I now continue the history of Curran, Hughes, and Fox. They were tried at the Criminal Sittings, at the Supreme Court, in March, 1840, and were found guilty, and sentence of death was passed on them. The first two were hung, dying hardened. I may relate something of their conduct after their arrest and after their trial.

The officer in charge of the gaol, such as it was — jolly old Ashton — had a number of prisoners under his care; not only those awaiting trial, but also sentenced men. The latter class, men on short sentences were daily marched out to perform road work, under guards with loaded carbines ; the prison yard was simply enclosed with a low ordinary paling fence. The bulk of the prisoners occupied a long wooden building, in which they were locked up at night, guarded by sentinels with arms.

A small stone building, called the Stone Jug, was the place where a few of the worst characters were confined in irons. The authorities having reason to expect a rescue, Curran and his mates were confined in a strong room at the horse-police barracks, an armed guard being stationed at their door.

At this time, Mr. A. Tolmer was Chief Inspector of Police, and made it his practice to inspect the heavy irons on the prisoners before he himself turned in to rest. One night on hailing the guard when on his rounds with the question, 'All right, guard?' he was answered, "Yes, sir, all right.' On examining the irons he could not perceive they had been tampered with, and so retired to his bed.

Some time afterwards an alarm was given by the guard, on which a smith was immediately sent for, as the guard reported that in listening for some time, he was satisfied that files were at work in cutting the rivets. On the lock-up door being opened, after a file of guards with loaded carbines had been placed there, the irons were examined, and the sentinel was correct ; rivets were found to be cut, and were speedily replaced by the blacksmith ; the guard had cautiously refrained from giving alarm until he was certain the work was progressing.

The utmost care continued to be taken to keep these rascals from escaping, and so they were brought to trial ; Curran and Hughes' were condemned to be hung, and Fox to transportation for life. On the scaffold the conduct of the two was hardened, and the behavior of one of them most unseemly ; after the rope was placed on his neck he asked for a lighted pipe, which was put in his mouth. I was told that his comrade at last remonstrated with him, telling him to die like a man.

Fox was sent to Sydney, but died on the passage, it was said of a broken heart. He was reported to be the son of most respectable parents, and was a soft and helpless man, not able to earn a livelihood by hard work. He was not the only individual of this character and constitution I have met with out here who, at home having proved himself useless and troublesome, had been shipped off to this new country, where sharp and decided attributes are especially called for, together with correct principles, and full personal command and restraint, to obtain a good position; not that a number of persons with these qualifications have not come to grief through unavoidable accidents and calamities.

I will continue this chapter with an account of Stone, the mate of Foley, of whom I have already stated that immediately after their arrival as two runaway prisoners, a horse was found with its throat cut among the bushes then on the South Park Lands.

In relating these incidents I am obliged to bring myself in more frequently than I at first intended, but I find if I avoided this I should leave out or make obscure, a number of striking facts which occurred in the early days of the colony, and of which I was a witness. I refrain from giving my experiences, if such relate only to private affairs and not of public interest, although I am one who suffered losses and privations as heavy as any of the old colonists did when the Government stopped payment on Colonel Gawler's drafts. Such misfortunes continued until after the time when most of the public liabilities were met by the tardy loan granted by the Home Government, and I, with my family, passed through these great trials and hard-ships, but during this time we never doubted the ultimate success of the colony. But then I must add that too many of the pioneers, like myself, have come under the rule, which is general, that a rise is seldom made by individuals under such circumstances to compensate them for their losses or replace them in positions previously occupied.

In giving prominence to the careers of several of the prison class in the early history of this colony, strangers who read these papers should not lose sight of the fact that these men found their way here with their own resources from Sydney, about as distant as one boundary of Europe to the opposite one, or from the Island of Tasmania by a sea voyage, say equal to one from Spain to England. Nevertheless in the opinion of many persons not well up in Australian geography or history, South Australia has been classed erroneously with those colonies which were originally convict receptacles.

In about twelve months after my arrival I expected a herd of cattle overland from New South Wales, and made an excursion to find a good fattening run as near as possible to the River Murray. After beating about between the hills and the river and not finding anything to suit me, and having gone through a hard day's ride, I turned towards the hills, after skirting part of the shores of Lake Alexandrina, and followed up a creek towards the close of the day, when I arrived in a bend of the same, and decided to camp for the night.

