed straight through 
 one of his lungs, and the hole where it emerged 
 was as large as a silver dollar. I put my finger on 
 his pulse, and, finding it still fluttering, lost no 
 time in improvising a litter and having him Cc>rried 
 back to camp. As soon as Dr. Hankins, the prison 
 l^hysician, laid eyes upon him, he declared ihat it 
 was useless to attempt to treat a wound that would 
 ])rove fatal in an hour or two at furthest, and he 
 (lid nothing at all. I had more faith in Simmons' 
 vitality, and had him placed upon his back in such
 
 THE AMKRICAN SIBERIA 279 
 
 a way that the wound would drain without being 
 pressed, and then detailed another prisoner to keer 
 it saturated with cold water. Next day the man 
 was still alive, and the next, and, to cut a long 
 story short, he recovered under this simple treat- 
 ment, and eventually went back into his squad, ap- 
 parently none the worse. 
 
 Not long afterward another prisoner decided to 
 risk hot lead for liberty. H.o name was Charles 
 Jourdan, and his guard was a very good-natured 
 young man named Arthur Gleaton. The dasli,as in 
 the case of Simmons, took place in the woods, and 
 Gleaton, not wishing to shoot a man if he could 
 possibly avoid it, gave chase. Jourdan was double 
 shackled, and so handicapped by his stride-chain 
 that he could not run, but went off at a strange 
 hopping gait, like a kangaroo. The guard on tiie 
 other hand, found that he had too much superfluous 
 flesh for good sprinting. Thus their impediments 
 were about equal, and it was said to be a tolerably 
 even race for some time; but at length the fugitive 
 began to out-distance his pursuer, and the gap between 
 them widened out. The guard tried in vain to 
 spurt, and then realizing himself beaten, stopped, 
 panting and blowing, and brought his rifle to his 
 shoulder for a farewell shot. 
 
 By that time Jourdan was fully four hundred 
 yards awa}', and it was almost an impossible shot, 
 but Gleaton rested his gun against the trunk of a 
 tree and fired. To his surprise the man tumbled
 
 iSo THE AMERICAN SIBRRIA 
 
 over. The bullet, ainuil at tlic middle of the back, 
 liad dropped almost spent, and struck in the hollow 
 uf the knee, shattering the joint literally tearing 
 it into a pulp of flesh and bone. When we reached 
 him, !.c had seated himself uj)on the ground, ripped 
 open his trousers leg and was coolly scrutinizing 
 the wcund, which presented a ghastly appearance. 
 
 "I wish you would take this leg off for nie, Cap- 
 tain," was the first thing In- said. 
 
 "Woll; we'll see about that when we get you in," 
 I replied. 
 
 "No," he insisted earnestly, "do it now, with 
 whatever knife you have. 1 believe thai that is the 
 only thing that will save my life." 
 
 When we brought him to the camp, he still in- 
 sisted upon immediate amputation; but the physi- 
 cian regarded such an operation as necessaril}' fatal, 
 and would not perform it. But the man's fate 
 was sealed in any event. A short time afterward 
 gangrene set in, and, after suffering untold agony 
 for weeks, he died. 
 
 I shot the third man myself. He was one of two 
 northern professional burglars received at prison 
 under the names of Will Dare and Charles Kelly. 
 They were sentenced at Pensacola and came for 
 one year each. Kelly was a stupid, spiritless fel- 
 low, with not enough energy to work and not enough. 
 determination to say point-blank that he would not, 
 and he shufHed through his sentence without more 
 trouble than such characters usually encounter; but
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 281 
 
 Dare was of another type. He was a desperate man, 
 murderous when aroused, and rebelled from the first 
 against the prison yoke. 
 
 During the period of his sentence we had estab- 
 lished a side-camp, where a certain number of pris- 
 oners stayed during the week, joining the main 
 body at Newburn every Saturday. Dare was in the 
 side-camp squad. 
 
 One morning one of the guards, detailed for duty 
 there, sent me word to come into the woods to dis- 
 cipline Dare. The night before he came within an 
 ace of making his escape. He had broken a hole 
 through the cell-house wall, then cut his chain and 
 started to crawl out. The watchman caught sight of 
 him when he was half-way through, and covering him 
 with his rifle, told him to come back or he would 
 fire. Dare hesitated between two minds for quite 
 a while, but at last he decided not to risk it and 
 returned to his bunk, sullen and breathing ven- 
 geance. In the morning he repeated his threats, and 
 such was the situation when I reached the woods. 
 I inquired into the matter, and as the man showed 
 clearly by his manner that he was unsubdued, I 
 walked over to him and told him to get down to be 
 whipped. He cast a furious look at me. 
 
 "Never!" he exclaimed. "I'll let no man beat up- 
 on me I " 
 
 Again I ordered him to get down. 
 
 "I tell you no!" he answered. "You'll have me 
 to kill first."
 
 a8i THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 "I don't want to kill you," I said ; "but even that 
 miglit be done, if necessary to enforce the rules." 
 
 "Come on, then!" he shouted; "I'll see if 1 can't 
 get you first, anyhow!" 
 
 The squad were scraping gum at the time, frorh 
 the faces of the boxes. The work is performed 
 with a short-handled tool, terminating in a sharp, 
 square blade, and it makes a formidable weapon, if 
 used as such. As Dare spoke he rushed at me with 
 his scraper raised in the air. I closed in and shot 
 him through the chest with my pistol before the 
 blow could descend. 
 
 The bullet struck him near the right nipple, pass- 
 ing through his lungs and lodging under the ^kin 
 of his back. He turned livid as death, dropped the 
 scrape-iron and clapped both hands over the 
 wound. 
 
 "You've killed me I" he gurgled through a bloody 
 foam that came upon his lips. 
 
 I saw that he was about to fall and caught him by 
 both shoulders so as to ease him to the ground. 
 
 He lay there gasping, each respiration sending a 
 jet of blood and air hissing from the wound, and 
 from the expression on his face it was evident that 
 he was trying to gather his strength for some com- 
 munication. Finally he beckoned to me and 1 knelt 
 close to him. 
 
 "Will you do me a [avor?" he said with difficulty. 
 
 "Of coursf I will, Dare," I rejdied. 
 
 'Then write to my mother," he gasped. 'Sht
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 283 
 
 lives at Nashville and her name is Mrs. Mary Por- 
 ter. My right name is William Porter." 
 
 That exhausted him, and he was carried as speed- 
 ily as possible back to camp. The prison physician 
 happened to be there at the time, but the bullet 
 was not removed until next day, as this case, like 
 the others I have mentioned, was supposed to be 
 hopeless. Nevertheless he recovered, to the surprise 
 of everybody, and one of the first things he did, 
 v;hen he saw he was not going to die, was to ask 
 me whether I had Vv'ritten to his home. When he 
 learned that I had been waiting the result of his 
 wound before sending the letter, he was very much 
 relieved and told me not to write it at all. When 
 I thought over the matter, however, I determined 
 to drop a line privately to the chief of police at 
 Nashville, to ascertain whether my prisoner might 
 not be a fugitive from justice and wanted else- 
 where. I described his personal appearance in my 
 letter and repeated what he had told me in regard 
 to his real name. 
 
 The reply I received startled me. It was fron; 
 the mayor of Nashville, and after explaining that 
 the letter had been handed him to answer, he said 
 that Will Porter was his brother and the brother- 
 in-law of the chief of police. The convict's uncle 
 was the then Secretary of State, and my corres- 
 pondent went on to say that the whole family were 
 deeply distressed at the news I had sent them, and 
 that I should draw upon them freely for any funds
 
 284 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 needed for medical treatment, or comforts of any 
 character. The young man, he assured me, had 
 alwaj's been a source of trouble to his relatives, but 
 on account of the standing of the family they wltc 
 willing to come to his assistance in any way possi- 
 ble. As I wrote simply to inquire after other 
 charges and not to pry into family secrets, I drop- 
 ped the matter then and there and did not answer 
 the letter. Dare, or Porter, finally got well and 
 served out the balance of his time without further 
 trouble. I do not know what became of him. 
 
 It may be gathered from the foregoing that among 
 the calls upon me was occasionally one to take a 
 hand in surgery or medicine when emergency de- 
 manded it. Among so many men there are sure to 
 be times when prompt surgical assistance was de- 
 manded, and to hesitate was to be lost, as far as the 
 patient was concerned. I encountered the most re- 
 markable case in my amateur practice a short tiir.e 
 after Dare was shot. We had received a tall, ath- 
 letic negro from west Florida, and for two or thice 
 months he worked steadily in the woods, never mak- 
 ing any complaints. Then he came to me one morn- 
 ing and said that a swelling had suddenly appeared 
 in his chest and gave him a good deal of pain. 
 
 I examined him and found a lump near the left nip- 
 ple. It seemed to need lancing and in the course 
 of the morning I laid it open. To my surprise my 
 blade encountered a hard substance, too firml)- im- 
 bedded for me to remove, and apparently a piece
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 285 
 
 Of metal. Thereupon I questioned the negro closely 
 and elicited the fact that upward of eighteen months 
 before, he had got into a fight and was stabbed 
 in the back, near the left shoulder-blade. The 
 point of the knife, so he said, was broken off and 
 left in the wound. He had never experienced any 
 trouble from it, except an occasional pain in the 
 chest, and the swelling I have described was his first 
 real notification of the presence of the steel in his 
 body. 
 
 I did not make any further attempt to extract it, 
 but when the doctor arrived on his weekly visit, I 
 called his attention to the case and explained the 
 circumstances as I had heard them. Supposing the 
 foreign body, whatever it was, to be very small, 
 the doctor seized it with his forceps and gave a 
 smart jerk. * He drew out a large knife blade be- 
 tween three and four inches long, and to say that he 
 was surprised would be to put it very mildly. 
 There was a ragged fracture at the lower end, 
 showing where it had been broken off, and the edge 
 was honey-combed with minute holes, like a piece of 
 metal that has lain in acid. The same corrosive 
 power that had pierced these holes had almost 
 erased three deeply etched letters — IXL"— upon 
 the side of the blade, showing plainly that the 
 man's system had been gradually absorbing the 
 solid steel. A scar on his shoulder substantiated 
 the story of the stabbing, and the fact was that ir 
 receiving the blow as he did, from behind, the ne-
 
 2Ht THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 gro had no idea liow inucli of the blade had really 
 been left in his Hesli. How such a weapon had 
 i-aased in its journey right through his chest and 
 tscaped severing the branching arteries of his heart, 
 among which it certainly must have threaded, is a 
 problem that I leave to surgeons. 
 
 We had no lack of odd characters at Newburn, 
 and among them was an eccentric old stone-cutter 
 from Cork b}' the name of John McCarty. There was 
 nothing very bad about McCart}', but he had a vein 
 of slyness in his composition, and he was fully de- 
 .ermined not to tarry with us any longer than possi- 
 ble. In brief, he took the first good opportunity 
 thai presented to slip away, and was soon after 
 reported to me as gone. I did not trouble myself 
 about the usual chase but adopted simpler and 
 more effective methods. McCarty was no woods- 
 man, and I was morally certain that he would never 
 dare to venture into the forest. He had lived all 
 I. is life in cities, and under the circumstances such 
 ! man would gravitate to a railroad as surely as 
 ih'j needle finds the pole; so I dispatched three of 
 ni}- guards in different directions by rail, instructing 
 one to go toward Jacksonville, one toward Talla- 
 hassee and one toward Dupont, Georgia, and all of 
 them to get off, after riding for some distance, and 
 walk back on the track. I particularly cautioned 
 them not to show themselves at the car windows, 
 and rested assured that one of tliuni wouKl encounter 
 the missing McCarty.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 287 
 
 It turned out that I was right. One of the 
 guards, Tom Harley, went to a place called Baker's 
 Mill, where he left the train and took his way 
 back, counting ties. He had gone but a short dis- 
 tance when he bumped against a man in the dark- 
 ness. 
 
 "Who's that?" asked the voice of McCarty. 
 
 "It is Harley," replied the guard, collaring him. 
 
 "And is it you, Misther Harley?" said the runa- 
 way, not the least disconcerted in the world and 
 producing a quart bottle of whisky, "Faith an' 
 I'm glad to see ye. And won't ye have a wee drap 
 of whisky to warm ye some?" 
 
 Harley brought in his convivial prisoner and he 
 never made a second attempt. He is with me 
 now on a more recent sentence (his third), but 
 trouble and old age have broken him and he is no 
 longer the jolly Irishman that he was. 
 
 A pitiable case lingers in my memory of this 
 period and calls up a picture of suffering not to 
 be forgotten. It shows how little the outside world 
 knows of the miseries that crime and misfortune 
 entail. 
 
