DARTMOOR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 89, 14 April 1917, Page 13

DARTMOOR.

STORIES OF THE FAMOUS PRISON. USED FOR CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS. Mr. Bnsil Thomson, ex-Governor of Dartmoor, gives in the following article some interesting details of the most famous penal settlement in the British Isles. Times have changed indeed whnu ■•the strange conditions of the war hive turned the home of habitual criminals [into a lodging house for conscientious objectors. I -will not go so far as to be responsible for the widely spread rumour that a number of our citizens "too proiul to fipht" will be lodged in Dartmoor, but if this is really the case the famous prison will once again be responsible for the accommodation of prisoners connected with a war. The bleak and dismal colony over which I was Governor for some years was not intended originally for criminals. The hietory of Dartmoor as a convict prison eommenee.l in 1850. but it wns built as an accommodation for French prisoners of war in 1809, and used for French and Americans until 1816. Even a century ago the British feeling towards them was very much the same as that which prevails at Donnimrton Hall I to-day. In fact, history goes to prove that a point of honour was extended a little too far; in the French quarter of the prison a mere jeat or a word spoken sharply was followed by a duel fought with all the customary punctilio. The deaths in consequence, combined with euicides, caused the Plymouth coroner to protest that the inquests in a eingle year in the war prison had exceeded the combined inquisitions for the previous fourteen yeare. A STRANGE DUFvL. Perhaps the strangest duel in hietory occurred at 'Dartmoor ibetween a maitre d'armes named Souille and a boy under twenty. Aβ the latter knew nothing of fencing his seconds decided that the duel should be fought with razor blades mounted in wooden handles. The youth rushed impetuously upon bis antagonist, who, by a stroke familiar to practised swordsmen, caught hie right hand with the tip of his weapon, neatly severing the forefinger. Great sympathy was felt for the boy, and for the time being Souille was made to feel the force of public opinion, a factor by no means inconsiderable in prieon life of to-day. It seems fantastic, b.ut if the following story is true a certain amount of esprit de corps exists among old "lags," or, in other words, regular habitues" of penal settlements. The tale is related by a missionary who went slumming in Whitechapel. He came across two exconviete in a heated-discussion as to the respective merits of Dartmoor and Strangways from the prisoners' point of view. Words were followed by blows; the two fought as if they were discussing the respective merits of Eton and Harrow, and I fear I cannot help feeling a certain amount of satisfaction when I tell you the champion of Dartmoor won ■with a knockout blow. A strange Alma Mater. ° THE OTHER SUDE. As a residential establishment I must admit Dartmoor is not an ideal spot. The late Jabez Balfour, at ono time shortly after his release, is reported to have said: "If any-one dear to mc waa sentenced to penal servitude for life, which is practically twenty years, 1 would rather he' was hanged. Penal servitude is a slight punishment to ignorant men; to the educated it is the most cruel form of torture." To a great extent the former member iof Parliament .for Burnley mtt y have been right. The perpetrator of "the notorious Liberator building frauds would i undoubtedly feel his punishment more than a man of no intellectual ability. \ot Balfour never complained of his treatment in prison, and the charges brought from time to time by cranks and peeudo-humanitarians against the authorities have little foundation in fact. A notorious criminal named William : O'Dortovan once made an extraordinary . statement at the Ixmaon Sessions. He! said: "I was brutally Hogged for an' offence which I never committed, and beaten in my cell, receiving a fractured') rib. I sent a petition to the Homei Office, but received the usual answer 1 , that what 1 eaid was groundless. I ro- : COived every sort of punishment it was . possible to put mc through; 1 was ' flogged, beaten, chained, and starved. J i was kept in bed -for eight days and in a ( padded cell, and I went through so much ( hardship that I determined to hang my- j self." This pris.on.ei; was subsequently i

sentenced at the age of twenty-seven to three years' penal servitude as an habitual criminal. As a matter of fact, the discipline of the warders while on duty is almost as strict as that for the prisoners themselves, and the treatment of which this convict complained in his cell could not possibly have occurred.

One of the saddest spots in modern Dartmoor is the burial ground. The first burial of a convict was on May 31, 1851, and thereafter a portion of the ground on the south side of the churchyard was set aside for convicts. Until the year 1902 their graves were not marked unless their relations chose to put up a headstone, and in only one case was this done. Since 1902, however, small granite headstones have been erected by the Prison commissioners bearing the initials of the convict buried there, and the date. The solitary tombstone erected by the friends of the dead is suggestive enough, bearing as it does the simple initials, "A. L. M." and the words "Jesus, Mercy."