Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-08
BOER PRISONERS.
IN BERMUDAS.

+ Ii.
That several thousand Beers are held
prisoners almost under the shadow OF
the eastern shore of tie United Stptes Is
perhaps not generally known. Several
of the Bermuda ISLANDS, which belong.
geographically, more to the new worid
than the old, are being used by the Brit
isll at present for their prisoners. The
condition of those prisoners has been
discussed by the public prints. and one
New York journal, at least, has sue
ceeded in giving to the world a state
ment of the sort of life which the Boer
prisoners are forced to undergo. Moth
ing definite has been allowed to be made
public on the subject, however, for rea-
sons best known to the British authors
ties in charge of the islands
A narrative full of interest and infor-
nation has been brought to st. Louis
within the past two days by Mr.. r, Il.
NJ. Balm, the st. Louis agent for a line
OF steamships operating between the
Bermudas and other parts of the world.
Mr.. Balm recently made the trip to the
islands, induced to do SO by his interest
In all the live topics Of the day. Incl
dentally, he has brother who is one of
the foremost journalists of New York
City. Thus Mr.. Balm hoped. on his trip
20 the Interesting islands In question. to
obtain information which would be of
interest to his brother. His intention In
Guided the getting of photographs.
which might illustrate the life of the
prisoners held by the British. He made
the trip to the Berumdas. remaining less
than week on the Islands, and return
ing to his post of duty here Thursday.
He succeeded in getting very interest
Ing story about the Boer prisoners. He
did not get the photographs which he
hoped to obtain. His story of the failure
in the second case, and his observations
of the conditions of the Beers, is OF PEE
culiar interest.
There are at present no less than 5000
Roer prisoners on different islands OF the
Bermuda group" said Mr.. Balm yester-
day. Some of them have only just ar
rived. Others have been there some
tfme-I can not say how long. They are
expecting another consignment of them,
100 strong. at an early date. You can
readily see that this ought to provide
material for an article full OF interest
and information For this reason, when
I recently made up my mind to include
the islands in summer tour, made
preparations to get an Illustrated article
for my brother, George Grantham Balm,
of New York, who does work for Black
and White, OF London, the Globe Demo-
crat and half dozen of the leading pa
pers of the east. When embarked for
the Bermudas / was equipped With a
camera, with which I hoped to eaton
some of the more significant views, and
was also prepared to collect material
showing the exact condition of the pris-
soners.
A reporter on the New York Herald
had been the pioneer of the field, and
lad reported the state of affairs in y
way which had greatly displeased the
British officials. They had charged IN
accuracies and unfairness. 1t seemed
TO me the more probable, therefore, that
they would facilitate the movements of
any person who was there for the pur-
pose of correcting this misimpression,
and giving to the world an exact state
mer,t of conditions as they existed.
n My first step upon arriving at the
was to call on the colonial
secretary. explained to him frankly
that i wished to learn for myseK the
conditions of their prisoners. asked
his advice as to the best means OF secur-
ing entrance to the Boer camps, the diff
ferent islands which should need in
my mission. He had not the authority
to grant what I wanted, and referred
me to the governor general, who invited