Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-01-03
WHElE FUGITIVES
LAY EIDE.
Few Spots Where criminals MAY Con-
ceal Themselves From the Man
K With The Warrant.

ceal Themselves From the Man
K With the Warrant.
It was Dick Swtveller who checked
off the streets OF London and then de-
cided that there was practically no
t-horoughfare that he could travers
without fear of meeting a creditor, and
the fugitive criminals of to-day are
in much the same position. They may
seat themselves before a map and
study the countries of the earth until
mountains, rivers and cities mingle and
become one before their weary eyes, but
they will be unable to select a single
spot in the whole civilized world in
(which they would be safe from the
pursuit of the dreaded man with a war
rant.
To-day extradition constitutes SO
snuch a part of the Jurisprudence of all
countries that it is difficult for one to
remember that such a condition of af-
fairs is something that is very new, but
only been within the past few years
that the world has had no city Of ref
nge to which the criminal might hasten
jim the hour of his scape
A few years & there were many
such spots, scattered from one end of
the earth to the other, and in those
days the fugitive had but to select his
place of abode. If he arrived at the
chosen ~habitation, Justice was unable
to reach him.
At that time safe harbors were Of
Ior6d Dy spain. turkey, A1S16TS, ia
pan, Holland, Chilli, Ecuador, the Phil
ippines, Cuba and all of Central Amer
lea with the exception of British Hon
1uras, to all kinds Of criminals from the
United States, from murderers down,
while the places to which such Offend
ers as embezzlers might fee was much
larger.
WENT TO CANADA.
Almost everyone can remember the
lime when every runaway h9nk "a hiQr
found refuge in Canada, but gradually
the desirable hiding places commenced
70 narrow down. The United States
Toyernnne1 lost no opportunity TO per-
Suade other Powers that nothing oouiq
De more advanta%%eous than an ga
-dition treaty, and it has now accom-
plished it's urpos Several years ago
canada passed the law that has made
the Dominion an unhealthy resort for
such tourists, and still later, Japan
-adopte a treaty covering what are
called the Acrimes against property.
Eventually things simmered down I'M
til there was nothing left but Central
America, and at last only Spanish Hon
duras was left. The treaty clause that
was adopted in 1898 robbed the fugitive
of his last place of refuge, so that to-
day those who desire to escape the
strong arm Of justice will have to axe
I'D their abode upon some desert 1sIand
Or upon some one of the islands in the
Pacific that are rarely if ever visited.
AnQ Una Nave dpSO1ulS1S III 1A1CcAAo u
communication with the civilized world.
While it is quite probable that the
fugitive in question would be able TO
escape discovery in such a place, ne
would not be thoroughly safe even
there, for any country that desired his
presence before the court would moi
hesitate to go and take him bodily from
an island that had no treaty relations
with it's
At the present time no one of these
Islands offers 9 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. 1t is sc
far away from the ordinary routes OF
travel that the regular ocean teamers
never stop at its one port, and the only
visitors are occasional sailing vessels
that put in for water and to give the
islanders an opportunity to exchange
their products for clothes and othel
necessities of life.
It is doubtful, however, if any fugi
tive who had been used to the refine
ments of civilized life would be willing
to take up his abode On the island, ever
for the sake of his liberty. To thos'
who are u~nacquainted with the condi
lions that now exist on the island tn
very name of Pitcairn is suggestive o
all kinds of romantic associations.
Even the dull old school geographic
used to pause for a momen in thei
painful round of rivers, an
principal exports" to linger pleasantly
over the romance of the mutiny on tn
British ship Bounty, in 1889, and tn
landing of the leader, Fletcher Chris
tan, with eight other Englishmen, ST
Polynesian men and twelve Polynesia
women, on lonely Pitcairn Island, Wher
they founded q colony and agreed t
live without law.
AT PITCAIRN.
There is no question but that the lf
was a wild whirl While it lasted, bu
in eleven years every adult on the is
land had either been murdered or ha
died of dissipation, with the exceptio
of old Alexander Smith, who was lei
alone with the children, who ha
sprung up like weeds.
With the help of a few settler
dropped by stray ships, he began til
Christian era, the Ammo Domini of til
Pitcairn microcOS12, and from that dat
the virtues and simplicity of the PIT
cairn islanders became one of the pre-
tiesJ pages in the history of moder
civilization.
That is the side of the Stor'
the bright side that history tells. Thel
is another and darker side, howeVe
that has been left to the modern chro1
icIer to relate. For years things n
NAMED in an ideal condition in Pi
cairn. Everyone was moral and love
his neighbor as he loved himself, b
gradually things began to change. Gel
eratiOnS of interma1riage in a few fan
lilies, coupled with the vices bred
the plenty and idIeness of the tropic
island, gradually undid all the goo
work that had been done by the earii
settlers, and to-day, it is stated, tt