HORRORS IN HAYTI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9488, 10 August 1891, Page 6

HORRORS IN HAYTI.

The reports, which were brought to New York by the steamer Orange Nassau, say thau the revolution at Eayti was a far more serious affair than the meagre reports at first sent seemed tp,sh<w. In the entire Western Department martial law has been proclaimed. President Hyppolite took the most vigorous measures to put down the rebellion, and many of the. rioters have been executed. The exact number is unknown ; but, according to the stories told by tho passengers of the Orange Nassau, it must be somewhere between fifty and one hundred. The executions were continuing at the rate of two or three a day, and Port-au-Prince was utterly demoralised, business being entirely at a standstill. At least sixty rebels were executed withouttrial, and it was a common thing to see a citizen shot down iu the street; orders having been given by President Hyppolite to kill or arrest all suspected persons found in the streets. According to information by the surgeon of the Orange ’Nassau, the origin cf the revolt was the action of a party of fifty citizens, who, armed with guns and other weapons, attacked tho prison in which some two hundred political prisoners were confined. The mob was led by an ex-Minister, who was a member of the Government over which General Legitime presided. The prison authorities were entirely unprepared for this onslaught. The gaol doors were soon broken in and the prisoners liberated. In a short time tho whole town was in an uproar. President Hyppolite was at church when tho outbreak occurred. His friends and supporters, fearing that the mob might attack him, locked the doors of the sacred edifice, and he remained there for some time in fear of his life. Meanwhile, news of the attack on the prison and tho release of the prisoners reached the barracks, where General Hyppolite’s soldiers were stationed. Several regiments were at once ordered out and hurried to the scene of revolt. The rioters still occupied the ground, aud refused to disperse. They were then charged and fired upon by the troops, The first volley scattered the mob; the people, now terrorstricken, flying in all directions. Many were killed at the time, and a hundred or more were taken into custody.