Maladuro. The conspirators gather behind it on the night of 27 February.
Then they formed the governing Junta. Its most notable members were Don Félix Mercenario, Don Manuel Maria Valverde, Manuel Jimenes and Don Mariano Echevarria. They expressed the wish to see Francisco Sanchez become its president. At the request of Ramon Mella, they had a copy of the Manifesto delivered to Tomas Bobadilla, a man of learning, who was only then initiated into the conspiracy. For his part, Bobadilla won citizen Caminero over to the separatist party, and made known to him the signal that was to be given behind the Maladuro or the Miséricordia, in the middle of the night, toward the setting of the moon.
On Sunday, 25 February, they dispatched Victoriano Diaz to Pedro Santana at Seybo, or the Prado, and to Juan Rodriguez at los Llanos, to hand them commissions charging them with the command of those districts. That the movement might succeed the more surely, they made haste to win over the sergeants of the guard of the arsenal, of the gate of the Force and of the Porte del Conde. The officer of this last post, on whom they could count, was named Martin Girou; the sergeants were Juan Diaz (the Indian), José del Carmen and Juan Gras.
On the 26th the insurgents had not yet agreed on the flag to be unfurled. They met to reach a decision. Some were of the opinion that the flag in the colors of Haiti should be changed; but Joaquim Puello insisted that the same one be used, saying that incidents, perhaps compromising ones, would arise if another were hoisted: “for,” he added, “you already know what is said of a pretended Colombian propaganda; people will believe in it if we change the flag; let us leave it as it is, and when the Constituent Assembly meets, once the people know where they stand, we shall be able to change it.” One of the members said: “We shall put a white cross on it.”
The proposal was accepted.
At last dawned 27 February, the day so impatiently awaited. The insurgents concealed their joy so little that the Haitians saw the urgency of taking military measures. General Desgrottes therefore ordered commandant Estevan Pou to assemble the African battalion and enter the town. The two officers furnished with special instructions from the government were Bouton Chevalier of the 32nd and Hippolyte Frangeul of the 31st. The regiments of the western part, dispatched to Port-au-Prince, as we have said, had already almost crossed the Spanish territory. Besides, general Desgrottes did not expect a movement of separation for the night of Tuesday the 27th; the two officers we have just named were of his opinion. They thought that the Dominicans would wait for the following Saturday, a market day, to profit by the usual influx of country people.
As soon as the conspirators were certain that the order to bring in the African battalion had left the office of the place, Joaquim Puello dispatched Eusebio to Polito Paredes, who lived at Pajarita (*), to tell him to keep the partisans of separation, his neighbors, on the alert, so that they might oppose any movement of the African battalion; to cut the cable of the ferry, if he had not men enough; and to fire three shots of a trabuco. Eusebio fulfilled his mission and saw that Polito had no munitions; he came back and sent him, at noon, by Juan Alejandro Acosta, a hundred packets of cartridges. At the same time he passed the order to all the separatists of the town to rally to him at the Force if they heard three shots ring out.
Night had fallen; and the conspirators, already assembled behind the Maladuro, were waiting for eleven o’clock to act. But Ramon Mella, growing impatient, fired a shot from his trabuco, which somewhat thwarted the movement, for the Haitians, uneasy at this shot, took up arms.