The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-08-14
THE WAR IN HAYTI.
Horrible Atrocities Perpetrated by Both
Leeitime's and Eippolyte's Soldiers.

Leeitime's and Eippolyte's Soldiers.
The last accounts from Port Prince
are to the 2sth of July. They show that
the war between Legitime and Hippolyte
has degenerated into war of savages.
The prisoners taken by Hippolyte are
forthwith shot, while those captured by
Legitime are at once brought into the
market place and their throatS cut in
the presence of the populace, the Amer
lean Consul and the captain of all Atlas
Line steamer being eye-witnesses OF the
bloody spectacle. But Legitime has had
only the savage satisfaction OF cutting
the throats of seven of Hippolyte's men,
while Hippolytc has shot two patches of
prisoners, numbering ninety-tive in all
eighteen on one occasion and seventy
seven on another, the captain of de-
tachment of eighty men being surprised
and killed while going the round of the
works, all the rest, after surrender, be-
ing summarily shot, with the exception
of two men who hid in the bush, and on
their return to the city reported that
they saw their comrades, while begging
for mercy, shot down to man. If the
fighting were of the same fierce
and relentless character Hippolyte,
by all accounts, would soon be
master of Port-au-P Prince, and a gen.
eral slaughter of its inhabitants and a
geaeral scene of plumber would ensue
unless the foreign war ships in the offing
send sufficient number of armed men
ashore to protect the excited and dis
'tracted population from the fury and
resentment of Hippolyte's men. The
correspondent of the New York Times
gives dreadful picture of the condition
of affairs in Port-au-Prince. Fear bor-
dcring on frenzy" he says, appears to
have seized hold of many of Legitime's
soldiers. They refuse to stand fire, and
it only remains for the contagion to
become. universal to enable Hippolyte
to march unopposed into the capital of
the South. The idea of offering quarter
to surrendering troops has died out, and
capture now means something worse
than death None of the inhabitants OF
Port rt-au-Prince expects the least mercy
accorded him should Hippolyte's men
ever force an entrance into the city" "
One or more attempts have been made
through the American Consul to nego-
tiate between the belligerents, but Hip
polyte, it is said, refused to listen to
nothing but unconditional surrender.
And so the desultory warfare goes on,
with Hippolyte having the advantage of
the best fighting men, but no artillery
except one or two Gatling guns, while
Iegitime has an abundance of artll-
lery, but very few men who will
stand to their guns With the occa-
sional help of the war steamers Dessa-
lines and Riviere, Hippolyte's principal
attacks have been directed against Fort
La Coup, which dominates and protects
the outer line of forts. He has twice
assaulted La Coup and twice been re-
pulsed, although at one time if he had
pushed his attacking column resolutely
forward he could have carried the work.
Since then he has drawn so near to the
city that he can fire into it by occupying
some dry ground in an adjacent marsh.
He has thrown five hundred men into
that position, but it seems doubtful
whether they can hold it, as it can be
shelled by steamers from creek that
rms through part of the marsh. On
the whole, therefore, the situation ap-
pears to be no better nor any worse than
it was at the last adviceS, two weeks
ago. The troops of neither belligerent
seem to have any liking for close fight,
ing, so they skirmish for awhile at long
range, and then either Hippolyte's men
retire or Legitime's men run away and
are protected from pursuit by the guns
mounted on the outer line of forts.
Such war, with its incidents of say
agery, may linger on for months unless
some occasion should arise that would
give occasion to the eomusanders.as The
foreign war ships in the ofing to land a
body of marines and seamen to put an
end to the interminable struggle and the
bloody reprisals that accompany it.