 I had gone to Gainesville after some prisoners, 
 and while the preliminaries were being arranged I 
 strolled through the jail and stopped before the 
 grated door of a cell in the upper story. It was 
 in December, i88i, and the air was bitterly raw and 
 cold. The cell was a bare, unfurnished stone room, 
 lighted by a large barred window without glass or
 
 288 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 covering of any kind, and the wind rushed freely 
 through, burdened with a penetrating chill. In this 
 wretched place a young white woman, blue-lipped, 
 haggard and evidently sick, was crouching and 
 seeking in vain to shelter herself from the cold. 
 Her clothes were mean and threadbare and she 
 was pitifully thin. 
 
 I stopped to question her, and she turned a pair 
 of hollow eyes upon me, with a miserable, appeal- 
 ing look. It appeared that her name was Hand- 
 some Keene ; she was a poor enough parody on it 
 then, and she was charged with infanticide. Her 
 teeth chattered as she told me that she had been 
 in this cell and had no bed or bed-clothing of any 
 kind. She slept at night on the stone floor and had 
 no money to enable her to better her condition. 
 
 The spectacle moved me so that I did not care to 
 trust myself to talk with her, but I handed her some 
 money to buy a blanket. I suppose it was the first 
 sjmpathy she had received for so long that she 
 stared at the money for a moment and then burst 
 suddenly into tears. I turned away hurriedly and 
 rejoined my prisoners. 
 
 This woman was subsequently sentenced to prison 
 for life, but after remaining for a time at the convict 
 camp, she received a pardon.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 An extraordinary incident, altogether unparal- 
 elled in my prison experience, took place near the 
 close of our stay at Newburn. We received notice 
 that a female prisoner was waiting transportation 
 at Lake Butler, and I sent Mr. Wilder, our then 
 convict-runner, after her. He appeared in due 
 time with a rather voluptuous young negress, 
 tricked out in gaud}^ finery, her hair banged over 
 her forehead and, to all appearances, an African 
 belle. She gave her name as Marietta Williams 
 and was consigned to the women's quarters. 
 
 Next day she went to the commissary department 
 after a thimble, and on her return something pecul- 
 iar in her contour struck my eye. Her shoulders 
 seemed to me inordinately broad, her hips very 
 narrow, and her feet were certainly of abnormal pro- 
 portions. The more I turned the matter over in 
 my mind the more I was convinced that we had a 
 masquerader, and that evening I called my assistant, 
 Mr. Hillman, and went to the female quarters to 
 investigate. 
 
 I ordered the other women into an adjoining 
 room, and told Marietta of my suspicions. She 
 whimpered and protested, but to no avail, and proved, 
 as I supposed, a young negro man dressed in female 
 
 289 
 
 k
 
 290 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 ciitiic. After the discovery of the ruse, lie told 
 a very curious story, whicfj I subsequently found 
 to be true in every particular. }le was a member 
 of an organized gang of thieves who operated in 
 the larger towns of northern Florida. Three or 
 four would visit a place together, and in day time 
 would stroll around, dressed as women, and locate 
 favorable spots for depredation at night. This not 
 only enabled them to do all of a burglar's pre 
 liniinary work with comparative safety, but it made 
 them almost secure from identification afterward. 
 My prisoner happened to get into a difficulty with 
 some man while he had on skirts and was arrested 
 before he could remove the disguise. Seeing no way 
 out of it, he determined to carry out the deception^ 
 and did so with perfect success, both at the jail 
 and in the court-room. He pointed out several mem- 
 bers of the same gang who were already convicts, 
 and when questioned they corroborated his state- 
 ment. They were all smooth-faced, slight fellows, 
 well adapted to carry out a female disguise success- 
 fully. 
 
 Even when he was in the proper attire of his 
 sex, Williams was a strange, incomprehensible 
 fellow, who conveyed in a manner that I cannot de- 
 scribe that there was something abnormal about him. 
 His history bore this out to the end. After serv- 
 ing a portion of his sentence, he took sick with 
 some malady that baffled treatment, languished a 
 long time, and at last died. That is to say his
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 29I 
 
 heart stopped beating and he ceased to breathe, 
 but his body did not stiffen or lose its warmth. To 
 all appearances he might have been asleep, and al 
 though none of the usual tests indicated life, we 
 were afraid to bury him in that condition. Three 
 days passed, and at the end of that time the body 
 was as warm and flexible as in life. I took a 
 lance and thrust it into one of the arms. Blood 
 and foam came from the wound. I was completely 
 nonplussed, but the physician had no doubts as to the 
 man being already dead, and on the fourth day the 
 l:)ody was buried. I learned afterward that in the 
 course of his career as a double-sex thief he 
 had hired as a servant girl in the family of a well- 
 known doctor at Live Oak, for the purpose, I sup- 
 pose, of familiarizing himself with the premises. 
 He gave great satisfaction in the family, and after 
 he left they frequently spoke of him as an excep- 
 tionally good girl. When they afterward learned 
 by accident of his secret, they were horrified. 
 
 About this time an amusing incident occurred, 
 through which I fortunately, although unwittingly, 
 rid the state of a notorious negro desperado named 
 Edward Bell. Ho had served a term in prison, and 
 as he was an idle, worthless fellow, 1 was obliged 
 to punish him frequently. Upon his release, he 
 went to Live Oak. Gainesville, and Jacksonville, 
 and at all of these places declared that it was his 
 intention to kill me on sight. He said that he pro- 
 posed to have no words with me but simply shoot 
 17
 
 2g2 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 me down, and those wlio heard him were so im- 
 pressed that he meant exactly what he said that 
 many of them lost no time in putting me on my 
 f^uard. However, other matters had almost crowded 
 the matter out of my mind, when one day, happen- 
 ing to be in Jacksonville, I encountered Bell face 
 to face upon the street. 
 
 "Why, hello. Bell!" I exclaimed. 
 
 "Howdy, Cap'n," he replied in considerable sur- 
 prise; "I 'clar to goodness I'se glad to see you." 
 
 "I suppose you are. Bell," I said. "From what 
 I hear you have been very anxious to see me for 
 some time. They say you intend to shoot me on 
 sight." 
 
 "Now who tole you such a lie as dat?" he an- 
 swered with all the sorrow and indignation that a 
 wil}' African can assume. "'Fore Gaud, I wouldn't 
 tech a hair on yo' head." 
 
 "Never mind about that," I returned; "if you 
 want to shoot, go ahead and we'll both shoot; but 
 if not, I want to run this story down. Suppose 
 we go to the chief of police; he is one of the 
 parties that told me." 
 
 "I face anybody in dat lie," he replied stoutly, 
 and we started off together. On the way. Bell sud- 
 denly remembered that he had a message to deliv- 
 er in a neif;hboring saloon, and left me wailing for 
 him on the pavement. I gave him time enough to 
 get out of the back door, which I surmised was 
 what he wanted, and then went in. Of course he
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 293 
 
 was not there, and from that day to this no human 
 being has ever laid eyes upon him in this state. 
 He disappeared, utterly and entirely, never to re 
 turn. 
 
 But not all of our prisoners left the camp in a 
 savage frame of mind, and a female convict named 
 Alice Franklin furnished an amusing instance of 
 the other extreme. She came on a six months sen 
 tence, and when her discharge papers arrived I was 
 surprised to see her burst into tears. She protested, 
 between her sobs, that she didn't want to go, and 
 finally I had to threaten her with severe punishment 
 before she could be driven from the place. I had 
 supposed that any term in a convict camp would be 
 sufficient to satisfy a rational creature for the time 
 being, but that night Alice returned and begged 
 to be taken again into the fold. Again we had to 
 drive her away, and when last seen she was slowly 
 departing, lamenting as she went. 
 
 While affairs at camp were progressing with the 
 vicissitudes I have endeavored to describe, a des- 
 perate man was waiting on the hope of pardon, 
 with the firm determination to break for liberty if 
 clemency was refused. He was Dainel Bass, the 
 man who so narrowly escaped tlie gallows in 1882, 
 for tlie murder of the horse-trader Moore. His 
 jiartncr Bryant, it will be remembered, escaped to 
 the wilderness, and it is highly probable, although 
 I do not know it as a fact, that he found some means 
 of communicating his whereabouts to the prisoner.
 
 294 '^"'■- AMFRICAN SII'.ERIA 
 
 Meantime two years had passed away, and some- 
 what to my surprise, Bass had given me no trouble 
 whatever. But he was a renegade by nature, in- 
 stinct and education, and I rejjarded him as I would 
 some wild animal who shows docility for a period, 
 but is never tamed. This view proved to be cor 
 rect, and on November 20, 1884, he escaped under 
 circumstances which have never fully been expininf^d, 
 and which were thoroughly sensational in their 
 character. 
 
 Some little time before, his brother, who had 
 very persistently worked for his pardon, decided 
 that it was useless to make any further effort in 
 that direction, and on the evening of November 
 ig he paid a visit to tlie camp ostensibly to 
 obtain my signature to a petition, but really to in- 
 form the prisoner that there was no longer any hope 
 of the Governor interfering, and that a plot had 
 been formed for his release. I was suspicious of 
 tlie man, and as it was moreover positively against 
 my orders for citizens to talk with convicts, I in- 
 structed the guards to prevent a second occurrence 
 of the kind. 
 
 The following morning Bass was sent with eight 
 other prisoners to work on a tram-road some little 
 distance from the camp. Several others in the 
 sf]uad were life-time convicts, and they were un- 
 der a guard named Lenier. They had been on the 
 tram-road b-.it a very short time when Bass' brother 
 again put in an appearance, and against my instruc-
 
 THi: AMERICAN bllJEKIA 295 
 
 tions the guard permitted tlie two to talk together. 
 This visit was repeated later on, and in the after- 
 noon, shortly before the hour for quitting work, the 
 visitor again appeared. They chatted a few mo- 
 ments, apparently on general topics, and the brother, 
 cordially bidding all good-bye, went up the road 
 and disappeared over the brow of a little hill. 
 
 Directly he was out of sight, the crack of a re- 
 volver sounded in the air. It was a signal, and 
 Bass, who was standing on one of the stringers of 
 the tram-way, raised his ax at the sound and sev- 
 ered his cliains with a single blow. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Lenier," he said, turning to the 
 guard, with a polite bow, "I guess I'll have to be 
 going. Good-bye, sir." 
 
 Thereupon he started off in a jog-trot in the di- 
 rection his brother had taken. 
 
 "Halt!" shouted Lenier, throwing his rifle to his 
 shoulder, "halt, there, or I'll fire I" 
 
 "Blaze away," retorted Bass, over his shoulder. 
 
 The guard pulled the trigger; there was a snap 
 and nothing more. The cartridge had failed to 
 explode, and Lenier hurriedly pumped in another 
 shell from the magazine. The result was the same; 
 the gun missed fire. This was repeated until it 
 was evident that the weapon had been tampered 
 with, and the fugitive disappeared over the hill. 
 At this juncture the situation was decidedly critical. 
 
 The entire squad were witnesses of the episode, 
 and knew full well that they could make a dash
 
 296 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 without the slightest danger of being shot, and the 
 worst of it was that Lenier was completely demoi- 
 alized. 
 
 "What shall we do, boys?" he exclaimed wildly. 
 
 A life prisoner named Silas B. Carter, who ha« 
 since been pardoned, saved the situation. 
 
 "Let us go back to camp at once," he said, and 
 the balance of the gang, who were so surprised that 
 they probably did not fully realize their opportu- 
 nity, acted upon the suggestion and fell into line 
 without a word. 
 
 When they reached the camp, Lenier was still 
 pretty badly confused and told a curious story. 
 He claimed that he had discovered his gun was out 
 of order shortly after he started out with the squad, 
 but although all of the guards had explicit instruc- 
 tions to come in immediately in such a contingency, 
 he went on, trusting to luck, he said, that the 
 squad would not discover the condition of the 
 weapon. The rifle had been "doctored," in a pecul 
 iar fashion. The pin on the hammer, which ex- 
 plodes the cap, had been hammered upwards at 
 such an angle that it just missed touching. This 
 left the weapon perfectly useless; yet to all appear- 
 ances its mechanism would be in first-class working 
 order. 
 
 The peculiar part of the matter was that all the 
 guards carried guns exactly alike, so that an out- 
 sider certainly could not distinguish one from the 
 other. They were stacked together when not in use,
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 297 
 
 and I was skeptical of the ability of a confederate 
 of Bass', to pick out the right rifle to manipulate. 
 This, coupled with the fact that Lenier had twice 
 deliberately violated my rules according to his 
 ov/n admission, placed matters in so equivocal a 
 light that I had no hesitancy in discharging him at 
 once. I then turned my attention to pursuit. 
 
 I was sick at the time and barely able to take 
 the saddle, but nevertheless Mr. Mills and I started 
 with the dogs and in a short time struck the trail. 
 I could not conceal from myself that the chances 
 for a fight were very much better than the chances 
 of success, for it was morally certain that Bass had 
 been joined by a crowd of relatives and sympathizers, 
 and that all would be armed and prepared to resist 
 to the last ditch. We had no difficulty in finding 
 the first traces of the flight. Bass had stopped for 
 a moment on the other side of the hill, where he 
 mounted a horse that his brother had in waiting, 
 and the two rode off in an easterly direction, event- 
 ually taking the course of the Suwanee River. 
 
