Indianapolis Times, Volume 34, Number 162, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 November 1921 — Page 11

Ginn Memories o/TASMANIA Wnrys^'-.iv'trro'.' ■ n., .a jrarawvw v Scenes <y Old Convict Days

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Hm Is Encl.hnwl,'. Swt, Tasmania, ,h. strstch of land 150 yards aid* st Its narrowssl point, nhloli onro was ths plans ivhsfo linos of srmsd ssntlnsts and flares dogs sirs plarad to present eonelets from passing olf the lonely peninsula lo nhlrh they wore rrstrletrsl. * Tho waters on either side are sharlclnfeoted. Despite all these preeautions some of the desperate eonrlrts did esropr. One tied seaweed about his body and slowly swam out and neross the rote, walked 150 ,mI Is i and hid himself aboard a ship. Tiro years Inter he nas returned from England and died In n Tasmanian prison rump.

West by Southwest New Zealand, Australia and South Sea Islands By TV. D. BOYCE. Organizer and Leader of the Old Mexico Research and African. Big Game Expeditions, Author of “Illustrated South America." "United 6ttes Colonies and Dependencies” and “Tho First Americans—Our Indians of Yesterday and Today."

Hobart. Tasmania, Australia. — Tasmania generally is not proud of the blot on its scutcheon—the fact that it was until ISSO the site of penal colonies for men and women —and mere children, too—who were deemed no longer fit to lire in tho mother country, England, and were sent thousands of miles across the seas to spend the remainder of their lives. In the best families they do not like to talk of those days, but Tasmania is not averse to capitalizing what remains of the institutions of those times. It is something like having a notorious criminal in the family being ashamed of it but taking the money of those who are willing to pay to hear him tell of his exploits. No doubt a great many readers of these articles have seen in one of the ports of our own country the con-vict-ship Success, a great, grewsome hulk of dark, dark cells, of chains and leg-irons and other means of curbing the unruly. For half a century she has been traveling from port to port of the Anrld. exhibiting her horrors to the mor'Kd at small admission prices. The Success was just one of the ships which used to bring to Tasmania and New Sotith Wales the wretches who had been sentenced to transportation. HORRORS OF CONVICT DAYS. In Hobart books that purport to tell the true stories of convict days in Tasmania are on sale generally. They may be absorbing reading for those who revel in horrors, but to me the few extracts I read were sickening. If a small portion of the. things which they tell are true, I am glad that the world has so far progressed that brutality no longer is considered the way to punish the wrongdoer. In justice to the men who ruled those convict settlements it must be pointed out that they were far from home, they were in the midst of desperate characters who would stop at nothing to obtain their liberty, and discipline had to be maintained. Down where the peninsulas of Tasmania and Forestier are joined the connecting link of land Is called Eaglehawk Neck. It is about a hundred and fifty yards across at its narrowest point, the waters on either side are infested by sharks, and in these two things the guards of the convicts saw a means of holding their miserable prisoners within the confines to which they were restricted. Across this neck of laud was posted a line of sentries, day and night, and near by a line of fierce dogs, bull and mastiff, so chained that each of them could reach within six Inches of his neighbor vn either side. It was indeed a hardy prisoner who would risk the dogs, the sharks or the guards? bul- . lets in a wild endeavor to escape. >I|CNISHMENT SEVERE IN THE OLDEN DAYS. At Port Arthur still stand the buildings of the penitentiaries which were built by the convicts themselves out of great stones to become their own prisons. A fee is charged to inspect them now and in normal years thousands pass through the great halls and little cells and "oh" and “ah” as the guides explain ir. detail the uses to which the -various buildings were put. But not even the most vivid imagination can bring up any stronger picture of penal days than one can get from reading a few of the official records of the punishments administered for the most trivial offenses. Twenty to thirty lashes for stepping out of line or having a potato iu his possession. six days in a dark underground cell on bread and water for talking back to a guard or not eating all the food placed on the table before him. n month tt hard labor-In chains for talking after being locked in a cell—these are but samples of the punishment given out. It must have tortured those convicts to build great churches of stone with theit bare hands to the God which their guards professed to worship an i in whose name they wielded the whip and .affixed the chains. TASMANIA ANIMALS OF QVEER SPECIES. I derived no pleasure from thought* of those days which are now gone. Rather was I more deeply interested in the animals which are to be found nowhere else in the world except In Tasmania. It would seem ns if Nature was in a playful mood when she made the animals that are native to the "tight little islands.” Not even in fossil form, thousands of years old. have the bones of similar creatures been found iu other / jnd*. ®of them all I believe that the platypus is the most weird mixture of contradio- i tlons. This creature has been described iu an earlier article of this series.. You will remember that it looks somewhat j like a seal, but it is webfooted, it has a tall like a beaver and the bill of a dock, and it lays eggs but suckles its young. It has teeth but no ear on the outside, yet its hearing is been. Were ! I depending upon facts from those I have met who have seen a platypus alive . I am afraid I should be in the clas3 of j those doubting Thomases who branded I

