The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-24

cided to make his departure from the island
In the somewhat unusual vehicle-a coffin.
With him he took two planks. which ne
had whitfield down, to serve as paddles. his
absence was discovered, of course, the first
tning in the morning, but as no vessel had
called in the night. and none of the
boats We're missing, the authorities were
only mildly exercised over the matter. 1t
was thought that Lupi was hiding some
,Whsre IN the bush, and that he would soon
De discovered or. compelled by hunger, would
give himself up. On the second day, how
ever. q hue and Il cry was raised and the
island thoroughly searched without success.
II was then believed the man had commit
TED suicide by throwing himself into the
sea, and an entry to this effect was entered
IN IN the books of the prison opposite his name.
For three days he worked courageously,
with little food, but ne had been at sea
TOUR days when the captain of little
FRENCH steamer OFF Parimaribo noted some
wreckage about which fiocks of sea gullS
we're cireling. Thinking that perhaps some
shlpwrecked sailor, alive or dead, was cling
ing 10 this debris. the captain changed ms
course and bore down upon ii. 1t turned
out TO be the coffin, the vehicle of death in
M Sdne dup E;s had embarked With al ms
clostd, but the paddles betrayed the fact
that there was something unusual here cor,
cealed, and the sea gulls. which screamed
IN bitter disappointment, as though seeing
tnelr carFlon prey slipping out of the grasp
OF their talons as the little steamer APP
preached, were not the only ones on guard.
TWO hungry sharks were conveying the cof-
mn. one on either side. now and then giving
tic uIISledQy COlftn q poke WITH their SHOUTS
or a rude jostle with their fms, impatient
to oVerturn it and ravencus for the carrion
Ieast Concluding from these strange signs
that there was an occupant in the coffin.
the captain lowered Il boat, and on reaching
1t discovered Lupi. weak and faint with
munger and half drowned by the butfeting
ne had received during the high seas of the
night before. The poor fellow was returned
to the French penal authorities and has
A dispatch from Cayennes French Gut
ana, says: Devils island is only point of
rock which sticks q scraggy head above the
sea line. 1t Is much nearer to Cayennes
water front than Carondelet is to the Post
Dispatch office / doubt if more than three
quarters of mile separates me from it as
l write this cable Its area. the total area
In which the now celebrated French officer
mas been doomed TO spend his life, IS not
greater than that of single floor OF st.
Louis Exposition building It's longitude is
90, its latitude is ). It's unfertile soil gives
growing place to enough trees TO make 1t
look like grove rising from the sea. The
farthest of these trees might easily be cut
down by a shot from the forts of Cayennes.
Indeed, the ragged rock is completely COM
manded by Cayennes's guns, but this Is far
from satisfactory to the French govern
ment. The prisoner, poor Dreyfus, is so i'm
portant that the efforts of a garrison are
insufficient to satisfy his captors / can
look from my window and see black blot
moving swiftly on the shining surface or
the water between me and the prisoners
brief territory. 1t is a torpedo boat, La
Terrible, a boat built for swiftness and
manned by trusted men, If Dreyfus should
attempt to escape in any craft which ever
sailed these waters the torpedo boat could
overhaul him in little while. On Devils
island there is no vegetation, except the
pines and the charitable moss which carpets
the rocks. But crawling Ssings abound.
There are spiders there, any one of which
might save the French government by Bit
ing the prisoners hand Then there would
be no prisoner. The wife and weeping chill
dren in far Paris would only know that hus-
band and dear father had died of a venom
Gus Insects sting. lola, the brave novelist,
who is fighting all France, would be fight
inc fOr v ffr,n( arRA
abound. Dreyfus's life is a weary, weary
routine. He monotonously sleeps. monoto-
nouSly wakes and monotonouSly sleeps
again. His clothes are coarse. His food is
plain. Cut off from all communication with
his kind, he lives his days and nights UNI
conscious of the fact that all the earth is
worried by his Imprisonment.