Falsely Accused - 1. FAL Chapter 1

Life has never been very easy for me, my mother worked as a house maid for a wealthy businessman, and with the assistance from my uncle, I was able to attend a good school in Edinburgh, and I was getting very good grades. I managed to get some part time work on the docks to help Mum out with food and clothes, as our family lived in a basic two-bedroom cottage, about an hour’s walk from the center of the city, and I managed to complete my high school education a year ahead of usual.

Once again thanks to my uncle, after completing a preliminary examination, I was able to enroll into Edinburgh University to Medical school, the exams were tough but I felt that I did well, with the subjects being English, Literature, Math’s, Latin, Physics, Logics, Algebra and a Foreign Language, which I knew Scottish, Gaelic and Latin from high school.

The year is 1859, and as a 17-year-old, I was beginning studies at what is regarded as one of the best medical training facilities in the world, and I was feeling a little overwhelmed with entering such a prestigious education institution.

I was spending 2 hours a day walking to and from university, leaving at dawn and arriving home after dark, plus the long hours of lectures and practical training, it was quite a strain but I was coping, and I still managed to find time to work on the docks loading and unloading supplies from ships.

On the docks I was known simply as Johnnie, but my full name is Edward John Lester, born on the 12^th day of September 1842, I am the oldest son of Margaret Lester, who is now a single mother and widow, my little brother – John Edward is ten years younger, and he is also attending the same school as I was.

For five years, I worked hard with my studies, and just as hard with my part time job at the docks, so I could help pay my university fees. When I graduated from university, it was just before my 21^st birthday, and I now have to complete a two-year apprenticeship, before I could become a registered MD. With the assistance of my uncle, I was able to become an apprentice to a surgeon in London, who was assigned to do medical checks on all paying passengers who are bound for the colonies.

Because of my work on the docks in Edinburgh, the surgeon – Dr Jamison was pleased to allow me to mix with the dock workers in London, when it wasn’t too busy. Over the next two years I saw large numbers of passengers bound for colonies, this included paying passengers, pensioner guards and a large number of convicts.

During this time, I was able to earn a little, pay for an apprentice is not very good, so all the money I earned went to mum. When my apprenticeship was completed, I decided to remain working for Dr Jamison, as I found the work rewarding and challenging, and I was better than being unemployed, as it is difficult to get work unless you have the connections.

Just over two years later, I had learnt a lot from Dr Jamison, and I was now looking at options for the future while I was waiting for my medical registration papers to arrive. After having a usual tough day at work on the docks, plus a few drinks at the tavern with my dock worker friends, I was making my way home, when I was suddenly surrounded by soldiers.

“Are you dock worker – known as Johnnie?” the senior of the soldiers asked me, and I nodded my head to confirm, “You are under arrest for house breaking and larceny” the soldier said as I was suddenly restrained. I was force marched down the street, and into a police station, where I was pushed into a cell and the door slammed closed. I was shocked and had no idea why this was happening to me, and I lay on the hard bunk, with a confused mind, uncertain why I was where I am.

The next morning, I was given two slices of bread and a tin mug of warm tea for breakfast, and an hour later I was marched to the courthouse next door to appear before the St Mary, Newington magistrate. As I stood at the dock, a mean looking magistrate looked down at me with a frown, “What is this man charged with? he demanded. “Sir this man known as Johnny, is a dock worker and he is charged with house breaking and larceny” a court official stated, and I opened my mouth to protest at this charge, when I was struck in the stomach with a large baton, causing me exhale and bend over.

“Yesterday afternoon this man was seen to be entering a house through a window and removing valuables from the premises” the court official said to the magistrate, I stood straight and attempted to say something of these charges, but once again I was struck with the baton.

After looking at the charge book, the magistrate looked at me and scrunched up his nose, “And a drunk too by the smell of it, I find the charges proven and sentence you to transportation to… the Swan River Colony for five years” the magistrate said as he banged his gavel, and I was marched back to the cells.

For the next three months, or their a-bouts, it was hard to tell when locked up in a cell 24 hours a day, with just bread and warm tea for breakfast, and a bread and a thin watery soup for dinner, as my only food. I had a one hour of exercise twice a week, and just a thin mattress on the floor and a bucket for ablutions in the cell, with the bucket emptied every second day.

