JSM - Edition One

D ennis C ollins - continued After consideration from the magistrate, I was arrested and then charged with high treason and assault. I was sentenced to be hanged, the drawn, then beheaded and quartered. The sentence was then com- muted to life transportation. On the 12th August 1833, I landed at a place called Hobart on the Emperor Alexander. At this point, I was hot-headed and bad-tempered and became and became annoyed with anything. As soon as I arrived, I was sent straight to Port Arthur which they kept all the worst of us. I didn’t consider meself one of them. I had two offences in me name and they were because I refused to go to work. For these offences, I was put into the dark cells for seven days. They said I came out unaffected. They couldn’t see past me skin though. I was stubborn and wasn’t afraid to die. I refused to eat and wouldn’t budge. Those pesky government men and other lifers tried to make me eat but I would not. By mid-October, 1833, I was put into the hospital and given treatment. I felt very ill but that was all part of my grand plan to escape from that hell. My plan was to say that the only medication that could cure me was in London so they would take me back and I would escape. It worked and now I’m on the run from those traps and continue to survive each day.

R iley D avenport Y ear 6M

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JSM Edition 0ne

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