Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-10
DEso1ATE ISLAND OFF IN HE FAR PACIFIC IS NO THDo only SPOT WHERE Fuen1vEs CAN

something that is very new, but the pub
lie records show that 1t has only been
within the past few years that the world
has had no city of refuge to which the
might hasten in the hour of his
escape.
A few years ago there were many such
spots, scattered from one end of the earth
to the other,a and in those days the fugi-
tive had but to select his place of abode.
II he arrived at the chosen habitation,
justice was unable to reach him.
At that time safe harbors were offered
by Spain, Turkey, Algiers, Japan, Hol-
land. Chile, Ecuador. h Philippines,
Cuba and all OF Central America with III
exception Of British Honduras, to all
kinds of criminals from the United States,
which such offenders as embezzlers might
fee was much larger.
WENT TO CANADA.
Almost every one can remember the
time when every runaway bank cashier
found refuge in Canada, but gradually
the desirable hiding places commenced to
narrow down. The United States gov
eminent lost no opportunity to persuade
other powers that nothing could be more
advantageous than an e~xtraditlOn treaty.
and it has now accomplished it's purpose.
Several years agO Canada passed the law
t1fa has made the Dominion an unhealthy
resort for such tourists. n still later.
Japan adopted a treaty covering
are called the "cr1mes against property"
s~EveAtually things simnered dow un-
til there was nothing left but Central
America, "a at last only Spanish Hon.
duras was left. Mi treaty clause that
was adopted in 1898 robbed the fugitive
of his last place of refuge, SO that today
fhnSh vrhn -dccira ~ oeooyro tho 0frnn0
arm Of justice will have to a X up their
abode upon some desert island or upon
one of the Islands in the Pacific that are
rarely, If ever visited, n that have alb
solutely no means Of communication with
the civilized world.
While 1t Is quite probable that the
fugitive in question would be able to es-
cape discovery in sue a place, he would
not be thoroughly safe even there, for
any country that desired his presence be-
fore the court would not hesitate to go
and take him bodily from an island that
had no treaty relations with it's gov
eminent.
At the present time no one of these
islands offers a safer haven than Pit
cairn, in the Pacific, but the question that
would trouble the gentleman who desired
to escape would be as to the means of
reaching that island. It is so far away
from the ordinary routes Of travel that
the regular ocean steamers never stop
at it's one port. and the only visitors are
occasional sailing vessels that put in for
water and to give the islanders an oppor-
tunity to exchange their products for
clothes and other necessities of life.
1t is doubtful, however, if any fugi-
tive who had been used tn the refine
Of civilized HE would be willing
for the sake Of his liberty. To those
who are u-nacquainted with the conditions
that now exist on the island the very
name OF Pitcairn is suggestive of all kinds
Of romantic associations.
Even the dull old school greopraphies
used to pause for a in their pain
full round of rivers, boundaries and
principal EXPORTS to linger pleasantly
over the romance Of the mutiny on the
British ship Bounty. in 1889. and the
landing Of the leader, Fletcher Christian,
with eight other Englishmen, six Poly
nesian men and twelve Polynesian wom-
en-, on lonely Pitcairn island, where they
founded a colony n agreed to live with
out law.
AT PITCAIRN.
There is no question but that the life
was a. wild whirl while it lasted, but
in eleven years every adult on the ISL
and had either been murdered or had
died Of dissipation, with the exception Of
old Alexander Smith, who was left alone
with the children, who had sprung up
like weeds.
With the help Of a few settlers dropped
by stray ships, he began the Christian
era, the Anne Domini Of the Pitcairn
nicrocosm, and from that date the vir-
tues and simplicity Of the Pitcairn ISL
aders became one of the prettiest pages
in the history of modern civilization.
That is the romantic side of the story,
the bright side that history tells. There
IS another and darker side, however, that
has been left to the modern chronicler
to relate. For years things remained
in an ideal condition in Pitcairn. Every
one was moral n loved his neighbor as
he loved himself, but gradually things
began to change. Generations of inter-
marriages in a few families, coupled With
the vices bred in the plenty and idle
ness of the tropical island. gradually UNI
did all the good work that had been done
by the earlier settlers. and today. it is
stated, the people are little more than
a race Of degenerates.
To Danish a fugitive to live among
such people would be worse than to SEN
tence him to prison. and existence on any
of the other islands where he would be
likely to be sheltered would be just as
desirable.
AS the result, therefore. it may be said
with truth that there is no place in the