The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-11-23
rHr scRA,roN rR1BuNn-sATURDAr MORNING. NovEMBnR 49,. 1898.

Water street. Of which they gave me the
proprietor's name, but as It is unknown
to fame except perhaps al recorded in
police court annals. 1 took no notice of
1t and 1t has escaped my memory. They
were sailors and had come over to
Havre and thence UP the river to Rouen
where they had deserted, been captured
and were now held until the vessel was
ready to sail, when they would be put
On board again and sent of in her.
I have heard some swearing in my
time and am not easily excited by any
accomplishment in that line but so in
genious and elaborate a combination Of
oaths as formed their vocabulary was
something fresh. n their cultivation
must have cost them long practice and
study. They had to sail. they said. and
would go to the many adjectived Havre
on the many adjectived ship and there
they would desert again, but II COM
PEELED to go to the many adjectived sea
with that many adjectived captain they
would cut his many ~adjectived heart
out of his many adjectived body before
they were out of sight of the many ad-
jectived land. Their looks could never
bring an action for damages against
their language and their deeds would
doubtless correspond to both II they got
the chance. But threatened men live
long and ! dare say the captain did not
meet his fate hat voyage. Sea captains
are not too gentle as a rule, the forecas-
tie of a sailing ship Is not a paradise
with angels, but with such Inhabitants
as these three thugs h crack of the
captains revolver is a better persuasive
than all the precepts Of the gospel.
One. Assassin's Bravado.
A short distance from the sailors a
group had formed round a fellow who
v-ac knnptnr thAvr In srohfun 1N,rlINy
who is that jolly fellow?" 1 asked the
keeper. That Is Bourbon who muir
dered his mistress a few days ago at
Havre. He is waiting his trial at the
assizes."
1t was a frightfully cruel murder.
While walking with the girl at night he
stabbed her to the heart and ran. For
~tuna!.ly he was seen, chased and cap
tured. I had met many murderers be-
fore but never any of such revolving in
difference. Going up to him 1 said:
wei Bourbon, how do you nink it will
go with you?" II don't know sir" he
said. You see I am innocent; the girl
tabled herself. But / have no money
and can get no counsel so / shall have to
suffer. may get five years. Not that
l expect 1t. The sentence will probably
be two, but I shall not be crushed If l get
five.
Don't you think'it might be we'll to
look for something more? Murder is a
lotine for that sort of thing" Bah! he
said, What for a 'putin'?" "She may
have been a putin as you say, but the
judge will protect her life as carefully
as Ma1a nc Carnot's."
He Knocked at the thought and as l
moved away asked me for some tobac-
co, for your French PEASANTS hand goes
out as naturally as an Italian organ
grinders. A few weeks after, I saw an
account of his execution. He had gone
to trial full of confidence, but as the
case went on he grew anxious, then ter
rifled and white, and when he was con-
victed and sentenced he tainted. Cas-
sation followed. Everything was found
in form. His petition to the president
was rejected and when his last morning
dawned he had to be carried to the gull
lotine.
l came away feeling that If the French
system Is cheaper 1t Is in the last degree
~demoralizing. In the various prisons
scattered throughout the country there
are always more han q hundred thous-
and men confined, the great majority
voluntarily bec1use they prefer COM
p~arative comfort and the certainty of
possessing some money at release, to
the squalor of ~vagabondage or the ne
cessity to work in freedom.
There are three grades of prisons.
The first like that of Rouen for mis-
demeanors entailing no political dis
abilities. Next In severity are the
maisOnS centrales corresponding to our
penitentiaries. Incarceration in one of
them brings with 1t loss Of electoral
privileges until restored. The last
grade. the deepest and most terrible
which can befall a F~renchman, Is
"travaux forces" This punishment Is
not inflicted In France. The forces Is
transported to the settlement Of New
Caledonia near Australia, from which
he Is allowed to return. His con-
dition Is. that of civil death. From the
moment the sentence is passed he Is lost
to his family and to his country. OF
course such a doom Is the. fate Of only
the most dangerous felons. Some there
are, however, who incur the exile with
out the disabilities.
lIabitual Criminals arc TRANSPORTED,
France will not tolerate habitual
criminals in her midst. Any one who
has undergone four terms of impris-
Onment for felony for periods longer
than three months Is bandished for life
to the same settlement Of New Gale
donia. but Is allowed to go at liberty
on arrival. II he has a trade he can
find work: II not the government en-
ploys him or a bit of ground with
farming implements is given him.
France gets rid of them. What be-
comes Of them afterward matters lit
tie.
The central prisons are twenty-five
In number and they hold about twenty
two thousand inmates. Gallon in the
department Of the Eure, midway be-
wen Rouen and Paris, about three
miles off the railroad, is a village which
grew up around the medieval chateau
of the family !of La Rochefoucauld.
The present duke is the owner. In the
interior of the courtyard a slab of
marble let into the wall tells In a Latin
inscription Of the visit Of Louis
XIV in 1860. This was the spot first
chosen for a refuge for Louis XVI,
a place which he abandoned for his un-
lucky journey to Varennes. In 1898
the owner leased It to the government
for ninety-nine years to be used as a
prison.
When France wants a prison instead
or building a fortress III the English
prisons she confiscates a monastery or
hires a chateau. Tearing out the inside
for dormitories and workshops, a few
bars at the windows finish the work.
Guards are set and the establishment is
ready.
On the occasion of my visit the officer
In charge was n Beaunier. He had
been about twenty years in the service
and had lust been promoted to the DO
sl.ion of director. The grounds of the
chateau are oartitioned off in small
yards used by the inmates for exer-
cising and the different squads are
anxiously kept from becoming too
closely acquainted. The entrance to
the. governors office is through an old
tower which has stood there more than
Sin hundred years. Six centuries OF
grlnping have not tired tile old gar
g"vles. the Griffihs. the "Hydras AMI
C'ilmoras dire erinning TO-DAY from
every coi0n as they grinnel the LAY
the carver left them two hundred years
before Columbus sailed to America.
1t n end OF the room on a raised
dais the ~"directeur,' with several Off