The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-08
apt Duquesnes Thrilling Career as Soldier of Fortune
Recent Escape From Bellevue IsTvpical
of Experiences Which Have Made
His Life One Long Adventure
Freedom Once Gained by Max
ing Love to Kaffir Chiefs
Dusky Daughter

that the Eng,.eh officers were thor
oughly deceived, and believing his be-
.rayai to be genuine sent him of to
fuckers Island, one Of the Bermuda
eroup' TO serve a sentence In a mill
tary prison.
According to Capt. Duquesne,s fire.
quent stories Of this part of his career.
ne and Baron Keynach, also an officer
In the Boer army. were led through
cape Town in irons so heavy that
they cut into his wrists and legs and
caused scars that are still visible. The
English also clipped his hair close, for
capt. Duouesne was one of those
Beers who had vowed that he would
not cut his hair until the English had
been defeated and driven from South
Africa.
After being driven through the
streets OF Cape Town, Capt. Duauesne
ana the Baron were put on board the
prison ship Harlick Castle and taken
TO fuckers Island. Duquesne alwa s
claimed that the British kept him in
cells In Cape Town and on the ship
Tor forty-two days, chained to the
wall with one hand under one
shoulder and the other hand over the
other shoulder. On fuckers Island
the prisoners werssput in a special
camp surrounded by a wire fence and
pa trolled constantly by British soldiers.
He and an officer named Bosch tried
to escape on April rs. 1902. but they
failed and Bosch was killed by the
guards while making the ATTEMPT.
capt. Duquesne was then considered
danRarnlfa mo ~
another prison on Burtt's Island,
about mile and a half from Bahama,
the principal island OF the Bermuda
group, on which is located the capital,
Hamilton.
Capt. Duquesne gave the English
his promise that he would not try TO
escape. and was therefore allowed a
certain freedom, that is, he was not
kept locked up and had pretty much
the run OF the camp. He Immediately
planned to break his parole and escape.
ana began preparations to get away
with Lieut.. Du Toit of the Boer army.
also a prisoner. They agreed that
their only chance was to slip out OF
the stockade and swim across the
channel to Bahama, get into the city
or Hamilton and there take their
chances OF getting aboard an Ameri-
| can or other neutral vessel
In shark Infested Waters.
Accordingly, one dark night when
the rain was falling in sheets and the
sentries huddled together in their
boxes. Duquesne and Du Toit sue
ceeded in getting through the wire
fence without being observed by the
guards. They made their way to the
shore and then. with their clothing
and boots tied about their waists, they
started to swim across to Bahama.
Duquesne always reckoned the sue
ceeding hour and a half as about the
most hair raising of his whole career.
The mile and half Of water between
Burtt's Island and Bahama is very
deep. and very swift. Besides that il
is infested with sharks, and that was
probably the greatest danger to the
swimmers. They swan close to-
gether all the way across, with a
lighthouse on the Bahama shore. only
faintly visible through the darkness.
as their only guide for direction. Sew
eral times, as their bodies touched each
other with the efforts of swimming
each would think the other a shark.
On one occasion Du Toit became I'M
nerved and thinking that he had come
In contact with shark. when as a
matter Of fact he had only touched
Duauesnes leg as they swan along
together, he dived and then turned
back toward the prison island, and II
was only with great difficulty that
Duquesne induced him to continue.
During their long swim across the
two men were also in great danger
from the scores of British craft. .smalI
boats and the like that patrolled the
channel. These craft all carried
searchlights, and Duquesne used to say
that he and Du Toit had to dive about
every hundred yards to escape being
caught in the beam of a light that
searched the waters. And during the
last two or three hundred yards of
their trip they heard sounds in the
water that made them believe sharks
had caught their trail and We're upon
them, and as they reached the beach
and staggered toward dry land the fins
of two or three sharks appeared not