Bill Moyer sent me the following photos of the
escapees from Devil's Island and the boat. Along with the photo Bill wrote the
following: "...the escapees from Devil's Island were outfitted by
people from Aruba and sent on their way." ..... "As my Dad
told me the story, people were so helpful that when the boat first left,
it was overloaded and sank! It then had to be re-floated (or
replaced, I forget which) and they set off again, with more freeboard,
this time successfully." Bill Moyer.
PHOTOS BELOW
Escapee's boat in San Nicholas harbor, see stern of tanker to left.
Photo from Bill Moyer
It is about 1,000 miles from Devil's Island to Aruba, small boat for
such a trip. (Could this be Papillion???)
Blowup of the man in the picture above.
This photo was taken in early 1930's
Lets say 1934.
Could it be the same man?
Age 25?
A photo of Henri Charriere, author of Papillon from the back
of the book jacket.
Book copywriter in 1969, picture not dated, so maybe it was taken 1968.
If this is the same man he would be around 60 in the photo. Maybe...it
is him.
Your comments.
I think it is the same man, look at the eyes and the ears. Your
comments. (note butterfly on Mr. Charriere's chest. I blew
up the left hand photo but saw no butterfly, maybe he got it later, or
it is under his shirt. Papillon is French for butterfly)
BUT I WAS WRONG! SEE THE STORY
FROM "THE LAMP" BELOW.
Danny, his ears, eyes, forehead,
set of his mouth, and chin ......
I think it may be one and the
same .....!
especially after 35 years and
aging a bit ....
good work, Al Leak
Thanks, Dan. Yes, the guy looks like "Papillion" to me, but then I have
a gestalt in that direction so may be wrong. I was amazed at how well
the Esso News came out and how interesting its articles were, looking
back to 1949. Bill Moyer.
Looks like 9 men in that boat to me! Small boat, big sea!
After receiving this from Bill, I then wrote the
following to Larry Riggs and this was his reply.
Larry: Bill Moyer is going to
be sending me some photos his dad took in Aruba, 1929/35, as well as
other photos. In the photos are some of the escapees from Devil’s
Island that landed in Aruba. I am not sure of the time period but
it seems that as the Dutch Government would not give them asylum a
collection was taken up for them, I believe primarily by Lagoites,
they were outfitted with a new boat and supplies and sent on their
way. Would you please put out a request on your Bulletin Board for
those who know the story to write it up so I can add the story to
the photos. It was before my time but I am sure there are some out
there who knows the story. Thanks and Best Regards. Dan
Larry's notes:
Very interesting. This is the first I've heard of the escape.
Accurate or not (see caveat below) this would make an interesting
story. If you have anything to offer please copy to me as well.
Thanks.
Caveat: Devil's
Island was phased out between 1938 and 1951 (see Devil's Island,
below) allowing most prisoners to travel wherever they desired as
long as they could pay their own way. Many traveled to neighboring
islands in the Caribbean and took up residence providing they were
given asylum. Those who came to Aruba may have been part of that
release program. Possibly Aruba and the implied "escapees" fell
into the category of nonacceptance (asylum denied as indicated in
Dan's note above) ergo forcing them to leave for other parts of the
Caribbean on a newly donated boat by sympathetic Lagoites. If,
however, the dates of the photos Dan will be receiving from Bill
Moyer are verifiable as taken between 1929 and 1935 then the
"escapee" picture looms ever larger. Just a thought.
Google Search:
Devils
Island, Fr. Île du Diable, the
smallest and southernmost of the Îles du Salut, in the Caribbean Sea
off French Guiana. A penal colony founded in 1852, it was used
largely for political prisoners, the most celebrated of whom was
Alfred Dreyfus. Although conditions were probably not as sordid as
in other prison camps in French Guiana, the island's name became
synonymous with the horrors of the system. The penal colonies were
phased out between 1938 and 1951.
The following was sent to me by Lura (Fields) Ward, soon
after Larry sent out the request for information. If anyone has
more to add please sent it on to me and Larry, so I can include it in the web site.
