The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-01-12
CONVICT MARRIAGES.
PAIRING OFF THE JAiLslRDs AT An
ma ma | pAMAts, INDIA.

|tld liza DAMA", INDIA.
neceptiont Mt Which the brides Are
0elected-lA" Brief Courtship-suit-
ors That Are Hard to Suit-Wedded
Life ON a Prison Island.
II have known OF some queer marriages
in the 20 years have knocked about the
world" said sea captain tho other day,
"but l think the pairing off Of tho jail.
birds at Andaman was the strangest thing
Of them all. For couple Of years oom.
manded the steamer that runs down
monthly from Calcutta to the penal colony
for British India on the Andaman and
Nicobar islands. was youngster then
and interested in all sorts of things and II
didn't take me long to strike up an &C.
quaintance with the chief commissioner
or president Of tho colony, who used to lot
. me go all over the place.
"!rhe prison Ia as inaccessible az any
sultan's hareIp a, II Is built on promon-
tory and.protected on the side toward the
sea by sheer cliff 800 feet high, while on
the land side the grounds are surrounded
stationed at the entrance, and in order to
get by the first Of these man has to give
certain password. In return this guard
gives him another password, which takes
him by the second, and 60 on, past half a
dozen maybe. These police. as they are
called, are the Oldest and most hideous
women in the jail. To DO eligible wom-
an must have gray hair and face that
would stop clock, besides a record for
sobriety and obedience.
GAN the prisoners have to work, and In
the female prison they weave all tho cloth
for the mems clothes and their own, and
make them up, too believe. II any Of
the women refuse to do their stint Of
work, they are punished. The first pun
ishment Is to cut off their hair This they
don't like very much, and the threat of it
will generally bring them to terms, for
they are just ms vain as other women and
don't want their long hair out off. If this
doesn't convince them that it's better to
work In the shop, they are made to wear
mems clothes and work in the grounds,
which are beautifully kept, entirely by
the women prisoners. The trousers and
jackets given to those who are punished
in this way are of the coarsest material,
and are very unbecoining and the women
have to trundle wheelbarrows and dig In
the dirt, just like mon. If even this fails,
thoy arc further punished by being put to
sleep in a cell with the floor covered by
branches laid in rows and then in cross
rows, grill fashion. The branches are full
of sharp thorns, which make 1t impossible
to stand sit or lie down in comfort
Generally one night of this Is enough to
mako the worst case ready for the work
room, but there was one girl who stood
tho extreme penalty of three nights in this
room and still refused to do a lick of
work. She wouldn't work, and nothing
could make her work. So finally they
gave her up as bad job, and made hor
sit all day long in the workroom in mems
clothes on sort Of elevated Ounce block
She'll mover get u chance to make one of
the marriages IN going to tell you about,
because those arc rewards for good be-
havior, and she is the worst woman on
the island
"When they have maybe dozen ticket
Of leave men and women, they have sort
Of matrimonial reception. If any matches
are made the couples are allowed to 90 up
to tho Nicobar group some distance away
and settle on the government land. There
they get certain number of acres, q hut
and some commissary stores, and are left
to themselves. The tickets Of leave don't
take them anywhere except to the Nico-
bars, for they nearly all have life SEN
fences. These matrimonial receptions are
the funniest thing l ever saw. The men
are brought one by ono into sort of re-
ception room, where the women are stand
ing in long row. There are generally
several breaks in the line, to separate
those of different castles and religions, for
they are very particular about that in In
dia. Some of these men haven't seen
woman for ten years, maybe, and they
look very curiously at them.
when man Is brought into this room,
a statement Is made Of his name, his his
tory his religion, his ago, the crime he Is
there for and so on There arc maybe half
dozen women of his religion on the eligi
bic list and he is taken to the first one in
the row. If after talking with bor fow
minutes he doesn't think he would like her
he goes on to the next one. He is always
Covertly casting his eye along the line to
see If there are any farther down that no
likes better than those near the top. Some
times he sees one near the end of the line
that takes his fancy, and he will walk
straight by all the Others and go to her. II
she likes him, too, they go up to the table
and her history Is read to him. He may
possibly object to the crime she was sent
up for, and II so the affair Is declared off.
But usually there is no trouble about that.
"When they have paired off as many as
possible the keepers lot the different cou-
pies go out and walk about In the grounds
for the rest of the afternoon, to get ao-
quainted with each other and spark a lit
Ito, maybe. Sometimes they don't make
more than one or two matches in whole
afternoon, for they arc very hard to suit,
those convicts, though you would think
thoy would be glad to get anybody or any
thing, just for "A change Of life from that
in the Jail.
"These marriage parties always take
place on q Saturday, and just a week from
that day the man Ia allowed to visit the
woman again for an hour and continue
their acquaintance. II at the end of three
Saturdays they are still Of the same mind,
they are married and taken on the boat
down to the Nicobars, where they begin
their married life. As said, they give
them hut, few acres Of ground and
some provisions, and let them alone.
These couples generally get along pretty
we'll together, though sometimes they
have fight and one kills the other from
mere force of habit. In that case the sur
vivor is sent back to the Jail at Andaman.
But this very seldom happens. If they
have children, which they generally do
not, these are left with their parents till
they die off, for the Nicobars are so un-
healthful and full of fever that people
don't live very long there.
"There Is only one resident officer at
tho Ncobar colony, for there has only
been one Englishman found who could
stand the climate. lie lives there all
alone with the convicts and though the
government has built him fine house he
leads tho loneiest kind of life, for, Of
course, he can't keep u family there, be.
cause they would get the fever and die
inside of six months. The chief commits
sionsr of Andaman comes down to see him
occasionally New York Sun.