I cried myself to sleep for the first week that I was in the cells, and I had no blanket to keep me warm, thankfully it was still warm outside. One morning the cell door was opened and a guard entered, “Johnnie of the Docks, as ordered by the magistrate, on this 12^th day of October 1866, you are to be taken to the transport ship, to be sent to the Swan River Colony of Australia”, and I was marched down to the docks, with my hands shackled in chains, along with 278 other convicts to be transported.

I was hoping that Dr Jamieson would be working on the docks, so this mistake could be seen, and I would be released, but unfortunately, he wasn’t there. I asked the doctor that examined me before I boarded the ship, where Dr Jamieson is, and the Doctor said to be silent, and that it is none of my business. I asked the doctor to please pass on a message to Dr Jamieson, to let him know that I have been falsely accused, and I said that my name is Edward John Lester.

When told to make my mark on the document, to say that I had been examined and found to be fit to be transported, I wrote – “ego sum a medical discipule”, which is Latin for I am a medical apprentice, and I wrote my full name after it. I was placed in the stern on the prison deck, where there is a vent overhead for light and air, and once in there the shackles and chains were removed, so we could move around.

We were each given a bunk each, with a mattress, pillow and two blankets, which was a lot more comfortable than back in the cells. We were issued a tin pint mug, a wooden spoon and a tin hub. I managed to stay out of trouble and as such I avoided the lash, for the whole journey, which lasted a total of 84 days or 12 weeks.

Ships rations for the journey was not very much, each convict was daily issued two biscuits, 2/3 of a pound of salted Beef or pork, 1½ pounds of sugar, a ¼ pound tea, ¾ pound of flour, ¾ pint of peas, ½ pint of oatmeal, and a ¼ pint of vinegar weekly, and we were permitted to go up on deck twice a week for fresh air and some exercise, and once a week we received religious instruction from a priest.

The journey was very long and tiring, and I kept myself busy by helping my fellow convicts, with any minor injuries, using what material I could scavenge to use as bandages. When we finally arrived at Fremantle Harbor on the Swan River colony, we were once again shackled and chained, and marched off the ship and onto the harbor.

The day was very warm, with it being mid-January and summer in Australia, as we marched down the street of Fremantle town and into the big goal located on the hill, which I later learnt was opened 11 years earlier, and that it was built using convict labor.

On entering the goal, with its walls towering about 15 feet high, we had our chains and shackles removed, and we were stripped naked, bucket washed, and issued prison uniforms, before being allocated a cell, just 7 feet by 4 feet in size, with a mattress, pillow and two blankets and issued our first proper meal in months, which I was pleased about, as I was awfully thin from the little food I had been given since being falsely charged with house breaking and larceny.

In goal our routine for the day began with the wakeup bell at 5:30 am, and the officers had all prisoners assembled in the parade ground at 6:25 am. After breakfast, which we ate in our cells, we were sent to work at different parts of the prison, before assembling for muster at midday.

This was followed by dinner in the exercise yard or the work site, and more work throughout the afternoon, until supper at 6:00 pm in the cells, our meals consisted of bread from the prison bake house was included in every meal. It was served with black tea for breakfast, and with either tea or cocoa in the evening. The main meal, called dinner, was in the middle of the day, and also featured soup, meat, and vegetables.

For those who wished we could attend church service in the chapel, and I used this chance to get some exercise, walking to and from chapel and enjoying some sunshine from the chapel windows. I was a religious man, and I was given a bible on the first day that I attended chapel, and I read it daily to help take away the boredom each day.

The work undertaken by a convict depended on their behavior. I learnt that upon arrival to Western Australia, convicts were kept within the prison for a period of observation. If found to have a reasonable disposition, we would be sent to work, in a gang under the control of a warder. Typical activities included quarrying, filling swamps, burning lime, constructing public buildings, roads and jetties around Fremantle.

About six months later, for good behavior, I was allowed to spend time in the outside yard to get more exercise, and at one time I noticed a fellow convict from one of the work gangs, had some injuries to his arm, and I convinced him to allow me to look at it, and using a strip of material from my shirt, I moistened it from the tap, and carefully wiped away the blood and dirt, before using the strip of
material as a bandage to cover the wound.

