President Florvil Hyppolite drops dead riding out to crush a southern revolt

His doctors told him not to go. Florvil Hyppolite insisted on putting himself at the head of his troops to put down a revolt in the South. He fell at the Portail de Leogane, the southern gate of Port-au-Prince, on 24 March 1896. He had been president since 1889 and had spent heavily on public works. Two days later the people boycotted his funeral; only his family, government officials and the diplomatic corps came.