 The trail led first from the hill to a settler's 
 house some distance away, where they were evi- 
 dently joined by a large party. The hounds fol- 
 lowed the scent through the house and out beyond, 
 where it led into a field overgrown with a peculiar, 
 prickly variety of weed know as "sand-spurs." 
 Their needles cruelly lacerated the feet of the dogs, 
 and we were obliged to stop and spend some time 
 in extracting them. It was obviously impossible to
 
 298 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 follow the trail over such ground, and consequently 
 we made a detour, striking scent again on the 
 lurther side of the sand-spur field and from thence 
 taking to the woods. 
 
 When I say that it was a long, thrilling and 
 perilous night ride, I describe it in general terms. 
 Words hardly do justice to the details. We were 
 ill a wilderness, expecting momentarily to be at- 
 tacked by superior numbers and had not the least 
 idea in the world where the chase would lead us. 
 To cut the matter short, we eventually lost the trail 
 and were obliged, most reluctantly, to turn back; 
 hut before we had proceeded any great way, the 
 dogs struck a new track which crosses at right 
 angles and was so hot and fresh that we felt posi- 
 tive it was made by the fugitive and his friends. 
 The woods were so thinly settled and night jour- 
 neys in them so unusual that we were justified in 
 liiis supposition, but it proved an odd blunder. Af- 
 ter running a while, the hounds came to bay and 
 we rode np upon a much-excited resident, who in 
 pursuing his homeward way had suddenly heard 
 th • note of the pack and taken to a stump. There 
 he was perched, the dogs leaping frantically 
 around, he waving them off, swearing the while in 
 good set terms, and altogether a picture for an ar- 
 tist. We called off the besieging forces and reached 
 home without further delay but badly disappointed. 
 
 Bass Tnade good his escape, and penetrating 
 the fastnesses of Taylor and Lafayette counties,
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 299 
 
 lying along the wild coast of the Gulf of Mexico, 
 was joined by Bryant and Columbus See, the latter 
 the outlaw who had led the wholesale delivery 
 from Hillman at camp Sing Sing. Robin Hood 
 and his merry men were never more typical forest 
 robbers and outlaws than this trio and the band 
 they collected about them became. They would 
 disappear for months in the coast jungles, living by 
 rod and gun, and then suddenly emerge at some 
 isolated country store, clad in skins, their hair 
 down to the middle of their backs and loaded 
 with forest plunder to trade for powder, shot and 
 tobacco. When they wanted fresh beef they put 
 a bullet through the first steer they encountered, 
 and the owner knew that it would be suicide to 
 make the slightest protest. People were intimida- 
 ted, cabins robbed, and a mere list of their depre- 
 dations would fill many pages of this volume. 
 
 On one occasion they emerged from their retreat 
 to commit a crime of a horrid character. 
 
 Bass was at daggers' points with a brother-in-law 
 who lived in Jefferson County, not far from the lo- 
 cation of the present state convict camp. He was 
 a farmer and lived in a little place near the public 
 road. Bass went to his house and called him out, 
 saying that he desired to have a private conversa- 
 tion with him. The farmer unsuspectingly com- 
 plied, and the two were standing together by the 
 road when Bass suddenly knocked him down. Be- 
 fore he could rise the desperado sprang upon his
 
 300 THE AMERICAN SIDEKIA 
 
 body atul literally beat his brains out with a rail. 
 He left the bloody corpse on the ground, and rejoin- 
 int; his companions, they went back to their hiding- 
 place. After this murder tliey were more chary of 
 showing themselves, but it was well known where 
 they were. Nevertheless no officer was ever able 
 to assemble a posse that would hazard attempting 
 their arrest, and they arc still as free as air.
 
 CHAPTER XVIIl 
 
 Some of the peculiar features of Bass' escape 
 were duplicated not long after in a daring break 
 made by two convicts named Wiliam Tyner and 
 John Anderson, both white men, under short sen- 
 tences. They worked in a wood-squad and were 
 guarded by a man named I^eed. One morning 
 while in thick timber, they signaled to one another 
 and then dropped their tools and ran. Reed called 
 on them to stop and then began to fire. At the 
 first shot he brought down Anderson, with a bullet 
 through his hip, but when he pulled the trigt;(-r 
 on Tyner he stepped upon a fallen brancli and 
 lurched forward sufficiently to throw his gun out 
 of line and missed his man. The bullet however 
 came so close to the iugitive that it cut a hole 
 through his clothtrs, uui ]\r did not stop, and suc- 
 ceeded in getting away. 
 
 The wountled man lay bleeding where he fell in 
 the bushes, and when they picked him up he glared 
 fiercely at Reed. 
 
 "You infernal scoundrel!" he exclaimed; "why 
 didn't you keep your promise?" 
 
 "I don't know what you mean," replied the 
 guard. 
 
 'l mean," said Anderson bitterly, 'that you bar, 
 :{0i
 
 302 THE AMERICAN SIRERIA 
 
 pained to let us p;o and then shot me down like a 
 dog." 
 
 Reed protested his innocence of any such an ar- 
 rnnpement, and Anderson was brought into camp, 
 where he repeated his accusation and told his story 
 in detail. It was that he and Tyner had been prom- 
 ised by Reed that when they ran he would not 
 shoot to liit but merely fire a few shots at random, 
 to save appearances and give them plenty of chance 
 to get away. The consideration was an order for 
 one hundred dollars upon Anderson's brother. This 
 story may of course have been a pure fabrication, 
 but I am bound to say that Reed himself gave it 
 some color by not facing the music, but leaving the 
 camp. We nursed the wounded man and he eventu- 
 ally got well, always sticking to his story of a 
 violated bargain. I took unusual interest in the 
 matter, because some of the very ugliest rumors of 
 prison life have their origin in affairs of the kind. 
 I have no doubt but there have been cases probably 
 many of them, where convicts have purchased the 
 consent of guards to their escape and were afterward 
 deliberately led into a death-trap. If I had anv 
 man capable of such dastardly business about me, I 
 wanted to know it. 
 
 Six months passed, and the affair was well nigh for- 
 gotten, when I was told, one morning, that a stranger 
 wished to see me privately. I went out and found a 
 rudely-clad, wild-looking backwoodsman, who intro- 
 duced himself as the brother-in-law of William Tynei.
 
 IHE AMERICAN SIBERIA 303 
 
 "Bill is tired oi hiding, '" he said, "and lie wants 
 to come back and serve out his sentence. " 
 
 "Well, let him come," I replied, greatly surprised. 
 
 "But there's a leetle pint to be settled first," 
 said the backwoodsman, cunningly. "You see Bill 
 mortally hates the idea of being whipped. Now, if 
 you'll agree not to strap him for running, he'll 
 come back and give you no more trouble." 
 
 This novel compromise struck me favorably, and 
 I told the man I would consent to it. He took his 
 departure, but reappeared next day looking a trifle 
 foolish. 
 
 "Well, what are you back for?" I said; "where 
 is Tyner?" 
 
 "Cap'n," he replied, scratching his head, "Bill 
 is almighty skeery of that thar whip and — " 
 
 "Yes, yes," I exclaimed impatiently, "I know all 
 about that, but I've sent him word that I wouldn't 
 whip him." 
 
 "I know you did, Cap'n, but Bill is such an all- 
 fired suspicious cuss that he won't believe me — ■ 
 kinder thinks it's too good to be true." 
 
 "Oh, pshaw! " I said; "I'm tired of this fooling. 
 What on earth does the man want?" 
 
 "He wants to see it in your own handwrite." 
 
 I went back into my office and drew up a formal 
 promise not to strap William Tyner in considera- 
 tion of his delivering himself up to justice. It was 
 probably the most singular document that ever em-
 
 304 THK AMKklCAN SIBERIA 
 
 anatcd from a penitentiary, and the messenger 
 departed with it in liis hand. 
 
 I was about to go into tlie woods the following 
 morning when I descried Tyner coming dov n the 
 road. He had on a belt stuck full of cartridges, 
 and an immense pistol hung in easy reach of each 
 haiul. 
 
 "Good morning. Captain," he said, with a sheepish 
 grin. 
 
 "Good morning, Tyner;" I replied, 'did you 
 receive my note?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." he said, unbuckling his pistol belt and 
 handing it to me, weapons and all; "I guess I have 
 no further use for this." 
 
 I took tlie arms and sent him to put on the stripes. 
 He came back presently to be ironed, but 1 looked 
 him in the eye and told him that I thought I could 
 trust him without shackles and that he might con- 
 sider himself a trusty. I never had occasion to re- 
 gret putting this man upon his honor, and he 
 served out his sentence without violating the pa- 
 role. He corroborated Anderson's story as to the 
 arrangement they had entered into with the guard, 
 .and claimed that they had been assured that the 
 firing would be only a make-believe. He was eiu- 
 I)loyed as a guard at the expiration of his sentence, 
 and I believe he is still working in that capacity 
 at one of the sub-camps. 
 
 My guards were recruited almost entirely from 
 young men of the vicinity, and not only gave me
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 305 
 
 trouble constantly of a petty character, but treated 
 me, while at Newburn, to an experience that came 
 near being very serious. I had hired a new man, 
 and on his first evening in camp, he requested the 
 commissary man to take charge of fifty dollars for 
 him. He was referred to me, as there was no safe 
 in the commissary department, and at that moment 
 several of the guards entered, and began drawing 
 lots for cigars at the counter. In the midst of this, 
 the new man discovered that he had lost his money, 
 which he last remembered thrusting into his vest 
 pocket. I was sent for, and to prevent a scandal, I 
 suggested that everybody be searched. Meantime 
 a heavy rain came up, but passed over before I 
 ceased speaking, and just then one of the men dis- 
 covered the money lying in the yard. The bills 
 were dry, showing conclusively that they had been 
 thrown out since the rain, and I did not hesitate 
 to say that some one in the party had committed 
 the theft and thrown the money away to prevent dis- 
 covery upon search. This created a general out- 
 burst. The most hot-headed construed m}' remarks 
 as a personal accusation, and all of them notified 
 me that they proposed to strike, and that I need not 
 look for any further service from them after that 
 night. Such a step would have left me alone with 
 all the convicts on my hands, at a long distance from 
 help, and in a decidedly ugly position, but I decided 
 to bring matters to an immediate crisis, and, walking 
 over to the stockade gate, threw it wide open.
 
 3o6 THK AMERICAN SIIIBKIA 
 
 "All who Wish to Strike," I said, "will put down 
 tlicir guns and leave now. There is the gale — pass 
 out. " 
 
 At this they hurriedly consulted among them- 
 selves. In the parlance of poker, I had raised them 
 out of the game, and they had no idea of being im- 
 mediately taken at their word. At last they con- 
 cluded to think it over and retired to their cjuar- 
 ters. Ne.xt morning I rang the bell as usual for du- 
 ty and every man filed cut and took his post. The 
 strike had died a natural death, and the subject 
 was never alluded to again. 
 
 One of the trusties at Newburn was a colored 
 man named Allen Davis, a very reliable fellow, al- 
 though he was in for life. My sympathies were 
 enlisted in his case and I had a movement under 
 way to secure him a pardon, and would probably 
 have succeeded had not Allen fallen from grace. 
 
 There was a woman at the bottom of it. We had 
 a bu.\om negress as a convict, and upon the expira- 
 tion of her sentence, slie hired out to a family not 
 far from the camp. She had become much enam- 
 ored of Davis, and when his duties took him neai 
 her new home, she pursued a somewhat vigorous 
 courtship that rc^sidted in her persuading him tc 
 run away. He was acting as cook, and one morn- 
 ing got up early, built a fire, and disappeared. 
 
 His dusky mistress fled with him, and as the 
 dogs, for some reason or other, refused to follow 
 the trail, we gave the pair up for lost.
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 3O7 
 
 Thus matters stood for upwards of a year, when 
 I received a letier from a gentleman named Rayford, 
 who lived in Georgia, above Valdasta. He in- 
 quired whether a convict named Allen Davis had 
 escaped from our camp, and stated that a man of 
 that name had settled in his neighborhood, was 
 said to be a fugitive, and defied arrest. The story, 
 as I subsequently heard it in detail, was a pecul- 
 iar one. Davis and the woman had gone direct to 
 Georgia and took up quarters in a little cabin, rep- 
 resenting themselves as man and wife. Eventually 
 the woman became a little too gay, excited Davis' 
 jealousy, and he administered a sound flogging to 
 her. To revenge herself she repealed his identity, 
 and he thereupon boldly avowed that he was a pris- 
 on runawa}', but swore that he would kill the first 
 officer who attempted his arrest. As he armed 
 himself with a double-barreled shotgun and a re- 
 volver, and was never seen without both, it seemed 
 very probable that he would put his threat into ex- 
 ecution, and his neighbors feared to have so dan- 
 gerous a character in their proximity; hence Mr. 
 Rayford's letter. 
 
