The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-18
MARRIAGE on a PRISON ISLAND.
The Brides of the Andamans-The
Penal Colony for British India.

From the New York Sun.
Il have known of some queer marriages
In The twenty years / have knocked about
.he world, said a sea captain the other
gay out / think the pairing OF of the
3 3sin a. Andaman was the strangest
fhlns OF them all For a couple of years
l commanded the steamer that runs down
hohthly from Calcutta to the penal col
o oy 5or British India, on the Andaman
dud Ncopaf Islands. / was a youngster
tneh ana interested IN all sorts OF things
aliu II ulan take me long 20 strike uFr an
oSqualnt sance with the chief Commissioners
OF president of the colony. who used 10
tet me so all over the place. The female
y SOL VAS an object of special interest
70 me, ana must have been an object of
special interest 20 the prisoners for eN-
eept the gray-haired superintendent they
uiuh see man from one years end 10
anolhef' / had smattering OF The Lam
SudSt' ana enjoyed several harmless 'r-
tatlons with dusky beauties whose eccen-
lrbclueS even India had been unable to put
The prison is as inaccessible as any
suitans harem 1t is built on a promon-
tory and protected on the side. toward the
sea by a sheer blum 200 feet high while
on me iand side the grouds are surround
ed by a l5-foot wall. There are several
su9INs stationed &C the entrance, and in
order 70 get by the first of these a man
mas TO give certain pas.@ ord. In re-
turn this guard gives him Gnother pass
MorQ "hlch takes him by tAe second, and
SO on past half dozen, maybe These
and most hideous women in the iail 10
oe eHglDte a woman must have gray hair
ana face that would stop cock be-
SIDES record for sObrety and obedience
AN the convicts went down from Cal
cutta IN my boat. and when / saw them
atterWard IN the prison they always re
nempefed me, ana some of them would
nave fallen on my neck if they hadn't
Deen AFRAID OF The superintendent who WAS
eenerai hyv alongside NJ of me All the pris
prison they weave all the cloth for the
mems clothes and their own and make
them up. too, / believe. If any of the wo-
men refuse 10 do their stint OF work they
are punished The first punishment is 10
cut Oft their hair. This they don't like
very much, and the threat of il will gener-
ANY bring them to terms for they are just
as VAN as other women, and don't want
tnelr long hair cut off. II
this doesn't convince them that
rs better to work in the shop,
they are made to wear mems clothes and
work In the grounds, which are beautiful
~ Kept entirely by the women prisoners
Inc trousers and jackets given to those
who are punished in this way are of the
cOarsest material, and are very unbecom-
ing, and the women have to trundle wheel
barrows and dig In the dirt, just like men.
If even this fails they are further punish
ed by being put to sleep in cell with the'
then IN cross rows, grill fashion. The
branches are full of sharp 'thorns, which
make II impossible TO stand. sit or lie
down in comfort Generally one night of
this Is enough to make the worst case
ready for the workroom but there was one
girl who stood the extreme penalty of three
do a lick of work She was a mighty pref
ty woman, and had been sent TO the ISL
and for numbering her lover She made
nothing but trouble from the day she
and nothing could make her work, so fin
ally they gave her up as a bad job, and
made her sit all day in the work-room in
mems clothes on a sort of elevated Ounce
block One day / got the superintendent
to give me her history. It's too long TO
tell now, but IFS enough to make your
hair curb She'll never get a chance to
make one of the marriages I'm going to
tell you about, because those are rewards
for good behavior and she is the worst Wo-
man on the island.
when they have maybe a dozen ticket
of-leave men and women, they have a sort
of matrimonial reception. If any ma tches
are made the coup.es are allowed to go
UP to Nicobar group some distance away
and settle on the government land. There
they get 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 left SEN
fences. These matrimonial receptions are
the funniest things / ever saw. The men
are brought one by one into a sort of re-
ception room, where the woman are stand
ing in a 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 a man
is brought into this room statement Is
mode of his name. his history, his religion,
his age, the crime he is there for and so
on. There are, maybe, half dozen wo-
men of his religion on the eligible list and
he is taken 10 the first one in the row. If,
after talking with her for few 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 further down that he
likes better than those near the top. Some
times he sees one near the END Of the line
that takes his fancy, and ne Will walk
straight by all the others, and go to her.
If she likes him, TOO. they go up to the
toble and her history is read to him. He
may poss bly, object to the crime she was
sent up for and II so the affair Is de-
clared off; but usually there Is no trouble
about that. for If a man likes the looks Of
a woman he doesn't care now she came
10 be there. II would generally be case
of the pot calling the kettle black. any
''ff a man goes all through the line and
doesn't find one that quite satisfies him,
he sometimes wants to take one further
up that he has before passed by as not
quite good enough. But do you think she
will have anything to do with him then?
Not much She will look at him as If he
were dirt, and hold her neck as stiff as a
''When they have paired off as many as
possible the keeps let the difIefSnt col-
PIES go out and walk about in the grounds
for the rest Of the afternoon, 60 get ac-
quainted with each other and spark
little maybe. Sometimes they don't make
more than one or two matches In whole
afternoon for they are very hard 10 suit,
those convicts, though you would think
they'd be glad 10 get anybody or any
thing, just for change or Ire from
that in the jail.
These marriage parties always take
place on a Saturday, and just a week
from that day the man is allowed to visit
the woman again for an hour and con-
tinue their acquaintance. If a the end
of three Saturdays they are still of the
q Vio a. falr "a
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 well together though sometimes
they have a fight and one kills the other,
from mere force of habit IN that case
the survivor Is sent back TO the jail az
Andaman. But this very seldom happens.