The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-27
MOST DEADLY PLACE ON EARTH.
r,at,s Fernando Pc Where Spain ConsIgns
Political and Other Prisoners.
From the New York Herald

(From the New York HERALD
If there is diabolical place on earth it
;e Fernando Pc. There are some horrible
nlaces on this globe, but not one of them
oan compete with this infamous island.
spain uses it as penal station, and death
IL almost invariably the doom of those
oonviots who are sent there. Rapidly they
desc rapidly that at times the au thori-
ties find it difficult to bury them. But
now new device has been adopted, and
all obstacles to speedy burials have been
removed.
The officers of the B ritish steamer
Niger, which arrived at Liverpool few
dayssago. bear testimony Ito the efficacy
of this device. The steamer left Fernando
Pc on July 10, and at that time the Gu
ban and Philippine exiles were dying SO
rapidly that collins could not be obtained
in which to bury them. Thereupon the
authorities put their heads together and
promptly decided to construct some
coffins on an entirey new plan. The bot
toms of the. coffinssw shtted..with hinges
and when theebodies were placed in them
and lowered into the earth certain ropes
were deftly manipulated, whereupon the
bottoms opened and the bodies dropped
into the graves. One set of oorpses being
thus disposed Of, another set was placed
in the same collins and dropped into
graves in the same inhuman manner.
Truly an economical method of burying
the dead!
Spain's object in taking possession of
Tornado Pc to make it penal station.
and she soon had gangs of convicts there,
making roads, QUITTING trees, and other
wise employed in improving the Godfor-
saken place. Mercilessly she treated these
unfortunate beings, forcing them to
work all day under the hot sun, and car
ing nothing for them when illness struck
them down. Today her policy is the
same. She does not work the conyicts
present one of the penalties for miscon-
duct-but she let's them die by scores.
More than one European power has pro-
tested against her using Fernando Pc as
O convict station, but with her character
istic obstinacy Spain has turned deaf
ear to their protests. There are within
her jurisdiction many offenders, political
pFlSUucIo huu OUu6TS, upon WQOm SQ6
cannot legally pronounce death sentences,
and SO she deports them to Ferdinando
Pc, knowing well that they will die
there almost as surely, if not quite as
swiftly, as by the garrote. :. She does not
kill them herself. but she knows that the
climate of Fernando Pc will kill them.
Much has been said about theshorrors
of Ceuta, another Spanish convict sta
ton, but Ceuta is an earthly paradise
tn Earnandn ho
latter place Ia very picturesque, with its
magniticently wooded hill and many sill
very streams but then its climate is I'M
bearable. breeding, as its does, malaria
and fever, from which few who are at
tackled ever recover. Dysentery and liver
complaints are also common. Moreover,
the rainfall is heavy and continuous,
and the heat is excessive.
No white woman, it is said, has ever
been able to live on the island, and no
governor has remained there more than
a few months. The Spanish officials who
are obliged to spend any time there con-
triye in a measure to ward off disease by
dosing themselves continually with
quinine and whiskey but even these
'antidotes do not always prove successful.
ANY one, however, in Fernando Pc who
wants to save his life must keep himself
constantly in a state of drunkenness.
The unfortunate convicts clearly cannot
fortify themselves with liquor, and hence
they daily drop off and are thrust into
nameless graves
Evidently the island has sadly deterior-
ated within the past quarter of century.
One who ought to know says that no
fruits are grown there now, and that
there are nowhere any indications of
prosperity. Some negroes manage to exist
there, and they are the only persons who
can stand the terrible climate. To send
white prisoners there is equivalent to
looming them to death, and to send
political prisoners there is an outrage
against humanity and a disgrace tc
civilization. Fernando Pc today Is simply
the worse place on earth for any human
beings who are not negroes. No one who
has ever had the misfortune to visit the
internal spot, and who has noted the
countless gray with which its hills are
studded will question the truth of this
statement.