 We made requisition upon the Governor of Geor- 
 gia and procured a state warrant, in which I was 
 delegated as agent to make the arrest. I went to 
 Valdasta and drove nineteen miles into the country, 
 to Mr. Rayford's house. He consented to show 
 me the cabin of the runaway, and we proceeded 
 thither together. I did not care to enter the house, 
 18
 
 3oS IHK AMKKU AN SIP.LRIA 
 
 where 1 woukl lie at every disadvantage, and sent 
 Hayford to decoy him out with the story that he 
 wished to hire him tc do some work about his 
 place. Meantime I concealed myself among some 
 iii^h weeds that grew by the road-side and awaited 
 developments. 
 
 In a short time I saw the pair emerge. Davis, 
 liis pistol at his side, his shotgun over his shoul- 
 der, and they advanced slowly toward me, engaged 
 in conversation. When they were only a dozen or 
 so yards away Rayford called his attention to some- 
 thing on a distant hill, and when he turned his 
 head to look, I rose up, pistol in hand. The next 
 instant Davis faced about and our eyes met. 
 
 "Uh — oh!" he exclaimed, "1 won't move, 'case I 
 knows you." 
 
 "Drop your gun, Alien," I said. 
 
 He unclasped his hand and the weapon slid off 
 his shoulder and fell into the grass. I then or- 
 dered him to unfasten his belt, which he did, and 
 I threw him a pair of hand-cuffs. They proved to 
 be broken and I was obliged to take him along with- 
 out them. The damsel who had caused this catas- 
 trophe was absent from home at the time, and my 
 prisoner said that he had no yearning to stay to 
 bid her farewell. So we started off for the station. 
 I made him sit in the bottom of the buggy, his 
 back to the dash-board and his legs sticking under 
 the seat, and in this fashion, so I could look him 
 in the face, I drove the distance. We arrived at
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 309 
 
 camp without trouble, and he has been a good 
 prisoner ever since. He said, like our original 
 forefather, that the woman tempted him, and he 
 became a confirmed hater of the sex. 
 
 This case calls to my mind another episode. A 
 young man, whose name, in the absence of proper 
 records, has escaped me, became much smitten 
 with the pretty daughter of a settler, and, after 
 trying in vain to ingratiate himself with the old 
 folks, he stole the girl away one night. If he had 
 confined himself to that, matters would probably 
 have ended in the usual way with a parental bless- 
 ing, for the young lady was a willing victim; but 
 he stole a horse to carry out the elopement. The 
 pair were traced, riding double, up into Georgia 
 where sheriff Sessions of Live Oak followed them 
 and put the honeymoon into eclipse. The girl was 
 sent home, and her lover deposited in my charge 
 for three years for horse-stealing. Thus ended their 
 romance. 
 
 One other odd affair, in the way of escapes, is 
 part of my recollection of Newburn. The principal 
 in it was a man named Charles Springer, sent to 
 prison for life for rape. He always protested his 
 innocence and brooded not a little over his situation. 
 One morning when the squad in which he was lined 
 themselves for work in the woods, he dropped his 
 hack and ran for it. The guard fired repeatedly, 
 but he succeeded in getting away unhurt. This was 
 at about 6 o'clock in the morning.
 
 3lO THK AMFRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 As soon as possible word was carried to tlie camp, 
 and taking my two old dogs, Loud and Music, I 
 galloped off in pursuit. We struck the trail wliich 
 led toward Live Oak, and it was evident that the 
 fugitive was making for the line of the Live Oak 
 A: Rollins Bluff Railroad. Whcr he readied it, how 
 ever, he feared to take along the track but ran 
 tluougli the underbrush and woods at the side. The 
 two dogs never once hesitated, and we forged stead 
 ily ahead, my only fear being that Springer would 
 reach the Suwanee River first and thus break the 
 trail. Mile after mile reeled off behind us when 
 we reached a place where several families did their 
 A'asliing at a little pool. There Springer had paused 
 long enough to steal a woman's dress which had 
 been hung out to dry, and the way the hounds traced 
 his exact movement was a beautiful and wonderful 
 thing to see. They swerved from the track, ran to 
 the edge of the water, then to the place upon the line 
 where the dress had hung, and then back again. It 
 was at that time the intention of the fugitive to dis- 
 guise himself, and he did put on the dress and wear 
 it some little distance to a spot where he put a 
 curious ruse into execution. There was a high rail 
 fence inclosing a field at the spot, and he leaped 
 over, ran a few yards, then jumped back, going a 
 little distance more and repeating the process perhaps 
 twenty times. His object was to delay the dogs, 
 while they crossed and recrossed recovering the 
 broken ends of the trail, but he underestimated
 
 THE AMERICA'" SIHRRIA 3II 
 
 their intelligence. When we reached the fence, Loud 
 took one side and Music the other, and in this order 
 they doubled down to where Springer took to the 
 open again. In the fence-corner I found the stolen 
 skirts, which had proven too cumbersome and which 
 he had thrown away. 
 
 By this time we were close upon the river and I 
 urged both dogs and horse to their utmost. At last 
 we were rewarded by a glimpse of tlie runaway 
 rushing up a little hill some distance ahead, and 
 I gave a loud shout, upon which he dropped into a 
 Clump of underbrush. There was no escaping us 
 now, and the dogs in their eagerness ran clear over 
 where he lay. When I came up I pulled out my 
 watch and saw that it was exactly noon. I had 
 started at eight o'clock and covered thirty-five 
 miles of trail in four hours. 
 
 In order to give the man a little punishment for 
 all the pains he had caused me, I told him that 
 since he had run that far he might as well run 
 back. He started in a slow trot but soon begged 
 to be allowed to rest, and when he essayed to get 
 up, found himself unable to do so, for sheer stiff- 
 ness and exhaustion. I dismounted, helped him in- 
 to the saddle and fastened him there by passing a 
 bridle rein from shackle to shackle under the 
 horse's belly. Then I took the end of the other 
 rein and we started again. 
 
 I pursued a somewhat shorter way back, through 
 the woods, hiring a native for a guide, and we ar-
 
 312 THE AMKRICAN SIBERIA 
 
 rived at camp at about midnight. Springer served 
 in all about eight years of his sentence, which ter- 
 minated in a manner that furnishes food for reflec- 
 tion to juries who are inclined to form a hasty con- 
 clusion as to a man's guilt. The woman who had 
 accused him of outrage fell sick of a mortal mal- 
 ady, and when she knew that death was close at 
 hand she sent for the authorities and confessed 
 that she had perjured herself, and that he was 
 entirely innocent. Upon that the Board of Pardons 
 lost no time in restoring him to liberty, but it was 
 beyond the power of tardy justice to give back the 
 years that had been carved out of his life.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 In the latter part of our stay at Newburn a case 
 occurred involving a mystery that has never yet 
 been solved and probably never will be. I think 
 it took place during our second year in camp. One 
 of our prisoners was a man named Sol Simons, 
 sent for life. He was a burly, powerful fellow, with 
 a face not calculated to inspire confidence. One day 
 while at work with his squad, he leaped a fence, 
 bounding an adjacent field, and darted into a patch 
 of well-grown corn. This masked his escape, and 
 the guard, despairing of obtaining a shot at him, put 
 one of my dogs, that happened to be there, on the 
 track and told his trusty to follow behind. This 
 trusty was a boy of not more than fifteen, small 
 for his age and known in the camp as Archie. I 
 never learned anything of his history. 
 
 In a moment the trusty also had disappeared, 
 entering the chase with all the reckless enthusiasm 
 of a boy, and the guard sent word for me. I 
 came soon afterward and took the track which led 
 through thickly-wooded and swampy country, toward 
 the river. Some miles out I was astonished to see 
 the dog coming slowly back, alone. If ever dis- 
 tress and perplexity were written upon an animal's 
 face it was on his, but he turned about upon catch- 
 
 313
 
 314 THE AMEKICAN SIBERIA 
 
 ing sight of me and led the way to a place upon 
 the river bank where I had no doubt but the run- 
 away had plunged in and broken the tiail. It was 
 useless to attempt to track him farther, and the 
 main question then was: What had become of 
 Archie? The boy was nowhere to be found, the in- 
 ference was, of course, that he had joined the fugi- 
 iive in his flight. 
 
 Some days passed and several curious things came 
 to light. A famil)', living near the river, had seen 
 Simons a short time before I took up the chase. 
 He was in the act of climbing a fence, and they 
 remembered that he looked around and made a 
 menacing gesture at someone. The next moment 
 the boy ami dog appeared and also climbed the 
 fence. They were about two hundred yards be- 
 hind and in this order all disappeareil in the direc- 
 tion of the river. This storj' certainly did not cor 
 roborate the theory that Simons had persuaded the 
 boy to accompany him, and still later we heard of 
 the fugitive passing through different sections of 
 the country, but always alone. 
 
 A few weeks later Simons was apprehended in 
 South Florida and returned to prison. Naturally 
 the first question that was asked him was in refer- 
 ence to the boy, Archie. He quailed visibly and 
 told a rambling story to the effect that they had 
 agreed to run away together, and that he had left 
 him in Gainesville. I immediately communicated 
 with the authorites of that place but could get no
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 315 
 
 ivfdce of the inibSring trusty. However, I learned 
 enough to make it positive tliat many of the little 
 details oi Simons' story were false, and 1 never had 
 any confidence in it as a whole. We made a most 
 rigorous search in the vicinity where he took the 
 water; we dragged the deeper places, probed the 
 shallows and thoroughly beat the brush, but found 
 no trace of Archie and have not to this day. 
 Simons is still a prisoner and at this writing is under 
 me. He sticks tenaciously to his original story, but 
 he does not like the subject. I suspect he smells 
 blood when he hears it mentioned. 
 
 A short time after the events narrated 1 severed 
 my connection with the convict cam]) in conse- 
 quence of a disagreement touching a division of 
 the labor between my own and a side camp. The 
 details of the matter would not interest the gen- 
 eral reader and have not affected my cordial senti- 
 ments toward my old employers. Suffice it that I 
 felt it impossible to do myself justice or do the 
 camp justice under the arrangements proposed, and 
 resigned. I left the camp in charge of my assistant, 
 W. T. Hillman, who was subsec^uently confirmed 
 as captain. The side-camp was under C. P. Joll}', 
 whom I have had occasion to allude to before. I 
 went into Jefferson County aod engaged at diflcr- 
 ent times iw farming and mercantile business. 
 
 Although my connection with the system at this 
 time ■enuod as described above, the events which 
 I am ■»*.'< -v;!. 'o narrate came more or less under my
 
 3l6 THE AMEJvICAN SIBERIA 
 
 personal observation and are properly part of this 
 memoir. Among the prisoners during my regime 
 was a young mulatto boy named John Evans. I 
 had received him two years before, and he was about 
 sixteen when he entered the camp. He conducted 
 himself well, and when I left he was a trusty ac- 
 companying one of the squads into the woods. This 
 liberty proved his undoing, for one Saturday after- 
 noon, about a week after my departure, he was 
 guilty of an abominable crime. He had been sent 
 after water to the house of an old lady named Mrs. 
 Redding, who lived in a rather isolated place and 
 happened to be alone. Evans entered the house and 
 made an assault upon her. There was no doubt as 
 to his intent, and she screamed for help. As good 
 fortune would have it, there was a large dog on 
 the premises, and he rushed to the rescue and 
 eventually drove the convict off. Evans took his 
 water pail and returned to the squad. 
 
 When the news of the attempted outrage spread, 
 the whole country-side was aroused, and arrange- 
 ments were quickly made to take summary revenge. 
 A lynching party was formed, and on the following 
 day a visit was privately paid to my house, and I 
 was urged to head the movement. Of course I de- 
 clined to have anything to do with it, but I saw 
 that the participants meant business, and was not 
 surprised at the news that subsequently tame in. 
 
 The mob, if a deliberate and systematic gather- 
 ing including many of the leading citizens of the
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 317 
 
 country could be termed a mob, put in an appear- 
 ance at the camp earl)' in the morning. It was impos- 
 sible to estimate the number, but it was very large, 
 all were armed with some sort of weapon, and 
 they were grimly determined to put down all resist- 
 ance. Some rumors of the affair had, of course, 
 preceded them, and Captain Hillman was in a 
 painful quandary. To make a stand would involve 
 bloodshed, and he could not consistently turn the 
 boy over to any one except the proper authorities. 
 Finally he adopted a compromise. He sent the boy 
 away in charge of a guard named Rodgers, with 
 instructions to hide him somewhere in the woods 
 until the storm blew over. Rodgers, with another 
 guard, took him to a deep sink-hole a few miles 
 from camp, secreted him in the bottom, and con- 
 cealed themselves in the bushes near by. 
 
 This was done a short time before the lynchers 
 appeared, and they were convinced that Evans was 
 somewhere on the premises. The captain met them 
 at the gate and a brief but pointed colloquy ensued. 
 
 "We want that convict," said the spokesman, 
 "and if you don't give him up voluntarily, we are 
 prepared to take him at any cost." 
 
