Le Cap. Pierrot departs for it; Port-au-Prince awaits orders from there.

The next day, at nine in the morning, President Pierrot went out of the Palace alone; the population saw him take the Grand’rue and make his way toward the Portail Saint-Joseph; it was thought he was making a round of the town. He passed through the gate, saying that he was going to Le Cap. No one had been told of his plan to depart. As soon as the news spread, the whole staff of the Palace, his aides-de-camp and his pack animals rushed after him, and for two hours nothing was to be seen but officers from the North galloping from every side to rejoin him.

He was met at Drouillard, whence he continued on for Le Cap. It was 19 May.

This abrupt and unexpected departure made an unfortunate impression on the population of Port-au-Prince, which asked itself what its cause could be. It nevertheless recovered its ordinary calm, while remaining uneasy about the orders that might arrive within a few days from Cap-Haïtien or from Camp-Louise.