Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-08-13
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
NUMBER 50
SOLDERING IN HAYTL
HUNGRY PRfVATEs SUPPORT THEM
SELVES BY BEGGING.

Queer Way the Hay tian Authorities Have
Of Taking Care Of Their CoDyIcts and
warriors-They Travel In Pairs and
Beg ~ The Streets Day by Day.
Philip Mcdowell is an old and weIl
known New Yorker He was volun-
teer fireman once. and ali Old New York
err know what that means. OF late
years Mr.. Mcdowell has Travelled exten-
sively abroad He visited Hayti. A
day or two ago a reporter asked him
what was the most striking thing b.
saw In the black republic
II saw many strange things iii Hayti,
but the strangest Of All was the way the
soldiers and prisoners are transformed
into beggars and are forced to live on
charity. When 4 prisoner ~ sentenced
to do time there he doesn't have Y uni
form, he learns no trade and he doesn't
get anything to sat frum the govern
ment. LIE Is allowed to beg. though,
for money and grub, and if he won't beE
well, he can starve
This begging Is funny kind Of busi-
ness. Take the prison at JacInel, for in
stance. Well. every morning they fire
the prisoners out to pack up whatever
they can get, and each fellow has sol-
dier along with him % zee that he
doesn't run away The two beg together
all day and whack up IN the evening
Then the soldier brings back his prisoner
to Jail and goes up ~ the fort to show
that be has his muslcet III right, ana
hasn't sold it for drinks or q square meal
during the day
SOLDIERS GIT No PAY.
But don't the Haytian soldiers ct
payg
"No. they don't ANY money there Is
IN the army goes tO the generals, and Of
them there are enough to command the
combined armies Of Europe and America.
Once in long while the Haytian soldier
gets a dollar. which H worth about
seventy cents IN our money, but he and
the prisoners hive by begging They goin
twos from house TO house and from store
to store. Sometimes they have "A good
day and make dollar AMI sometimes
they don't make fifty cents. but what
ever it is they must live on it.
"The soldier himself H. a scarecrow
He has never been drilled, has no uni
form to speak u. and If ~ hadn't 4
musket to carry around with him you
couldn't tell him from the prisoner lie Is
taking care of Yon reoolIert the old
Long Toms we Ind iii 0ur army before
the war: Well, that's the kind the Hay
tian soldiers carry They are all old
cap and ball cerncerns. as like as not to
60 off at the wrong end
Take d soldier, a sailor 0r q fireman
with us. and they ali have Il pride fn
keeping all their tools neat and cIean;
but military pride isn't in the game that
the Haytian soldier pAays. When he
gets home affer days begging w
pitches his old nuslfet into a corner Just
as a laoorer in the street cleaning depart
ment gets rid Of his shovel It may be
rusty and honeycombed. bu1 If kong A.
be can show up with it at the fort ard
satisfies tiTv government tbat iE hasn't
gone to the junk shop he's happy
DEATH or 40 ACCOUNT
The soldiers and the prisoners must
be pretty good chunsyT
"Well. that's very much as YOU take
il. Its common sight tosee the guard
and the prisoner reeling home together
if they've made out well
II suppose you'd imagine that prison
ers would often get away with these
kind fguardians. but they don't When
ever the soldier takes it into his head
that the prisoner Is going to escape he
inst shoots him dead. and that's all there
is to it, No coroner comes around ana
post mortems are unknown Why,
was walking one day with a friend on
one of the chief streets of Jacnel
fright IN front a ns was a drunken
soldier and drunken prisoner Now
said my friend, yon watch that fellow
and see If be doesn't take II into his
head that his prisoner Is going to escape,
and If he does he will shoot him. Sure
enough. minute on two after tha
drunken prisoner staggered into the mid
die Of the street, and the equally drunken
soldier ups with his Long Tom and
shoots him dead
Things are mot quite as Dal at Port
au-Prince ID they are al Jaemel and THE
smaller towns Oh the island. but the diff
ference is not worth talking Of Hayu
collects plenty Of money in duties. but it
is all grabbed by few ulen. while The
mass 81 The rople are left to Eet on a.
best they can. aDd are forccl to support
out Of their pockets as objects of charity
soldiers and s:Dnvicts New York Re
cordpr