Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-02-14
HAYTlEN WARFARE.

Hippolyte's Recent Victory at tirandse-
leine- The TowE Destroyed by Legiu.
mes Gun Boats. But the Troops Landed
| Hemmed In aud Annihilated by Hippo
| 1yte's Forces From Gon'viaes.
! ST.. MARC, Hayti, Jan. 2S.- General Hip
| polyte has just gained great victory. II
| is the most important battle which has
been fought il the civil war in Hayti.
"Battle," by the way, is rather mislead-
| ing word in the present instance, for
| when three hundred men are caught like
rats in trap, with their retreat inter-
| cepted. and they are then surrounded and
| shot down at leisure with barbarouS
| cruelty, no quarter being shown, no pris-
| oners taken and every living soul put to
| death, 'Butcnery" seems to be the proper
| characterization of the horror.
That was the scene witnessed yesterday
at the little seaport town OF Grandse-
1eine, about twenty five miles from here,
where a detachment o. Legitime's army
was completely annihilated 1t was about
1880 in the morning of the 24th-four days
ago-when the distant booming of heavy
guns was heard to the northward. Gen.
eral Montpoint, General Hippolyte's Sec
rotary of War and of the Navy, was in
command at st. Mare. He had only 300
troops at hand, but there was a general
call to arms, and every man in the town
capable of bearing arms was required to
respond at once. In scarcely more than
an hour the army was in motion. With
the civilian volunteers it numbered about
500. The troops set out at once
for Grandseliene, expecting to join
forces with about 200 troops,
which We're known to be at Goniviaes,
and some 200 more scattered in interior
points. The troops arrived at GrandSe-
leiue on the following morning. They
advanced cautiously and encamped under
the shelter of tropical forest. The SOL
diers from st. Mare had met those from
Goniviaes and the interior. Meanwhile
the bombardment had continued from the
gun-boats in the harbor and the whole
town had been completely destroyed and
laid in ruins.
About 800 soldiers had been sent ashore
to hold possession of the town after the
shells of the gun-boats had reduced it to
ruins. Many OF the inhabitants of the
town had been killed and wounded in the
attack, but most of the people had fled to
the woods when the bombardment began.
After having put the troops ashore
the naval vessels steamed away from
Grandseleine, thus leaving the landing
party without means of retreat and en-
tirely dependent upon their own resources
to hold the town. With force outnum-
bering Legitime's forces two to one Hip
polyte's men quietly surrounded the town,
still remaining concealed until the in
vaders should feel comparatively secure
at the apparent absence of any foe. Then
the soldiers of the North poured into
Grandseleine from all sides. No quarter
was shown. The Legitimists scattered
and fled, but were pursued and shot down
like rats. Not one was spared. Nothing
was left to mark the site of the little town
but smouldering ruins and heaps of dead
and dying.
Meantime, the men of war had proceed
ed to Goniviaes. They shelled the town,
but did not do very much damage. They
arrived off st. Marc on the morning of the
Goth. AT IL a. N. the TouSSaint LOWER
ture opened fire on the town. The British
steamer Harold was in the harbor, and
several foreigners, the consuls and some
women and children sought refuge on
board of her. under the protection of the
British flag. Many buildings were de-
stroyed, two men were killed. dozen
men, women and children were mortally
wounded and many others were more or
less injured. Toward nightfal1, the gum
boats withdrew. On the 9th the Toussaint
L'Ouverture suddenly paid st. Marc a
visit and fired about twenty steel shells
into the town. Not much damage was
done to property and no lives were lost.
Fort Diamant returned the fire, and man.
aged to drop some shells SO close to the
gun-boat that she gave up the fight and
sailed away. There was an engagement
on the Goth, at a town in the interior called
Hispie. About eight hundred men were
engaged on both sides. The Northern
army came off victorious, capturing
eighteen prisoners. Fifteen of these pris
oners We're shot Immediately, and the re-
naming three were sent to st. Marc to Ia
put on the rack and otherwise torture.
until they gave information as to the
of Legitime troops. Ther
they, too, will be mercifully shot TO er.
their agonies.