 "He is not here," said Captain Hillman. 
 
 "Then where is he?" 
 
 "I don't know. He has gone, somewhere." 
 
 The mob hooted at this statement and insisted 
 on scorching the camp. "Very well," replied Captain 
 Hillman;" go ahead and search."
 
 3l8 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 The prisoners were on the building-chain in thft 
 cell-house, greatly alarmed, for while they knew 
 that some sinister movement was in progress, they 
 were unaware of is exact nature. Many a man 
 questioned his conscience to see whether it was not 
 he whom the vigilantes wanted, and some prepared 
 to defend themselves. A party of the lynchers en- 
 tered the building and went rapidly up and down 
 the chain. Several of their number knew Evans, so 
 they soon concluded that at any rate he was not about 
 the cell. Then they gave the premises a quick but 
 systematic search, and not finding their man came 
 to the immediate and correct conclusion that he 
 had been spirited away and hidden in the woods. 
 
 Upon that they divided into small parties and 
 entered the timber. An hour or so later a party 
 of fifteen discovered the guard Rodgers. He sprang 
 up and presented his rifle. "Bring out Evans!" 
 they shouted. "There aren't enough of you to 
 take him," he replied, rapidly surveying the group. 
 One of them laughed. "Will a hundred be enough?" 
 he asked, and blew a small whistle. Immediately 
 men began to pour in from all quarters of the woods 
 and surrounded the sink-hole. They covered the 
 guards with their rifles and took Evans out. He 
 made no resistance and was perfectly cool. They 
 carried him first to Mrs. Redding's house, where 
 she identified him as her assailant, and then took 
 him into the woods again. 
 
 They stopped vviiere a couple of saplings, with
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 319 
 
 forked tops, grew close together and threw a pole 
 across. A rope was attached to this improvised 
 gallows and a horse led underneath. Evans was 
 then placed in a standing position upon the horse's 
 back, and the noose adjusted around his neck. 
 Some one hit the animal a blow with a switch and 
 the boy swung round and round in the air, where 
 he strangled to death. 
 
 After the deed was done, the lynchers immedi- 
 ately dispersed, leaving the body where it hung. 
 
 There it remained, undisturbed until the follow- 
 ing morning, when at an early hour some settlers 
 cut it down and brought it into camp. An interest- 
 ing feature of the affair was that when the mob de- 
 manded the boy of Rodgers, a squad of chippers hap- 
 pened to be working in the vicinity. Their guard 
 heard the tumult, and suspecting the cause, ordered 
 his men to lie down in the underbrush. From this 
 point they witnessed the whole affair, unseen them- 
 selves, and could no doubt give some valuable tes- 
 timony in the matter. But no notice was ever 
 taken of it by the courts, and all I can positively 
 affirm is that whoever prepared the noose was a 
 seafaring man, for it was fastened v/ith a difficult 
 knot that no one but an experienced sailor would 
 understand. 
 
 A few weeks after this affair the entire camp fell 
 under a very serious difficulty which resulted in the 
 total suspension of work for four or five days, and 
 a great deal of trouble for everybody. The ap-
 
 ^20 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 pointment of Captain Hillman created agreatdeal 
 of dissatisfaction among the guards, and things did 
 not progress smoothly under his management from 
 tlie very start. Cliarges of mismanagement were 
 made against him, and dissatisfaction finally culmi- 
 nated one day when a guard reported his trusty for 
 punishment, and Hillman, after investigating the 
 case, refused to administer it. Upon that the 
 guards gave notice in a body that they would not 
 work under liim until the matter was referred to the 
 lessee and passed upon by him. Mr, Woods and 
 Mr. Hildreth, Major Dutton's managers, were sent 
 for, and a searching investigation ensued, in which 
 all the charges were advanced and probed to the 
 bottom; they ended by sustaining the captain. 
 That night all the guards struck. 
 
 There was nobody to send out with the squads 
 and the prisoners were left in the cell-house upon 
 the chain for four days. Meantime all the guards 
 were discharged, and Captain Hillman picked up 
 new ones wherever he could among the young men of 
 the neighborhood. Ultimately he filled all the 
 places, and things went on as before. 
 
 It was at or about this time that a very faithful 
 servant of the lease system met a tragic death. I 
 allude to my old dog Loud, who participated in 
 so many thrilling chases, detailed in these pages. 
 He died in harness. An escaped convict, named 
 J ick Baker, had made his way to Jefferson County 
 and hung about a settlement called "Lickskillet,"
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 32 1 
 
 in the country vernacular, and known by the more 
 decorous name of Lamont upon the map. His mother 
 lived on the outskirts of the town hard by a dense 
 swamp, miles in extent. Baker established himself 
 in the swamp and made incursions into the settle- 
 ment, terrorizing everybody, until the settlers finally 
 applied to the authorities to come and take him out. 
 The prison authorities applied to me to undertake 
 the job. I was living not far off, knew the country 
 well, and was considered an expert trailer. I ac- 
 cepted their offer and went to the spot, taking with 
 me my old dog Loud, the best of the pack. I put 
 up at the house of a neighbor and spent several 
 days hunting my man. I got on his trail a number 
 of times, but he was always so wary that I was un- 
 able to corner him. I was satisfied that he could 
 survey the entire vicinity from his hiding-place in 
 the swamp, and finally T made preparations as if to 
 leave, and loudly blowing my horn galloped away. I 
 stopped back of a hill, and after waiting about an 
 hour I rode back just in time to see Baker dash 
 from his mother's house and rush for the swamp. 
 He was out of gunshot and disappeared in the 
 rank undergrowth in safety, but Loud was hard on 
 his track and plunged in right after him. It was 
 impossible to follow through tlie morass, but I could 
 hear the hound baying distinctly. This continued 
 for some moments and then suddenly ceased. I 
 waited for several hours and went as far in as I 
 dared, but the dog never came out, and Baker per-
 
 32a THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 manently disappeared. I suppose that he threaded 
 the swamp to some distant spot and then left the 
 country. There is no doubt but that tlie dog ran 
 upon him in his (light and was dispatched then 
 and there. 
 
 Another incident overlapping the old regime into 
 the new: One of my prisoners was a man named 
 Andrews, an ingenious fellow, who was always tink- 
 ering at something about the shop or the yard. 
 One day he called me over and exhibited two slabs 
 of white hickory wood on each of which the impres- 
 sion of a coin was sunk, in intaglio. He explained 
 that he had made it by putting a silver half-dollar 
 between the slabs, screwing them together in a vise 
 and from time to time tightening the pressure until 
 the metal had buried itself completely in the wood. 
 "How easy it would be," he went on to say, "to 
 take this mold and make as many half-dollars as 
 one wanted." I was astonished at the distinctness 
 of the impression in the hickory; stars, eagle, god- 
 dess of liberty and all were there, down to the mi- 
 nutest line, but I did not encourage the enterprise, 
 and he dropped the subject. 
 
 After Captain Hillman assumed charge he resumed 
 experiments in secret, and finall}' produced an extra- 
 ordinarily perfect mold. It was made by boring a 
 hole in two pieces of wood, half the thickness of a 
 half-dollar, and putting a disk of copper at the bot- 
 tom of each. Then he repeated the old operation 
 in the vise, and the result was that all the configii-
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 323 
 
 ration of the coin was exactly impressed upon the 
 copper. He then cut a minute channel to connect 
 with the mold, and fastening the boards together, 
 poured in an alloy of babbitt-metal, silver and pow- 
 dered glass. This combination produced a splenditl 
 imitation of silver, and the oms he turned out 
 were almost fac-similes of the genuine. The babbitt- 
 metal he procured in the shop, where some had been 
 used in repairs for an engine; he melted up an old 
 spoon for the silver, and the /owdered glass, which 
 was part of the alloy, gave the true metallic ring. 
 The only thing that the counterfeits lacked when 
 they came out of the mold was "milling," as the mi- 
 nute notches around the edge are technically termed. 
 This he remedied with a file, and the result was as 
 near perfect as such work can well be. 
 
 He made quite a number of the spurious coins 
 without any one suspecting the existence of his 
 private mint, when his supply of babbitt-metal ran 
 out and he was brought to a stand-still. Finally 
 he resorted to an ingenious ruse. He knew that one 
 of the wheels of Captain Hillman's buggy hung loose 
 on the axle, and he volunteered to cast a new box. 
 "If you will just get me a little babbitt-metal," he 
 said to the captain, "I will make it as good as new." 
 Captain Hillman unsuspectingly sent for a supply 
 of the article, and it is needless to say that the box 
 was cast very thin. Most of the metal went into 
 half dollars. He stole all the forks and spoons he 
 eould lay his hands on for his supply of silver. 
 19
 
 324 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 There were two wajs in which he could dispose 
 of his counterfeits. One was at the commissary 
 department where a supply of staple groceries, 
 canned goods, etc., were on sale, and the other by 
 ending to Live Oak for similar articles, which the 
 l)risoners were permitted to do. He worked both 
 tor all they were worth, and fairly flooded that sec- 
 tion of the county, all without the least suspicion 
 being aroused; for so many small purchases were 
 made by convicts that the fact of any one of them 
 possessing money attracted no attention. He was 
 ultimately pardoned out for "exemplary conduct," 
 which was quite a fine satire in its way, and I have 
 lost sight of him; but I dare say he is still in his old 
 line of business if not in some United States prison. 
 The secret would probably never have leaked out, 
 for none of his coins were ever returned, but in the 
 hurry of departure, he neglected to destroy his 
 molds, and they were discovered, long afterward, 
 in the shop. 1 believe that this is the only instance 
 on record of successful counterfeiting in a prison. 
 
 I have had frequent occasion, in the course of 
 this narrative, to allude to the wild regions of Tay- 
 lor and La fayette Counties, abutting the Gulf of 
 Mexico and forming a favorite haunt for fugitives 
 from justice, outlaws and desperadoes from this 
 and adjacent states. A condition of things difficult 
 to describe or credit exists in this section. It is 
 literally a jungle, as wild, as desolate, and almost 
 as impenetrable as any of interior Africa. Palmettos
 
 THK AMERICAN SIBERIA 325 
 
 and other tropical trees grow there with rank lux- 
 uriance, and are interlaced by gigantic creepers into a 
 solid mass of vegetation. As the coast is approached, 
 the earth becomes swampy and is finally nothing 
 but a vast quagmire that even the sure-footed pan- 
 thers cannot cross with safety. San Peter's Bay, 
 so called, is indicated on the map as a harbor on 
 the coast line of Taylor County. It is really no bay 
 at all, but a formidable morass, created by the en- 
 croachment of the sea, and extending miles inland. 
 To the eye it is a forest, dense, vividly green, and 
 carpeted with moss, but all this growth is enrooted 
 in a quivering stratum of slimy soil, filming the 
 bosom of a lagoon. To tread there is to disappear. 
 The treacherous moss, inviting sure foothold and 
 promising solidity, opens like a trap in a theater 
 and closes over the victim it engulfs. The oo.ce 
 beneath is full of the skeletons of animals. 
 
 Those who live in this region have learned b\' 
 long experience, and at the cost of many lives, that 
 there are certain paths by which the quagmire may 
 be traversed. San Peter's Bay is full of islands. A 
 stranger could not distinguish them, for the surface 
 presents no indications of their existence, yet some 
 of these areas of solid land are hundreds of acres 
 in extent, and they are the home and haunt of every 
 beast of sub-tropical America. Deer abound ; black 
 bear smaller than the cinnamon and less savage than 
 the grizzly ; catamounts, American tigers measuring 
 often eight feet from tip to tip; wild hogs; foxes,
 
 326 THE AMERICAN SIHKRIA 
 
 red, black and silver; wolves; and such smaller 
 game as rabbit, coon and "possum" swarm in the 
 wilderness. There is generally some route, often 
 devious as the winding of a snake, connecting these 
 islands, and thus egress to the gulf is obtained. 
 
 It is by no means surprising that such a natural 
 stronghold should be chosen by those who have had 
 occasion to fly from the law or avoid their fellow- 
 men. The huge lagoon is a nest of outlaws. There 
 are some good people among the settlers, of course, 
 but the bulk of them arc escaped prisoners from 
 everywhere, army deserters, and those who are hid- 
 ing from the consequences of crime. They are 
 perfectly secure. No officer ever dares venture in- 
 to the lagoon, for if he escaped the quagmire, a 
 bullet would be almost morally certain to be his 
 fate. I have never known a single warrant to be 
 served in that part of tlie country. 
 
 This outlaw population live in the rudest possi- 
 ble manner. A log-hut with a dirt floor and a skin 
 bed in the corner is the usual habitation. The 
 wilderness furnishes them with nearly everything 
 they need, but occasionally they are obliged to 
 emerge to purchase powder and shot and other nec- 
 essaries. Most of them obtain what they need by 
 trading ^.n the coast. There is a considerable fish- 
 ing population along the Gulf, who catch mullet, 
 red-snapper, sea-trout, gooper and sheeps-head, and 
 carry them to Cedar Keys, bringing back such arti- 
 cles as thej- can dispose of to profit. Tlicre are also
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 327 
 
 '»ponge fisheries, extending all the way from Key 
 West to Appaiachicola, and constant intercourse is 
 maintained between the outlaws and the divers. 
 The former bring pelts and the latter augudente, 
 Cuban liquors, ammunition, tobacco and clothing. 
 
