Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-02-10
VISITS FRENCH PRISON.
DIR. EDWORDS DESCRIBES PRIS-
ON CAMP AT BOURAIL.
Interesting Story of French Penal
ism From Our Special Core
spondent Now i'm South Sea
Islands.


The prison camp at Bourail and the
terrible home of the condemned at
lie Nou, where the guillotine ends
the lives of those who have merited
death according to the French code,
are the centerS of the great blot
among the South Sea Islands. To
describe the terrors of this penal
colony would require the pen of Mil
ton, and to picture them could be
done only by such a man as Dore.
Such awful despair, such terrible
brutality, such abject misery cannot
be found elsewhere in all the world.
One forgets that these men have
committed crimes as he looks upon
the punishment. 1t is a veritable
hell on earth to which they have
been condemned, where every trivial
infraction of the rules brings such
brutal punishment as would not be
melted out in civilized lands to the
most hardened and desperate GRIM
inal for the worst of crimes.
Accompanied by an officer and by
one of the native guards, one of the
most savage looking individuals
have ever seen, / went into the pris-
on at Bourail to see the life-men
who have been sent here to pass their
remaining days shut off from all that
makes life worth living. The native
was armed with a heavy, knotted
club, and the expression of savage
which shown on his face as he follow
ed the officer, showed that he was de-
lighted with his position. Taking
advantage of my desire TO know more
about these prisoners the officer rad
the life-men drawn up in line arc
questioned them regarding their
crimes. The first was there tur
shooting his mistress, the second for
robbery with violence, and so it went
on down the line, but one seemed to
be a hardened criminal and his re-
Spouse was "for willful murder" He
looked as if he would like to commit
the crime again on the person of the
officer.
AS we passed along we came sud-
denly upon convict sitting under a
shelter, reading a book. The native
pounced upon him and tore the book
from him. 1t was New Testament
but reading was an infraction of the
rules and he was Immediately drag
ged forth and searched, and then
thrust into solitary cell, with heavy
chains fastened on his ankles. Here
he would have to remain without
bread or water. These solitary cells
were shown me, nearly all of them
having inmates. Each had commit
ed some trifling infraction of the
rules. One was there because in his
loneliness he had dared to secret
Hedging sparrow, in his bosom, and
was trying to rear it to comfort him.
1t is at lie Nou, however, where
the most desperate criminals are
housed, and here is the guillotine
ready to finish the work of the SEN
tence, which is part confinement and
then death. These convicts do not
know when the time for execution
comes, but on the fatal day they are
aroused at 2 o'clock in the morning
and told that it is time to die. They
are given a special breakfast, with
champagne if they desire it, and then
good cigar and they are sent on
their way TO the other world happier
than they have been since their in
generation.
Surrounded by a high, concrete
wall, with broken glass strewn on the
top to prevent any possible climbing
over, these convicts spend their days
at hard labor under a tropical sun,
and their nights at the mercy of
millions of mosquitoes which infest
the place. Absolutely without hope
of release, and no possible chance of
escape, one wonders why they do not
take their own lives in order to es-
cape their misery, but the records
of the prison show very few suicides.
Even under these most desperate
conditions these men cling to life.
and in nearly every instance where
they are condemned TO die they show
abject fear in the presence of the
guillotine.
few desperate men have effected
their escape from the prison, but
their fate was even worse than if
they had remained inside. They
could not get away from the island,
and the savage native trailers run
them down, and after beating them
with their heavy clubs, returned
them to the prison Where the death
sentence was carried out, for the
penalty for trying to get away is the
loss of the head.
The horrors of this island have
made me heart-sick, and | shall leave
tomorrow for more pleasant places,
and hope to forget what wish / had
never seen.
Clarence E. Edwords.