CONVICT AS WAR HERO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21130, 12 March 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

CONVICT AS WAR HERO.

DEVIL'S ISLAND TO FRANCE. IDENTITY DISCOVERED. The real identity of an ex-convict who escaped from Devil's Island, joined tho forces in tho war under a false nanio and distinguished himself for bravery, has just been disclosed in a curious way at Marseilles. Tho hero of the story, Jules Gustavo Flamant, was sent to Cayenno in 1912 to serve a term of penal servitude. lie escaped shortly afterwards to Venezuela, where he remained till 1914. On hearing that France was at war ho took a ship to Bordeaux and enlisted under the assumed name of Louis Delzieux. Ho was soon made corporal, then sergeant, and, after fighting on various fronts, was rewarded for his good services with the rank of sergeant-major. When the war came to an end, Flamant. alias Delzioux, left tho army and again served several short sentences, but later became a reformed character, and would probably have never been found out if he had not mado tho slip of applying for a war veteran's card which entitles tho holder to certain privileges. This mistake betrayed him, for, in examining tho record of tho applicant, tho authorities' discovered that Louis Delzieux had died in 1880. Tho polico were informed, searchod Flamant's room, and discovered, his real identity. He was, in consequence, arrested, and will shortly bo tried for escaping from tho penal colony. In view of his age, which is 57, and war record, ho will probably bo dealt with leniently.