The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1926-05-28
CONVICT COLONIES
STILL MAINTAINED
Located in Loneliest Places
in World.


be the last French convict ship, sailed
out of La Rochelle recently with $40
convicts destined for Incarceration on
DEVILS island, French Guiana.
Recently, also, Mexico dispatched
noted criminal to its lonely convict
island, Maria Madre.
Russia hss started air service be-.
tween KEN and Solovetski island in
the White sea to transport prisoners.
The famous monastery on the island
has been converted into prison.
"These three incidents show that
the practice of maintaining convict
colonies in the worlds loneliest
places has not entirely been given up"
says a bulletin of the National Geo.
graphic society from its headquarters
at Washington.
Famous Penal Colonies.
Devils island, Maria Madre and
Solovetski island are in very mixed
company historically. Virginia, st.
Helena, Funchal, Monte Christie, ST.
IBERIA, the Seychelles, Australia, New
Caledonia, Andaman islands, Tasma-
MIA and Sakhalin have all been penal
colonies for more or less distinguished
prisoners.
"St. Helena, Funchal and the Sey-
chelles are royal prison islands. The
others in their time served for COM
mon criminals or unlucky politicians.
When Elba failed to hold Napoleon he
was placed on ST. Helena, well toward
the middle of the South Atlantic, out
of harm and out of the shipping lanes.
That was in 1915. He died in 1921.
''Funchal In the Azores and the Sey-
chelles on the east coast of Africa
north of Madagascar are more recent
prison stations. In Africa the British
occasionally find it expedient to alb
sent, certain native rulers from their
subjects. So, when Prempeh, king of
the Ashanti on the Gold coast, spilled
too much blood, they sent him to So
journ in the soothing climate Of the
Seychelles. Prempeh, after twenty
years, returned to his people, so ap-
parently he did not like the asylum.
But the English did, so they sent
Mwanga, deposed ruler of Uganda, to
join him and then Kabarega of Un-
yoro, Sayyid Khalid of Zanzibar and
Saad Zaghul of Egypt. The Sey-
chelles detention was not nearly so eff
fective in the case of Zaghul, who Is
now the leader of popular party In
Egypt. To Funchal. was sent the de-
posed emperor of Austria Hungary i'm
mediately following the end of the
World war. He died in exile. His
wife and children are now in Spain.
Tourists Visit Chateau DIFF.
"Chateau DIFF, the castle in which
the hero of Dumas novel, The Count
Of Monte Christie was confined for
IA years, now receives tourists from
Marseilles. Curiously, Monte Christie,
where Morel went after his escape,
was also penal colony island for
many years. Monte Christie is owned
by Italy. 1t lies off the coast from
Leghorn and about 25 miles north of
Elba.
"Czarist Russia, for a time, sent
$4,000 prisoners to Siberia annually.
Much of the famous Trans-Siberian
railway was built with prison labor.
The chief horror of Siberian exile was
the knout BY 1t, or by terror of it,
guards kept prisoners docile. The
handle of the knout is heavy wood
stick, Is inches long. Fastened to 1t
is thong of rawhide. About eight
feet from the handle the thong is split
in three parts. These streamers are
three feet long. The ends are tied
into hard knots, although lead or iron
hooks sometimes were used.
Preparatory to administering the
knout the victim was tied face down.
ward on a rough table. Close to the
knout wielder stood clerk with
book in which he checked the number
of strokes as that worthy swung them
and called them. For the first 25
strokes the skin was marked white by
the lash as T. chalk mark were
drawn on the flesh. After that the
thongs began to cut through. When
knout sentence called for 100
strokes the last one was usually omit
ted as token of imperial magma
nimity.'"