Good morning,


For change of pace I am going to send y'all a biography and a history lesson. The biography is about an iron man if there ever was one.

                                     Rene Belbenoit

                                  A profile in survival

Rene Belbenoit was born in Paris, France in 1899. His mother abandoned him while he was still an infant and he was raised partially by his father known only as “Papa” Belbenoit who was a conductor on the Paris to Orleans railroad. Since his father was seldom home, little Rene was sent to live with his grandparents. His grandparents died when Rene was 12 years old and he was again in need of a family. He was sent to live with and work for an uncle that owned a popular nightclub in Paris called Café du Rat Mort (Dead Rat). Later on he worked at the legendary nightclub Place Pigalle. This club became known to the American soldiers as “Pig Alley” during WWI. Rene served with distinction in the French Army during WWI. In 1920 Rene stole some pearls from his employer and was sentenced to eight years at hard labor in the French Penal colony on the north coast of South America known as French Guiana. Included in this colony was the infamous camp known as Devil’s Island. This camp is famous for the abominable living conditions and the brutality of the guards. Very few prisoners ever made it out of there alive. Rene was receiving a soldier’s pension and was able to pay off the guards and did not have to do the harshest work. Two weeks after his arrival he attempted his first escape. He and another man built a crude raft and drifted to the next country of Dutch Guiana but the Dutch returned him and the other man to the penal colony. During his incarceration he began writing of his experiences and kept his manuscripts wrapped in wax covered rags. He made some extra money by roasting Chestnut and capturing butterflies. He eventually met English writer Blair Niles and sold her one of his manuscripts. The next Christmas he and nine others tried an escape in a stolen log canoe but the canoe capsized offshore of Dutch Guiana and they tried to escape through the jungle but after three days they decided to return. In this short trip three of the nine died violently, mostly by the local Indians. In the following years he tried to escape two more times but was unsuccessful and was transferred from island to island. In 1931 he wrote a letter describing the prison conditions to the new Governor of French Guiana. His letter was discovered by those in the penal colony and he was put into solitary confinement. In 1934 he was released from solitary but was still a prisoner on the island. He made a living capturing and selling butterflies and sculpting different objects from the natural rubber exuded from the surrounding trees. During his incarceration in solitary he had lost all of his teeth. A visiting moviemaker gave him $200 and in 1935, he bought a boat and set sail with four others. This time they made it to Trinidad. Even though the trip took only three days, Rene had to pull a gun on the others to make them keep going. The officials on Trinidad decided not to hand them over to the penal colony and allowed them to continue their voyage. Sixteen days later they finally arrived on the north coast of Colombia. As soon as they stepped ashore the Indians took their clothing but they made their way to the town of Santa Maria where they received food and clothing. The downside was that there was a French official there and he took them all into custody to send them back. Somehow Rene was separated from the other by sympathetic local officials and a newspaper man and he was assisted in his escape from the French official if he promised to write about his time in the colony. Rene slowly worked his way north by stealing several Indian dugout canoes. He finally arrived in Panama where he spent a couple of months with the Kuna tribe of Indians and later made a considerable sum of money by selling rare and valuable butterflies in Panama City, Panama. In 1937 he made his way to the city of La Libertad, El Salvador and hid on a boat bound for California. In 1938 he published his accounts of his stay on Devil’s Island with a book with the title of Dry Guillotine. It was an instant success and went through 14 reprints in one year. The book attracted the attention of the US Immigration authorities and he was arrested. He was given a visitors visa but in 1941 he was told to leave the country. He went across the border into Mexico and tried several times to cross back in. He was caught twice at the crossing near Brownsville, Texas. And on the second attempt he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. After his release he was given an unrestricted passport and he moved to Los Angeles and went to work for Warner Brothers as a technical advisor. In 1951 he moved to the Lucerne Valley of California and founded Rene’s Ranch Store which is where he lived also. His neighbors knew who he was and let him alone. But he was called back to Los Angeles by the Immigration authorities in 1951 and many of his friends and coworkers at Warner Brothers stood up for him and he received a US citizenship in 1956. Rene married and had a son. He died of cardiac arrest in 1959 at the age of 60. He wrote two books: Dry Guillotine and Hell on Trial. If there is another story of a person with the will to survive stronger than Rene Belbenoit, I am all ears.

There was another prisoner in the same era name Henri Charriere that was in a French Penal colony also. His nickname was “Papillion” meaning Butterfly. Henri had a large tattoo of a butterfly on his chest thus the nickname. They made a movie about this man starring Steve McQueen. Rene and Henri is not the same personThis date in history December 13

2003    After nine months on the run, on this date former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is found by American soldiers in a “spider” hole in the ground near his home town of Tikrit, Iraq. The search for this ghoul and monster was intense and all encompassing after the invasion of Iraq by the Allies. They had cornered Saddam’s sons in one of their castles but they wanted to fight rather than surrender and fight they did. But it was for naught because the Allies brought in a tank and leveled that building killing all of the occupants including Saddam’s sons. The atrocities committed or allowed by Saddam and his sons were cataloged in the book of crime to never be forgotten. Saddam was put on trial, convicted and was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity. Saddam went to meet Allah with a rope around his neck.

