Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/281

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Nord Alexis: The Consolidation Scandal
255

sittings of the court; Mr. Allen, a barrister of the Paris Court of Appeals, was sent from France for the purpose of watching all the aspects of this famous criminal suit. The impartiality and the correctness of Haitian justice were such that our worst detractors had nothing to say. The evidence against the parties was overwhelming. The jury was given eighty-five questions to answer; which answer was rendered on the 24th of December, being in the negative for Hérard Roy alone, who was acquitted and at once set free. The following punishment was inflicted on the others, who were found guilty as indicted: J. de la Myre Mory, Georges Oelrich, R. Tippenhauer, de Puybaudet were sentenced to four years of hard labor; Vilbrun Guillaume to penal servitude for life; Gédéon, Démosthènes and Lycurgue Simon-Sam to three years of hard labor; Brutus Saint-Victor to three years of imprisonment.

Thus ended the scandal, which for a while was fraught with danger, threatening to involve Haiti in grave complications. President Nord Alexis proved himself to be a man of energy, all the more remarkable in consideration of his age, being over eighty. All public works are given his personal attention. The Lycée of Port-au-Prince will soon be entirely rebuilt; the new Court of Justice is almost completed. In the beginning of 1905 he laid the corner-stone of the monumental Cathedral, which is being erected at Port-au-Prince and will be completed within four years. Desirous of facilitating the means of transportation for the numerous products of the country the President has caused the building of the railroad of Cap-Haitien, which enterprise has been abandoned by the grantees, to be continued at the expense of the Government. Another railroad is also under construction at Gonaives, the concession of which has been granted to a Haitian citizen.

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Peace, the advantage of which is daily gaining in the appreciation of the Haitians, in procuring security will