This is the story of the Devil's
Island escapees as was told to me by my uncle, Doug Peebles, who worked
for Chi Bridge. This would have happened probably in the very early
1930s. The boat the escapees had was old and in poor condition and not
far from BA Beach the mast broke and they drifted with the tide into the
Beach. Somehow word spread and several Lago men went down to the Beach
to help, one of which was my uncle. They managed to get all the men
ashore but the government would not allow them to stay in Aruba so the
Lago men either helped them repair their boat or helped them get a new
one, provisioned them, and sent them on their way. Some time later, one
of the Lago men received a letter of thanks for all the Lago men had
done.
My father also spoke of the Devil's Island escapees but never said much
about it so I don't know what his version of the event would have been.
Lura Ward.
Then I received this from Al
Leak.
Hi Danny & Larry &
Bill, one of my favorite books is:"Papillon"
written by Henri Charriere .
I have a copy of
it here before me, On page 137 there is a chapter
about the escapees landing on the island of Curacao . Then on
the next page - 138, the storyline mentions that they had
landed on Dutch territory: Bonaire, Curacao or Aruba. The
story goes on to say that when they sailed away from Curacao,
they fetched up
in Rio Hacha, Columbia. The time period appears to be Dec.
1933 or Jan. 1934 .
So, these may
not have been the escapees that landed in Aruba - - -
but the storyline is very interesting.....Perhaps Bill Moyers
Dad has the pictures with a date on them..Very interesting
reading ......
in 1973 the movie
came out with Steve McQueen playing the French thief Henri
Charriere ( Papillon) & Dustin Hoffman played Louis Dega.
It probably won an Oscar, although I don't know for sure ...
best regards to you 3 ol' friends. Al Leak .
I sent an email to Ed Hillstead, he is an old
timer, and asking him if
he knew anything about the escapees, this was his reply.
Dan thanks for thinking of me.
Just had my 98th BD on the 12th and am still driving and in good health.
I'm sorry I can't give you a story on the escapees.
I remember
that they came to the Island but I never did
know any of the details. Don't even remember what year it was. I
was probably working too many hours at the time
Ed The red highlight is my doing, Dan Jensen.
And this from Bruce
Kilpatrick
I saw your message to Larry Riggs asking for info on
the escapees from Devil's island who landed in Aruba. I was told long
ago by someone in Aruba that the escapees did land in Aruba and were
given some food and water, but were sent out to sea again, where they
were intercepted by a French ship and so returned to captivity. How true
that may be, I don't know. An interesting account of Devil's island was
presented many years ago in a popular French novel, Papillon, which you
may recall. The protagonist of that story escaped from Devil's Island in
a small boat with a few other convicts and made their way to Curacao,
but were sent away , as undesirables. From Curacao, they went to
Venezuela and settled there. It was a good yarn, supposedly based on
fact, and probably accurately reflected conditions and events in that
infamous place.
Bruce Kilpatrick
4/14/2006 Last week I
emailed the Dutch Newspaper in Aruba, Amigoe and asked the
reporter Janna Coops to do a story about the escape from Devil's Island
with the hope of finding out more about the story. Apparently she
has done the story however I have not seen it and could not find it on
the newspaper's web site, however I did get the following email about
the story. This is the same newspaper that did the story about
this Lago Colony web site about a year ago, you can see that story by
going to the newspaper story link on the left.
Now I have a copy of the
newspaper article, thanks to Richard Beaujon in Aruba. Berry
Schendstok, Class of 1955, translated the story in the Dutch newspaper,
see the translation following the newspaper clipping. Thanks
Berry.
THE DEVIL'S ISLAND ESCAPEES
In 1934 or thereabouts, escapees
from the French penal colony of "Devil's Island" are alleged to have
visited Aruba. This according to a letter to AMIGOE from webmaster
Dan Jensen, who maintains a website about the Lago Colony. Jensen
is attempting to reconstruct the evacuees' story and hopes that
inhabitants of Aruba can help him.
The escapees had survived a
difficult and long journey. Devil's Island is more than 1000
kilometers away, situated off of the coast of French Guyana. After
their long journey, the escapees were unable to obtain asylum on
Aruba. In an act of compassion, employees of the Lago collected
money for the escapees so that they could continue their voyage in
their repaired vessel. One of the escapees possibly could have been
Henri Charrière, better known as Papillon. Henri Charrière
wrote a book about his many adventures as a prisoner and as a
"master escape-artist". Thius book, also named Papillon,
was made into a film in 1973 with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman
in the titel roles.
