St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 23, 1898

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Page 1

mS eae eee 4 Me % hk, i — oe 3 t, it co» » ¥ ~3 y — = 7 * { i . = od Is tersely told, And the news is given before it’s old, In the Daily Post-Dispatch. FORTY > PAGES. ae giver Qe At very small cost you now can sequin : In the E : io * ad . Fa > - = _ a? a S. ns, Meas Pie ee av bh His eel ? J, ne i aath for that information by cable that he has seen the prisoner with his own eyes withia att | an hour. The surroundings of this spot, the land In view and the sea's cape are the most dismal and depressing that the morb dly inclined imagination could The water is dead, there ts no surf, the few trees that still remain standing are covered with gnarled scars and with gray moss, and they would seem with some leprous disease, as though they had been contaminated by the Ee of the lepers who once dragged out a wretched existence upon this desolate point land. The trees have no leaves and there is not the song of a bird to be heard, now and again a hoarse shriek of the vultures, who dispute with the sharks Herp session of the bodies of the convicts who, when dead, are thrown into the sea. | “The sight of this picture had well-nigh nauseated me, but there was to come last and more terrible scene of all. It happened just as we were lifting anchor hoisting sail. We heard the tolling of a bell and several of the soldiers, armed to the teeih, and four or five convicts rowed out into the deeper water in one of the boats. Upon a plank athwart the gunwales was jaid out the body of @ dead convict, vultures shrieked in the air, and cutting through the placid surface of the tideless we could see the dorsal fins of the sharks, who were scurrying fighting among themselves, impatient for thelr prey. Suddenly the was tilted and the body shot far out into the sea, as from a catapult. kh nev “9 2s tinged with blood, and the boat went back to the cere: peared. Soon the water was to the music of the tolling bells. It is said that on several occesions the sharks, at the familiar sound of the bell come hurrying for miles around, have been se ously impatient for their horrid repast that they have nearly upset the funeral WATCHING VULTURES SEIZE THEIR PREY. “Dreyfus saw it—the terrible scene—and as we went away I could see rey prisoner peering through the tron bars of the cage in which he lay, with darkened with perfectly natural forebodings, as he watched the fate in exile to-day, a fate which in all likelihood to-morrow will be gathered around the island like a pall, and we had gone many miles could banish from my sight the vision ofthe horrors I had witnessed | ey “Some two weeks later I returned to the island for an hour, but aa not see t prisoner, and obtained but little information in regard to Some wi from shore we slowed up, as we were ordered, and the bag. which it purpose of our journey to deliver to the authorities, was sept ashore in a 1 did not see the cage ip which the unfortunate officer was ingen eae sion, and I believe that, In dread of an attempt at rescue, the cage of had been removed from the beach to some point in the Interior.’ : ‘la there absolutely no possibility of etcape or reecue?”’ “Now and again some of the convicts from the Ile Royale have scones the Dutch or English possessions, but they are generally recaptures. yt tied nei 8 Paget ease I ~_ Segoe jety ON DR. nag OE ERE Te nea ¥ AAA my a Sa OE Onn As A I 2