The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-10-20

nuts. Ihere are, OF course, considerable
differences in the native populations of
related, although they may be either Ne
groes, Kafrs, Hottentots, Nilotic or Nubi-
ans and Abvssinians. Amazighs or Berbers,
and Egyptians or Copts. Again the negroes
from which most of our African stock
comes, are again divisible into numerous
others. Now all these had their kings and
Chiefs"
but are there any American or rather
New York colored folks who insist on their
blue blood descent?' was asked.
"Oh, yes" said Mr.. Fortune, "for in
one time was pastor of Shiloh Presbyterian
church. in this city, and was sent as United
States minister to Liberia, where his daugh-
ter is now. He always insisted that he
was descended from long line of illustri-
ous negro Xxi kings g and one Of his objects in
up his Renea!oRy. Then Rev. DIR. Alexan-
der Crummell, the author Of the Greatness
of Christ, and who is D. ID. of the Uni
versity of Oxford. England. is as proud of
his ancestry of black chieftains as could
possibly be the head Of a Highland clan
ing point of blue blood, why should not
the blacks? People may laugh at the idea
Of coon nobility; but the sultans of Tur-
key have always been proud of their col
ored maternal descents. Then the kings of
Granada. We're not those Moorish mon
And the great 'Prester john of the middle
a9os. What was he but an African, as
was his descendant, King Theodore. of
Abyssinia. who died fighting the English9''
"These, however, had no connection with
our Afro Americans, Mr.. Fortune2''
well, they belong to our race. Still
there we're others as great who are said to
be represented in New York and New Orle-
ans. What about the Haytian negro en-
perorsl Some of their children's children
are claimed to be settled right here in New
York and Who came here by the way of Lou
their Haytian cousins visit New York and
who stop generally at the Hotel Martin and
the Hotel Griffon, they call upon some of
their relatives, and they are awfully high
toned. Touissant rOuyerture, whom Napo-
leon starved to death in prison in France,
appointed conmander-in-chief of that is-
land by the French national assembly,
whore sat the Comte de Paris ancestor. the
Duke Of Orleans. .Egalite,' who voted there
for the guiliotining Of his blood
cousin. Louis the sixteenth. Why Touis-
der Gen. Brandicourt. but the English at
St. Marc, and drove the Spanish from
Hayti. There are descendants of his here,
as of the Emperor Jean Jacques l. of Hayti
Dessalines, who defeated Gen. Rocham
beau. of American revolutionary fame
ID, Henri Christophe, who could have be-
longed to the Order of Cincinnati. as he
served in the American war and was wound
ed at the siege of Savannah. And this ne
gro king compiled the laws Of Hayti, the
Code Henri, which Is based ON the Code
king of Hnyti by foreign powers, but the
pope appointed colored bishops and an
archbishop to attend to the spiritual wants
of the Haytians, as the Church of St. BEN
edict the Moor, on Blocker street, does
now for our New York Catholic brothers
and sisters.''
And this monarch, who was succeeded
by Fresident Potion, colored graduate of
the Paris military school," proceeded Ed
itor Fortune. BOUNDED an order of nobility
dukes. marQuises. countesses and barons.
There were the duke of Marmalade, called
after fort OF that name, captured by
Touissant in 1875, and the marquis Of Linn
vas raised. New Workers who eat marmaie
ade and drink lemonade don't know those
dainties obtain their names from our peo-
pie. yet 90 it is. am not aware whether
they use their titles, but have heard that
there were some colored peopla in New
York who belonged to the court OF Caustin
L. emperor of Hayti, and who before being
crowned in 1852 With the same ceremonial
az Napoleon the First, was BriRadier Cen
eral Faustin S0ulouque."
Have you any society leaders in the New
York African colony, Mr.. Fortune?' was
asked BY the writer.
Certainly" was thu reply. "Let me see
Oh, yes. Among our war veterans arc C.
W. AcKie and George Warrington Parker,
Of the Grand Army Of the Rspublic Of New
York state, Of which there's also ex-Grand
Chaplain Rev. ]. Il. B. Smith. ColOred peo-