EATEN BY MOSQUITOES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 273, 8 April 1911, Page 9

EATEN BY MOSQUITOES.

OUTLAW* FIENDISH REVENGE. Quietly but persistently, and with promise of startling results, the United States Government has turned its coldly enquiring gaze upon a condition of things which otherwise would seem like the wildest romance. The circumstances hark back a full hundred years—to the days when the French pirate, Lallite, was a very real bugbear to voyagers seeking fortunes mui homes in the French colonies of Louisiana. In fact, Pirate Ijiiliite is the dark, shadowy figure that looms in the background of the whole enquiry. The scene is tne Island of St. Malo in Lake Borgnc, which is really a bay indenting the coast of Louisiana, named for the birthplace in France of the celebrated pirate, and used by him as a piratical rendezvous. Later the island was a rendezvous of smugglers, but latterly its inhabitants have lived quite primitively on fish and game. From those times up to the present St. 'Malo has been held by an outlaw male;. community of semi-savages having their own government, which they call a "Free Republic." The St. Malo community has never paid revenue of any to the Government. Once or twice there have beeu perfunctory efforts to bring the island under the laws of the country, but only recently has there been provocation sufficient 'to inspire energetic investigation. And in that provocation sounds the note of the wildest romance, with tragedy for its denouement. Was there a beautiful "Queen of St. Malo?" And was she murdered by her savage subjects —bound to a stake in a swamp and eaten alive by mosquitoes? It is this accusation against the wild men who inhabit the island of St. Malo that has stirred the Government into quiet but determined enquiry. Up to the time of this alleged tragedy —the reality of which is accepted generally by the people of neighboring communities on the mainland—St. Malo was romantically referred to as the "Eveless Eden." The half-civilised men who occupied it under a rule government of their own either could not induce women to share their savage lot or they feared collapse of their little empire through rivalries likely to ensue if women came among them. St. Malo is an island only when Gulf storms drive the waters of Lake Borgne over the narrow strip of marsh that connects it with the mainland. When Laffite ended his career his followers on the island did not dare to return to civilisation., They were smugglers until that pursuit became too dangerous, and then turned to the' more peaceful and less risky pursuit of hunting ami fishing for the markets.

The head man of ,the republic is styled "Maestro," or master. He is elected yearly by popular vote; is dethroned by popular vote, and is either exiled from the island or shot to death, according to the degree of crime. He has a council of five, which is composed of the oldest men of the' colony, styled the "elders," each of whom is over 70 years of age. "Court" is held in the open, under a large tree, as in the Middle Ages by the kings. Punishment is inflicted at once. There arc no appeals, no delays. A culprit is whipped or exiled from the island for small offences, and for murder is shot to death. The Council of Elders name the executioners. For a plain drunk the man is put in a boat half filled with water until he sobers.

Their amusements are dice and cocking mains. As they have nothing, there is very little betting.

The colonists are subdivided into companies of five, and these live in one hut, fish together, and take their produce to the market. Each section has a captain, and the maestro, in a measure, holds him responsible for the action of the men in his company. The nntives of St. Malo are short in stature, gross and inclined to fatness, perhaps owing to their indolent life and gluttony. They have high cheekbones, thick upper lips, and mostly wear a bristly tuft of moustache. A strange scene of government investigations! But these wild men of St. Malo must answer to the charge that they barbarously put to death poor, wayward, romantic Marie La Vigne, that mainland beauty of Arcadian descent who would not be restrained from her purpose to become "Queen of St. Malo." The name of the "Maestro," who, while marketing a boatload of fish, became so obsessed by Marie's charming figure and coquettish glances that he dared to violate tradition by letting her accompany him back to the island, is one of the things the Government authorities are trying to learn. Up to the present the details of the tragedy which poor Marie La Vigne brought upon herself are somewhat vague—except the horrible circumstances of her death. For some months the Maestro was able to reconcile his people to the presence of his "queen," as Marie insisted on calling herself. But for any human being in petticoats to share the life of those islanders was too violently opposed to custom not to bear bitter fruit. The "elders" waited only for a favorable opportunity to dispose of Marie. Gradually young members of the community lost their prejudices under the influence of Marie's coquettish glances. Presently the Maestro discovered what most of the islanders had known for some time—that he did not occupy the whole of Marie's heart; worse than that, his rivals were not only successful but were numerous. Such was the effect of this lawless existence upon the character of Marie La Vigne. Marie's public accuser was the Maestro himself. And his thirst for vengeance was so fierce that he turned her over to her worst enemies—the Council of Elders —for trial. There was no lack of evidence. According to the barbarous standard of the community, a punishment to fit the crime was announced by the Council: "Let bar be eaten alive by mosquitoes!" The Council of Elders, in delivering this terrible judgment, also swore the islanders to permit no future invasion of the island by anv woman. Then Marie La Vigne was led forth to execution. She was bound to a stake in the marshes, naked, where swarms of mosquitoes and gnats denied any possibility , that she would live long enough to suffer pangs of hunger. Such is the outline of the tragedy which has turned the gaze of the authorities on the whole problem of civilising St. Malo, and, if possible, bringing to justice the murderers of poor Marie La Vigne.