The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-10
Predicts Row in the United
Fruit Company.
ARE TOO PROSPEROUS.
Nevertheless the Trust Has
Made Fruit Cheap.
Boat Stops at Kingston Where
People SIP ak English.
Friday. January Is.


We are spending this day at sea.
although land has been in sight all
morning. The sea is calm, and the
| weather bright. For a long time we
were in sight of Haiti, the negro re-
public, and one of the interesting
places in this vicinity, although, we
/ do not stop there. Haiti is very
rich country, but the people are lazy,
and the towns SO filthy that visit
to them is dangerous. Haiti has a
ruler in rags and his soldiers beg from
visitors. Its ragged ruler lives in
what he calls palace, and it has
officials with high sounding titles who
have no more authority than the Of
ticials of a negro lodge. During the
long years of its history, Haiti has
been the scene of many tragedies. The
native blacks rebelled against their
French masters, and terrible scenes
were enacted. The insurgents were
led by the famous Touissaint pOuver-
ture, under whose leadership the
slaves became free men. The plant
ers and their families were massacred
with every species of ferocity, white
infants and small children were I'm
paled and borne aloft on pixies at
heads of companies of shouting black
demons Napoleon the Great sent
sixty thousand soldiers, under COM
mand of his brother-in-law, LeClere.
The natives could not oppose Napol-
cons veterans, and retired to the
mountains. Touissaint was captured
by strategy, and sent to France,
where he died in prison. But the
black mountaineers descended to the
coast, and committed terrible raw
ages, being assisted by yellow fever.
In a short time, LeClere lost thou
sands of his soldiers and himself fell
a victim to the plague. LeClere's sue
cessor was as savage as the savages
he opposed. and his eaptiyes were
shot, drowned and hung by the hum,
dreds. Finally the French surren-
dered to a British force which arrived
just in time to save them from the
enraged blacks, who would have mas
sacred every man. Later followed an
other massacre of whites, and it is
said blood actually ran in the cutters;
a story often told, but probably never
true. In addition to these horrors,
there were earthquakes, hurricanes
and pestilence. and years ago pirates
were added. 1t is said of one town
that hell can be no worse, since it
has had earthquakes. pestilence, fires,
pirates, maSsacres, hurricanes and ev-
erything else terrible.
One of the remarkable things in
the West Indies is the "Vigilant,'
schooner making bi-weekly trips be-
tween st. Thomas and st. Cruz. The
l"Vigilant' is more than hundred
years old, and in its time has been a
privateer, pirate, SLAYER, man of war,
and merchantmen. If you want to
see the real West Indies, you should
take a trip in the tVigilant,'' instead
of in the ''Moltke. By-the-waY, Col
umbus discovered the West Indies in
ship sixty feet long. The vessel in
which I discovered the islands is five
hundred and thirty feet long. And
ships almost twice as long as the
"Moltke" are being built.
The drunkard's wife appeared at
breakfast this morning. She thinks
| the passengers have forgotten, but
they haven't. The question is being
asked around the decks: .'Where is
the drunkard % We haven't seen him
for days. Possibly he is in Jail. The
Elder has heard of the distress of the
| drunkard's wife, and is trying to be
good to her. But she will have moth
| ing to do with him.
The three hundred and fifty pas
sengers on the 'Moltke' are probably
| representative Americans, as they
come from all quarters of the country.
And they are SO well behaved that
am proud of them. So far, the trip
has been fine in every way, except
| that we are a little crowded. There
| is attention for everyone, but the
| decks are crowded at times. .-.4 ~.
| There are two walters at our table:
| Mt nd T.n1Ii0 Whar1 ha CTS foH