| the animal a nature fake when they saw a stuffed one exhibited in England. Only | one man I ever met even made a claim to having 6ecn one of these animals in its native haunts. How much I believe his claim you can judge from the following incident: "I should like very much to see a Tasmanian devil,” said I. He drew himself up proudly, looked me in the eye and said without the least hesitation': "I am a Tasmanian devil, j the original Tasmanian devil, if you want to know." Somehow I lost confidence in that man right then, for I knew'that a Tasmanian devil is a queer four-legged animal about I the size of a small dog, dark brown and with a vicious face. Why they should ; call him a devil I don’t know, but 1 am told he will put up a vicious fight. 1 WOLF ABOUT LIKE OUR WILD CAT. The Tasmanian wolf, so-called, is about | like our wild cat and the Tasmanian tiger is a savage-looking creature, resembling Ia coyoti somewhat, but with light stripes across the hips. Incidentally the female has pouches in which to carry her young which seems to be characteristic of animals In this part of the world. It would take an entire article to tell in detail of the queer birds and animals and fish which are to be found in Tasmania. I spent some time in the various museums of Australia and in the zoos looking at them and can well un< derstand the feelings of the old man who remarked after seeing his first rhinoceros: “There ain't be no sich animal." Australia Is famous for the many verities of suakes and they are the worst in Tasmania, where, for some reason, all of them are poisonous, although only five are actually deadly. It is peculiar that i the farther away you gpt from the equator, the more poisonous the snakes are. In the museum at Hobart I saw the skeleton of Truganinl, the last of the now extinct native aborigines of the

A relic of the days when Tasmania was young—a treadmill operated by the feet of convicts who were clustered thick upon it and kept walking in order that the wheels of the gristmills might turn. It was a stow and laborious process and it was calculated to break the spirit of the toughest. Note how the bare feet of the prisoners wore grooves in the solid weed where, two abreast, they tramped hours at a time.

island. She died in 1878, the sole survivor of a race that once numbered thousands. Less than a hundred years of European civilization wiped them out. From all over the world scientists who are interested in the evolution of the human race have come to Hobart to gaze upon the skeleton of Trugar ini, to measure her bones and to seek other data which are buried in the past and unrecorded history of the blackfellows of Australia. In the days when Tasamania was only a small colony and the blacks were exceedingly troublesome, in 1830 to be exact, the white settlers to the number of 3,000 organized a hunting bee in which all the natives were killed with the exception, of 200, who were placed upon a reservation, where a score of years later only forty remained. Truganini was the last of these. MILLION'S AKE BET ON THE RACES. Aborigine hunting has given away to horse racing as the great sport of the Tasmanians and iu on other state of the commonwealth are there greater devotees. Hobart, by the way, is the headquarters of the notorious gambling ring known as Tattersall's. It is licensed by the Tasmanian Government and through Its hands pass millions of dollars each year. It sells chances on the horses entered in eighteen of the big racing meets in Tasmania and on the mainland. Two million tickets are sold, either at one dollar or two dollars each, and the money which the 'Tasmanian government receives in stamp duties and a dividend tax on the prizes amounts to $125,000 a year. Tattersall's keep 10 per cent of all money wagered with it as a commission. On the Melbourne Cup, the greatest race in Australia, the first prize is $50,000. divided among holders of $2 tickets. At the little barber shop in Melbourne, where the members of our party were in the habit of getting shaved, there was a young barber whose principal topi* of conversation was the races. He fairly seemed to live from one race day to the next, he never missed a meet in Met. bourne and he talked wisely of the horses, their pedigrees, their marks, theif trainers and their jockeys. "With your knowledge of the horses you ought to be ahead of the bookies,” I jokingly remarked. “No,” Eaid he. "I am quite a little behind. I put in my last money on a ticket from Tattersall's today. Don't know how I am going to get otit to the track to see them run. either.” Later I learned that he had sold for j bare carfare an interest in his Tattersail's ticket. The next day he was not at his chair. I asked for him. “He won't be back for awhile," I was told. "His ticket in Tattersall's yesterday won 3,000 pounds (about twelve ! thousand dollars). But he had sold part 1 of the ticket, so >U he gets out of it