 An inveterate hatred prevails against the negro 
 in these sections. I do not suppose that there are 
 over half a dozen colored fainilies in Taylor County, 
 and when a negro passes through he goes on a run. 
 To illustrate; the natives had formerly a favorite 
 amusement which consisted of organizing a bear- 
 hunt and inviting one darky to accompany the party. 
 He would invariably be missing when they returned, 
 and they would report sorrowfully that he had gone 
 into a swamp after a bear and that the beast had 
 eaten him. Finally the appetite of Taylor County 
 bears for negroes became so notorious that no black 
 man would consent to join in sport of that char- 
 acter. 
 
 After I left the convict camp, I worked for a while 
 near this territor)'', superintending turpentine cul- 
 ture for Ivy Brothers & Co. My hands were nearly 
 all negroes, and I had the greatest difficulty persuad- 
 ing them to cross the line into Taylor County. One 
 day I sent one of them out to "blaze" the trees 
 around the margin of the tract in which we were 
 working, and he lost himself in a 'swamp. He 
 wandered around all night, and in the morning liis 
 cries attracted the attention of a couple of natives 
 who were out hunting. They covered the negro
 
 328 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 with their rifles and asked him what business he 
 had in that county. 
 
 He was too frightened to reply, and they took 
 him into the road and told him to "git." He got. 
 It happened that he was facing in the wrong direc- 
 tion when he start'.d, and it was two days before 
 he arrived in camp. Then he demanded his wages, 
 and went home as straight as his legs could carry 
 him. 
 
 On another occasion whila in the same employ, 
 I sent a negro to a settler's house to grind an ax. 
 The darky was perfectly inoffensive and went on 
 his way whistling. As he neared the house, the 
 backwoodsman threw open a shutter, and not hav- 
 ing any other pretext, shouted out: "What do you 
 mean by whistling in my yard, you black scoun- 
 drel?" At the same time he reached for his rifle, 
 but the negro fled in time to escape a shot, and 
 could never after be induced to leave his squad 
 alone. 
 
 Although homicide, theft, and every sort of out- 
 rage are very common affairs in the counties I have 
 named, there is never any effort made to execute the 
 law. Taylor, Lafayette, Suwanee, Columbia, Ham- 
 ilton and Madison counties comprise the judicial 
 district. Perry Court House, a straggling village, is 
 the seat of Taylor County, but its very name is a farce. 
 In unusually troublous times, when lawlessness of 
 every variety was rampant, I have known the dis- 
 trict judge to go there, open court on Monday and
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 329 
 
 adjourn on Tuesday without a single case on tlie 
 docket. We never had but one prisoner from Tay- 
 lor County, a colored boy convicted of horse steal- 
 ing. Things are almost as bad in Lafayette, but 
 in the other counties the population is as a rule 
 peaceful, quiet and law-abiding. It goes without 
 saying that where the local officials, when they ex- 
 ist at all, have no authority, the federal officers are 
 very unpopular characters. In the domain I have 
 described, it would be regarded as a pious act to 
 kill a United States marshal, and none have ever 
 been foolhardy enough to take a warrant there. 
 Whenever anybody wants government timber they 
 simply help themselves, and that is the last of it. 
 
 I have spoken elsewhere of having knowledge 
 that Daniel Bass, the desperado who escaped from 
 prison during my administration by "doctoring" the 
 guard's gun, was in Taylor County. I obtained my 
 information in this way: Some time after my 
 resignation I joined a party of friends in a hunting 
 excursion on the gulf coast. While we were there 
 encamped in a very wild place, a native put in an 
 appearance, one evening, and drew me aside. 
 
 "Are you Captain Powell?" he asked. 
 
 "I am," I replied. 
 
 "Well sir," he continued, "I came from Daniel 
 Bass. He understands that you are not now war- 
 den of the convict camp. Is it true?" 
 
 "It is perfectly true," I said; "I have nothing to 
 do with the prison at present."
 
 330 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 "Then he wishes to see you," said the messenger. 
 "If you will come with me I will take you to him." 
 
 I turned this proposition over in my mind, doubt- 
 ful whether it was a plot to assassinate me or an 
 overture made in good faith. However, I could 
 not conceive any possible business that Bass could 
 have with me and finally I said: 
 
 "If he wants to see me, let him come here. He 
 knows where I am, I presume, and if not, you can 
 tell him." 
 
 The backwoodsman went away with this message, 
 but the fugitive never appeared. I am still in 
 doubt as to what his purpose was.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 My memory of the year of prison management, 
 which I have detailed in the foregoing chapters i: 
 thickly interspersed with incidents having no his- 
 torical value and which I have purposely omit- 
 ted from their proper chronological place, lest I 
 might grow garrulous in my narrative. They may 
 however have interest to those who fancy the cu- 
 rious, the odd, the unusual, and to that end I have 
 gfrouped some of them here, where they may be 
 easily skipped or read, as the reader pleases. 
 
 They are detached, disjointed recollections, which 
 I have jotted down under heads, just as they oc- 
 curred to me. 
 
 Convict's Mail. — Next to attempting to es- 
 cape, I have found that getting out surrep- 
 titious mail occupied the thoughts and engrossed 
 the ingenuity of the average convict. Many 
 were the plans devised. On one occasion a 
 prisoner bribed one of my teamsters to post his 
 letters, but the difficulty was to get them to him. 
 Finally he arranged to inclose his letter between 
 two pieces of pine bark, and drop it on the road 
 as he went to work with the scjuad. This ruse was 
 probably in operation for some time before it was 
 discovered. Jt is surprising and pitiful to watch 
 
 331
 
 331 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 how a convict's mail dwindles. The rule is that 
 friends, brothers, sisters, parents, and wife or hus- 
 band cease to write regularly inside a year and 
 cease altogether inside of two. 
 
 After that the convict is dead to the world, 
 abandoned, forgotten. It is h^rd, but it is a fact. 
 
 Pkoportion of Whitks and Blacks. — When I took 
 charge of the Florida prison the proportion of 
 whites to blacks was as one to twenty. At present 
 nearly one third are white. I attribute the increase 
 to several different causes. In the early days it was 
 possible to send a negro to prison on almost any 
 pretext, but difficult to get a white man there, un- 
 less he committed some very heinous crime. This has 
 largely changed, and a few years will probably see 
 even greater differences in the race proportions, in 
 this and other Southern convict camps. 
 
 Nails in the Boxes. — Several times, while the 
 convicts were at turpentine work, the enmity of the 
 settlers to the lease system manifested itself in 
 damage to the timber. The favorite method was to 
 drive nails in the "boxes" just above the place 
 where they were last chipped. The first blow of 
 the hack would then be almost certain to break the 
 blade of the implement. I have known a dozen 
 hack-blades to be thus broken in one day. We 
 were never able to discover the perpetrators of this 
 mi'schicf, and Major Button, who was lessee at the 
 time, was disposed to take the matter rather non- 
 chalantly. He sent word that he could buy hacks as
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 333 
 
 long as they could buy nails. Another plan was to 
 fill the "boxes" with dirt, after throwing the gum 
 on the ground. Thousands of dollars worth of tur- 
 pentine was no doubt lost, from first to last, b\' this 
 species of deviltry, and it still breaks out at inter- 
 vals at the side-camps, where the woods are worked. 
 
 Prison and Divorce. — There is a prevalent idea 
 among the "crackers" and negroes of the state that 
 a sentence to prison operates as a divorce. This 
 probably springs from the fact that a conviction 
 for felony is a ground for divorce. However, act 
 ing upon the above theory, there have been an im- 
 mense number of bigamous marriages all over the 
 state. I have frequently known wives to write to 
 husbands in prison, coolly informing them that the}' 
 had entered wedlock for the second time, under the 
 circumstances, and as far as I know, there have 
 never been any prosecutions in the matter. 
 
 "Jacks" and Br,.\CK-ART. — The southern darky is 
 proverbially superstitious. Voodooism flourishes in 
 South Florida, and charms, amulets, talismans, 
 evil -eyes, potions, witche's-brews and the like are 
 devoutly believed in as efficacious in sickness, love 
 and revenge. The left hind foot of a rabbit, shot 
 in the full of the moon while in the act of jumping 
 over a grave, is averred to confer good luck upon 
 its possessor. A piece of the back-bone of a black 
 cat, boiled between dark and dawn, beside running 
 water, has a reputation for similar properties. The 
 root of the scrub-oak is a charm forever; a cer-
 
 334 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 tain pink-white stone found in the beds of creeks 
 guards the wearer against snake-bites; a piece of 
 bark tied with red flannel and buried, causes an 
 enemy to languish as it decays; poke-root made into 
 tea and stirred with a silver spoon, creates jeal- 
 ousy. In this category come "jacks." A jack is a 
 talisman composed of a bunch of roots, bound 
 mummy fashion, with strips of cloth, and subjected 
 to an incantation pronounced by ^n adept at 
 voodooism. It is supposed to discover hidden 
 articles by vibrating on the end of a string when 
 the right spot is approached, and is a guard against 
 danger of any sort. An old-time negro is skeptical 
 of anybody's ability to kill a man if he has a well- 
 made jack on his person. 
 
 From time to time we had, of course, numerous 
 professors of the black-art in prison. Most of them 
 immediately made jacks, and the}' were much feared 
 by their fellow-convicts. One of them did quite a 
 brisk trade in jacks, which he sold for five dollars 
 apiece, and warranted of the most deadly character. 
 They still play quite a prominent part in the 
 amenities of prison life. 
 
 Story of One Prisoner. — At this writing (i8go) 
 there is but one white woman in the Florida 
 prison. She has served twelve years, and has 
 been in mj' charge during most of tlie changes I 
 have described. Her name is Georgiana Abbott, 
 and she is a life-prisoner on a charge of infanticide. 
 I sup}X)se she has pacsed through every frame of
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 335 
 
 mind common to unfortunates of her class, and, at 
 any rate, she has settled down to a dull, apathetic 
 condition, and a habit of contentment that is I'e- 
 markable. She is perfectly trustworthy, and, not 
 long ago, thinking to do her a kindness by remov- 
 ing her from the environment of the camp and the 
 association of the negro female convicts, I took her 
 to my house near by and put her to work there. 
 In a few days 1 noticed that she was looking 
 troubled, and inquired the cause. 
 
 "Well, Captain," she said, "it's terrible lonesome 
 here." 
 
 So I took her back to camp, where she became 
 at once contented again. There are generally from 
 a dozen to twenty negresses serving out sentences 
 in camp, and they treat her with great considera- 
 tion. She goes by the name of "Mamma" among 
 them. 
 
 A Clever Fraud. — The public scrivener flourishes 
 in a convict camp. Most of the negroes are unable 
 to read or write, and those who can drive quite a 
 trade on Sundays preparing letters for their less 
 fortunate companions. On one occasion this was 
 the vehicle of a clever fraud. One of the prisoners 
 was exceedingly anxious to write a letter, but had 
 no stationery or postage stamps. Another convict 
 solicited his services in writing home. The first 
 prisoner proceeded to write his own letter on the 
 materials furnished him, and when he had concluded 
 read from imagination the supposititious epistle he
 
 33t) Tin. AMIIKIIAN ijir.Kinx 
 
 was supposed to liave indited. As the other mah 
 could not road or write he did not detect tlie fraud, and 
 after that furnished paper and stamps regularly 
 for letters that his own friends never saw. 
 
 The Ugliest Man. — When I was acting as pris- 
 on agent I went to Ocala aftt^r a batch of prisoners. 
 The sheriff was a Mr. Schwartz who resided out of 
 town, and the business of his office was mainly 
 transacted by his chief deputy whose name was Em- 
 inger. I had never seen this man, but went at once 
 to the court-house and inquired of the county clerk 
 where I would be apt to find him. "He is on the 
 street and certain to be between two blocks," 
 answered the clerk, describing a certain locality. 
 "You can't possibly miss him." 
 
 "But I don't know the gentleman at all," I pro- 
 tested. "How am I going to identify him?" 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you," replied the clerk. "Just go 
 ahead until you see the ugliest man you ever laid 
 your eyes on. That's Eminger. There is only one 
 of him in the United States." 
 
 I walked over to the street he mentioned and be- 
 gan scanning the passers-by. In a few moments I 
 saw a man so phenomenally ugly that I was petri- 
 fied with astonishment. To borrow an expression 
 from Artemus Ward, the very pavement recoiled 
 from the visage he wore. I hesitated no longer 
 but approached and addressed him by name. He 
 at once replied and asked in some surprise, how I 
 knew him. Thereupon 1 explained, and he burst
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 337 
 
 into a hearty laugh. "I pride myself," he said, 
 "upon being the ugliest man in the United States, 
 and I am delighted to know that you recognized 
 me so readily. Let's irrigate." I can certainly rec- 
 ommend him to any enterprising dime museum 
 manager in the country. 
 