I had no sooner so made up my mind than I saw on one side of me, about 100 yards off in a small opening in the scrub, a man in the act of covering me with his gun. I immediately held up my right hand, and then dismounted, throwing the bridle of my horse over his head, bush fashion, and commenced to walk towards the man. He was still on his guard, although he did not further threaten me. I was to all appearances unarmed.

On his grounding his piece I addressed him in a most unguarded manner by name. I say unguarded, as if I had reflected, I most likely would have considered it prudent to have avoided anything like a recognition of him, but the decided tone in which I was enabled to speak disarmed him, and caused him to think he could trust me. The words I used were, " Well, Stone, I am out hunting for a piece of country for a cattle run ; I do not come to disturb you ; have you got any tucker ?"

His countenance at once became friendly, and he replied, " No ; only a piece of kangaroo." Well, I have ship biscuits and german sausage, with tea and sugar, in my saddle bags. Shall I camp with you ?" "All right, mate." I next asked him to go with me to the horse to help me, wishing him to see I had no arms there. The horse hobbled, we returned to his wurlie ; he carried my saddle, and I the rest of my swag, i.e., blankets, bridle, and saddle bags. While he replenished his fire, I fetched the water from a clear waterhole. The camp was on the creek where Strathalbyn now covers the then wild bush. We had soon a quart pot of tea boiling, and supped together, and I slept by his side comfortably on a bed of dry fern leaves, and under the shelter of a few boughs rather artistically put together.

The following morning after breakfast, I gave him all my supply of food. He accepted what I willingly gave, and asked for nothing. I had as usual on such expeditions no money with me. He told me he should get the blacks to cross him over the river in one of their bark canoes. I promised him I would keep secret the course he was taking, and would not divulge the fact that I had seen him until I was satisfied he was safe. I did not know of any charge against him in this colony, nor was there any except that he was suspected to have cut the throat of a supposed stolen horse, and also believed to be a runaway lifer, as was afterwards proved.

He was evidently in great fear of being enquired after by the prison authorities of Sydney. He was not communicative to me about his antecedents, and I prudently asked him no questions. His conduct in this respect differed much from that of other men of his class with whom I have been brought into contact. I must mention that, unknown to him, I had a brace of small pocket pistols, which I always carried in the bush on such expeditions at that time of day.

After giving the above description of my sitting down with Stone, I cannot help a remark or two on his remarkable forbearance and self-control.

Now, here is given a true account of a desperate, hunted man, escaping as it might be for his life, and he had only to demand of me my horse and all I had, and I would have been unable to have refused him his demands or it would have been a death struggle; but such reflections did not occur to one at that time as I placed entire confidence in him. He had, knowing what I was looking for, directed me to follow up a certain spur of the ranges, and to continue south on the saddle of the ranges and I should find a good grassy and well-watered extensive gully, well adapted for a fattening run for cattle, which I found according to his directions, and which proved to be one of the richest spots I have ever occupied in this colony. I was soon displaced by a special survey.

To return to Stone. On parting with him, I did not refuse him my hand, although I felt he must have been stained by heavy crimes to have merited transportation for life, which he did not disavow, and I could not help thinking he had committed some heavy crime on escaping, as he exhibited such fear of being traced. No more has been heard of this miserable man alive, but bones of a man of similar stature were some years after found in the Eighty Mile Desert, near a native well, and supposed to be his remains. He had no white man's place he could reach on that side of the River Murray nearer than Portland Bay, and the provisions I gave him could not last him more than four or five days with the utmost economy. This man appeared to be uneducated, and I could not help feeling at the time that most probably he had been born of and brought up by criminal parents and trained to crime, as whatever his mis-deeds had been which brought him to severe punishment, my experience of him proved he was not utterly depraved and lost to manly feelings. God help such was my aspiration, then and now.