1937    At the outset of the Sino-Chinese war, the Japanese military leader Matsui Iwane ordered the leveling of the city of Nanking after the Chinese leadership had escaped inland. The Japanese troops swept into Nanking and unceremoniously killed over 150,000 men, raped over 20,000 women and children and burned the town to the ground. This atrocious act of terrorism is known to this date at “The Rape of Nanking.” Not that it really matters, but after the war all the major Japanese officers involved in these acts were tried and hanged for crimes against humanity. Crimes, indeed.

1621    I don’t know it ya’ll remember it or not, but in an earlier lesson I stated the Governor William Bradford had discovered that his interpreter Squanto had been extorting the Indians and the chief came to Bradford and complained. Well, Bradford knew how important good relationship with the Indians was and was taking Squanto to the gallows when he spied a British sailing vessel coming over the horizon and knew it was a ship load of settlers. He also knew that Squanto would be important to the newcomers and spared Squanto but impressed upon him to knock off the extortion shit with the Indians. Well, the ship was “The Fortune” with 35 settlers aboard commanded by Captain Robert Cushman. Cushman unloaded the settlers and took on a load of furs, especially beaver pelts to take back to England. Unfortunately for Cushman he was overtaken by a French pirate ship and his furs were taken. But the permanent settlers thought they were going to make their living off the Cod fishing close off shore. After finding out that furs were just a valuable as Cod fish and began running trap lines instead. It was the fur market that caused the opening of the western frontier in the United States.

1862    Yesterday I told ya’ll about the Union Army finally being able to cross the Rappahannock River and occupy Fredericksburg, Virginia. But CSA General R.E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia had been there for two days digging in and aiming there artillery. Not only that at the base of the hill was a road with a stone wall on one side. Lee sent General George Cobb and a few hundred of Georgia sharpshooters to hide behind the stone wall and wait on an infantry charge. At one point General Lee’s artillery commander said “General, I don’t think a chicken could cross that field and live.” He was nearly correct. Burnside ordered infantry charge after infantry charge and all were cut to pieces by Lee’s artillery before they got half way and those that did were met with Cobb’s Georgians at the stone wall who shot them at nearly point blank range. As I said yesterday, it was the worst battle loss in American history. Burnside was going to try it again on the 14th of December but he was talked out it by cooler head and he headed back north. As soon as he got back he was immediately relieved by US General Joseph Hooker, he wasn’t very good either. It was during this battle that General Lee said the Immortal words “It is good that war is so terrible or we would learn to love it.” These words were parroted by US General George Patton also.

1798    On this date one of the greatest mountain men/explorers in American history is born in the backwoods of Tennessee. Joseph R. “Joe” Walker was recognized as being very intelligent and had the talent to be able to remember any lands that he had traveled; therefore he was rarely lost and made an excellent guide. He was persuaded by William Bonnevile to into the southwestern area and does some mapping for his upcoming fur trapping enterprise. At that time that land belonged to Mexico and he was captured and put into jail in Santa Fe. He got out of jail when he helped the Mexicans fight off several raids from the Pawnee and the Apache. He was released and continues his searching. In 1833 he and three of his party accidentally came upon the Yosemite Valley. It is believed that he and his men were the first honkies to see the wonders of this magic land. Walker established a farm in northern California where he died ravaged by rheumatism and blindness. He wanted his gravestone to read “Camped Yosemite, November 11, 1833.” Evidently the viewing of Yosemite was the most important time of his life. Joe Walker was not the only trailblazer out there. There were Jim Bridger and Kit Carson among many others. But Joe Walker found his niche in life and enjoyed every second of it. We should all be so fortunate.

Famous quotes:

“Dyslexia means you never have to say your syrro.” Anon

Born today:

1797    German writer Heinrich Heine. When speaking of one of his enemy he said “He was ordinarily insane but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid.” I think I now this person.

1879    English actress Emily Belmont. She said “The private railcar is not an acquired taste. One takes to it immediately.” I would think so.

1915    US Mystery writer Ross McDonald. He said “There is nothing wrong with Southern California that a sudden and complete rise in the ocean level wouldn’t cure.”

1949    US musician Tom Verlaine. He said “The press deserves nothing but lies”. Why not, that is what the feed us

1954    English singer Berton Averre. He said “To err is dysfunctional; to forgive is to be codependent.” Bert, you need to simplify your life.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow