Richard Halliburton biography – BOLD adventurer, globe trotter
by William R. Taylor
  • RISK TAKER HALLIBURTON
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • PERIODIC BLOG
  • PERIODIC BLOG

Richard Halliburton - Savior of Devils Island Wretches

7/10/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
 Halliburton's six-chapter treatment of his Devil's Island interlude in his third book, New Worlds to Conquer, was an example of how he could quickly alternate between light-hearted gambits such as his tours with Nino the monkey as an itinerant organ grinder and starkly somber subjects such as his exposures of the infamous French penal colony. My book, A Shooting Star Meets the Well of Death, Why and How Richard Halliburton Conquered the World, relates how by ruse he gained access to that hell hole, obtained information from prisoners, and was shaken by the results of the wretched conditions he exposed.
            His treatment of the sprawling prison is worth closer examination, both for his guile in finding a way to place himself there at all and for the effect it had on those French officials who allowed him free access.
            He arrived at Cayenne, the capital of French Guyana, on the first plane ever to land there, a flying boat making a fueling stop on a 1929 inaugural flight from New York to Buenos Aires. This was one year before air mail would begin to be flown from Miami to South America. Knowing the French were always wary of prying eyes toward their harshly administered penal colony and that they would never have granted a writer the chance to visit if asked, he masqueraded as a temporarily left-behind member of the plane’s crew. His guise as an aviator, an adventurous rarity in those days, automatically conferred on him celebrity status. The ruse worked well. He was feted by the Commandant himself, invited to stay as a house guest, and given carte blanche to wander wherever among the islands as he desired. Wander he did for a number of weeks, poking into the squalid corners of the several islands of the penal archipelago and surreptitiously recording horrific tales of mistreatment as endured by prisoners. By bribing the guards, he was able to obtain a convict's suit and to spend nights somewhat uncomfortably, if not dangerously, among the wretched prisoners. He saw, smelled and heard their abject misery firsthand. He also spent a week as a doctor's aide in the dispensary, binding wounds, performing menial tasks and recording more horror stories.
            That the six Devil’s Island chapters he wrote were starkly somber and filled with sordid tales told by the hapless unfortunates he encountered was hardly a surprise. For years there had been rumors and reports about utter privation and cruelty in that penal colony. He chronicled what he saw and heard objectively and vividly. The results were serialized in Ladies Home Journal magazine and later in his book New Worlds to Conquer. Although these terrible conditions had been known to exist for years, the glaring publicity generated by Halliburton's writings brought about the sacking of the Commandant and hasty changes.
            In an October letter, he wrote, "I want to do another Devil's Island story, using the manuscript and letters I've received. A flock of them came yesterday, some informing me that the kindly old commandant of the islands had been court-martialed because of my visit. He'll probably be shot when my book appears! I'm distressed. The letters from his sister and daughter are pathetic." But he was also comforted by letters of gratitude from relatives of prisoners and prisoners themselves praising the changes his expose had produced on their behalf. Better food became available because graft was reduced and better living conditions brought on by the glare of publicity at least ameliorated the convicts’ miserable existence. He never got around to writing that second story but there was no doubt that his first efforts had a profound impact and led to significant, more humane conditions for the unfortunates imprisoned there.
William R. Taylor www.rhalliburtonstar.com.
 
 

 

2 Comments
https://topaustralianwriters.com/ozessay-review/ link
11/6/2020 12:22:51 am

This blog just gets more interesting every read. I think that you may be the best blogger that I have encountered. This is not a simple compliment, because believe me, I have read a lot of blogs. I think that those who are in the community right now are all the same. Most people just write normal stuff, and that is not fun at all. I believe that it is important that we try the best of what we have.

Reply
William R. Taylor link
11/9/2020 01:07:12 pm

All bloggers like to feel their musings are consequential and informing. Your insightful comments are inspirational and gratifying. I feel they are a satisfying compensation for my 15+ years of Halliburton research, travel, and writing. I would appreciate your reading and reviewing my book, "A Shooting Star Meets the Well of Death, Why and How Richard Halliburton Conquered the World."It is my source and inspiration for the blog you admire so eloquently. Thank you.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2019
    December 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    August 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Architect
    Beautiful Casket
    Con Artist?
    Devils Island
    Flying Carpet
    Hangover
    Home Schooling
    Marriage Mystery
    Netflix Omission
    Packerland Piracy?
    Pancho Barnes Match-maker
    Roller-skate Man
    Stearman
    The Romanovs
    Well Of Death

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly