The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-02

NlCl CDlDil4 Was eSlduuSueu as SOOi oo Chili gained her independence. and sometimes more than a thousand crin- inals were here. Of course, after the manner of Chilians, they were subject ed to the most barbarous treatment in the gloomy dungeons which are dug into the brow of the bluff facing the harbor, and extend several hundred feet underground in the form of vaults and passages, somewhat resembling the Catacombs at Rome. The gates by which the entrances were secured dis appeared long ago, and the passages that have not fallen in are pre-empted by wild dogs, bats snakes. toads and eentipedes. We dared not venture in- side, but one who did describes them in these worads: Rank ferns hung upon the sides, the walls overhead dripped with death-like sweat, slimy drops coursed down the sides and the air was damp and cold. Thick dark ness reigned within the depths, pene- trated by no wandering gleam from the light of day, for heaven never smiled upon these dreary abodes of sin and sorrow. A few of the inner dungeons AOt d lllC MO1SL CllillllldlS WCfC uuS olAlA deeper underground, reached by rough stairways of earth. shut out from the upper vaults by strong doors. These lower dungeons were not more than five feet long by four feet high, and 1 from their size one may form some idea | of the sufferings endured by the poor
 wrecahes, loaded with irons. crsuhed
 down by impenetrable walls of earth, in utter darkness, starved and heated by their cruel guards, with no living soul to pity and no hope of release but in death By the aid of torch we saw deep holes scratched on one of the walls. bearing the impress of human fingers. Perhaps some unhappy murderer. goad
 ed to madness by such tortures of mind and body as drives men to tear their own flesh when buried before the vital spark is extinct, had grasped out the earth in his desperation and left marks of his death agonies upon the clay that entombed him" About thirty years af- ter the founding of this terrible peanal colony, some three hundred prisoners broke loosae from their chains, mur- dered the guards and escaped. They seized the garrison and for several days held possession of the island Just then a Nantucket whale ship happened to put into Cumberland for food and wa Rter The convicts seized the captain and compellel him to take on board as many of their number as his vessel could possibly carry. Two hundred of them crowded in and they threatened
 the ships officers with instant death in case of failure to land them on the coast of Peru, whither they determined
 to go to esacape the vengeance of the Chiliau government. The captain of the l whaler ran over to the nearest land on 1 the coast of Chilli, and leading the con- victs to believe that it was Peru, put them ashore only about thirty miles north from Valparaiso. They soon
 found out their dangerous situation;
 but it is said that every one of them succeeded in eluding the ChiIiau au- 1 thorities, and eventually joined the Pe-
 ruvian army, which was at that time marching upon Santiago. Most of the
 prisoners left on the island escaped by different vessels nd were scattered over the globe. But very few of those engaged in the massacre of the island garrison were recai ured. and they
 were shot in the central square of Chi li's capital. All this occurred less than half a century ago. On that side of 1 Crusoe's Lookout which faces the bay. a marble tablet has been set, bearing the following inscription: Tn memory of Alexander Selkirk, mariner, native of Largo, county of Fife, Scotland who lived upon this island in complete soli-
 tude for four years and four months.
 He was landed from the Cinque Ports galley, ninety-six tons, sixteen guns, A.
 D. 170a; and was taken off in the Duke, privateer on February 12, 1709. He died Lieutenant of H. B. M. s. Wey- mouth, forty-seven years. This tablet
 is erectead on Selkirks Lookout by Commodore Powell and the officers of the H. B. M. s. Topaz, A. D. 1S6s." i Standing where Crusoe stood when he was monarch of all he surveyed-and his right there was none to dispute-one looks off upon lovely valleys and wood-
 ed ravines, fair and solitary as the hap by Valley of Rasselas, till recently sell dom trodden by human feet, environed
 on all sides by long swells of the Pas- l fic, unbroken to the horizon, except by
 the dim shapes of other islands belong l ing to the same group.
 Later we hunted up other relics of
 SelkirlS's story. Great care has been
 taken to preserve things just as he left
 them, so far as inexoratble time will all
 low The castle long since suc-
 cumbed to wind and weather, and the
 country residence as well; but the
 cave, which has also been a famous re-
 sort for buccaneers, may easily be visi-
 ted. It lies in a ridge of volcanic rock,
 and looks as if it might be the doorway
 into the ruins of some splendid temple.
 The entrance is fully fifteen feet high,
 and the cavern runs back about thirty
 eighteen feet. There are many holes or
 pockets dug into the inner surface of the reddish rock, which perhaps were
 Crusoe's cupboards. There are rusty
 spikes driven all around, on which he
 may have hung his guns and household
 utensils, and those wonderful garments
 and umbrellas made of goat skins. A
 stone oven, with sunken place for fire
 underneath it, is visible in the back part
 of the cave, and a broad, dark smoke line reaches to the roof-probably made 1 While his man Friday kept the house
 tidy.
 For, be sure, twas his business to do SOL
 according to one of the many long,