Evening star., 1931-04-26
BUTLER '|MAG|NES'
HA|T|FORT EXPLOIT
SAYS He Was "Third in HoIe''
in Incident Involved in
Diplomatic TangIe.
Continued From First Page.l

fIOHl F1ISb Fd8c.J
The communication was promptly for
warded to the State Department, which
promised an investigation.
Granted No Interview,
When the incident was called to his
attention, Bellegarde had this to say:
"I granted no interview on Gen. But
Ter to any one. And certainly 1 did not
make any personal attacks upon the
Marine officer or the Marine Corps. 1t
is regrettable that such a misunder-
standing has resulted from published
parts of my conversation with the Wash
ington Herald reporter.
ut was not my intention to cast
doubt upon the merit of the award OF
the Congressional Medal of Honor to
Gen. Butler. Neither was it my inten-
ton to say that no such battle as that
| said to have taken place at Fort Riviera
had ever occurred What did say to
the reporter was that had no personal
knowledge that there had ever been q
Fort Riviera. And neither had any one
else in Haiti, as far as can learn.
| There may have been such fort, but
| as far as am personally concerned,
do not know of it nor of its location.
| My understanding Is that after its cap
| ture it was blown up by Gen. Butler.
"As matter of fact, my first definite
knowledge that the fort existed from
official records came to me within the
| past few days, when I received a copy OF
hearing before the Senate Subcommit-
| tee on Foreign Relations held on Feb
ruary IS and 26 in 1925. Senator Ship
| stead was chairman Of the committee
which was investigating the responsible
| ity of the United States Government
for financial arrangements between
American citizens and foreign govern
ments. During the hearing Ernest
Gruening, editor of the Portland, Me,
News, appeared and testified on condi-
tons in Haiti and the strict censure
imposed on the press OF that country
under the administration of the Marine
Corps. Mr.. Gruening sent me the copy
Of the hearings.
'In those hearings Mr.. Gruening re-
ferred to the capture Of Fort Riviera
by force led by Butler, then major.
Fifty-one poorly equipped Haitians were
killed and there were no survivors left
to tell of the battle. The fort later
was blown up. That was the first time
that have ever read an official record
of the fight. The papers and people
in Haiti never spoke OF the battle.
Censorship was too strict. There never
was any mention of it there and knew
nothing Of it until I learned Of Gen.
Buffers decoration for his victory in it.
If such fort existed the Haitians knew
nothing about it and with the strict
censorship of the newspapers could
learn nothing Of it except from Haitians
who took part in the fight. And all of
those men were killed by Buffers force.
Had No Ammunition.
"And according to Mr. Gruening's
testimony, the men to fight whom Gen.
Butler and his men craWled through a
drain pipe were armed only with
machetes and old guns, for which their
ammunition would not fit
'As far as the interview which Is
protested by Gen. Butler is concerned
was absolutely unaware that any part
of my talk with the reporter had been
printed until I received today's news
papers.
THE reporter called and We con-
versed upon social events and numerous
other matters. Unfortunately, do not
speak English fluently. Equally un-
fortunate was the fact that the reporter
did not speak word of French. AS
a result we were compelled to ex-
change our views in the poor medium
Of my broken English.
I'm the course of our conversation,
Gen. Buffers memoirs were brought up
L NACh AAO41 AAIy ACoh " SOPy VI OLlC Vi
the issues of the paper in which they
were appearing. 1t cited the capture of
Fort Riviera. The reporter asked me
of the incident and informed him that
was absolutely unaware that such a
fort had ever existed. I also told him
that no one else in Haiti from whom
had inquired knew anything Of such
fort. But certainly did not say that
such a fort had never been captured.
I never said that such a battle did not
take place. All said was that per-
sonally and all other Haitians that
knew had never heard of 1t. The con-
ditions prevailing with regard to news
In Haiti at that time would naturally
prevent us from knowing Of such
battle.
"The State Department has not as
yet asked me for an explanation Of this
reported interview. If it does, I shall
tell them exactly what have Just
stated"
Attest Forts Existence.
The impression gathered in the alb
sence of official comment was that the
minister's indication that he considered
himself misquoted might serve to avoid
a delicate diplomatic incident
Meanwhile, the existence of Fort Ri |
Were was attested by Gov Roosevelt of
New York, who was assistant secretary |
Of the Navy when the fort was captured. |
In a statement at Albany he said he
was in Haiti at the time and took sew |
eral photographs Of it.
Word of the incident was received |
with surprise among Marine veterans of |
the 1915 campaign in Haiti. Sergt Maj. |
Cartier, who served under Gen. Butler, |
said he remembered the fort well, and |
added that Joel T. Boone, now personal |
physician to President Hoover, aided in |
its capture.
Buffers protest was based upon a |
copyrighted interview with Bellegarde |
printed recently in the Washington |
Herald. He was quoted as saying of |
Butler and the capture of Fort Ri |
Were:
I'VE in Haiti have always wondered !
about that. For there is no Fort |
Riviere There never was. We looked |
all over our island and there is no such |
thing.
However, for taking Fort Riviere,
he got the Congressional Medal of
Honor the second time. He is the only |
man in the United States to get it
twice-hghting Marine!"
HOnOred by Haiti.
Unofficially, naval officers at the de- |
partment busted themselves with |
digging up Buffers citations and dis
covered that in addition to receiving |
49, Conoressfnnal Medal he was