National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-01-31
A French Prison Scene.


The last forty-one prisoners were re-
moved from tho Bagne of Toulon, and
that famous establishment, SO long
tho terror Of French criminals, and
which has been n fruitful source Of har-
rowing subjects To the ablcst romancists
and poets Of France, was closed forever
more. The scene when this great place
Of woe, and, there can he no doubt in
many instances, of revolving cruelty,
was closed, was interesting and thrilling
in the extreme. The prisoners Ind MI
been sentenced topenascrvitudc forlife,
life, and they wore, as an emblem of their
doom, the famous green cap, while u
chain three feet and half long was fas-
tened To their left wrist and ankle.
When the prisoners were drawn mp IN
line TO prepare for transportation to n
French penal colony the officer in
charge announced that ten of the num-
Der would be pardoned. A scene of in
dcscribable excitement ensuod. De
spite the aJmonition of the keepers,
the prisoners crowded around Nj. Duri-
wage and his colleagues. Some OF them
uttered ordinations of intense sus-
pense, each hoping against hope that
his name would he among the fortunates,
while Others clasped their hands, there
by causing horrible clanking of chains.
All eyes were riveted ON NJ. Durivagc
rs he now read off the ten names of
those who were destined to tile happi-
ness of regaining their liberty, which
they believed to have lost forevermore,
As the names were read of, the happy
conyicts, with only two or three eXcep-
tions, bro ITO demonstrations of I'M
bounded delight. Some danced around
like mndmen, while others burst into
floods of tears, throwing themselves ON
their knees and praying in loud tones
OF profound agitation.
When the ten names had at last been
announced, those who were to remain
in durance manifested their rage and
disappointment in equally singular ways.
There were tears and cries Of heart
rcnding despair, and There wero also
curses too blasphemous to repeat. The
keepers, at sign from the Commissions
crs, dragged them to an adjoining cor
rider, beating them with their sticks,
and threatening them with more severe
measures in case they should continue
violating the rules Of the Bagne.
Meanwhile three blacksmiths began
to strike off the shackles from the limbs
Of the pardoned conyicts. This is al
ways a somewhat painful operation, and
| some of the convicts uttered stilled cries
as the sledge hammers fell upon the
rings of their chains. At last all Of
them were unfettered. Even the prison
officials, hardenend as they were, could
not help looking without emotion upon
the poor wretches who had suffered so
much and so long. There was not one
| among them but had been an inmate OF
the Bagne for upward of twenty years.
One of them, Andre Freron, had been
there since 1925, forty-seyen years a
shackled galley-slave!
The released prisoners put on the
citizen clothes that had been furnish
ed to them, and were escorted by a
large concourse of people to the Lyons
depot. The excitement of the crowd
was rs intense as the impressions which
the unwonted sights which met the ex-
convicts on all sides were remarkable
and profound. They seemed to feel
awkward in their new clothes, and they
| held their left arms as If their wrists
and ankles were still connected by a
chain. They have all reached their old
homes by this time. God knows alone
what their feelings were when they
found everything altered there, and
met, perhaps, in their birth-places nc
one that remembered them. In accord
ance with the French laws, they will re.
main under the surveillance Of the po-
lice to the end of their days.
Meanwhile their thirty-one unpar-
loned fellow convicts have set ont on
their long and dreary voyage to the
tropical and unhealthy shores Of Cayen-
ne. Until their arrival in the penal
colony they will not be taken from the
hold of the man-of-war that conveys
them thither. There, almost in the
dark, they lie on their pallets, fastened
to the walls with heavy chains. The
doors to this floating prison are guarded
day and night by three marines with
loaded muskcts, who have orders to
shoot on the spot any of them who sue
coed in freeing themselves from their
letters.