 A Teamster's Plot. — While we were in the rail- 
 road camp at Live Oak our hauling was done by 
 free labor. One of the teamsters was a young mu- 
 latto who became quite intimate with one of the 
 convicts. The consequence was that several of them, 
 including one or two trusties, formed a plot with 
 him for a wholesale delivery of the entire prison. 
 They proposed to obtain duplicates of the keys for 
 the building-chain padlocks, knock the night-guard 
 on the head and turn all the prisoners loose. After 
 unlocking the chains in the morning I was in the 
 habit of hanging the locks upon the slatted front of 
 the cell-house, and in a few days one of them was 
 purloined according to program, and handed to 
 the teamster. The act was seen by another who 
 reported it to me, and without saying anytiiing I 
 watched developments. The teamster took the lock 
 to Live Oak and had duplicate keys made which 
 he brought back that evening and handed to a 
 trusty. The latter was quietly detained outside and 
 searched, but nothing was found. However, the 
 locks were changed and in the morning we discov- 
 ered the keys, where the trusty had dropped them 
 at the first approach. Meantime the teamster took
 
 33y THE AMEPICAN SIBERIA 
 
 the alarm and left the county. The company posted 
 a large reward for him, but he was not located for 
 years. I ran across him myself. I happened to be in 
 Albany, Georgia, and dropping into a barber shop, 
 recognized one of the workmen as our quondam 
 teamster. The matter was old then, and I took no 
 steps toward his arrest, but he slipped out of the 
 sliop at the first opportunity and left Albany. 
 
 Pif;s AND Prisoners. — The meat mainly served 
 at all the convict camps was salt pork, and the con- 
 sequence was that fresh meat was always in great 
 demand. Many were the curious ruses resorted to 
 to procure it. There were usually a good many 
 pigs around the premises, and at one of the camps 
 the cell-house was so loosely built that they could 
 slip in through the cracks. One of the negro con- 
 victs acted upon this circumstance and caught every 
 shoat that he could lay his hands on at night time. 
 He would quietly kill, clean and cook it, and he and 
 the others near him on the building-chain would 
 <njoy a feast. This went on until he had not only 
 thinned out our own drove but was rapidly killing 
 off all those of the neighbors that happened to straj 
 upon the yard. Finally I got wind of it, stoppei 
 up the cracks, punished the darky and dischargei 
 the night-guard. I suppose that upward of a hun 
 drcd pigs were killed. 
 
 At another camp there was a huge negro named 
 George Smith, who had an inordinate appetite for 
 pork which he proceeded to gratify in a peculiar
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 339 
 
 naanner. He was employed in the cooper-shop and 
 was always more or less under the eye of a guard. 
 The question was how to catch and kill a pig with- 
 out attracting attention. He would take an empty 
 barrel, place it on its side and throw some corn- 
 bread near the bottom. When a pig went in after 
 the bread he quickly set the barrel on end, making 
 a prisoner of the animal. Then he ignited rags 
 and thrust them under the edge. In a short time 
 ihe pig would be asphyxiated. While this ^as in 
 progress. Smith would be bustling about, making a 
 oretenseof work, and in order to drown the squeals 
 nf his victim he would vigorously hammer down 
 hoops, making a most infernal noise. When the 
 pig gave up the ghost he reversed the barrel, 
 plunged half his body inside, as if putting in a 
 "head" and proceeded to skin and clean it. In these 
 close quarters and without exciting the suspicion 
 of guards who were constantly moving all about 
 the place, he would turn out as neat a piece of 
 work as any butcher. When the pig was converted 
 into pork he would roll the barrel containing it to 
 one corner of the yard, and cooking would be the next 
 tiling in order. It was managed in an improvised 
 oven over an open fire, and the result would not have 
 discredited a professional cook. When the thing fi- 
 nally leaked out, Smith owned up that he had eaten 
 fresh pork every day for three months, but the cap- 
 tain was so struck by his ingenuity that he stajcd his 
 hand and merely told him to go and s:n no more. 
 20
 
 CHAPTER i IC 
 
 Major Dutton's lease ran, with renewals, to Jan- 
 uary I, i8go. In the latter part cf 1889 advertisc- 
 nicnts were made for bids, and the contract was 
 awarded to Mr. E. 13. Bailey, a capitalist of Monti- 
 cello, Florida. This change was largely due to a 
 widespread opinion that the turpentine work was 
 too severe for the prisoners taken as a whole, and 
 that agricultural labor, at which Mr. Bailey pro- 
 posed to engage the bulk of them, was better 
 adapted to make the S3stem a success. 
 
 Mr. Bailey was the representative of a family of 
 southern planters and owned a very large estate in 
 Jefferson County, on which corn and cotton were 
 cultivated upon an extensive scale. Here he pro- 
 posed to locate the prison headquarters. He was 
 given the privilege of sub-leasing, and made arrange- 
 ments to hire a portion of the men to four other 
 contractors. The quota fixed upon was as fel- 
 lows: 
 
 J. A. Crawford of Columbia County, seventy-five 
 nn n; R. A. Williams of Suwanee County, twenty 
 men; J. W. West of Hamilton County twenty-five 
 men ; and C. K. Dutton of Suwanee County, seven- 
 ty-six men. All were turpentine farmers and Mr. 
 Williams also conducted a saw-mill business. Majoi 
 
 840
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 34I 
 
 Dutton proposed to continue his old works, partly 
 with free and partly with convict labor. 
 
 The news of the change of lease was received 
 witli rejoicing by the prisoners at the turpentine 
 camps. A convicl is invariably anxious for a change 
 of some sort, and is willing to take chances of get- 
 ting out of the frying-pan into the fire. And the 
 fact was that t'.ie work at the pine woods, particu- 
 larly the chipping, had broken down most of the 
 long-time men; they were eager to exchange the 
 hack and dipper for the plow and hoe. 
 
 As soon as he was awarded his contract, Mr. Bai- 
 ley made overtures to me to assume charge of his 
 camp. We finally came to terms and on November 
 first I went to his place in Jefferson County. Some 
 weeks prior to this a squad of convicts had been sent 
 to liim by special arrangement, to erect the necessary 
 buildingn. I found the work in course of construc- 
 tion, and it was, in fact, long after all the men were 
 formally turned over before everything was finished. 
 A treble cell -house about 120 feet long was erect- 
 ed, similar in general construction to those I have 
 already described. It was really three buildings 
 in one, with four rows of inclined sleeping plat- 
 forms and the central space left vacant. Women's 
 quarters, a kitchen, a large cistern and other work 
 was put under way, and at the last of the year I 
 proceeded to Camp Seymour, Major Dutton's head- 
 qi/lrters, four miles from McAlpin Station, to assist 
 a' the division of the men. By the terms of Mr.
 
 343 TIIK AMF.KKAN SIHERIA 
 
 Bailey's arrangement, tlu; sub contractors, ^tr. 
 Crawford and Major L)utit)n, were to assume con- 
 trol of tlieir men at once; Messrs. West and Wil- 
 liams were to be supplied from headquarters later on. 
 I found Camp Seymour in an uproar. The pris- 
 oners were all excitement, and those at Cypress 
 Lake, a side-camp under charge of Captain Jolly, had 
 been sent for. They arrived at about noon and were 
 greeted by prodigious cheering from the Seymour 
 convicts, man}' of whom had mounted on top of the 
 buildings and sat astride the ridge-poles. The side- 
 camp men filed into the yard and without much de 
 lay; all were strung out in a long line against tlie 
 stockade. The process of selection was cuiious. 
 It was agreed that Mr. Crawford's and Major But- 
 ton' s captains should pick seventy-five apiece, choos- 
 ing alternately. Major Button's seventy-five were 
 then to be returned to the balance, and his captain 
 and I to alternate until the Button squad was again 
 complete. All those left were to go to Mr. Bailey's. 
 The object of all this circumlocution was to prevent 
 any one squad from obtaining the bulk of tlie able- 
 bodied men. Mr. Crawford's lease called for ne- 
 groes only, as did that of Major Button, originally, 
 but the latter eventually agreed to take some 
 whites. As a matter of fact his squad numbered 
 seventy-six instead of seventy five as specified, the 
 additional man being one W. W. Willingham who 
 was left b}- special arrangement with him, for the 
 reason that the turpentine camp was deemed more
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 343 
 
 secure, and tlie man bore the name of a desperado. 
 His case has attracted a good deal of attention in 
 this state, and I may as well digress at this point 
 to advert to it. Willingham was one of tlie cattle 
 kings of South Florida and made a large fort':ne 
 shipping beeves to Cuba. He was a man of violent 
 passions, badly under control, and his word was 
 law in his domain. In one of his numerous quar- 
 rels he killed a man named Rockner, and paid his 
 lawyer $10,000 in Spanish gold to defend him. He 
 was acquitted and was thereafter a greater terror 
 than ever to his neighborhood. Finally he killed 
 one McLaughlin, his brother-in-law, and was ap- 
 Drehended with the greatest difficulty. It was ac- 
 complished by decoying him on board a river steam- 
 er and tying him with ropes. He employed Judge 
 E, K. Foster, a prominent Southern politician, to 
 cl-^fend him and paid him also $10,000. But this 
 time he did not escape so easily. In spite of one 
 of the hardest fights in the history of the Floridian 
 courts, he was convicted and sentenced to impris- 
 onment for life. He was taken to the convict camp 
 and proved thoroughly intractable. He feareil 
 nothing and was determined to escape at any cost. 
 Several times he made the attempt, paying no more 
 attention to the bullets sent after him than though 
 they were chaff, but he was always overhauled and 
 ''>rought back. Meantime his lawyer and represent- 
 atives made strenuous efforts to obtain a pardon. 
 Nothing was spared, and in this way most of his
 
 344 I'"*"- AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 money was absorbcl, hut without result. These 
 failures embittered him, and wlien an attorney called 
 at the camp one day and offered to guarantee a 
 pardon ftir a fee of $5,000, he glared at him fiercely. 
 1 won't pay it," he said, "but I'll tell you what 
 I'll do. I'll give S5,ouo cash for a Winchester rifle 
 iiul fifty cartridges. I would clear this yard of 
 guards in less than two minutes!" 
 
 He was finally sent to Cypress Lake where he 
 again attempted to escape, running from the yard, 
 riglit between two guards who fired four loads of 
 buckshot after him, all missing. He was brought 
 back, and a fifty-pound ball and chain riveted around 
 his leg. He was then put to work at a force-pump 
 and one day deliberately shouldered the huge ball 
 and started to walk off the yard. A guard, named 
 Rollin Hughs, called on him to stop and then fired, 
 the Winchester bullet striking Willingliam in the 
 back, passing through his lungs and out, shattering 
 his left arm from the elbow down. Strange to say 
 the wound did not kill him. His soul seemed 
 fairly pinned to his body, and he partially recov- 
 rercd, but remained a helpless cripple and was never 
 ;ible to get ver}' far from the hospital. The shooting 
 was ver)' widely commenttcl upon, and the state leg- 
 islature, by joint resolution, recommended that 
 Hughs be indicted for it. The grand jury of the 
 county, however, never returned a true-bill. When 
 I saw Willingham at Seymour lie was weak, pallid, 
 and wore his arm in a sling, but he looked every
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 345 
 
 inch a desperate man. He has not made any recent 
 attempt to escape and has probably resigned him- 
 self to his fate. 
 
 To return to tlie division, we went to work at once 
 and the process of selection proved tediously long. 
 It was concluded at dark, and before day-light next 
 morning I started for Live Oak with our prisoners. 
 They included all the sick, the decrepit and the 
 women, and several wagons were used to carry those 
 unable to walk and the baggage and camp equip- 
 ments. It was a long line, patrolled by guards at 
 eacli side, and moved slowly through the woods 
 toward town. We found a large crowd waiting at 
 Live Oak, where we took the train, but the embark- 
 ation was effected without any special trouble or 
 difficulty. The prisoners were placed on the cars 
 on squad-chains, and we pulled out for Drifton, the 
 nearest railroad point to Mr. Bailey's plantation. 
 
 Early in the afternoon we reached the station 
 where a number of four-mule wagons were waiting 
 to convey the party to the camp, about twelve miles 
 distant. The convicts were bundled in, the guards 
 formed as before, and the procession started. 
 
