Office of the Historian

No. 187.
Mr. Langston to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Legation of the United States,
Port-au-Prince, Hayti, May 17, 1882. (Received, June 23.)
No. 466.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit, as herewith inclosed, a statement with translation, as published in the official section of Le Moniteur of the 13th instant, with respect to the execution of twenty-eight persons, among others, tried, condemned, and sentenced to the punishment of death by a special military council sitting at St. Marc, on the 15th of April last; whose proceedings in the premises were sustained by sentence of the council of revision of the department of the Artibonite, on the 29th of April, 1882.

No official statment other than this as regards this affair has as yet been published. It is reported, as matter of rumor, that very soon the government will make a full and explicit account, covering the facts and law in the case, which will justify its entire action. Such account is awaited with no little anxiety by a very considerable proportion of the Haytien people, who recollect that the twenty-fourth article of the first title of the constitution of 1879, under which General Salomon was made President, declares that—

The punishment of death shall be restricted to certain cases which the law shall determine. As to political affairs, it is abolished and replaced by perpetual detention in prison.

As regards the number of persons executed, and the circumstances of their execution, this affair exceeds by far anything of the kind recorded in Haytien history. On the 3d of September, 1860, there was an execution of sixteen persons who had been charged and convicted of the assassination of the daughter of President Geffrard and of attempts to overthow the government. Here, however, are twenty-eight persons executed, fourteen in one place and fourteen in another, as charged and convicted before a military commission of an attempt to overthrow the [Page 360] government, under a constitution, which prohibits the punishment of death for political offenses.

Among those executed at St. Marc, on the 5th instant, is Charles Duquéné Fournier, with respect to whose citizenship I had the honor to address the Department, in my despatch No. 439, dated February 23, 1882.

I have, &c.,

JOHN MERCER LANGSTON.
[Inclosure in 466.—Translation.]

executions at st. marc and gonaives.

[From Le Moniteur, May 13, 1882.]

On the 15th of April, 1882, 79th of the independence.

The special military council sitting at St. Marc, duly organized, in consequence of the taking up of arms, which took place on the 8th of December last, condemned to the punishment of death, among other persons, the following: 1, Mentor Nicolas; 2, Mathurin Lys; 3, Elogie Guillouette; 4, Maurille Lafontant; 5, Klenor Hyacinthe; 6, Petion Avin; 7, Achille Jules, surnamed Lamay; 8, Jean Baptiste Codio; 9, Succes fils; 10, Charles Duquéné Fournier; 11, Georges Haenuens; 12, Charles Alexis Potavin Gresseau; 13, Alexis Loulon; 14, Prosper Bellanton; 15, Theophile Parisien; 16, Mesmin Alexis; 17, Marie Antoine Montholon Perpignaud; 18, Jean Francois Bayard fils; 19, Altémar Bordes; 20, CamilleThomas; 21, Ocean Prosper Faure; 22, Fleurian Jonathas; 23, Obrient jeune; 24, Joseph Dasuy Latortue; 25, Manassi Cinnatus; 26, Leonid fils, surnamed John Perpignaud; 27, Petit Bois Gomail; 28, Granville Saint Victor.

The above judgment dated and pronounced by the special military council of St. Marc, was sustained by sentence of the council of revision of the department of the Artibointe, the 29th of April, 1882.

May 5, 1882, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the condemned: 1, Mentor Nicholas; 2, Mathurin Lys; 3, Elogie Guillouette; 4, Maurille Lafontant. 5, Klenor Hyacinthe; 6, Petion Avin; 7, Achille Jules, surnamed Lamay; 8, Jean Baptiste Codio; 9, Succès fils; 10, Charles Duquéné Fournier; 11, Georges Haenuens; 12, Charles Alexis Potavin Gresseau; 13, Alexis Loulon; 14, Prosper Bellanton, were executed publicly at St. Marc.

May 6, 1882, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the condemned: 1, Thophile Parisien; 2, Mesmin Alexis; 3, Marie Antoine Montholon Perpignaud; 4, Jean Francois Bayard, fils; 5, Altémar Bordes; 6, Camille Thomas; 7, Ocean Prosper Faure; 8, Fleurian Jonathas; 9, Obrient Jeune; 10, Jn. Joseph Dasuy Latortue; 11, Manassi Cinnatus; 12, Leonidas fils, surnamed John Perpignaud; 13, Petit Bois Gomail; 14, Granville Saint Victor, were executed publicly at Gonaives.