is about three-fifths. But he’ll lose it again and be back on the Job.” You can buy a Tattersall's ticket almost anywhere in Australia, but you do not get the ticket then. You give a mall address to which it may be sent and you are paid the same way about a week after you win. To give an assurance of honesty to the drawing it is dona by an official of the Tasamaniau government and there never ins been any question of the gambling ring. Other states, however, do not look with favor upon the institution and in New Zealand it is under governmental ban. Mall addressed to TattersaU'B or to any known agent is destroyed and the postal authorities hold up letters which they have reason to believe come from Tattersall’s. However, there are any number of well-known persons in Hobart, who, for a small fee, are willing to buy tickets for you and their names are readily obtained. HUNTING AND FISHING FINE. Racing, however, is not the only sport which Tasmania affords. The hunting and fishing are excellent, but the seasons are carefully fixed by law and violators are severely punished. There is no big game to be had but the native bear, a brown-furred little rascal about the size of a young black bear cub, aflords rare sport, I am told, for those who spek him in his mountain home. As our train wound its way around the hills I have seen a few of these bears asleep iu the forks of trees and apparently undisturbed by the noise of our passing. When the mother bear travels, the young one goes along by riding on her back and clinging tightly to the fur of her neck. The Tasmanian black swan is one of the most graceful birds I have ever seetl and they are to be found by tho thousands in the island. On the east coast there is a place called the Moult-, log Lagoon where iu season the birds

are shot by hunters in large numbers. The mutton bird, which also is protected except for a few weeks each year, is another fowl much in demand. It breeds near the sea and the flesh is considered excellent. Mutton bird catching, however, is far from exciting for the young birds can be run down by foot and killed with n stick. Cooked down in its own fat, the meat will stay good for a long time. MANY RABBITS IN TASMANIA. Like other parts of Australia, Tasmania is overrun by rabbits, and the man who Introduced them that he might have pets like in his English home, has never had a monument erected to his memory. Miles of rabbit proof fencing are required to keep these pests out of the crops. They form a staple article of diet on the tables of the poor. In Launceston I saw the man who supplies most of the rabbits to the town. He was driving into town with a small twowheeled cart, commonly called a "jinker," and it was literally weighted down with bunnies. For two cents more than the customary price of a rabbit he will skin and clean it while the customer waits. Asa result his "Jtnker" is always trailed by a horde of dogs of all kinds, waiting

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“Visitors with grewsome imaginations gloat over the ruins of Fort Arthur, but I derived no pleasure from thoughts of those days that are gone,” says Mr. Boyce. Here we see a corner in the model prison. Fort Arthur. Tasmania. The wrecks of these great prisons ore today like tombstones In a neglected graveyard, creating a desire In the minds of tlio curious to learn the history of the convict days of Tasmania.

INDIANA DAILY TIMES, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1921.

