Show FRANCES FRANCE'S DRY GUILLOTINE yA P Devils Devil's Island a Prison Dreaded by Criminals Disease Criminals Disease and Death Haunt the Prison Colony Marriage Colony Marriage atOne at atOne atOne One Time Permitted Now ow Forbidden t Y 4 c n s F Fn n y e a 4 4 A 1 4 S k p p jr i S I The island guillotine shown at left takes the heads of several of the unfortunate or unfortunate or fortunate prisoners fortunate prisoners every year The e biggest and strongest convicts are used as galley slaves as shown above These photos were taken by Richard Halliburton who lived as a n prisoner to obtain this story f r t I I O l By RICHARD HALLIBURTON l j of f The Royal Road to I lL Romance etc f hr TEN EN prisoners escape from Devils Devil's Island Island- land land and at Trinidad t I J Fugitives is- is from Devils Devil's Island Island Is- Is land and arrested in British Guiana Guiana Gui Gui- ana returned to French authorities au au- Devils Island escape revealed revealed revealed re re- when bodies of six Trench French convicts drift ashore in in 1 Brazil 1 T. T Scarcely a month passes without kits its ts press story of an escape from Devils Devil's island Having spent a summer summer summer sum sum- mer In the famous prison I am particularly particularly par par- interested In these reports even even though I know that none of them hem are true There has never in m history been an escape from rom Devils Devil's island Lives as Convict To find out why never come back I went to Devils Devil's island of my own accord I put on the convict stripes and lived where the prisoners lived and as they lived Jived except that with the connivance of the guards I was able to move about wherever I chose Nor could I being a free man ever feel even evena a small smaIl part of ot the degradation and despair that I observed Landing on the mainland at Cayenne Cayenne Cay Cay- enne the capital of the colony and the he headquarters of ot some eleven hundred I lost no time in finding inding a convict uniform a very simple little costume consisting of faded cotton trousers and a straw hat lat Wearing it I I. I walked into a barrack unchallenged and was locked up for the night with 77 con con- The ne barrack a hundred and twenty twenty ty y feet long by twenty wide was more like an army dormitory than thana a prison Down the center ran an aisle on each side of which stretched a row of canvas canvas' beds On th he the beds the convicts ate sprawled and slept They had no lockers no possessions no privacy Eight small barred jarred windows near the ceiling let letin letin letin in a faint breeze and many many mosquitoes Of the 77 men in this barrack 49 were serving life lie sentences for mur mur- der Only 44 were French The others were Germans Poles negroes negroes negroes ne ne- ne- ne groes and Arabs Among the French more than halt hall were from the Marseilles district the district the Chicago of France Lyons had the next best representation Only two came from Paris This division was fairly typical typical typical cal of the 40 other barracks in the colony The French prisoners with all their misery and hopelessness tallied talked animatedly as Frenchmen will the subject is usually escape or they played cards for the francs that they had earned as servants or laborers How do they guard their winnings in this community of thieves There are no banks The uniforms have no pockets Money hidden would be found and stolen Nevertheless money Is accumulated against the day of escape and guarded in the safest place a convict has his has his own body Each prisoner carries within his body an an aluminum capsule three inches long and an Inch thick thick- called a plan in which he secretes his Because of his plan many a convict has lost his life life lile- garroted by his fellows and carved open for a a profit of five francs Meeting 1 the Prisoners Looking at the men in the barrack barrack barrack bar bar- rack I could believe them capable of murdering for less They were a tough and stupid lot for generally speaking those with refinement or intellect are the first to die off off or or orbe be killed It is is' a a sad fact that under under under un un- der such conditions the sub-normal sub live longer and thrive better Some of them having become immune to the prevailing diseases actually grow strong on the meager ra rations ons and hard work A few in the barrack barrack barrack bar bar- rack were physically magnificent with hard muscles and skin burned black by th the sun These were the strong arms the dictators tyrannizing tyrannizing tyrannizing tyran tyran- over the weak and dispirited who make up the mass More than half halt my fellow prisoners were under twenty-five twenty several hardly more than adolescent But nearly all of whatever age or color came from the off of the earth A decent and appealing face was a rarity indeed I found an empty bed which was re really lly just one of 80 canvas strips stretched taut from the wall to an an iron bar and made the acquaintance acquaintance acquaint acquaint- ance of my neighbors On my right was a tattooed ugly plug about thirty thirty thir thir- ty who said he had murdered his sweetheart The tattooed gentleman had been in the box seven years He had come from France with others on the convict ship Of that shipment shipment ship ship- ship ment meet less than a h hundred were left alive From him I learned that there were