The Black Emperor and the Ice

The Pine and Palm tells a story received by letter from Hayti, [illegible]ing the Emperor Soulouque:–

“An American sea captain made the Emperor a present of a chunk of ice, which was carried to the palace wrapped in a blanket.  He was greatly pleased with it, and placed it in a room which a soldier was ordered to guard.  A few days after it was put there the Emperor remembered it, and went to show it to some of his friends.  There lay the blanket, but ice there was none.  The only evidence of its existence was a very wet floor.

“‘Where is that ice?’ he said – (as the white folks reported.)

“The soldier was ignorant – [illegible phrase].

 “‘Where is that ice?’ asked the furious monarch.

“‘Don’t know,’ said the soldier.

“‘Don’t know?  You’ve sole it!  Don’t know?  Guards, take that man and flog him until he gets that ice!’

“The poor fellow was flogged, it is said, but [t]he heat did not render [b]ack the ice.”

– Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, Saturday, October 17, 1862, p. 1