HORRIBLE RESULTS OF REVOLT IN A PENITENTIARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1053, 30 March 1867, Page 6

HORRIBLE RESULTS OF REVOLT IN A PENITENTIARY.

A T3IAL has just terminated in France which has proved one of the most extraordinary in the annals of crime. There were 16 of the accused, nnd they were arrainged at the Court of Assizes of Draraignan, chief town of the department of tho Yar. On the 3rd October last tho Penitentiary of the Levant, tlie largest of the group of isles known as the Islands of Hyeres (a reformatory where young boys are trained to husbandry), rose in open revolt; and that rebellion had the most appalling consequences, for no less than 14 boys were literally roasted alive by the ringleaders.

On the 24th September. 65 Corsicans who had been confined at St. Antoine, near Ajaccio, were landed in the Levant. In less than six days from their arrival they contrived to raise up a rebellion in the colony, which had been till then a model of discipline. They refused to work, they disbanded and by means of fine promises and terrible menaces, they succeeded in winning over a good number of the oldest boys of the Levant Penitential*. The refractory band asked for meat at every meal, for tobacco and coffee, and for six hours of play a day. The rebellion wassoon concocted, nnU on Tuesday, Cctohs-r 2, it vtshEysu in l-r it 23 .'Vuuiag inter bedtiaiu. 'Che v/n&s&fa'ta froai their beds, put down tLie lights, iiroki tlie windows, demolished the partitions, and expelled the guardians. In view of preventing more devastation, one of the latter suggested to tho prisoners to go down into the yard; they went down, vociferating and making awful noises. Then they formed a band, and went towards tlie house of M. Fauveau, intending to pillage that house, and, perhaps to commit crimes more terrible. But tliey were prevented from doing so by the improvised guard protecting ]\T. Fauveau's Louse.

Sixteen accused were before the court. The first of the ringleaders is named Coudurier. It is lie who proposed io liberate the boys who were undergoing disciplinary imprisonment, If is proposal was eagerly adopted, and the rebels, armed with axes, marched to tlio doors of the eelL; where the prisoners were confined. They broke open nine cells, and, of course, their occupa.ats enlarged the number of the revolted. Then they went down to the cellars, the hogsheads were brought up into the courtyard, they were broken open, and every one drank as much as he could. The aim of the revolt was the death of the spies. First, it had been settled that they should be talcen to the heath and to the bogs, there to be killed with stones, but that idea was given up for another tenfold more atrocious.

The vicrual storehouse -was pillaged, and another warehouse, containing petroleum oil and inflammable matter, 'was contiguous to it. They broke open three doors giving access to the passage leading to tliat warehouse. A fourth door, opening into the warehouse itself, more solid than tiic three others, resisted, and the only portion of it that they could break was an upper panel, and to enter the petroleum warehouse through that aperture they were obliged to scale the door to get up to it. The most daring went into the warehouses through that breach, and pillaged all the victuals and provisions. Condurier communicated to them an idea of his :— " Let us shut in there the spies, and then we shall set the place on fire." The plan was adopted. Two fellows, chosen from among the worst, were enstrusted with the fulfilment of the diabolical deed, and they executed it too well. The young ones, enticed to come and pillage the victuals in their turn, hastened to do it. The arch plotter kept away some of them, and admitted the intended victims. Fourteen boys were in the warehouse. He judged that the moment was opportune, and he told a certain Ferandon to light a heap of paper. They had also taken the precaution of pouring on the floor a large vase full of petroleum. The flames therefore ran rapidly over the whole. That fire was to devour the 14 boys who had been admitted into the warehouse; one could escape only through the broken upper panel of the door, and a jet of fire at that spot .rendered such escape a sheer impossibility. The jiames had not yet ascended to the panel, when ore of the unfortunate boys, named Garibaldi, Sftvr the jumped at the panel, and tried p t out. But .mother boy, Allard, true to Ids orders, ran at him and tjirice thrust his knife in Garibaldi's legs an;) chest. The blood flew in torrents, and the poor fellow fell back in the i'svnes. Then a heartrending scene occurred. All the boys inside managed to get at the window, clung to the bars, and cried for assistance with the accents of the most moving despair. But the ringleaders new surveyed the victims with an implacable coolness. The poor fellows suffered the most excruciating agony ; their faces wore black, their cheeks melted in the fiery flames, their hair blazed ; but soon death put an end to their sufferings. Then the rebels wallowed in the grossest orgie3. It was only during the evening of the 4th that assistance came to hand. The fire was still raging, and if there had been a little fresh wind the whole range of buildings would have been destroyed. Thirteen of the accused were convicted, and three acquitted. Four were sentenced to the galleys for life, and the others to lighter penalties.—Home JS'cic-i, January 26.