U I l— I I 1 L-- 1 JI LJ I 1 Wednesday Nov 20 1974 Page 9 Only 20000 survive $ I reminder EDITOR’S NOTE — French Guiana’s penal colonies meant death for 50000 of the 70000 convicts sentenced there Devil’s Island was the most notorious Today it is crumbling into ruins and EARLEEN TATRO Associated Press Writers By NICK DEVIL’S ISLAND French Guiana AP — The cells five paces long and three paces wide stand empty Smothering heat and a jungle of palm trees enshroud row upon row of crumbling buildings A quarter-centur- y has passed in white and the the since guards inmates in striped red-and-whi- te uniforms left the penal colony known to the world as Devil’s Island Roofs have caved in and shards of red tile are strewn like leaves in the hallways and through the yards There is no museum no to tell the stories of the inmates who toiled and died here There are no souvenir stands no guides and few tourists There is a hotel once a dining hall for guards but it is seldom old-tim- Barracks that once housed guards are now occupied by families of a dozen technicians who man a radar station that ANN Running Blue 9:00 to :00 1 HALTER TOPS -- 53 3 Few Survivors Few of the 20000 survivors ever saw France again Some escaped into the wilds - of Venezuela others served out their terms and stayed in French Guiana N MAIN- When you join the Payroll Savings Plan all it takes is a little pinch out of your Any amount you specify Money that’ll be set aside each payday to buy US Savings Bonds You’ll hardly miss it And neither will your paycheck There was Henri Charriere the convicted murderer who maintained his innocence and chronicled prison life and his Devil’s Island escape in two books “Papillon” and “Banco” It is primarily his work that brings tourists Francis Lagrange the convict painter who only in prison developed his own style and stopped imitating the masters he had forged so successfully for so ministrative center for the three There prison walls crumble as palm trees thrust islands between the stones In building after building heavy wooden cells doors sag open rotting on their metal braces The only light filters through a four-inc- h vent in the ceiling of each cell touching the three wooden planks that form a bed The tin steeple of a church pierces Royal’s jungle canopy The church’s doors are freshly long Soulange a diamond thief varnished but frescos by inmate whose ragged diary tells how he artist Lagrange are chipped and wood plotted his escape from the peeling in the open-sidesaid island The last page building The faces haggard and un“Tonight I think I will succeed” And he did with three other men shaven in the faded paintings are on made of palm fronds those of the prisoners The without for drifted They days subjects are also uniquely theirs: food or water until one man gone St Peter opening the gate the mad jumped into the sea The return of the prodigal son and others drew straws and the loser Christ’s ascension the On St Joseph Island was killed and eaten Soulange made it to the mainland and disciplinary center solitary found refuge in Dutch Guiana confinement and the guillotine now Surinam were meted out to those who There were no cells on Devil’s broke the rules This island like Island itself The prisons were on Devil’s is uninhabited today and the other islands rarely visited Prisoners sent to the Salvation Inhumane Conditions Islands toiled in the hot sun breaking rocks building cobbled was ad roads and houses for the guards Island Royal d tending fish gardens and catching Only One Boat The islands are 60 miles from Cayenne captial of the territory but the only boat leaves from a dock near Kourou where the space center is located The launch which carries space technicians to the islands charges tourists $5 each for the ride But it costs $52 for the taxi ride from Cayenne to the dock The French government has long planned to develop the islands as a tourist spa but has shelved the plans because of tight Officials economic conditions cite the absence of a water sharks supply rocky beaches and inadeqiHfWtommunications However some space center technicians rest up at the inn on Royal and a few residents come to the islands to collect coconuts and fruit that do not grow on the mainland All of French Guiana with a population of 50000 had only 50 tourists in 1970 but officials say they expect more than 1000 in 1974 many of them lured by prisoners books and the movie “Papillon” No prosecution for grass in DC WASHINGTON AP - US Atty Earl J Silbert has told the District of Columbia Police Department his office will no 6:30 to 8:30 -- d er full CACTUS CLUB tracks missiles launched from the Frendh space center on the mainland only 8 miles away The bubble-toppestation is on Royal Island almost concealed among the ruins of the penal colony which spread over three islands — Devil’s Royal and St Joseph Barely a stone’s throw apart th&S’Sjggls form a triangle in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean They were named the Salvation Islands by missionaries who fled there centuries ago during an epidemic of malaria on the French Guiana mainland For 100 years France kept its most hardened criminals in the South American colony — in the Devil’s Island complex and in prisons and work camps on the mainland For 50000 of the 70000 convicts French Guiana was a death sentence They were killed by disease by guards and by each persons longer prosecute arrested for possession of less than one gram of marijuana a police spokesman said Saturday In effect this means that persons who wish to smoke marijuana may do so in the District so long as they have in their possession less than five marijuana cigarettes or less than one gram of marijuana in some other form Police may confiscate the marijuana but probably will not arrest the smoker Sgt Alfred L Boyd of the department’s morals division said the easing of the law will not end marijuana arrests for persons possessing more than five cigarettes or persons caught twice with small amounts "Kisser" gets busted DETROIT (AP) - A man described by fellow hospital workers as a persistent kisser has been accused of planting one on the forehead of a female employee who didn’t want his Harry Kimbrough 32 a senior medical technician at Harper Hospital was known as “kissing employee” and had repeatedly forced his attentions on her Kimbrough was arraigned on smooches assault and battery charges He Joyce Carson 18 complained faces a maximum penalty of 90 to Wayne County authorities that days in jail and a $100 fine i CB3TQAL SOTO PASTS i 321 North Main J $ave on Parts 1069089 Parts 4-10- 88 Cars A pay-chec- k Join Payroll interested in the Sav- ings now Where else could you get the future at a bargain Needham iiit(ji LAW? rate? 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