AN ESCAPE FROM THE DEVIL'S ISLAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6138, 26 March 1898, Page 1

AN ESCAPE FROM THE DEVIL'S ISLAND.

THE TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS OF

THE CONVICTS.

(Pearson's Weekly.)

Although the precautions taken by the French Government to prevent Captain Dreyfus from escaping from the Devil's Island are such as to render any attempt in this direction on his part hopeless, the possibility of such an escape has been demonstrated more than once by convicts who have beeu confined there since it became a penal settlement.

In 1856 a number of political prisoners were confined there by order of Napoleon's Government. They were Republicans who had taken up arms at the time of the coup d'etat. Amongst them was a man named Henri Chabanne, better known as "The Noble-hearted Man of Nevers."

The prisoners at that time were left without any guard. It was thought that tha thousands of sharks which surround the island on the look out for the dead bodies of convicts, which were their perquisites, would suffice to discourage any attempts at escape. A boat from Ile Royale brought provisions three times a week, and a roll-call was held once a month. For the rest, the prisoners were quite free to live as they chose. The authorities supplied them with tools with which ,to till the ground, but no' tasks whatever were imposed upon them. •

Almost from the very first, Chabanne had determined to attempt an escape. Most of his companions laughed at the suggestion, and said that ifc was hopeless. At last a certain number agreed to help him. They then set to work to construct a raft. The framework of this was made of the four sections of a tree, which they cut down in the island, and the crossbeams were supplied by planks, which the prisoners stripped off an old hut in the centre cf the island.

Chabanne himself, who was a cooper by trade, busied himself making casks to bo used in the construction of the raft. He was caught at this work by one of the warders, but explained that the casks were wanted for storing water, which was scarce in the island after the rainy season. A thousand feet of rope were twisted out of the bark of a fibrous plant, though the convicts had no other appliances but the wheel of a barrow to work with.

The oars were made- by Chabanne on the very last day. The men's shirts and blouses supplied the materials for a sail. *~ Finally, on August 12, 1856, at eight o'clock in the evening, just as the cannon at Ile Royale had given the usual signal of "Lights Out," the raft was launched. Sixteen of the prisoners had originally intended to take part in the attempted escape ; at the last moment, however, nine of thesa lost heart, and only seven set off. Chabanne took the helm, the other six took to the oars.

It was a bright moonlight night, and for the first hour or two the prisoners were in mortal terror lest they should be seen by the sentries at Ile Royale. The sea was very calm, its surface being broken only by the swarming of the sharks, who escorted the raft on the whole of its perilous journey. During the night two of the men fell ill with sea-sickness, and had to abandon their oars. The other four, however, worked with such a wili that at daybreak the prisoners found themselves well out of sight of land. Here the sea began to get very rough, for the raft had entered the gulf where the waters are always agitated by the influx of the waters of the river Amazon. Every moment the clumsy structure threatened to capsize its crew into the maws of the hungry escort.

At noon, when rations were being served out,it was discovered that the nine prisoners who had deserted at the last moment had carried off with thorn the largest part of tho provisions which had boen prepared for the expedition, and that there was barely enough left to victual tho crew for five days. During the next two days the whole efforts of the wretched men were employed in keeping the raft afloat. " Most of tho time," says Chabanne, " we were up to our waists in water."

After they had been ninety-two hours afloat they landed on the coast of Dutch Guiana. They had then only enough pro-visions-left to last them twenty-four hours. It was a most inhospitable shore. The forest, which came down almost to the water's edge, was impenetrable. There was no fresh water to be had anywhere. Sleep was out of the question, for the air swarmed with mosquitoes.

" We spent that night," says Chabanne, "in walking up and down the beach. Some of us slept as we walked." The next morning they were forced to take to the sea again. They were entirely without provisions or water. They dined that day off a crab which they had caught on the beach. Tliey were tormented by thirst. Some of them drank the seawater.

The next morning Chabanne, accompanied by a man named Carpeza, was deputed to go on a journey of exploration inland to discover, if possible, somo human habitation where relief could be obtained. After five days of incredible hardships they reached a cotton plantation, where they were hospitably received by the planter, a Dutchman named Van Behmer. Finally they were sent on te Paramanbo, to be dealt with by the Dutch Go oino£ Here, after a short detention in the city prison, they were supplied with a boat and Lw, 'with which to go to the i^ ueoC theii' five companions, throe of whom , they found at a plantation about a < Jay 3 sail from Paramaribo. The bodies of the remaining two unfortunate* mcB J< ref °«g Jn the forest near the placode the -raft

had landed, partially devoured by the crabs.

In the end Chabanne and his companions proceeded to Demerara, whence they finally made their way to New York. Here they were very hospitably received, and a subscription was raised on their behalf by the principal papers. Chabanne, it is true, complains that the bulk of the money so subscribed never reached the pockets for which it was intended.