Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/273

 CHAPTER XXIII

Seven days after Hyppolite's death the National Assembly met at Port-au-Prince, and on the 31st of March 1896, the Secretary of War, General T. Simon-Sam, was elected President for a term of seven years; he took the oath of office on the 1st of April.

All parties had concurred in this election. But the Lüders incident was detrimental to the popularity of the new President. On the 21st of September, 1897, the police of Port-au-Prince were seeking to arrest one Dorléus Présumé, charged with having committed petty larceny. Présumé was arrested at the entrance of Les Ecuries Centrales (Central Livery Stable), where he was employed. This was under the management of Emile Lüders, who was born in Haiti of a Haitian mother and a German father. Upon his refusal to follow the policemen the latter took hold of him and a fight ensued. The noise attracted Emile Lüders, who sided with his employé in helping him in his forcible resistance against the officers of the law. At the police court a complaint of assault and battery was lodged against Lüders and Présumé, who were both sentenced to one month's imprisonment. They appealed to the Correctional Tribunal; but instead of being charged this time with having committed assault and battery alone they were also charged with having resisted arrest 249