The times., 1898-10-09
where DREYFUS LIVES
A Description of the Now Fa-
nous lie 1u biable.
HOW HE is TREATED NOW
The Island Is OF the Coast of French
Guiana. in south America, and
Was Once Used as Leper Colony
There Is No Iron Cage Such as Has
Been Pictured.

Alfred Dreyfus has been a prisoner on
the lie du Diable since March TO- 1895
Much interest has naturally attached it
self TO this small piece of land off the
coast of French Guiana, South America
and much has been written about il,
often with no better base than general
rumor augmented by the imagination.
When the story transpired, in the sum-
mer of 1896, that Dreyfus had escaped
from his prison, TO show how impossible
this would have been II was said that
huge iron cage had been built on the
island for his occupancy; within this
cage there was a hut with open sides,
so that the prisoner was never out of
the sight of his guards. y Partisan pa
per, lie Petit Parisien, even went so far
as TO give a picture of ''Dreyfus in his
prison., drawn on the spot Unfortu-
nately, however, says the New York
Times even for the credulous, the guards
were depicted in the uniforms of the
Second Empire, and not in white fIannels
and helmets, which. they actually wear.
Yet, in spite of the incentive for some
one in Cayenne, which is only fifteen miles
away from the lie du Diable 10 seEsd 20
the world a good description of the ISL
and, which would be eagerly read by
all. people have remained for over three
years without any Trustworthy data con-
corning this island, which shelters the
most remarkable political prisoner of
modern times.
Of course a good deal has been record
ed, most of it in French, concerning the
French possessions in South America, but
as until the spring of 1895 the lie du Dla-
BILE was of little more Importance than
similar island off our own coast, 1t had
almost escaped notice. Possibly the least
meager description of the island is TO be
found in a volume written by Michael NJ.
Shoemaker, and entitled Southern Sea
Islands" but even this is insufficient when
compared to the great interest that the
Dreyfus case has excited throughout the
civilized world. The following facts have
been secured from a number of sources:
The lie du Diable, or Devils Island, is
the smallest of three pieces of land known
as the Safety Islands. They lie stretched
along the coast about 3 miles off the point
where the Kouron River empties into the
Atlantic. Cayenne, the capital of French
Guiana, is about is miles away on the
mainland In a southeasterly direction
French historians make first mention of
the group owing to the ract that on these
islands in 1764 the unfortunate expedition
undertaken by de Choiseul to revenge the
loss of Canada found refuge, but which
ultimately cost France 5000 subjects and
80, 100000 livres- On September Is. 1893, the
English frigates Unity and Amphitrite
seized the islands. took away the garrison
as prisoners and destroyed or carried
away the artillery.
Guiana itself had long been used as a
place of exile. During the French revo-
luton some 600 Royalists and other po-
litical prisoners were sent to Cayenne,
where two-thirds of them perished by fe-
yer and starvation in ten months This
city, its immediate territory and the ISL
ands surrendered to the British after
naval demonstration, made off the coast
in 1909, but were restored to France in
the same year by the treaty of Paris. The
present penal settlement was then estab-
lished. Cayenne has now 400 confined
or ticket-of-leave convicts. Although the
climate is generally called salubrious by
geographers, 1t Is heated and moist along
the coast; yellow and bilious fevers
abound and in malignant form that is
particularly fatal to white prisoners. For
this reason, since 1864, French white con-
victs have been sent to New Caledonia.
From 1863 until 1855 the chronicles are