The Portland daily press., 1895-01-19

yet bound by mempries to the soil OF
France, sit silently huddled together OF
the benches, dreaming of the expiation
of Their misdeeds which has now begun.
But when the chip begins to roll upon
the open sea the prisoners, pale and faint
ing from illness, cease their noisy jests
and songs and the scene becomes too
repulsiye for description.
Day by day, as the ship nears the
tropics the heat increases and at last
becomes intolerabIe. The foul air is
sweetened only at intervals when the mar
row portfolios are opened. Those prison
ers who have been orderly are permitted
to walk two hours each day upon the
deck.
Sometimes there are outbreaks on
these convict ships. Eight weeks ago
the transport Vile de Saint Nazalre took
from the lie d'Aix 100 felons and ITO
who had been condemned to Punishment
for political crimes.
Among the number were four well
known Anarchists named Lauter,
Mapeaux, Catineau and Colombat. As
they neared Guiana an exile named
Gaouyer broke the rules, and when the
guard, ordered by the commandant, came
to put him in irons Gaouyer sprang
upon and attempted to strangle him.
The guard, however, succeeded in
drawing his revolver and firing, and
Garouyerw fell mortally wounded. See
ing this the other prisoners, melted by
the Anarchists above named, attempted
to break from their cages, but the
officers drenched them with water and
suffocated them with steam from pipes
especially placed for such an emergency.
and they were soon subdued.
On the arrival of the prisoners at the
lies de Salut they are taken to the
Camp clearing in which are strongly
built iron barred huts. In these are
swung dou BILE rows of hammocks, aud
aft NIGHT the fetid atmosphere within.
combined with the noisome vapors OF
the outer air and the ever-present swarms
Of singing insects, render any but the
sleep of exhaustion impossible.
From the moment of his arrival the
convict has no name.
He is known only by the number of
his hammock. The work is excessively
hard. The new arrivals are put at the
most severe tasks-draining marshes and
clearing ground" to break their spirits, "
though 1t would seem they would have
little inclination to rebel after the suffer-
ings of the voyage.
They are conducted to their work by
armed guards, who are orderd to fire at
the least attempt at flight. Almost
none try to escape, for they know, if
they evade the bullets of the guards and
their pursuit, which seems impossible,
| it will be necessary to traverse the sea
and the virgin forest. At every step will
| lie in wait for them death by hunger, by
fatigue, by disease or by the poisoned
| arrows of the natives, who receive re-
ward for every convict they bring back,
dead or alive.
Meanwhile with bodies broken by their
awful toll in climate where walk of a
hundred yards is formidable task, they
labor in the blazing sun with spades and
picks. About their heads hang clouds
of singing insects, whose bites swell
their faces and hands. Great red ants
cover their legs, and sonltimes poisonous
serpents twist about their ankles and in
| fict mortal wounds. They stand in
trenches UP to their knees in water and
mire, and the putrid exhalations rising
from the earth consume them with
lfeyer or set their teeth chatterlng as with
| cold, while the sweat rolls IRON their
| foreheads.
| Fearful as this life is for men Injured
to toll and hardship, what must 1t Dc
| for men of education, accustomed to the
comforts and iuxuries of life? Some
| lose nope, 90 mad and die from deiiber'
ately exposing themselves to the herce
rays of the tropic sun, while Others, seek
ing swifter deash, revolt an" We shot
| down by the guards.