1915, July 29 – August 2: (The United States Prefers Dartiguenave: Caperton vs.

1915, July 29 – August 2: (The United States Prefers Dartiguenave: Caperton vs. the Comité and the 1,500 Bobo Cacos): Haitians and Americans cautiously tested each other. Caperton’s 400-man landing force gave him only the most tenuous hold on a large city infested with at least 1,500 Bobo Cacos as well as remnants of La Réforme and tag-ends of the army. The Comité Révolutionnaire, Bobo to a man, was already prodding the National Assembly, whose members, emerging in the unnatural calm, seemed to have other choices in mind. When the deputies asked if they might proceed to elect a president, the admiral, temporizing, dissuaded them for the moment. On August 2, Caperton reported that the problem hinged on professional soldiers called Cacos, organized in bands under lawless and irresponsible chiefs who fought on the side offering the greatest inducement — Cacos were feared by all Haitians and practically controlled politics, they had demanded election of Bobo as president, and Congress, terrorized by the mere demand, was on the point of complying but restrained by his request, and no other man could be elected on account of fear of Cacos — stable government was not possible in Haiti until Cacos were disbanded and their power broken. The Comité, beginning to recover from shock, busied itself with politics as if nothing had changed — heard to criticize the Comité, a senator named Joseph Dessources was clapped in jail as if Guillaume Sam were still in charge, and when word reached the blan they ordered Dessources freed. Then the Comité took over the telegraph offices and flooded the country with pro-Bobo messages while closing the wires to all others — Caperton responded by assuming charge of communications. When the Comité began drawing and disbursing government funds, the admiral withdrew every gourde and credited the money to a blocked account in the Banque, unfortunately designated the Admiral Caperton Account, with Washington’s paymaster signing vouchers.