Jensen is looking for more
information about the Devil Island escapees' arrival on Aruba and
hopes that especially older inhabitants of Aruba can provide him
tips about this episode.
Jensen is an American who lived
in The Colony during his entire youth, from 1938 until
1957, the year in which his Father took retirement. His Father was
an engineer at the refinery. Jensen grew up during the golden age
of the refinery. When he himself retired in 2004, he started his
website about this American colony on Aruba. His website is a
work in progress. More and more people are discovering it and
are sending him old photographs of Aruba and of the Colony.
You can find the website at
www.logo-colony.com. For information and photographs on the
subject of the devil's island escapees, click on the link "Devil
Island's Escape". Jensen can be contacted by way of the website;
just click on "guest book and contact".
TRANSLATED BY BERRY SCHENDSTOK 4-29-2006
Dear Dan,
I was pleased to read about you in Amigo De Korsou (Internet edition)
I was born on the Island of Curacao in the early 50s.
I left the island in 1971.
I also read about the escapes of Devils Island and about your interest
in these men.
As far as I know Henri Charriere or Papillon, as we know him for the
book,
has onetime landed in the Eastern part of Curacao on a raft and almost
starving.
He then was found and nursed by a Dr. Willem Maal MD, who happened to be
a Freemason.
Dr. Willem Maal MD. also happened to be the owner of the Eastern Part of
Curacao.
He did escape many times from Devils Island.
In 1943? He was brought back to Devils Island and escaped 1944 for the
last time.
I bear no knowledge of what happened between the years of leaving
Curacao end WO 2.
My father also was a Freemason, so this is where I get my information
from.
I hope as was of a little help to you.
Bill Laging
The
article also appeared in the Internet edition of the newspaper and that
is where Bill Laging found the story. You can visit the page and
see the article, also in Dutch, by clicking on the link below.
AGAIN, LURA WARD CAME UP WITH
WHAT MAY BE THE "COMPLETE" STORY AS FAR AS THE ARUBA CONNECTION IS
CONCERNED. SHE WAS CLEANING OUT A CLOSET AND FOUND THE FOLLOWING
ARTICLE WHICH WAS PRINTED IN "THE LAMP" THE PUBLICATION OF
STANDARD OIL OF NEW JERSEY. UNFORTUNATELY THE DATE OF THE
PUBLICATION IS NOT KNOW. I BELIEVE THE DATE OF EARLY 1930's IS
PROBABLY CORRECT. THE LAKE TANKER IN THE BACK OF ONE OF THE PHOTOS
WOULD SUPPORT THAT DATE. THE ARTICLE DOES PROVE THAT THE PHOTO IS NOT OF
HENRI CHARRIERE, THE AUTHOR OF PAPILLON, BUT A "CAPT." DUVERNAY,
THE LEADER OF THIS GROUP OF ESCAPEES. IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO
KNOW HOW THE MEN MADE OUT IN THE END, BUT THAT WE WILL PROBABLY NEVER
KNOW.
IF YOU ARE
LIKE ME AND HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE SMALL TEXT, CLICK ON THE FIRST PAGE
AND GO TO A LARGER COPY.
I ALSO
RECEIVED THESE TWO EMAILS FROM CURACAO ABOUT THE STORY AFTER THE ARTICLE
APPEARED IN
THE DUTCH NEWSPAPER, Amigoe .
Wilemstad, April
16, 2006
Hi Mr. Jensen
As far I
can recall Henri was not in Aruba but on Curacao in 1934 according
to his second book called BANCO
If you
want to know more please let me know.
Mr. Jensen.
A very interesting and
informative site:
Regarding the escapees from
Devil's island I would like to inform the following:
The most famous group of
escapees, including Henri Charierre aka "Papillon" landed on
Curacao, more exactly at Awa Blancu / ( " Hambrak"), on the aptly
named "Duivelsklip" plantation on the Eastern part of the island.
This part of the Maal properties of "Oostpunt" on Curacao, (
consisting of 5 plantations). This group was detained by my
grandfather, dr. Willem (Willy) Pieter Maal, owner of the properties
at that time, after they were observed entering a house on the
site, and "ransacking" it.
This is partially also
described by Charierre in the book Papillon, except that in most
issues I have seen, he is called dr. Naal.
Dr. Maal delivered the
"escapees" to the authorities, and later aided them financially in
acquiring a vessel to continue their journey.
