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1915, January 15–19

1915, January 15–19: (Vilbrun Guillaume’s Coup at the Cap: Charlemagne Péralte, Métellus, and the Bloodless Revolution): Beset as he was by troubles at hand,…

Haitian

1915, January 15–19: (Vilbrun Guillaume’s Coup at the Cap: Charlemagne Péralte, Métellus, and the Bloodless Revolution): Beset as he was by troubles at hand, Davilmar Théodore could hardly refuse a request from Vilbrun Guillaume for the lucrative and powerful post of délégué militaire in the North and Northwest. The Cap was unsettled and uneasy — unpaid Cacos continued to drift back from Port-au-Prince and into the arms of the Zamorists, headed now by Bussy Zamor and Charlemagne Péralte, Charles Zamor’s brother-in-law and lately général de place at Port-de-Paix. Guillaume, still subsidized by blind old President Simon Sam, was — teledjòl said — chosen leader of this faction. The rumor was confirmed soon enough: on January 15, Guillaume called together leading citizens of the Cap and, with the interesting preliminary announcement that he was a candidate for the presidency, disclosed that a Caco army was approaching and that the government had given him no means to resist. As printed up in next morning’s Le Cable, the Capois then unanimously entrusted their destiny to Délégué Vilbrun — a move that virtually coincided with the appearance at Barrière-Bouteille of the feared and desperate Caco general Métellus, a savage and the terror of the surrounding country according to Livingston, with a thousand men and several cannon. To the astonishment of all — or some, at any rate — Métellus simply paraded his bands in front of the cathedral, which he dutifully entered, and then marched around the town. There was no looting, no shooting — as Livingston reported with surprise, this was entirely exceptional as a revolutionary incident. Three days later, on the 19th, Métellus’s cannon banged out a seventeen-gun salute, and the cat was out of the bag: with the Zamorist generals behind him, Vilbrun Guillaume had proclaimed himself chef du pouvoir exécutif. Everything as far south as Gonaïves was his.

Source HT-WIB-000367