for a chance at the parts he throws away. Tasmania’s possibilities as an agricultural and pastoral state have been only slightly exploited, because of her 15,.100,000 acres only 271,000 were under cultivation last year. Apples, oats and hops were the three principal products. Os the other staple crops of Australia she raises scarcely enough for her own needs Wheat grows well in the island, but little more than 215.000 bushels | were produced last year, not enough to supply Tasmanian demand. Os oats she ! produced 1,250,000 bushels and of hops, 1,385,000 pounds. The average yields are high, however, on all these products, wheat averaging 18.5 bushels to the acre, j oats 25.7 bushels a”d hops 1.120 pounds. | Her total agricultural products had a j value of $14,000000. i Pastoral products came second with a I value of $8,400,000, dairying being an ; industry for which Its land is well ! suited. Her abundant rainfall results in | wide areas of rich and verdant pastures, i which produce rich milk. Butter and ! cheese factories arc generally found throughout the island, many of them be j lng on the cooperative plan and owned Iby the farmers themselves. Both hut ! ter arid cheese from Tasmania hold a j high place in outside markets along with i her Jams t It Is on fine wool-producing Merino i sheep that the island specializes, both rams and ewes being in demand fobreeding purposes in other countries. Before the war Tasmania virtually supplied the countries of South America with their Imported breeders Naturally wool is one ;of the big staples of the island. Its j million and three quarters sheep, an av. ernge number for the last ten years, prof ilueed in 1920 more thnn i1.000,000 pounds I of the finest wool, valued nt $3.1500,000 The Tasmanian Government is putting into effei-t a vigorous campaign to at--1 tract immigration to offset the threatened i loss of population due to the grenter inducements oiffered by the other states In the shape of higher wages. MUCH LAND HELD IN LARGE BLOCKS. "One of our liig handicaps is that the land is held in large blocks by rich owners and that the state is too pont to buy these lands and subdivide them into small farms which can be offered to settlers on easy terms," said an off! clal of the bank which is maintained by the state “To the experienced farm er with ready money Tasmanln offers a splendid opportunity. To the man who may be experienced in farming but who has not at least two thousand dollars there is little inducement to choose Tasmania in preference to other states. The state owns lands which it will sell to him on fair terms and even advance him money with which to get started, but those who settle here without money can get only uncleared lands. For the | first two years there is no profit to him j and he must earn hia living by working i for others at very small wages. To a man with a sturdy family, the kind of farmers we would like to attract, there ’ isn't enough in sight to induce him to ' take a fling nt it." j Tasmania's government and relation to ; the commonwealth is the same ns that of | the other states. It has a governor, I sent out from England, but to all in--1 tents and purposes is governed by its * premier and his cabinet, while the legls ! lntlve end of the government Is In the ! hands of a parliament of two houses, with a legislative council, or upper house, ■ of eighteen members and an assembly, ! or lower house with thirty-five members. It has three institutions which are in competition with private enterprises—a company which handles all lines of insurance except life, an agricultural bank, which lends money on lnnds in addition to helping new settlers by making them advances, and a public trust office, modeled upon that originated In Now Zealand but which has two added sea tures. One of these is the fact that if a will so orders, private individuals may be associated with the public trustee in tho capacity of advisers In the administration of estates. The other is that the public trustees will act as custodian trustee of an estate but will manage it and make investments only upon orders o trustees named in the will. In both eases the state guarantee of the public trus> office is effective. The insurance company wns started only a few months ago and haH not yei been fully organized pending tho passage of further legislation by parliament. REPORTS END OF MEXICAN REVOLT Military Governor Says Troops Can Handle Situation. CALEXICO. Cal., Nov. 17.—General Rodriguez, military governor of lower California today reported that the attempted revolutionary movement, which resulted in the battle near Tin Juana several days ago between Federal troops and rebels, had been stamped out and that the Federal forces are able to take care of any situation that may arise. A Federal detachment under command of Colonel Armenta is in the mouutaius searching for the rebels. C., I. & L. Valuation Fixed at $31,459,358 WASHINGTON. Nov. 17.—The Interstate Commerce Comm|ssion today announced that it had fixed a tentative valuation of $31,490,358 on the property of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad Company.

Tomorrow, Friday, OUR BARGAIN DAY

WOMEN’S GLOVES VAN RAALTE DOUBLE SILK GLOVES FOR WOMEN —2-clasp and strap wrist style, seconds of better quality; black and colors; ... 50c TREFOUSSE FRENCH KID GLOVES FOR WOMEN —One and two-clasp, black and colors; sample broken line of sizes; verv special, QO pair 90C —First Floor, Southwest. WOMEN’S NECKWEAR COLLARS —Os organdy, white* and colors. Tuxedo and flat shapes—LACE COLLARS, round, square and Tuxedo shapes—COLLAß AND CUFF SETS of organdy and checked ginghams, also a few VESTEES; up On to $1.25 qualities, each wjC —First Floor, South. RIBBONS, LACES and VEILINGS REMNANTS of laces, embroidery and fancy trimmings, slightly soiled from handling, 29c, 39c and 48c * n qualities, special, remnant IUC WASH LACES —Val., torchon and Cluny, 1 to 2 inches wide, suitable for trimming all kinds of wash materials, 8c and 10c q qualities, at O C VESTING—I 4to 16 inches wide, dainty Vais, combined with embroidered organdy and Venise no laces, $2.98 quality, yard 9oC FANCY RIBBONS wide, two tone and metal effects in combination of colors, such as old rose, jade, henna, navy and red, 25c and 39c qualities, yard OC RIBBON REMNANTS Odds and ends, slightly soiled from handling; plain and fancy colors; 25c * rv and 39c qualities, remnant IUC VEILING REMNANTS—PIain and fancy meshes with colored chenille dots and fancy designs; taupe, brown, navy and black; 39c and 50c . qualities, special, remnant IUC —First Floor, Northeast. GROCERIES Quality—service—moderate prices.

