Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-01-27
EDWORDS AT NOUMEA
VISITS FRENCH PENAL ISLAND
AND DESCRIBES 1T.
Customs in Vogue Among French
Prisoners; MOue of Living; ParOled
COnvictS, Etc.

approached this island was the great
central chain Of mountains, and they
are as forbidding as the reputation of
the country. The French seized this
island in 1853 and ten years later
converted it into a penal settlement.
The natives are repulsiye looking, O.
deep chocolate color, and with al
most demoniac faces. Their greatest
pleasure is hunting down escaped
cOnvicts, and they conduct the man
hunts with all the JOY of their saw
age man eating forefathers. AS We
approach the harbor we pass the
horrible isleU of misery, lie
Nou, and with our glasses
We can see the convicts working un-
der surveillance of their hard tash
masters. 1, is aptly named the Isle
of Despair"
Noumea boasts of numerous hotels
where one can live fairly well on
two dollars day, barring all luxur-
les. Everything seems to be Eek
ira" when you call for it, and even
your bath is two frances. There is
no place here for sea bathing, the
shore is infested with sharks and
those ugly yellow sea snakes that
make bathing a terror Gangs of
convicts passing along the road, their
chains clanking and their wizened
and drawn faces showing their ter
rible condition, are not pleasant
things to look upon.
The native Caledonian refuses
mental work of any kind. He makes
his women do everything of this sort
that is needed. Sometimes, if fate
be kind to him, he is en- -sted in the
native soldiery" whose chief occupa-
ton is chasing down such convicts
as prefer the woods with their lone
someness to the work in the chain
gang. The native soldier hunts down
these escapes, and beat them fright
fully with clubs. They also watch
over them while at work and beat
them for slightest infractions of
rules. / shall tell more of this in a
future letter.
Probably the most to be pitied
persons on the island are the ticket
of leave" men. These are convicts
who have been paroled or who have
received their liberty, but without
permission to leave the island. Some
of them have been permitted to till
a little ground, and these are COM
paratively happy, but the majority
of them are always suspects, on the
general rule that once a convict al
| ways a convict. They are not per-
mitted to go into the hotels, nor to
drink at the bars of the town, and
are Stunned by everybody. There
is nothing for them to do, and some
Of the most desperate criminals of
the convict gangs are men who were
driven to additional crime in order
that they might have the compan-
ionship of their fellows even if that
companionship was in the prison.
/ had an experience the other
| night that made me feel deeply for
these poor unfortunates. / strolled
out after dark to look at the town
and see what the night life might be.
AS l passed along / was accosted by
&. man of gentlemanly appearance,
and we strolled along together. He
is we'll read and seems in every res
pect a gentleman. On reaching my
hotel l invites him in to have a part
ing glass of cognac. He hesitates
at first, but finally follows me to the
bar. To my surprise the bar maid
accosted him with, Here you beast.
Leave the hotel Immediately. Do
you hear?" He looked at me visit
fully and then with an air of deep
detection turned and left the hotel
l turned for an explanation which
was quickly forthcoming.
IF you respect yourself, sir,
said the bar maid. you won't be
seen speaking to that man. He's
ticket of leave man, and has no bust
ness coming into this house."
/ could not help thinking that
this system was all wrong. OF course
there are many desperate crim-
inals among the convicts here, who,
If turned loose upon the town would
overrun it with crime, but when a
man has been sent there for some
crime rather of the heart than of
the head, and has expaited it and
been released it seems that he
should be given opportunity to
mingle with his fellows, If only to
prevent him from becoming a real
criminal.
Noumea is a town of huts, but IL
covers an area of several square
miles, and boasts of few handsome
buildings. The most prominent is
the one owned by the Masonic order
and it is called by most of the resi-