Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-07
BY BENNETT j. DOTY.


American Newspaper Alliance.
Eight years,
You don't realize what that means
at first. But when you 60 to sleep
and awake. saying to yourself Eight
years." the full import begins to reach
you.
We kept up good front during the
day. John Harvey and l agreed we
mustn't let the others think we were
affected. But the nights that
was different.
August 10, 1926. I was moved from
Damascus to Beirut. / said good.by
deserted with us, Weisser and Lass.
The Beirut prison was clean and COM
modious. with good gendarmes and
good food. There were a number OF
Arab prisoners under sentence of 10,
is. 20, SO and 30 years, and even life.
There was one we were all sorry
for, Hassan Ben Mohammed. a Druse.
After the outbreak of fighting between
the Druse and the French he had de-
serted to the Druse. lie killed
couple Of corporals getting away, and
for this he received the worst penalty
Of all. forced labor, which meant
transportation to Devils Island. He
might better have been dead. Even
in nethermost Syria the i'll fame OF
the French penal settlement In Guinea
struck fear into the hearts Of French
prisoners.
Desperate for Escape.
Harvey and the two Germans soon
were brought to Beirut. Then we
were taken aboard ship for Marseilles.
A thousand schemes for escape sug'
gested themselves.
A. We neared France we became
desperate. We hoped for shipwreck.
fire, collision. anything that would
give us q chance. We even tossed
cigarette butts into the hold. where
they set fire 10 greasy rags. But this
was extinguished.
September we arrived at Mar.
settles. AS we passed the Chateau DIFF
/ thought how as a boy In Memphis
l had read Of that old French prison
had never fully appreciated the
drama OF this Dumas book until
faced eight years in a French prison
myself.
We were lodged In the Fortress OF
st. Nicholas. directly across from Fort
st. Jean. Foreign Legion headquarters
in Marseille. We remained there is
days then went to the military prison
of Albertvilie in Haute Savoie. There
we put on wooden blouses. white trou-
sers and wooden shoes. Our heads
were shaved. measurements taken.
marks OF identification recorded and
our lives as military prisoners really
began.
Routine OF Prison Life.
The guards at Albertville were
mostly Corsicans. A wild people. hay.
Ing no love for the French. they make
ideal iailers. But as prisons go Al.
bertvilie was not SO bad. The food
was neither good nor bad. The beds
were clean and the place free from
vermin.
Albertvilie had been mona stery in
ancient times and the old beu was still
used 10 get us up. We were routed
out at $50. cleaned our cells. had
onion soup at &. then at $40 were
taken upstairs tn the workroom. The
prisoners Mt Albertville manufacture
uniforms for the army. l had never
sewed in my life: even In the Legion I
used to get my buddy" to sew on my
buttons. We were expected In prison
TO make three pairs or pants each
day. but ! was never able to do Ibis.
We had no murderers or thieves at
Albertville. Nevertheless. some OF the
scummiest gentry in France were
there. They were mostly men who
had evaded military service. The
others were deserters. or insubordi.
mates.
The Corsican who sat next to me In
the sewing room helped me with my
work. In return | gave him cigar.
cites. razor blades and. occasionally.
wine. Wine was not issued, but we
were allowed 10 buy carte a day.
Every Is days we received q package
OF tobacco.
Sentence Cut Four Years.
We did not have TO work Saturday
afternoons or Sundays. Every other
Saturday afternoon we hathed We
were allowed two free letters a month
to any point I'm France. and II we had
money for stamps we could write as
many az we had time TO. wrote to
my father and mother continuously.
My father assured ma he was doing
everything possible. lie had retained
Charles Campbell. tr.. an attorney In
Paris, and they hoped to obtain com.
mutation OF sentence. And December
l was informed four years had been
knocked off my sentence.
France at that time was In the
thr0es OF financial reform, Some one
got the idea of aoolishing all military
prisons and transferring their Inmates
10 the civilian penitentiaries, The
idea was adopted. The order went
forth to transfer the occupants of Al.
bertville Prison 10 ciairvaux, l had
heard OF Clairvaux, even In Dana sous.
French civilian prisons ara reputed To
he the worst In thu world, and Clair,
vAuN WAS the Worsf nriSan a., L.,... ..a~