PREMIER SALAD DRESS- QQ ING, large size jar JQC

BOURBON SANTOS COFFEE, fresh roasted, oid crop ryy (3 pounds, 79ct, pound u i Q

BREAKFAST BACON, lean, sugar cured, machine sliced ijq (2 pounds, 45c), pound ZJC

SMALL PIG HAMS, sugar cured, wood smoked; half or *y a whole; pound fL*\C

PEAS, Red Fox Early Junes (dozen, $1 s<>; can.lflg 4 B l T T E R I NE. Standard-Nut, col ored, read to serve: pound ear ton 114-0 CEYLON T E A, Park & Tilfonl's White Heather brand (1 pound can, $1.10): impound can... 550 Fifth floor.

CREAMERY RITTER, Sun-lit, delicious, fresh sweet churned, pound 4G<* F I M E N TO CHEESE. fresh, made daily in our Stitt-lit kitchen I pound, 33c); K-pound... 17C CORN, Red Fox, Country Gentleman (dozen, $1 90> ; can 1 7<*

STITCH DOWN SHOES FOR CHILDREN We Just rereived anew pear lug and practical. Sizes 5 to 8. S% to 11, 11% to 2. Very a-. special 1.95 -—Third Floor.

Friday Bargains! Wearing Apparel for Women, Misses and Girls

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Silk blouses FOR WOMEN AND MISSES, of Georgette crepe, crepe de chine, mignonette, babette; desirable new shades. Clearance of broken lots. Regular $3.00 an n $4.00 d| nn qualities Ip 1.09

IJi WE BLOCK C? Hart Schaffner & Marx guaranteed clothes for men, young men and boys (8 to 18)

Dollar bale Men’s CAPS

EVERY CAP ALL WOOL MANY SATIN LINED

Imported all-wool tweed3. Domestic all-wool tweeds. All-wool blue serge. All-wool flannels.

All-wool herringbones. Many are satin lined and the newest and smartest shapes. —Third Floor.

Women’s Pomps, Oxfords and Strap Pumps

Brand new stock from the best makers. Styles so new that they forecast the oncoming fashions. Just the footwear that women of fashion are choosing. Only the most preferred lasts and leathers included at the low price of $5.00.

SB.OO. SIO,OO and $12.00 qualities; Bale price $5.00

Sale of High Shoes For $Pf .95 Women <L$ All have the most wanted military and walking heel, made of brown calf, tan calf, black calf and black kid; special at. 55.95

m basement store

Women’s and Misses’ $lO, $12.50 and a few Finer Dresses FABRlCS—Georgette, crepe de chfnes, serges, tricotines. COLORS—BIack, navy brown. Good-looking, practical dresses for office and street weai*. Just, 100 in the lot. Early choosing is necessary. Choice $5.00

Dresses for children Sizes 2 to 6 years. With little bloomers to match of fine ginghams. All have deep hems. Many are below the wholesale cost; $1.50, $2 no and $2.50 qualities 9oC

$ i ii

GRECIAN SANDALS ONE-STRAP PUMPS TWO-STRAP NOVELTIES AND OTHER ULTRACORRECT PATTERNS IN PATENT LEATHERS DEMI-GLACE KIDSKINS RICH BLACK SATINS TWO-TONE EFFECTS

All-wool novelty mixtures All-wool checks. All-wool plaids. All sizes, 6% to 7 y 2 .

SALE PRICE—SB.OO, SIO.OO and $12.00 qualities

BLACK SUEDES BROWN SUEDES AND BROWN KIDSKINS WITH SPANISH BABY LOUIS FULL LOUIS AND COVERED MILITARY HEELS

—Third Floor.

Women’s ankle length pettibloomers Os satine. with double rows of elastic in cuffs, reinforced seat. All the most desirable colors; 79c and SI.OO quali.ies (2 for $1.25), p*\ Fair OiC

Sale Price

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