The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-06-23
DEVILS ISLAND
HORRIBLE PLACE
FRENCH WRITER PAINTS A PIC
TURE OF HIS CoUNTRYs Gull
ANA PRISoN-MANY ATTEMPT
TO EscAPE-DUTcH GUIANA
PLANTERS PROTECT THEM.

Paris Cor, New York Sun: Jean
Galmont, who is we'll known as a writ
er on prisons and prison life, has a
series Of interesting letters to the
Matin or conditions in the penal set
tlement in French Guiana and on the
three safety islands, which lie a short
distance off the coast. One Of this
group, Devils Island, it will be re-
membered, vas where Dreyfus was in
carcerated n from which Eddie
Guerin, the Chicago crook, escaped af-
ter being sentenced to life imprison-
ment for robbing the American En-
press company in Paris.
According to the statistics which M.
Galmont furnishes, and he says he OBJ
tanned them from the director of the
penal settlement at Cayenne. one
fourth of the prisoners in French Gui-
ana escape every year owing to the
lack of adequate surveillance. To I'M
derstand the situation better, the fig
ures can be put this way:
OF about 1000 convicts sent to Gut
ana every year from France, 800 escape
definitely.
Nature Aids Guards.
1t will be seen from these figures
that a large percentage of those who
escape are r~ecaptured. The French
authorities figure that instead Of sup
plying enough guardians to watch over
the convicts-one to eighty is the pres
ent percentage-they can count that
the jungle and fever guard the penal
J settlement well enough on the land
side, while the sharks keep a watch
full lookout for any convicts who at
tempt to escape bY water.
It is interesting in this connection
to note that the penal settlement or
New Caledonia, according to a decree
just issued, is to be abandoned.
M. Galmont tells Of returning on the
steamer which had taken back to the
penal settlement sixty men who had
been recaptured in France. The jailer
on board he vessel pointed out the
convicts, who, he said. were his most
faithful clients. There was one, he
said. who returns every three months,
and has done so for five years. An
other is a sort of travelling representa-
tive for his companions al Cayenne;
he buys what they want in France
and takes the purchases back with
him. Another has escaped sixteen
times. He knows the jungle like a
book and is always the leader of es-
Gaping parties. He organizes bands
Of convicts who wish to gain the
frontiers of Venezuela. Colombia or
sail for Panama at SO francs ($10) a
head. Unfortunately he limps, and
thus he himself is always recognized
and re~captured.
One jolly Prisoner.
One of the jolIiest members, OF the
band returning to the feper-tnfested
islands was Maurice Bontema 20 years
old, who stole the statue Of Isis from
the Louvre. Bontems tells his story
in a whimsical ways
"The statue Of Isis wasEfound in ex-
cavattons at the tomb Of RaIheses IN
Egypt. It was brought to France I'M
der Napoleon. It Is Of delicate white
marble, a wonderful piece of work. !
knew hts value because my parents
were antiQuarians and I am somewhat
Of an artist myself. The proof OF the
statement Is that I was arrested on
the stage of the Olympic on March 4,
1911.
can American offered me 10000
francs CSC, 10000 for the statue If / could
get 1t out of the Louvre. The Ameri-
cans secretary lent me his fur coat
and i left the Louvre with the statue,
which weighs forty-two pounds under
my coat.
I'm crossing the Place de la Con-
corde I stopped a moment in front OF
Cleopatra's needle and took out the
statue so that Isis could say adieu
to the obelisk. They come from the
same country, you know. Then I took
the subway and was arrested Shortly
afterward.
"The American paid cash for the
statue. What a fool he was! A short
time before that he gave a stamp COL
lection worth 900, 900 francs ($12O,-
000) to the British museum.
"And the statue?" Bontems was
asked.
ut is in Italy"
Raided a Mansion.
Five convicts, three men and two
women, who escaped not long ago
from Cayenne, entered the little town
of Saint Laurent du Maroni during
the night and established themselves
in the mansion of the subdirector OF
penitentiaries, who vas away from
home. The convicts not only ate and
drank everything in the house, but
moved out every article of furniture
even the bathtub, and sold everything
to the town merchants. The male
convicts were sentenced to a year In
prison for the escapade, while the wo-
men were acquitted.
Welcomed by Dutch.
A large number of the French CON
victs who manage to make their way
through the jungle to the frontier OF
Dutch Guiana are welcomed by the
Dutch authorities, who put them to
work on the plantations. Labor is
scarce there. so that it is almost i'm
possible to get enough men to work
the plantations. The escaped convicts
are allowed to stay there as long as
they behave themselves, but as soon
as q convict breaks the rules he is sent
back to Cayenne. Many, Of the French
| convicts have been in Dutch Guiana
! for twenty or thirty years, living hap
| PLY in their adopted home. Every
branch of service in the colony, mines
agriculture, forests and missions, has
| its escane6 ~convicts