The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1910-11-26
ANOTHER INTERESTING STORY
ABOUT YAchT lAooNpA,
WHICH FAs HERE
Maycs- Borden, Of Fernantina, Who
We . por.-.u,pr,ass on the Boa.
Had to Spend Two Wesks There in
Order to Collect for the Yacht.


this port for some time undergoing
repairs while en- route TO Pprt-au-
Prince, about which there was muca
mystery, has finally t-een delivered
to the Haytien government. In
view of the local interest attached
to the boat, the following from a
recent issue of the Havana Post, will
be of interest:
Mayor n. B. Borden, OF Fernan-
dina, Fla, is a guest at the Hotel
Plaza en- route to his home after a
visit to Haiti, where he sold that re-
public gunboat He expected to
be at Port-au-Prince for three days,
delivering his yacht over to the gov
ernment, collect his money and de-
part. Instead ue had to remain
there for nearly two weeks. He got
his money in piece-meal payments.
But he got his full amount of
S28,000, which sum he exacted before
turning over to the black republic a
trim little ship intended to train
Haytiens in the art of naval prac-
tice and incidentally to patrol the
coasts of the island with a sharp
watch fore and aft.
Tied Up Customs Money.
Before he got his money Presi.
dent Simon tied up the customs re
ceipts for the next month and Mayor
Borden got his payments in on tbs
installment plan until the last dollar
was paid
Il faund the government of Hayti
nearly broke declared Mayor Bor
den to a reporter for the Post, and II
was only by keeping right on the
job collecting my money. that l fin.
ally received the entire amount
Il got about $4,000 the first day
A couple of days later | induced the
treasurer to hand over another thou
sand and so it came until the govern
ment liquidated the entire sum- But
before this was done the officials
hypothecated the revenues of the
customs for a month in advance =
When ! arrived in the Lagonda,
which, by the way, is the first YES
sci chartered by the Cuban insur-
gents by order of Gen. Marti in 1895,
| had to take the leading govern
ment officials for trial spin down
the coast. We had not gone far be-
fore we got word to proceed to all
other port, where some 60 soldiers
had deserted We picked them up
and returned them to the army head
quarters. Most of the men were
shot for their attempt to quit army
life.
And speaking of army life in
Haiti, l was told that the govern
ment has 100000 men in the stand
ing militia. The soldiers are al
barefooted and get aaon- so cents a
month for their service. From tbs
90 cents, which is about the tquiva-
lent of three gourdcs. or Hayuen
dollars, the soldiers have to pay
their own board.
There is a lot of rGsps I sGowr
a foreigner in HGyti. ut the plain
citizen doesn't get mTch show. Why,
one day st.w q policeman arrest a
man for a minor offense and he
was marching him along to the car
Gel The prisoner didn't move quick
enough to suit the gendarme and so
the ylBliceman ran his sabre through
the 4Ttk of the alleged culprit
81 reached Port-au-Prince a day
after the explosion of the ship in
which 1875 people lost their lives.
The Lagonda rescued % of the sur
vivors of the wreck. The story was
that some of the sailors mutined
and exploded the magazine OF the
gunboat. There were some passen'
gers on board the craft at the time
it was blown up.
THE Lagonda, the yacht to be
used as a guntoat by Hayti, was
once contracted for through me by
Gen. Marti. of the Cuban insurgents.
thought it coincidence that the
boat should again come into my
hands for sale. Edwin Gould former
ly owned the yacht, and she is a very
trim little vessel"