Show FRANCES DRY guillotine devil s island a prison dreaded by criminals dist DI disease st ase nase n and death deat h haunt the prison colony marriage at one time permitted now forbidden fly 4 I 1 ic 1 I 1 a I 1 WM it y lk 4 U 1 the island guillotine shown at left takes the heads of severia of the unfortunate or fort una t e prisoners every year the biggest and strongest convicts are used as galley slaves as shown above these photos were taken by richard halliburton who lived as prisoner to obtain this story by RICHARD halliburton author of the royal koyal road to romance etc CC f TD pen EN prisoners escape from A devils evils island land at trinidad fugitives from devils island arrested in british guiana returned to french authorities ap pp 6 devils island escape revealed when bodies of SIX six french convicts drift ashore in brazil scarcely a month passes without its press story of an escape from devils island having spent a summer in the famous prison I 1 am particularly ticul arly interested in these reports even though I 1 know that none of them are true there has never in history been an escape from devils island lives as convict to find out why deport decortes de portes e s never come back I 1 went to devils devil s island of my own accord I 1 put on the convict stripes and lived where the prisoners lived and as they lived except that with the connivance of the guards I 1 was able to move about wherever I 1 chose nor could 1 I being a free man ever feel even a small part of the degradation and despair that I 1 observed landing on the mainland at cayenne the capital of the colony and the headquarters of some eleven hundred de portes I 1 lost no time in finding a convict uniform a very simple little costume consisting of faded cotton trousers and a straw hat wearing it I 1 walk walked ed into a barrack unchallenged and was locked up for the night with 77 convicts the barrack a hundred and twenty feet long by twenty wide was more like an army dormitory than a prison down the center ran an aisle on each side of which stretched a row of canvas beds on the beds the convicts ate sprawled sprawl ed and slept they had no lockers I 1 no possessions no privacy eight small barred windows near the ceiling let in a taint faint breeze and many many mosquitoes of the 77 men in this barrack 49 were serving we life sentences for murder only 44 were french the others were germans poles negroes and arabs among the french more than half were from the marseilles district the chicago of france lyons had the next best representation only two came from paris this division was fairly t typical y pl of the 40 other bar barracks racks in the colony the french prisoners with all their misery and hopelessness 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 n no 0 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 own orn body each prisoner carries within his bo body dy an aluminum capsule three inches long and an inc inch h thick called a plan in which he secretes his hoar dings because of his plan many a convict has lost his life garroted garro ted by his fellows and carved open for a profit of five francs meeting BIe eting the prisoners looking at the men in the barrack I 1 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 or be killed it is a sad fact that under such conditions the subnormal sub normal live longer and thrive better some of them having become immune to the prevailing diseases actually grow strong on the meager rations and hard work A few in the barrack were physically magnificent with hard muscles and skin burned burnea black by the sun these were the astro strong n garms g arms the dictators tyrannizing over the weak and dispirited who make up the mass more than half my fellow prisoners were under twenty five 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 1 found an empty bed which was really just one of 80 canvas strips stretched taut from the wall to an iron bar and made the acquaintance of my neighbors on my right was a tattooed plug ugly about thirty 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 less than a hundred were left alive from him I 1 learned that there were about prisoners in in guiana on the mainland on the islands and about libe freed prisoners not permitted to leave the colony no more marriage I 1 asked him if there were any women convicts with whom the prisoners could marry he laughed cynically le ally once yes but no longer in former times if a convict wanted a wife he went to the barracks and announced the fact to t the he matron who lined up all the women and asked who wants this man the hands would go up hed look over the willing ones no not you youre too old and youre too evil looking and you have no teeth the matron would hurry him rushed hushed for time hed pick out the most acceptable one and she would be marched to the office their names would be put in the book that constituted a marriage and they could set about bearin rearing g a new unfortunate generation for whom environment was sure to accomplish com 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 completely the practice of sending female offenders to guiana however if they have money the prisoners can still find women usually the daughters of convicts and bush regresses moral standards scarcely exist exis at cayenne the heat the monotony the debased class from which guards and prisoners alike are recruited all combine to encourage depravity the population is a melange 0 of i convicts lib ores eres negroes chinese and pr prostitutes osti scrambled recklessly together not one child in four knows who or what color his father is even for a convict who cannot it ford women they are still his chief preoccupation each prisoner ia a my barrack had a few pictures picture of actresses society beauties bathing batha girls cut from magazines and past 1 l ed 0 on the wall behind his bed and each cherished a few photo photograph graphs ji 1 of his wife or sweetheart theoroy the only orly personal prop property erty he is allowed it was nine when the CB aral oil lamp was extinguished tin the card games ended seventy seven sevea half naked bodies and mine mine re laced on the creaking canvas beds but I 1 sleep much the stench was nauseating the vermin ani and mosquitoes swarmed forth for or their nightly feast and the rain begin ning to rattle on the rusted tin roof streamed through in a to of places the largest stream wu was right over my bed I 1 paced the tha aisle all night between the rows of snoring murderers and scratch ilif bandits and by sunup looked as be if draggled dragg led as the rest up early and to worl work at six the barrack door was la tin lai i locked we all filed out to the th I 1 kitchen where we seized tin CUPS CUB J plates and spoons and received our breakfast of coff coffee e e and bread ad w which h we ate seated on our canvas bedl b then the whistle blew and the ars pr boners still hungry scattered too their various daytime jobs the jobs are not exactly select water cai cara houseboy scavengers ers beasts of burden in the lumber auml yards the prison tries to occupy mccu every well behaved convict in colne way but there would not be elou work to go arlund for cayenne cayea has less than 10 00 people and if commercially dead were it not hot the fact that a good quarter ol of t the prisoners are always inc incapacitate from sickness and another quarter quart j locked up in special cells as punish dor y ment for trying to escape funeral in french gaunt As I 1 walked on through the 1 by town it was rousing itself sw sav k d 11 indifferently for another baj c would bring a day which w new to break the monotonous nio noton ous vw rou ce i siro tine which cayenne has long t inevitable NT no one accepted as myself looked up to notice a two 0 four wheeled cart drawn by crude a cru evicts which was bearing but new coffin along the street c decided to follow this iria peralto to see where it would lean lead the B of it led straight to one the of gu gaw i ana terrible features of square ro bamboos a few surrounded by thickets thick ground burp burial pla tall cane t the he convicts not n I 1 call it most terrible cause it is as sicken sickening a as 5 the lne des hi barous condi conditions 1 S from wa beca i but W releases t the e convicts nv t in one sh shocking c i see scene e t su inn 11 ole and lymb symbolizes I 1 st the e whole system loix in this small P I 1 men have been buried sanc si clen t 11 ot su though the area is is not n is vt contain graves v ft limited in guiana MI but et a al used is the same ground ID d methodically Metho dica over again fresh ea 1 I I 1 ly y the furrows ot of the old 9 of turned up beside across s move back and forth of pravio if the bones burl cemetery d burials being dug UP LIP P all nc cow coff n the to make room for in tsu one hundred and a forty diction ev vic tion h 01 years this 9 been repeated s seri avica 0 beu bell |