The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-15
FRED DOUGLASS IN HAYT|.
The Story of the American Minister'S
Recent Life at Port
Au Prince.
His Private Secretary Ran Matters
After He Had Locked
Douglass In.
Had the American Minister Acted AS
He Should the Terrible Massacre
Would Have Been Ayerted.

Dispatches from Washington yesterday
announce that Fred Douglass, minister to
Hayti, had determined to resign. Probably
the following from the New York Sun had
something to do with his action:
The rumors of revolution and murder
which have been received from Port au
Prince and other Haytiar ports the last few
days have finally been authenticated by tho
arrival in New York on the steamer Prince
Wilhelm ILL.,. of several members of the
Haytian revolutionary party. a number of
merchants who have foundi it necessary,
owing to the unsafe and troublous times, to
leave the island. From the reports given
it is probable that this small negro republic
in the West Indies will again so through
the throes of massacre and revolution from
which it suffered SO disastrously Il few
years ago.
The story which is printed this morning
was obtained from q passenger on the
Prince Wilhelm Ill.,, u friend of the reac-
tionary party. and a man whose knowledge
of the country and its people may safely be
relied on. His name did not appear on the
passenger list of the steamer and his pres
ence in New York is probably known to
very few of his friends, owing to reasons
which he does not feel called upon to make
public. He was present at all the scenes he
describes and was q witness of Hippolyte's
massacre of May % and the week follow
ing. The Prince Wilhelm HE sailed from
Port au FRINGE at noon on Saturday, June
q, and arrived in the port last Friday.
'On landing in New York." said the
SUMS informant, Il read in the papers the
story of the events which took place at
Port au Prince from May 2s to June .. This
account contains errors of detail. The
main facts, however, are correct, especially
the assertion of the culpabllity of the Unit
ed States minister, MFR. Frederick Douglas,
or rather that of his private secretary, at
whose mercy Mr.. Douglas is completely
left. owing to his age and his inability to
speak French. The private secretary is Mr..
Bassett. a mulatto, who has won the dis
trust OF the whole population of Port au
Prince. This man was formerly United
States minister to Hayti, and was.one of the
neeotiators for the purchase of the Mole
st. Nicholas. 1t was owing to his lncom-
petency or fraudulent practices that the
United States was deprived of opportunity
of purchasing this important coaling sta
tion.
1.-The residents of Port au Prince, on
seeing Basset return to the island as a pr
vate secretary, after having held the impor-
tant Office of minister, naturally sought
for aome explanation OF the situation, and
soon found that it was either from a lack of
confidence Of our government in their
former envoy or a case of bankruptcy on
the part of Basset, which compelled
him to accept any office that would furnish
him a livelihood. The office Of private
secretary has come up to Mr.. Bassett's high
est expectations. He oyerrides the minis
ter, and by submitting to the desires OF the
Haytian government, instead of asserting
the rights of the nation he represents, he
manages to fill his Golfers to an extent
which enables hin to live in an extravagant
manner and to lose heavily in the gam es
of chance of which he is notoriouslv fond.
"Thus it is only too true that Minister
Douglass bears the moral blame for the
assassinations committed during the six
days, as encouraged by his secretary, when
he could have put a stop to it all by a mere
sign. He is therefore to-day an object of
distrust to his colleagues. of hate to all
honest people. and a toy for the Haytian
ministers who are crushing to earth the in
terests of the United States. He allows
American subjects to be expelled daily from
the country without cause, while he lulls
himself to sleep by reading tlattering arti-
cles published by these ministers in the
official press.
"On May 26, as soon as the first shots
were nreu IN Inc aLbhCR on the prison, rec
rotary Bassett locked Minister Douglass
into his apartments in the suburban villa,
under the rretext t hat the minister's place
was not in the midst of the bullets, and
that he would go himself and see what the
trouble was. The prison, in which 200 politi-
cal prisoners had been placed by order OF
Hippolvte, who suspected that a revolution
was being plotted under the leadership of
Gen. Suily Guelrier, WAS being stoimed by
a mob. In this prison there were a few
thieves and incendiarles, who were delivered
with the rest, fact that the president took
as an excuse for the slaughtsrs of that day. /
L show, however, that the insurgents
were merely trying to deliver their friends
and not the criminals, and that they did
not even know in what cells their friends
were confined, we know that they failed to
release three political captlves, one of
whom was Nine. Sully Guerriere, the wife
of their leader. This unfortunate woman
had been lncarcerated for weeks in irons
and had been tortured daily by order of
Hippolyte to compel her to tell of the
whereabouts of her husband. AS soon as
he was caught and shot, on that day she
was set free. The cause of the nttack on
the prison was an order issued by the pres
ldent to take all these prisoners to sea on a
Haytian man-of-war and there shoot or
drown them all.
hAD bOur and n hole ,fter ~, ,++,,t. ~,