Wichita eagle., 1889-01-06
Daily eagle
A HAYTIAN EPISODE.
A FlLlBuSTERiNG EXPEDITION THAI
CAME TO A BAD END.
A Survivor of the Expedition Relates an
Experience in Hayti During the Revolu-
ton Against Solomon and How he Es-
capped with his Life.
special Correspondence.l

some fellow, with an easy manner and a
tongue that could let the vocabulary of five
languages trip as lightly off the end of it as
If to each he had been born. 1t really made
little difference which he used, for he was a
swindler in either. The revolution in Hayti,
and the capture of an American blockade
runner down there, recall him to my mind
As he is in the penitentiary at Sing Sing now,
serving out ten years term for forgery,
presume it will do him no harm to tell his
Haytian adventure
Yes, was with filibustering expedition
once and made a narrow escape. l got
neither gold nor glory"
Chow was it," asked
at is not a long story, and If you care to
listen / will tell you about it. 1t Was along
In July, 83, that was knocking around New
York, living by my wits, as not infrequently
do, when l happened to get in with couple
Of fellows who had about as much to do as
myself, and who were getting recruits for a
secret expedition to Somewhere l didn't
know where Somewhere was, and / cannot
say that cared particularly. Well the re-
suit was that thirty of us found our way on
board of a bark one night, and lot of arms
having been smuggied aboard under false
bill of lading, we sailed down the Narrows
and out into the ocean, ostensibly bound for
San Domingo
at did not take long, after we had reached
the high seas, for us patriotas as the chief
cut throat in command of the expedition was
pleased to call us, to learn that we were
bound for Hayti; to be more exact, to the
harbor Of Jacmel The situation was this:
There had been one Of the regular revo-
buttons going Oh in that island, and there
happening to be an opportunity for a fill
clustering expedition, the patriotic half Span
ish, and, l had almost said, his Connecticut
seed and Virginia bright, followers for there
was not Haytian in the crowd, even the
leader being a Cuban, and the rest being
principally Americans, felt their blood begin
to boil, and they became possessed with de-
sire to shout 'ibertad on the shores Of the
oppressed and down trodden island
I'VE sailed along without any special in
cident, keeping out of the track of other YES
sells as much as possible There being fair
weather we did not have to worry much
about the bark, and outside of a sort Of mill
tary drill our captain put as through twice a
day, we put in most Of our time with cards
and dice, but the gambling was done princi-
pally on faith, as the crowd was about as
bankrupt in a financial way as it was
morally, which was putting their fortunes at
a rather low figure. Every one expected to
make big haul, and as it was not vet in
their hands, they felt safe in banking on it.
and all being in the same fix none could COM
plain.
after about fifteen days sailing we struck
the Mona passage, east of San Domingo, and
then, after striking the Caribbean sea, turned
west. Arriving off the south coast Of Hayti,
near Jacnel, early one morning, we ran
close in to shore and signaled by runninr the
flag UP at half mast. This was answered by
a rocket from the shore, SO we sent a boat TO
land, ostensiblY for water, the captain of the
expedition being one of the party We had
been given to understand that we were
band of patriots going TO assist an uprising
in Hayti, but, at the same time, if We hap
pened to be benefited pecuniarily by sacking
a town, where the foreign merchants were
liable to have valuable stocks of merchandise.
we could not be held strictly responsible for
the overflow Of enthusiasm.
In about an hour the boat came back with
word from the captain that we were all to
land with our arms and ammunition
'JacInel was found to be, as the captain
expected, in the hands of our friends: that
is, those who opposed President Salomon's.
the then existing government Our arrival
was hailed with delight, and celebrated by
tho imbibing of q good deal of very poor
liquor 1t had been arranged for an expedi-
ton to start against Port au Prince that very
day, where, according to information re-
ceived, the inhabitants would rise en- masse. (
There was great excitement in the village,
with the preparations made for the expedi-
ton, and i'll the excess of my enthusiasm
got so full of liquor that, by the middle of the
afternoon, everything became blank to me- /
When became sober enough to realize any,
thing the next morning, found thet our
company, along with the natives who had
taken arms, had gone OF to Port al Prince
and left me
There was nothing for me to Go but to
await the day OF the attack, Aug. 3. His
tory has recorded the result 1t was along
in the evening of That day that some of the
negro troops who did not care TO join in the
concluding ceremonies, found their way back .
to Jacmel, and it was about the same time
that an armed vessel came into the harbor
and gobbled our schooner. The armed YES
sci was the Haytian navy, so did not ven
ture 10 make any protest. During the night .
an intelligent fellow who had been captured
but escaped came in and gave Us the story.
They had marched the thirty miles and
reached the neighborhood of Port au Prince !
about 3 in the morning. After taking rest .
OF two hours they made the attack as pro-
posed, but instead Of being greeted with
open arms by the citizens, they were am
pushed by Salomon'S troops and a great /
many of their party killed at the first attack.
Of the American contingent those who were
not killed on the field were captured. and
=,
routed they were placed in q row and shot in
cold blood.
ITO tell the truth felt sort OF lonesome.
The vessel was captured my comrades were
all shot, and l was there among those blood
thirsty negroes, whose only thought was TO
avenge the ores who had been killed, and
10 capture and loot the town where they had
met disaster. l confess had had enough.
did not know what in the world was go
ing 20 do when a British sail appeared in the
ofing, and seemed disposed TO come to
anchor. gave a fisherman the Only dollar
had left TO row me out TO the vessel, and
was fortunate enough to attract its attention
before it sailed away. 1t was a tramp and
the captain was uncertain whether the hsr-
Dor had been closed to commerce or not, and
lid not want TO run any risks, which &C
counted for his uncertain. course / got
aboard, giving out a made up story about
my being foreigner who had been detained
by the rebels, but had made my escape. /
was brought back 10 New York.
odd make any complaint to the United
States government about the killing OF my
rompatriotsi Well, no. hardly thought it
would figure well as an international episode,
and the TACT is, do not consider It q highly /
rreditable affair, any way Maybe you'll