I must continue this number by relating circumstances which occurred on this cattle run, the short time I was allowed to use it. On the arrival of the herd of cattle for which I have said I was providing stockyards and huts were erected only just in time, and the beasts were placed if not in clover, on ground more thickly covered with long kangaroo grass than is usually seen anywhere. The New South Wales squatter from whom I purchased the herd recommended a man to me of the name of Hart as the best stockkeeper of his party, and him I engaged for twelve months at a good wage. I found him to be fully up to the character he received from his previous employer, who however told me he knew nothing of his antecedents prior to his over-taking and joining his party on the Murray; that he was on foot, and was most probably a runaway, but that he never had a more active and trustworthy man of his class in his employment, and he had always under him a number of assigned of freed men at work for him. He was a kind and good master, as I ascertained from men who had served him. I can with perfect truth say that Hart was a good servant, and for one of his class remarkably civil and well-behaved, besides being well up to his business, so I soon placed confidence in him which I never found abused.

My custom was to visit the station at least once a month, and to remain generally a few days. These visits I found to be quite a treat ; at first there was also a hut-keeper who had charge of the stores. After a time Hart proposed to dispense with the hut-keeper, i.e., when there was a vacancy on the man leaving, and offered to perform the double duties for a small advance in his wages, which I agreed to give him. He explained to me he preferred to cook for himself, and I never regretted the change ; the establishment became much more pleasant, and I always found everything in perfect order, the cattle and horses, well attended to, my room clean and comfortable, and the cooking and change of food excellent ; then the man was always so cheerful and good tempered that I could not avoid liking him well.

I mention these trifling details as remarkable, as his conduct will appear to have been when I come to the close of his connection with me, and have to relate his antecedents immediately before he joined the party coming down the river, and the horrid crime he had committed a few days before he joined the party. How little I could have imagined such an occurrence to have taken place may be felt when I explain that for a treat I took my wife out to spend a few days on the station, Hart being the only person within three and four miles. His clean management and mild and respectful manners were invariably such as to have qualified him for filling a situation as domestic servant, even at home.

Well, such a man as he appeared naturally led me to hear from him revelations of his previous life as a prisoner, which he always seemed most anxious to impart. How much of truth he gave me I know not, but the narrative unquestionably, if believed, was such as to produce a favorable impression of him.

He was about 30 years of age, rather slightly built, and most active in his movements. As a youth, he stated, he and one of his master's sons ran away and enlisted in the Royal Artillery, then stationed at Dunharton Castle, and after undergoing all the hardships of drill, &c, they were guilty of some breach of discipline and deserted, and to escape in the night took away two horses, not intending to steal them but to aid in escaping. They succeeding in reaching a ship at Greenock, and having exchanged their clothing (for Hart's companion had plenty of money) they managed to secure a passage, but were pursued and taken out of the ship and handed over to the civil powers, tried, and sentenced to transportation for life.

On arriving in Sydney in a transport-ship with a number of prisoners, his comrade, through interest made by his family, soon got assigned to a favorable party, and he saw no more of him. Hart being very young was sent to Norfolk Island, where he was soon selected by the Superintendent, and employed as a domestic servant, and here he became expert, as I found him. He was now very happy, and soon by good conduct became a favored man, and promoted to be cox-swain to the Superintendent's boat. After some time he was placed in one of the boats employed in receiving supplies from a brig standing off and on. The boat was eight-oared; he was steering; a one-armed guard only in the boat ; as the men were picked, and some confidence was placed in them.

The brig having taken a long tack as they approached her, the day being calm, advantage was taken of this condition of things. The men were resting on their oars, and the guard was suddenly seized and thrown overboard, and Hart followed, as he was a favorite of the Superintendent, and they would not trust him. The transaction was seen on board the brig, and all way possible was made, and both men were saved. The shore was signalled and although chase was given to the boat, they adopted such a course as did not suit the brig, and so for that time escaped.

Amongst the boat's crew was an ex-captain of the Royal Navy, who knew how to adopt all measures calculated to complete their escape ; but ultimately they were taken. Thus far, as Hart's tale goes ; but it cannot be all true, as the ex-captain, whose name I suppress, out of regard to his high family, would certainly have been hung, which event did not take place.

That such a man did escape from Norfolk Island is doubtless a fact, and that he afterwards finished his infamous career on the scaffold at Sydney is true — but for a different crime from that recorded by Hart ; also that by the great interest of his family he had been long spared is well known. Hart, however had introduced him into his own history, I believe, simply to give as much interest to his recital as possible.

I find I must reserve the remainder of Hart's history for another chapter, including the particulars of the murder of his last employer in the province of New South Wales, which information came to hand after he had left me and escaped from the colony.