Photograph: The grave of Dr. Moise Lafleur in the Pitre Cemetery.
CAROLA LILLIE HARTLEY
Publisher and Contributing Writer
On a grave in the small Pitre cemetery near Prairie Ronde in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana is a headstone with the inscription, “Dr. Moise Lafleur, who gave his life to science.” The life story of Moise Lafleur is so much more than those six words on his grave’s headstone. Dr. Lafleur was killed during a revolution in a Central American country in the early 20th century.
Who was Dr. Moise Lafleur?
Born on November 18, 1888 in Prairie Ronde, St. Landry Parish, LA, Moise Lafleur was the son of Ertemon Lafleur, Sr. and Estelle Pitre Lafleur. He grew up in rural St. Landry Parish, attending local elementary and high schools. Following high school, he continued his education at other schools and colleges.
Dr. Lafleur was considered one of the best educated physicians in St. Landry Parish having graduated with honors at Southwestern Industrial Institute in Lafayette, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and Tulane University in New Orleans. After graduation with honors in medicine, he took a special course for two years at Tulane, supplemented by two years of special work at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. He completed his education in May of 1915. Following that he practiced a short time in Mamou, in Evangeline Parish where he acquired a reputation as a dedicated citizen and an excellent physician.
Dr. Moise Lafleur in Central America
In December of 1915, Dr. Lafleur was appointed as ship’s doctor aboard a United Fruit Company cruise vessel that made voyages between New Orleans and Central America.[1]
His role as physician on the fruit company ship took him to Central America. A desire to do scientific work led him to join the Carnegie Institution of Scientific Research in Central America. He had only been with the institution a short time when he formed an expedition to study tropical diseases.
The Expedition – The Killing of Dr. Moise Lafleur
On the morning of April 17, 1916, Dr. Moise Lafleur, and four others, Mr. Carpenter, Mr. Molley and two Negro servants left Belize, British Honduras in the direction of El Cayo which they reached three days later. The objective point of the expedition was a newly reported archaeological site in the Peten bush area. It was to be a nine-day journey.
On April 26th the expedition party learned that revolutionists had organized in El Cayo and had captured nearby villages. Despite the danger they faced, Dr. Lafleur and his friends decided to proceed ahead, which they did as soon as they could be provided with necessary outfits, guides, mules and supplies.
The party encountered friends who joined them so that in case of trouble they would be 18 in the party instead of just nine. They felt they could overcome any picket of the revolutionists. The party reached Holmul, a little village near their destiny on May 16th, and departed from there at 7:30 the next morning.
After leaving Holmul the forests were so thick that Dr. Lafleur and his party decided to go together while their friends would go another way. After over half a day’s travel they were in the thickest part of the forest. Forty miles away from the village of Holmul, on account of the density of the woods and briars the party was forced to go single file, with the guide leading.
All of a sudden, the party reached a place, in the middle of the forest, which had been cleaned out. As soon as they reached this spot, shots were heard, and the smoke obstructed the view, and no one could be seen.
Mr. Molley yelled for Dr. Lafleur and his guides to come back into the thickets, they were being the only ones not in sight, but not a word was heard from them, nor could they be seen. The Guatemalan soldiers kept on firing, while Mr. Carpenter and Mr. Molley made their escape.
A search for Dr. Lafleur’s body lasted two days, his friends risking their lives on several occasions in an endeavor to find him. When the former Opelousas boy was found, he had been shot through the lungs and his throat had been cut wide open; the Guatemalan soldiers had stripped him of his clothes, shoes, rings and other belongings.
The body was brought back to the home of Mr. Molley, where it was interred in a village graveyard, the ceremony being performed by a Catholic priest.
Mr. Molley took the trouble of making an extensive investigation of the whole matter, and after interviewing the Lafleur brothers in New Orleans, departed for Washington, DC where he presented the whole case to Dr. Lazaro, the representative from the St. Landry district, and the Louisiana senators, with the idea of having the US government investigate the shooting.
Dr. Moise Lafleur’s Remains Returned to St. Landry Parish
On Tuesday, December 5, 1916, the remains of Dr. Moise Lafleur were brought back home to St. Landry Parish, arriving in Opelousas on the early morning train over the Gulf Coast Lines. They were taken to the residence of his brother Dr. Ertemon Lafleur in Prairie Ronde. The wake for Dr. Lafleur was held at his brother’s home, where his remains were viewed by hundreds of friends and relatives on that day. According to a report about the wake in the St. Landry Clarion on December 9th, “on account of decomposition having set in, it was impossible to recognize any of the features of the unfortunate man.”
His funeral was largely attended, showing the high esteem in which Dr. Lafleur was regarded by the people of St. Landry who knew him as one of the finest and most polished young men in the parish. He was a young man of only 28 years at the time of his death. He was buried in the small Pitre cemetery near Prairie Ronde.
On December 13, 1916, Dr. Ertemon Lafleur wrote the following to the Editor of the Times-Picayune:
In your valuable paper of December 9th, appeared a statement by Dr. Larreinaga that Dr. Moise Lafleur of Louisiana was killed by Revolutionists.
Dr. Lafleur was shot down by government troops from ambush and without warning of any kind, and his body mutilated by them after death by cutting in the neck with a machete (apparently). The body was also tied to a pole and carried away into the bushes and hidden.
The government of Guatemala knows that this was the action of troops as I have before me now a statement in that effect made by Guatemala to the United States.
Mr. Morley and Mr. Carpenter, the companions of Dr. Moise Lafleur, recovered their horses and goods from the commander of government troops two days after the killing. – E. Lafleur, M.D., Brother of Dr. Moise Lafleur.
Representatives of the Carnegie Institution made an active investigation of the foul, unprovoked murder and materially assisted Congressman Lazaro with his work on the case.
Just as his brother Dr. Ertemon Lafleur wrote in the letter he sent to the Times Picayune, the investigation concluded soldiers of the Guatemalan government were responsible for the killing of Dr Moise Lafleur, a brilliant young man from our parish who gave his life to science.
[1] Passenger list of ship named Suriname list Moise Lafleur as a Surgent on the ship on December 6, 1915, arriving at the port of New Orleans, LA from the Port of Belize, Honduras.
