Evening star., 1933-12-01
FRANCE SHIPS go
TO TROPICAL EXILE
"Dry GuiI|otine" in Guiana to
Receive Criminals on Famed
0ne-Way Trip.

BY the Associated Press.
ST. MARTIN DE RE, FRANCE
December 1.-The convict ship Ii
Martiniere crarnmed It's heavlly.barret
cages with its second cargo Of banished
prisoners in two months and sailed
today for the "dry guillotine" oi
( French Guiana.
The human freight, after two weeks
Of seasickness, will find itself 1000
miles from the homeland with slight
chance Of ever seeing 1t again. There
hennmed in by tropical jungles in
Yoyagers win rejoin 67s who shufned
out Of the island penitentiary here on
September 29 for the same destination
Many Races Included.
Gathered in large part from Frances
far-flung colonies Of Africa and the
Orient, the exiled convicts included
Hindus, Arabs and Chinese. Black
men, brown and yellow mingled with
Europeans of assorted nationality con-
victed of crimes committed on French
soil
A gigolo, condemned to expiate the
Staying Of woman WHO had unwilling
ly shared his affections with another,
marched to the ship with hardened
criminals who killed unromantically
for money.
There were 2so convicts aboard: on
the way they will be joined by 400 more
from Algiers.
Each convict. dressed in a new uni
form Of coarse gray wool and wooden
shoes, carried as sole baggage a blan-
ket in a sailors kitbag.
Police Hold Back Kin.
Their wrists were chained. Soldiers,
with bayonets fixed and rifles cooked.
and across the grass-grown path-sel-
dom trod, but always one way-known
as Guiana walk" Police held back
relatives and the curious.
First, those sentenced to fixed terms
at hard labor embarked, wearing knit
ted caps to distinguish them from the
felt-hatted "relegues," whose banish-
ment is for life and who were loaded
last. From lighters they climbed lad
der to the deck of La Martiniere and
were led to the cages in the hold. The
ladder was hoisted, the anchor lifted
and the ship steamed away.
For IA days the unhappy passengers
will pace the concrete floors of eight
zoo-like cages, or sleep in hammocks
slung overhead. For half an hour each
day, they will be herded in groups Of
300, to the deck for a breath Of fresh
air. They cannot stroll there. for lack
of space. They cannot talk, for that Is
forbidden.
Steam Awaits Disorder.
Forty guards watch their every move
ment day and night. Live steam In
overhead pipes, which may be turned
on the prisoners in emergency, thus far
has forestalled any attempt at mutiny.
The brig for punishment of infrac-
tions aboard ship consists Of four solid
iron cells without even a portfolio for
light and air. The prisoners dread these
cells, for fear of being forgotten II the
ship happened to sink. But so many
are thrown there that often their ship
board sentences are commuted to make
place for others. For milder punish
ment, the convicts feet are chained to
the bars of their cages.
Debarked at st. Laurent du Maroni
the prisoners will be distributed among
various convict camps. None OF this
load goes to famed Devils Island, re-
served for political prisoners sentenced
TO life imprisonment.
The two sailings this year were the
first in two years for La Martiniere. or
dinarily a freighter plying between
France and Algeria. They will be the
last for another year or more, when
French justice rounds up another lot
of unwilling passengers.