It seems that for a couple of years after arrival, Ephraim worked on the roads and managed not to break the rules of the establishment. In fact, he was on the roads within a week of his arrival in VDL.
Then, when working for Richard Kirkham, he was twice caught with tobacco in the lock up. Tobacco was kept as a privilege for free folks and was certainly not for convicts. On May 1st, he was caught with tobacco and given a month’s hard labour. Only a week later, he was caught again and given an additional two months hard labour. Was it worth it?
In the Oatlands archaeological dig, a number of stems from pipes of the period have been found so someone was using them there too. Apparently, the stem was thin and could break and you just attached a new one to the bowl.
The shipping list I mentioned earlier, also listed huge amounts of tobacco so it was used widely. Ephraim’s son, (also named Ephraim) left a diary which contained many shopping lists and this too had frequent mentions of figs of tobacco or just figs. I remember my paternal grandfather showing me how to use a pocket knife to scrape the leaf pieces from a hard dark block of tobacco purchased in a tin. Then he would clean out the pipe, again with the knife and pack in the tobacco. A match and a few puffs and he would be set. The whole process was part of the enjoyment.
More than 20 years later, Ephraim left his pipe at the crime scene when John Harris was killed. Smoking was probably a habit he could have done without.
No comments:
Post a Comment