If memory serves me, this is
also mentioned in his book.
Much of my knowledge is from
first hand accounts of my Great Aunt, who met these escapees when
dr. Willy Maal stopped at the main entrance of the property with
them, on the way to the Police Substation. I was told ( she passed
away in 1996 at 93), that neither she nor my grandfather trusted nor
felt at ease around these people, and that the my grandfather said
that the leader, Charierre, clearly seemed to be a criminal and
that the fact that my grandfather was armed ( as he always was)
induced the men to comply to being taken to town. My great aunt
described them as "unsavory characters" and she was worried when her
brother took them to town. However, my Grandfather, always armed,
and in the civil guard, felt secure he could handle anything.
Of course, in the book "Papillon",
the author clearly professes his innocence as well as his honesty.
His account of "merely checking the currency he found in a shack on
the property to see what country they were in" is not totally
truthful from what I heard of those involved.
Also, a bit of embellishment on
his part, in describing how dr. Maal kissed the ring of the bishop
when he came into a room. "Rubbish" said my grandmother. "
Never". ( We Maals are "notoriously" protestant !)
In any case, over the years,
various writers have approached us to gain access to the
properties,a dn to try and retrace the route of this group. It is an
interesting story. Years later, I met a Dutchman who worked for a
bank and, ho told me that in the 60's,he had met Charierre, who told
him that if he were to see dr. Maal in Curacao, to please give his
regards.
I was not aware that this
group, or any other Devil's Island escapees landed on Aruba, but
while Charierre never mentioned this, I believe it is possible that
others did.
I hope this info has been
useful to you
Willy Maal
Plantage Klein Sint
Joris
Curacao
4-20-2006
Today, August 16, 2006 I received this and the photos
from Alexander Miller.
Dear Dan,
I came across your web site while researching my late father's naval
career. He served as a ship's officer with Esso tankers from around
1928 until 1942 and was based in Aruba. Like many men of his
generation, he spoke very little about his time at sea and I'm only
sorry I didn't press him more for information. I know that he
ended his time with Esso serving on the Esso Panama as First Mate
having come through the ranks. Some of his earlier ships were the
Punta Corda and San Carlos. He came home to Belfast in 1942 to his
new wife ( whom he had not seen for two years) and to meet for the
first time, his 18 month old son. He then signed up with BP Tankers
and served with them until his retirement in 1970.
The point of interest is that in our photograph album at home for as
long as I can remember, were two photos of escaped convicts from
Devil's Island. Dad thought one of them might be Papillon when his
best selling book was published, but could not be sure. He had
written on the back of the photo ' Aruba - two of the convicts and
part of a third who made a bid for freedom from Devil's Island'. Dad
remembered that they were treated as celebrities in the town and
when he asked them if he could take their photograph, they happily
posed for him. You can imagine my shock at seeing almost identical
pictures on your web site. This is a remarkable coincidence that two
sets of photographs should emerge considering these events took
place over 70 years ago. The article written in The Lamp at the time
would seem to rule out Papillon, but considering his alleged
unreliability and tendency to stray from the truth, anything is
possible.
For your interest, I have attached my father's photos. His name was
James A G Millar. They will not add much to the information already
to hand, but it is interesting to think that my father and whoever
took the other snaps were probably present in Aruba harbor at the
same time all those years ago. Its a small world !
By the way, congratulations on a very detailed and informative web
site. If you know anyone who could help me with my research, I would
be very grateful.
Best Regards,
Alex. Millar
BELFAST
Hello Dan,
Happy New Year. 2007
I was doing a search for "Henri Charriere" (Papillon) and stumbled
upon your web site with its photos of Devils Island escapees.
People were wondering if any of the men in the photos were the
famous "Papillon".
In his book, Charriere makes mention several times that he was
missing the thumb of his left hand. All the men in all the
photographs have left thumbs where the hand is visible.
Also, when the book first was published in about 1968 it was a great
best-seller all over the world. At that time there were many former
prisoners and former guards still living who were THERE in the
prison at the time Charriere claims to have had his many adventures
and escapes. All of the old-timers seemed to agree that if such
multiple escapes and dramatic fights and other events had taken
place, Papillon would have been a very famous prisoner. None of
them remembered him at all and cast doubts about the accuracy of his
book. Charriere responded by saying that it was accurate as he
remembered it, but that he didn't "go into that hell with a
typewriter."
