1908, July – December 2: (The Fall of Nord Alexis: Fire, Revolt, and the Last Departure): After the ides of March 1908, the way led downhill for Nord Alexis.

1908, July – December 2: (The Fall of Nord Alexis: Fire, Revolt, and the Last Departure): After the ides of March 1908, the way led downhill for Nord Alexis. On July 5–6, Port-au-Prince was ravaged by another fire leveling 1,200 houses; four days later the Grand’Rue was almost consumed, and when Jamaica offered relief supplies they were declined with the intimation that money would be more acceptable — government salaries were four or more months unpaid. On October 11, old CéCé died and Tonton Nord stayed on alone, very old, nearly blind, no longer able to mount his horse. On November 15, the old general dimly watched the Sunday morning parade from the palace balcony, then went inside and held his last audience on the necessary fidelity of the army to the government — and then issued orders abruptly dismissing General Antoine Simon from his command at Cayes, where for eighteen years he had held peaceful sway over the South. Simon — past seventy himself, with a snow-white imperial of the Third Empire — prepared to march on the capital. While Nord’s gunboats aimlessly bombarded remote southern villages, Simon marched his piquet soldiery — many armed only with spears and machetes — eastward, meeting halfhearted resistance at Anse-à-Veau on November 27 and reaching Léogâne on the 30th as panic reigned in Port-au-Prince. During the night of December 1–2, the last regiments declared for the revolution; before dawn the entire cabinet had found its way to the French legation, and save for the president and a few servants the palace was deserted. Marcelin made his way inside to tell Nord he must go — the old man was at his morning ablutions and would not budge. In time-honored style, Ti Canal materialized from Frères and confirmed that Minister Carteron would assist Nord Alexis aboard the French cruiser Duguay-Trouin. Commander Shipley of U.S.S. Des Moines described the wharf scene: everybody was armed, a perfect fusillade of ball cartridges kept up constantly, the French minister waved the Tricolor in the faces of the howling mob, the president’s clothing was cut through the back, and about $30,000 in gold was stolen from his broken-open baggage. That night the town ran wild until Ti Canal sent in troops who shot a dozen looters, and the carnival of pillage — mostly of Syrian shops — went on until Antoine Simon reached the Portail Léogâne a day later.