Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-12-30

fortunate acts" Several stories are
} told TO show the kind of air Alexis
i breathed Christophe doubted the
!, loyalty of chief of police of Port au
1 Prince The emperor asked the
chief if he was loyal, and on receiy-
i ng and affirmative answer, ordered
I him to; prove it by bringing him the
heads of the chiefs wife and daugh-
J ter. The loyalty was proved quickly
Il Under this sort of instruction,
4 Alexis developed no very tender ma
4 ture. He was brave, masterful, and
alert, however. and when he took the
/ field, as young man during civil
troubles, his courage and determine,
4 ton soon attracted attention. After
! rying the daughter of President
i Pierrot, he became still more power
full 1t had been arranged, as far
/ back as 1870, that he should be presi-
/ dent succeeding Dominique, but when
i the latter's government was over
thrown, Alexis was in exile; and even
after he returned to Hayti, Pre- sident
Solomon had him thrown into prison.
So it was not until nearly eighty
/ years after Nord Alexis had served as
| a page in the weird court of Henri
Christophe that he gained the height
| of his ambition 1t came about in
/ this way; that when President Hippo
/ lyte was involved in civil strife,
Alexis took the field against him.
| Tiresias Sam had the best hold ON at
| fairs, and for another few years the
coming of Alexis was delayed, but
when finally Sam fied from the coun-
! try the old man gained the palace.
The palace" is a two-story build
/ ing in the southern part of Port au
Prince. distinguished from the pink
disharmonies around it by modest
slate color, surrounded by high iron
fence, and filled with monstrosities
in the way of paintings and sculpture
which have been contributed by ma
| tive talent
Not A CRATER.
Here came Alexis in his glory at
/ the reputed age of ninety-one. At va
rious times it has been reported that
| he meant to set up an empire, that
he was to have a gorgeous court, that
/ he meant to expel the white people
from the island, and that his fingers
were near the scant treasury. There
has never been much foundation for
these stories. All in all, he is a
sensible old man, especially when
compared with his predecessors.
There is not the slightest evidence of
graft connected with him personally
On the other hand it has been offered
as reason for the revolution against
him that he was too persistent in his
effort to keep the other piratical souls
} of the country off the treasure
grounds.
Now, this point alone was sufficient
10 cause the downfall of Alexis; for
the army a collection of pitiable
scarecrows, ununiformed and badly
equipped, had little hopes of getting
salaries when the head of the govern
ment was so parsimonious The
manner of paying off the men pre-
: Guided anything coming to them, for
when pay day comes, the money goes
from general to general, each trans
mitter whiting off a little for him.
self BY the time it reaches the pri-
vate acute evaporation has taken
: place And considering that for
years there have been almost as
, many generals in the army as pri-
Yates. the unlucky underlings get no
:. chance.
! Then the southern part of the re-
public was against him on general
= principles. His very name suggests
! that they could never love him. Gen
! eral Antoine Simon, who conducted
the operations against him, was the
vigorous ruler of the south; and when
Alexis saw that he could not hang
!, on much longer. he proposed that the
general of the northern department
\ Giles, one of his own men. should
J succeed him The fighting was
y really on that point.
k His Appearance.
} In appearance, during his last years
n Alexis was at least striking. Fort!
5 years ago he must have been
# mighty warrior, over six feet IL
a height, and powerful in build. His
I'll features are those of a central Afri
e can. his color coal black.
When he was seen by an American
II not long ago he was described thus:
/ His legs and body seem mass Of
n mere bone, shrunken until almost
nothing is left His hands are Ions
and bony and themselves show great
) age. On one finger of his right hane
J. he wore two tremendous diamonds il
r one setting, but no other jewelry.
e A twisted mass of sparse hair deco
a rated the huge and long upper lip
S while small goatee appeared from
s. the. lower He wore gold spectacle:
J. which partly concealed his eyes, ant
these were sunken, with the whites
discolored to a kind of brown
Nord Alexis speaks French flu
| entity and we'll and showed much re
| finement. far beyond that of his coun
1 | 49, Uvho+ will hapnan to Hayti nov