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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1288, 5 November 1896, Page 28

Devil’s Island, where the unhappy Captain Dreyfus is wearing out his existence, was the scene some five and forty years ago of a remarkable experiment in criminal pathology. M. Sarda Garriga, a pronounced- Republican and an ally of Rollin, was not looked upon with particular favour by Louis Nanoleon,who, after the coup d’dtut of December 2nd, found it necessary to deplete the congested prisons of France by wholesale transportation. He accordingly selected M. Garriga as the personal conductor of a party of convicts bound for Cayenne, a polite way of ridding himself of an awkward opponent. Being a philanthropist, and feeling some sympathy with the poor wretches confided to his charge, M. Garriga hit upon a plan for their moi’al regeneration. Collecting a group of the worst characters on Devil’s Island, he built a wooden theatre, organised a dramatic company, and set about producing pieces of the fine old Adelphi type in which virtue invariably triumphs and vice meets with its deserts. What ethical success the experiment had we are not told, but, unfortunately for the higher interests of humanity, the Emperor regarded M. Garriga’s benevolent design with disfavour, and at the end of six months closed the theatre, dismissing without pension the unhappy manager, who ended hia days in want and obscurity,