I was unaware that I was being watched when this took place, and with no reactions taken by the warders, the word soon spread around the prison convicts that I was able to patch up wounds, and at the next exercise period, I had a line of convicts asking for assistance, and some convicts brought strips of cloth to help with patching up wounds.

The outside sinks in the courtyard, provided me with a plentiful supply of water, to clean up the wounds, some of them were a result of fighting, others were work injuries, and I also had to treat wounds from floggings. The following day, a warder arrived mid-morning and instructed me to tidy up, as I was going to see the goal superintendent, and about twenty minutes later I arrived in the administration building, with just shackles on my hands.

On entering the office, I bowed my head, as a sign of respect, before looking up to face the man in charge of Fremantle Goal. “Your name is Johnnie from London Docks, it that correct?’ he asked me. I was known by that name Sir” I replied softly, “What was your job on the docks Johnnie?” the superintendent asked me.

“Since the age of twelve I have been a dock worker sir, to help out my mum and my little brother, and I kept working part time while attending university sir” I replied, “University? Well that is not what I expected, and what did you study at this university?” the superintendent asked me, “Medicine sir, I completed my 5 years of studies and two-year apprenticeship with Dr Jamison, doing health checks for colonists on the docks, Sir” I replied.

The superintendent laughed, “Well that is quite a story, and as you can see there is no way of checking this story, which I find a little unbelievable… but I have received reports from warders, who have observed you in the exercise courtyard, treating minor ailments of your fellow convicts, which partly verifies your story in a small way. Now tell me what is your full name?” the superintendent asked.

“I am student and apprentice - Edward John Lester, born on the 12^th day of September 1842, graduated from medical school at Edinburgh University in July 1863, Sir” I replied, and I saw the Superintendent writing down this information as I spoke. “Very well, Mr. Lester, I am going to allow you a little bit more slack. You are to assist the goal medical officer when he is here, and when he is not available, you are to do what you can to assist any convicts, with any medical treatment.

The warder here will take you to the hospital wing, so you can see where you will be working, we will be watching you closely, so make sure you stay within the rules and be of good behavior, that is all” the superintendent said and I stood up and left the room. A little while later, I entered the hospital wing, where there was a treatment room, and office and through another door there is a fourteen-bed hospital, split into two areas, with a wide passageway down the middle and a store room at the end.

After having a good look around, I was about to ask the warder to take me back to my cell, when a man in a white coat entered the main treatment room, “Ah you must be my new assistant Johnnie, or is it Mr. Edward Lester? I am Dr James Carter, I have been told that you have some medical skills, and that you may be able to help when it gets busy and when I am away” the man said with a smile.

I shook his hand, and smiled and he signaled for me to sit, the warder removed my hand shackles and left the room and I waited to see what the doctor was going to say. Over the next hour, I was tested on my knowledge on anatomy, physiology, neurology, and skeletal bones, when he had finished asking me all the questions, he smiled before calling out to the warder, who was standing just outside the door.

“I will see you again soon Edward, nice to meet you” Dr Carter said and I was lead back to my cell, still without shackles on and on entering my cell, I found a tin bowl with water, a bar of soap and a towel, plus a fresh set of clothes. I smiled as the cell door closed and locked, and I stared at the luxury items for a few moments, before removing my dirty and worn clothes and having a thorough wash, the first proper wash in over 12 months, and it felt good to be properly clean once more.

I found that the quality and quantity of food had improved for me since that meeting with the superintendent and the doctor, and early the next day I was escorted back to the hospital wing, without shackles on, where there was a small line of shackled convicts seated on the hallway floor waiting. “You are to treat those men outside, and I will be watching you carefully” the warder said after we had stepped into the treatment room.

I nodded my understanding, and after a quick look, I located a stethoscope, and I nodded to the warder to let the first convict in. Over the next few hours, I saw mostly skin lesions, one case of typhoid and a number of cases of measles, which I immediately asked to be isolated in the hospital, so it doesn’t spread throughout the gaol. Another warder arrived with three more convicts, and I asked him to notify the Superintendent of the three cases of Measles, and that they have been isolated to the hospital.