 In order to appreciate the curious demonstration 
 wliich followed us clear to our destination, it must 
 be understood that the rich agricultural region in 
 this part of the state is thickl}' settlt-d by negroes, 
 who live the most primitive of imaginable lives, and 
 most of whom have never been out of Jeffer.<:on 
 County. To these simple folks the spectacle that
 
 34^ THF AMFRIf^AV SIBERIA 
 
 \vc formed as we passed along was one of surpasj^. 
 iiiR interest. They flocked from far and wide and 
 liiu'd the road-side. Almost as far as one could sec 
 there was a vista of open mouths and uplifted 
 liands. At one point they brought out a gigantic 
 hass drum, and a darky musician beat tlie long-roll 
 ;is we hove in sight. The convicts caught the spirit 
 of the occasion and sang and yelled at the tops of 
 their voices. One of them thrummed a guitar, and 
 altogether it was like a nightmare of negro-min- 
 strelsy. 
 
 Our audience never left us as we wound among 
 tlic hills and valleys, until well after dark we 
 reached the camp. The cell-house was far enougli 
 advanced for sleeping purposes and in an hour or 
 two we had everybody safely housed. The present 
 h'-adquarters of the Florida prison are upon what 
 is known as the Gamble place. It has a historj. 
 It is part of a vast tract of between forty and fifty 
 thousand acres owned b}' a planter prince of ante- 
 bellum days, named Gamble. He was a Virginian, 
 and hearing of the great fertility of that portion of 
 Northern Florida he came into the country in the 
 incognito of a farm laborer. At that time ti was but 
 sparsely settled; the hind was owned by the govern- 
 ment, and it would have been dangerous, almost 
 suicidal, for a speculator to come openly among the 
 wild "squatters." Gamble remained for a year, 
 working first for one farmer and then for another, 
 meantime taking careful memoranda of the num-
 
 THE ANfERICAN SIBERIA 347 
 
 •'^r and location of the most desirable property, 
 ihen he disappeared and a few months later the set- 
 tlers were astonished to receive notification that he 
 had entered the land at Washington, and that they 
 must either pay rent or move. He did not come 
 back for several years, but sent a bmall army of 
 slaves and overseers, who did nothing toward culti- 
 vating but occupied themselves in simply clearing 
 the land. In due time they had a magnificent 
 virgin farm of almost unbounded extent, and the 
 man who had last been seen as a ragged laborer 
 reappeared as a Virginian aristocrat of tlie first 
 water. He managed things with a high hand and 
 with his family easily took the social lead in a so- 
 ryzty that uas practically a plantcrs'oligarchy. He 
 e^itertained on a royal scale, built houses and little 
 towns for his slaves, was thesolc law and authority 
 Of his domain and lived like a prince of the blood. 
 He raised enormous quantities of cotton, corn and 
 cane, and put up among other improvements a huge 
 sugar-mill of the model of those days. It is in 
 ruins now, and not long ago, while riding the fields, 
 I discovered one of the pieces of shafting rusting 
 in the grass. It required an entire squad of convicts 
 to lift it and carry it away. The rollers were pon- 
 derous, and twelve horses were used as motor power. 
 When Mr. Gamble died, his property was divided 
 among his children and each set up separate estab- 
 lishments upon their share. That upon which the 
 p'-^sent camp is located fell to Edward Gamble, and
 
 348 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 he erected a house upon it in the best style of the 
 day. Time has wrought havoc with it since, and 
 it is now in the further stages of dilapidation, but 
 its high ceilings, spacious halls and the general 
 arrangement of the interior testify to its former 
 pretensions. It was the scene of many a merry 
 gathering, and the old inhabitants tell of long lines 
 of carriages before its porch, obsequious slaves 
 hurrying to and fro, and splendid fetes held under 
 the huge red-oaks on its lawn. In time the family 
 experienced reverses; the war came on and the prop- 
 erty eventually passed out of their hands into those 
 of the Bailey family. The present lessee controls 
 about 5,000 acres of this historic ground, 1,600 of 
 which are under cultivation at the headquarters camp, 
 cotton and corn being the crops raised. A side- 
 camp has also been established on what is known as 
 the Scufifle place, about two miles distant, and the 
 prisoners are divided between them. The women 
 and the sick and disabled are kept at headquarters. 
 The Edward Gamble manor-house, which I have 
 described has been somewhat repaired and is used as 
 guards' quarters, commissary department and for 
 office purposes. The other buildings do not differ 
 in any essential from the stereotyped style I have 
 mentioned in describing several of the former camps. 
 Logs in the rough, reinforced with lumber, are the 
 materials employed; building-chains are used in the 
 cell-house, and the routine of searching and securing 
 the convicts at night has not been changed. The
 
 THE AMERICAN SIRFRIA 349 
 
 larger part of the farm, 1,400 of the 1,600 acres, 
 is in cotton, and the prisoners able to work are divid- 
 ed into hoe and plow squads. They are under the 
 charge of guards, and weather permitting, remain 
 in the field all day, taking their dinner there and 
 returning at night. The number varies from week 
 to week, with discharges and new acquisitions, but 
 at the present writing there are about 175 prisoners 
 at the headquarter' s and Scuffle camps. 
 
 The farm work has proven much more satisfactory 
 to the convicts themselves than any other at which 
 they have ever been engaged. In point of severity 
 it is not to be compared to turpentine culture, and 
 the facilities for obtaining fresh vegetables on the 
 farm is a matter of the first importance. There is 
 a large and flourishing garden at headquarters in 
 wliich cabbages, turnips, collards, sweet corn, peas, 
 tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, potatoes (both Irish and 
 sweet) and onions are raised. The women are partly 
 employed in the field and partly in domestic work 
 about the headquarters. They vary in number from 
 a dozen to upwards of twenty, and are all negresses 
 save one, to whose case I have alluded in the pre- 
 ceding chapter. Clothes for the prisoners are 
 made upon the grounds. Striped cloth is purchased 
 by the thousand yards, cut up by a convict tailor 
 and made into garments by the women. Clean suits 
 are given out once a week and the others washed by 
 men detailed for that purpose. 
 
 The fact which would perhaps first strike a stran-
 
 350 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 ger in examining the records of the Florida prison 
 is the extraordinary preponderance of murder cases. 
 There are, in all, between forty and fifty life-pris- 
 oners upon that charge — about one sixth of the en- 
 tire number of convicts. Aside from this there are 
 no peculiarly distinguishing features in the roster 
 of crimes. 
 
 The location of the camp is decidedly picturesque. 
 It is surrounded by hills and vales, some of them 
 heavily wooded, and a cr^'stal-clear stream runs with- 
 in half a mile of the cell-house. It is used to oper- 
 ate a mill, where corn-meal for camp use is ground, 
 and the back-water from a dam has created a coi.- 
 siderable pond, swarming with fish, and from whicn 
 alligators are occasionally shot. There is good hun\ 
 ing in the immediate vicinity, and partridges are no»» 
 and then scared up in the very prison yard. 
 
 The gulf coast is only eighteen miles away, tis 
 the crow flies, and an almost impenetrable swan-o 
 leads from the grounds to its margin. It bisects 
 what is known as the "flat woods," a dreary, wild 
 reach of land settled here and there by backwoods- 
 men and infested by deer, bear and other big game. 
 Both swamp and flat-woods have jilayeil their part 
 already in prison histor)". We have had some few 
 escapes. One of them was a negro named Walker 
 Banks, a trusty, who stole a horse from a settler 
 and rode off toward the south, intending to strike 
 the gulf coast and leave with some of the fishermen 
 who cruise there. He fancied it would be a ma*
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 35I 
 
 ter of no difficulty to cross the flat-woods, but when 
 he entered them lie soon became bewildered by the 
 monotony of the scenery and lost his way. He rode 
 back and forth, often in a circle, occasionally hur- 
 rying from some settler's house that he would acci- 
 dentally encounter, and night overtook him in the 
 labyrinth. Meantime we had started in pursuit and 
 notified the settlers, who quickly spread the news 
 and turned out in force, stimulated by the hope of 
 reward and enraged at the heinous crime of horse- 
 stealing, particularly by a negro. They tracked the 
 t»ewildered fugitive down, like Indians, and finally 
 pressed him so close that he abandoned his horse 
 and made on foot for a small river emptying into 
 the gulf. He reached it just ahead of his pursuers, 
 and although it was very cold and very dark he 
 plunged in unhesitatingly, and held to a little 
 branch, with nothing but his mouth above the 
 water. One of the settlers fired at random and 
 frightened him so badly that he came out. Had it 
 not been for the reward they would probably have 
 lynched him, but as it was, they brought him in 
 about midnight. The appearance of the posse was 
 rather intimidating. They were grim, raw-boned 
 hunters, clad in homespun and each man carrying a 
 long-barreled rifle over his shoulder. This experi- 
 ence has prevented any other convict from essaying 
 the flat-woods as an avenue of escape. 
 
 Sometime later three men escaped from the cell- 
 house where they were under hospital treatment,
 
 352 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 
 
 They were Robert Rowley of Pensacola, a Hfe-pris 
 oner on charge of murder; Daniel Blackburn, serving 
 one year for larceny; and "Jack" Trcppard, a burglar 
 from Louisville, under three years sentence. Of the 
 three, Blackburn was decidedly the most dane;erous. 
 He was a man of about thirty, a Floridian, and a 
 desperado by nature. He was arrested on a river 
 boat and defied the posse who came to take him. 
 They fired upon him, and it was not until he had 
 sixteen balls in his body that he finally fell and 
 was secured. When he arrived at prison he was 
 greatly emaciated and suffering from the effects of 
 his wounds, but his spirit was uncowed. Rowley 
 and Treppard were both young men of magnificent 
 physique. Treppard was single shackled, but the 
 other two wore merely one chain. 
 
 The trio simply made a rush. We were after them 
 in a few minutes, but they had time to gain the 
 swamp, and to search for them there would be like 
 looking for the traditional needle in a hay-stack. 
 Two days later Treppard came out half-starved, and 
 went to the house of a negro for food; he was capt- 
 ured and brought back to camp. It seemed, from 
 his story, that the party had separated shortly after 
 entering the swamp, he going his way, and Rowley 
 and Blackburn keeping together. He had a terrible 
 time among the snakes, alligators and mosquitos, 
 and was really glad to be captured. The other two 
 were not caught. We learned subsequently that 
 Rowley had made his way to Pensacola where he
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBERIA 353 
 
 saw his wife, remained for four or five days, and 
 then shipped upon an outward-bound vessel. 
 
 Within view of the camp, under favorable atmos- 
 pheric conditions, are the evidences of a mysterious 
 natural phenomenon that has jealously kept its secret 
 since the earliest known records. It is a strange 
 vivid illumination which proceeds from the heart 
 of the impenetrable morass about twenty miles to 
 the southwest. By day nothing is distinguishable, 
 but on certain nights a red glare lights the sky, as 
 from some vast conflagration. There have been 
 numberless theories as to its character. It is be- 
 lieved by some to be a volcano; by others to be a 
 natural gas well of gigantic proportions; still others 
 aver that the swamp is the haunt of a band of moon- 
 shiners and that the light proceeds from immense 
 stills. This last hypothesis is absurd, for no still, 
 however large, could cast a reflection visible at that 
 distance. It was believed for years that a tribe of 
 Seminole Indians had escaped the fate of their race 
 by penetrating the recesses of the swamp, and the 
 light proceeded from fires used in their religious 
 ceremonies. A somewhat similar theory was that 
 the negro priests of voodooism held their orgies 
 there. Of late years, however, these views have 
 been abandoned, and it is tolerably certain that the 
 mysterious light has its origin in some great natural 
 phenomenon. 
 
 The secret is well kept. Years ago a New York 
 newspaper offered $10,000 reward for a solution of
 
 354 "^"^ AMERICAN SIIiERIA 
 
 the enigma, and an expedition made a determined 
 effort to pierce the natural barrier of swamp and 
 jungle. They had, in places, to literally cut their 
 way with axes, and in others to construct pontoon 
 bridges against the quaking lagoons. At short in- 
 tervals they built look-out stations and endeavored 
 to establish a chain of communication with the 
 outside. Their progress was very slow and before 
 they had penetrated many miles, the poisonous 
 exhalations of the morass completed what the rank, 
 tropical vegetation had begun. The explorers were 
 stricken with sw^mp-fever, a terrible malady, in 
 which the period of chills are real congestions, and 
 the febrile intervals are delirium. This unseen 
 sentry barred the way and drove them out. Some 
 were lost on the way and perished miserably in the 
 morass; others succumbed to the fever when they 
 emerged, and their look-out posts are roosts for the 
 bears to-day. No other systematic attempt was 
 ever made to reach the light. 
 
 This brings me to a close of this desultory memoir, 
 in the preparation of which I have, in the absence 
 of records, drawn mainly upon my memory. Most 
 of the events that I have narrated are not of a 
 character readily forgotten by one who has been an 
 actor in them, and I may say, I think, that they are 
 reasonably free from inaccuracy of detail. It is the 
 history of an institution that is rapidly passing away 
 and as such may possess an interest outside of either 
 matter or manner. At any event, I can assure the
 
 THE AMERICAN SIBKRIA 355 
 
 reader that it is at least a frank recital — I have sup- 
 pressed nothing, extenuated nothing — it is the 
 simple truth of fourteen years of one of the much- 
 talked-of and little known convict camps of the 
 
 South. 
 
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