about prisoners in Guiana on the mainland nd on the islands and about freed prisoners not permitted permitted permitted per per- per per- to leave the col colony ny No More l Marriage 1 I asked him if it there were any women convicts convicts' with whom the thc prisoners prisoners prisoners pris pris- could marry He laughed Once yes but no longer In former times tunes if it a convict wanted a wife he went he-went went to the women's barracks barracks bar racks and announced the fact to the matron who lined up all the women and asked Who wants wants' this man The hands would go up Hed He'd look over the willing ones ones No No not you youre you're too old And youre you're too evil- evil looking And you have no teeth The matron would hurry him Rushed for time hed he'd pick out the most acceptable one and she would be marched to the office Their names would be put 1 in 1 the book That constituted a marriage and they could set about rearing a anew anew anew new unfortunate generation for tor whom environment was sure to accomplish accomplish accomplish ac ac- whatever heredity had left undone These offspring as lawless as the very prison rats became such a problem that France was forced to ban prison marriages and in hi time discontinued completely complete complete- ly the practice of sending female offenders to Guiana However if they have money the prisoners can still find women women usually ally the daughters of convicts and bush Moral standards scarcely exist at Cayenne The heat the monotony the debased class from which guards and prisoners alike are recruited all aU combine to encourage depravity The population population tion is a melange of ot convicts lib lib- ores cres negroes Chinese and prostitutes lutes scrambled recklessly er Not one me child in four tour knows who or w viat fiat olor f-olor his father is ai f Even for a convict who cannot afford at af ford women they are still his chief preoccupation Each prisoner in my barrack had a few pictures ol oj actresses society beauties bathing girls cut from tram magazines and pasted past ed on the wall behind his bed and each cherished a few photographs of his wife or r sweetheart the sweetheart the only personal property he is allowed It was nine o'clock when the central central cen cen- oil lamp was extinguished The Tha I card eard games ended t Seventy-seven Seventy naked half-naked bodies and and nd mine relaxed relaxed re reo on the creaking canvas beds But I didn't sleep much The stench was nauseating the vermin and mosquitoes swarmed forth for their nightly feast and the rain ram beginning begin I ning to rattle on the rusted tin tic roof root streamed through in hi a score I of places The largest stream was way right over my bed I paced the the ai aisle le all night nigh between the rows ol oj snoring murderers and scratching bandits and by sunup looked as bedraggled bedraggled be be- draggled as the rest Up Early and to Work At six the barrack door was un tut locked We all filed filed out to fa th the kitchen where we seized tin cups plates and spoons and received out OUI breakfast of coffee coITe and bread whirl which we ate seated on our canvas beds Then the whistle blew and the prisoners prisoners pris still hungry scattered t tc their various daytime jobs The jobs are not exactly select select- houseboy scavengers water water-carri ers beasts of burden in the lumber yards The prison tries to occupy every well behaved convict in some som way But there would not be enough work to go around for Cayenne has less than people and ii is commercially dead were it not foj for forthe the fact that a good quarter of the prisoners are always incapacitated incapacitate from sickness and another quartet locked up in special cells cens as punishment punish ment for trying to escape Funeral In French Guiana As I walked on through the shabby shabby shab shah by t town wn it was rousing itself sluggishly slug indifferently for another daj daja a a day which would bring nothing new to break the monotonous routine routine rou rou- tine which Cayenne has long since accepted as inevitable No one but bui myself looked up to notice a two- two wheeled cart drawn by four convicts convicts con con- which was bearing a crude new v new coffin along the street But 1 J decided to follow this informal funeral funeral fu to see where it would lead It led straight to one of the most terrible features of Guiana Guiana the the bamboos a a few square rods o 0 a aground ground surrounded by thickets o 0 rt tall cane the convicts' convicts burial place I call it most terrible not be because because because cause it is as sickening as the bar barbarous barbarous barbarous barous conditions from which dean releases the convicts but because in one shocking scene it sums ui and symbolizes the whole system In this small plot probably 1000 men have been buried since 1860 though the area is not sufficient t to tf contain graves Space is un unlimited unlimited limited in Guiana but even so the same ground is used over an anover anc over again Methodically l and grim grimly ly the furrows of fresh tresh earth turned up beside the old graves Inove move back and forth across the thu cemetery the bones of burials being dug up and burned burne to make room for the newcomers One hundred and tort forty times limes in 7 71 years this ghoulish eviction hat hai been repeated D C V PeU U Syndicate Service J i. i |