Charriere claimed to have made several escapes, one of them of
almost a year duration when he claimed to have lived with some
indians on the coast of Venesuela or Colombia before being
re-captured and returned to the prison. When the French government
finally opened the archives of the prison in the mid-1980s,
historians and journalists carefully looked over the prison records
and discovered that the whole book was esentially fiction. The only
two things that they could verify about Charriere's story were: he
was given a life sentence for murder in 1928, and, he
did escape in 1944 (or 1945, I forget which). It appears he
made the rest of it up. This would mean that he is not in those
photos from the 1930s.
He also wrote a sequel to "Papillon" called "Banco", about his life
after the escape. He lived in Carracas, Venesuela and continued in
his life of crime. Bank robbery, safe cracking, tax evasion and so
on. The man was a crook and apparently incapable of being honest.
Why some people still take his book "Papillon" at face value is a
mystery to me.
I'll give him credit, though, he was a good writer and spun a great
tale of adventure.
If this sheds a little light on the mystery of the photographs,
fine. If not... well, no harm done, I guess.
Sincerely,
Frederick Borg
Florida, USA
Today, June 19, 2007, I received more photos from Vic
Lopez of escapees from Devil's Island and who landed in Aruba.
These photos were sent to his father when he was working on the
"Our Stories"
project. The date on the photographs is 193?. Some of the
guys look pretty tough while others look like Yachts men out for a
leisure Sunday sail.
ON JULY 21, 2010 I RECEIVED
AN EMAIL FROM IAN MARINO ABOUT HIS TAKE ON THE MAN WHO CAME TO ARUBA
WITH THE GROUP ESCAPED FROM DEVILS ISLAND AND PAPILLION BEING THE SAME
MAN. AFTER TAKING A GOOD LOOK AT THE PHOTO OF PAPILLION HOLDING
HIS HAT IN HIS LEFT HAND AND IT LOOK LIKE THAT GUY HAS A THUMB SO IT
PROBABLY IS NOT PAPILLION.
DAN JENSEN
Hi Dan
Great site!
After reading both his books and being the nosey, curious person that I
am I have been interested in Papi's life ever since.
This sort of curiosity led me to actually make a book on escapee and
career criminal Iceberg Slim ( Iceberg Slim The Lost Interviews) not
long ago, however my interest in Papi is just leisure and curiosity.
What I don't like is often these icons are dismissed as mostly
fictional, or outright liars, with only a journalist's word to go from.
Whatever the press or Wikipedia says people believe. And they are often
wrong.
One key thing the page seems not to mention is Henri had always his left
thumb missing. He says how this was done early in his life before his
imprisonment in the book Banco. Looking at photos of him, it is not
crystal clear but seems his thumb is definitely missing beyond the joint
to my eyes. Photos enclosed. Also see the video on youtube where he is
in the film set prison, the thumb seems smaller and missing when hugging
Steve.
CLICK BELOW TO SEE ANOTHER VIDEO OF STEVE
MCQUEEN AND PAPILLION ON YOUTUBE
BACK TO IAN'S EMAIL
I was therefore sad to see the man in the zoomed picture has a left
thumb in the second, photo. Especially when that photo looks very very
like him, I agree.
I enclose 2 pics of him back in France in case you haven't see them too.
Let me know your thoughts!
Ian
England
THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS WERE
SUBMITTED BY IAN, THE THUMB ON THE LEFT HAND OF PAPILLION IS
SAID TO BE MISSING, IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE THE RIGHT THUMB IS MISSING.
THIS IS A COPY OF THE PHOTO OF THE MAN WHO CAME TO
ARUBA, FROM THE TOP OF THIS PAGE, NO BLOWUP OF HIS LEFT HAND. IS NEEDED
TO SEE THE MAN STILL HAS HIS LEFT THUMB, THEREFORE IT IS NOT PAPILLION.
DAN JENSEN
IF THIS IS NOT PAPILLION, WHO IS HE AND WHO ARE THE OTHERS,
I WONDER IF THERE IS ANYONE IN FRANCE WHO RECOGNIZERS ANY OF THE MEN?
I LOOK FORWARD TO
HEARING FROM OTHERS WHO
MAY KNOW MORE ABOUT THE STORY.
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