Photograph by Mrs. C. R. Miller 

 STRICT-CAR SERVICE: IN PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI 



The Haitian street railroad makes one think of the old-time elevated train service in 

 New York. The engines are rusty; leaky, and carry smoke-stacks seemingly huge enough 

 for a trans- Atlantic liner. 



the- palace of Sans Souci, an unbelievable 

 edifice worthy of the 'Arabian Nights.' 

 The ruins of this fantastic edifice still 

 crown certain gracious heights near Cape 

 Haitien. Henri I did one wise thing: he 

 shot himself after a burlesque reign of 

 some thirteen years." He might have 

 added that the fastidious Christophe used 

 a silver bullet ; lead was too plebeian for 

 his brain. 



THE DUKE OF LIMONADE 



Another ruler was Soulouque, an il- 

 literate and superstitious negro, who, 

 under title of "Emperor Faustin I," estab- 

 lished a "nobility," among the recipients 

 of his honors being His Grace the Duke 

 of Limonade and His Highness Prince 

 Bobo. 



In 1912, when the Knox Mission to 

 Latin America visited Port au Prince, 

 President Laconte was in power. The 

 city then thoroughly fitted Ober's descrip- 

 tion of it when he wrote : "As to Port au 

 Prince, I can bear testimony respecting 

 its utter filthiness, and agree with a recent 

 resident there that it may bear away the 

 palm of being the most foul-smelling and 



consequently fever-stricken city in the 

 world. Every one throws his refuse be- 

 fore his door, so that the heaps of manure 

 and every species of rubbish incumber 

 the way. The gutters are open, pools of 

 stagnant water obstruct the street every- 

 where, and receive constant accession 

 from the inhabitants using them as cess- 

 pools and sewers." 



But conditions were good then to what 

 they became later. Laconte had set some 

 of his generals to breaking stone for 

 macadamizing the streets, and white resi- 

 dents said that the town was cleaner that 

 year than it had been in their memory. 



A REIGN OP TERROR 



But Laconte did not rule long. He was 

 assassinated, the palace was burned down, 

 and there was inaugurated a carnival of 

 crime, and an orgy of revolution such as 

 history perhaps never before was called 

 upon to record. Indeed, the four years 

 that began with the assassination of La- 

 conte and ended with the surrender of 

 the last rebels to United States authority 

 were a nightmare of terror. 



In one case the bodv of a dead ruler 



165 



