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 The CREOLE 
 
 >o(f?)(5=^5:=5 $=:==5)^o 
 
 Illustrated and containing exhaustive accounts of the 
 Historical legends of the Famous Creole City. 
 
 FIRST EDITION 
 1910-1911. 
 
 COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE CREOLE PUBLISHING CO., 
 
 638 Canal Street, :-: New Orleans, La.
 
 ^rmm 
 
 SEE INDEX IN REAR. 

 
 THE CREOLE 
 Tourist's Guide and Sketch Book 
 
 OF NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, from its founding by Bienville in 1718 throughout 
 its many vicissitudes and stirring incidents, under the flag of 
 five distinct nations or governments, has figured in romance 
 and poetry, song and story; yet, the story of its glory and fame as a 
 commercial and industrial center, its possibilities of future grandeur, 
 remains yet to be developed and related. 
 
 Of "Old Orleans," its traditions innumerable and points of interest, 
 which are jealously preserved, even at the expense of being criti- 
 cised by the Progressionists, much has been written — 
 
 "An oft-told tale, well worth repeating." 
 
 The Creole Tourists' Guide and Sketch Book of New Orleans, as 
 its name implies, is designed to meet the needs of tourists and visitors 
 coming to our city, and will be found not only exact, but of more than 
 passing interest, well worthy a place on the library table of every 
 home, as a valued souvenir of the Crescent City. 
 
 New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste Lemoyne de 
 Bienville, a French Canadian, Governor of the French colony which 
 had been planted nineteen years earlier at Biloxi, on Mississippi 
 Sound. A few years after its founding when it was still but little more 
 than a squalid village of deported galley slaves, trappers and gold 
 hunters, it was made the capital of that vast Louisiana, which loosely
 
 -* THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 comprised the whole Mississippi Valley. The names remaining in 
 vogue in that portion of the city still distinguished as le vieux carre, 
 or the old French quarter, preserve an interesting record of these 
 humble beginnings. The memory of the French dominion is retained 
 in the titles and foreign aspects of Toulouse, Orleans, Du Maine, Conti, 
 Dauphine and Chartres streets; while the sovereignty of Spain is even 
 more distinctly traceable in the stuccoed walls and iron lattices, huge 
 locks and hinges, arches and gratings, balconies and jalousies, cor- 
 rugated roofs of tiles, dim corridors and inner courts, brightened with 
 portieres, urns and basins, statues half hid in roses and vines, and 
 musical with sounds of trickling water. There are streets named for 
 the Spanish Governors, Unzaga, Galvez, Miro, Salcedo, Casa Calva 
 and Carondelet. 
 
 The site of New Orleans was selected by Bienville as the highest 
 point on the river bank and consequently safe from overflow. The 
 second year of its occupation,' however, the entire town was sub- 
 merged, and it was found necessary to construct a dyke around it 
 to protect it against inundation. This dyke w^as the beginning of the 
 immense system of levees which have cost the people of the Lower 
 Mississippi Valley millions of dollars to erect and maintain. The site 
 selected by Bienville for the city was deemed specially favorable, 
 first on account of its height — it was ten feet above the level of the 
 ocean — and, secondly, on account of a bayou which ran just back of 
 the town to Lake Pontchartrain, thus giving the city communication 
 with the Gulf, otherwise than by the river, whose strong current at 
 high flood rendered it difficult of ascent. It did not prove to be so 
 favorable as it had appeared at first sight, being covered by a noisome 
 and almost impenetrable cypress swamp, and subject to frequent if 
 not annual overfiow. Its distance from the mouth of the river was 
 also a great disadvantage. Bayou St. John, known to the Indians as 
 Choupich (muddy), and Bayou Sauvage, afterward Gentilly, navigable 
 to small sea-going vessels to within a mile of the Mississippi's bank, 
 led by a short course to the open waters of the lake and thence to the 
 Gulf. Here, in 1718, Bienville landed a detachment of twenty-five 
 convicts or galley slaves, twenty-five carpenters and a few voyageurs 
 from the Illinois country (Canadians) to make a clearing and erect 
 necessary huts for the new city which he proposed to found, and
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 6 
 
 which he named in honor of his Highness, the Prince Regent of 
 France, Louis Philippe, Duke d'Orleans, one of the greatest roues and 
 scoundrels that ever lived. 
 
 The original city, known even to-day as "Old Orleans," as laid 
 off by Bienville, comprised eleven squares front on the river, running 
 from Customhouse street (rue de la Douane) — now termed Iberville 
 street — to Barracks street (rue des Quartiers), and five squares back 
 from Levee street( rue de la Levee) to Burgundy (rue de la Bour- 
 gogne). These limits constituted for many years the boundaries of 
 New Orleans. During the early French days, houses were built back 
 of this, along the road running towards the lake and Bayou St. John. 
 Plantations were established on the river bank, both above and below 
 the city. When the city was transferred from Spain to France, and 
 thence to the United States, the great bulk of the population still 
 lived in the old quarters. The Americans, however, began to establish 
 themselves above on what was of old the Jesuits' plantation, building 
 up a new town, which became known as the faubourg St. Mary, or 
 Sainte Marie. At the lower end of town another suburb was laid 
 out, known as faubourg Marigny. This made New Orleans a perfect 
 crescent in shape, which formation yet remains, for the river just 
 in front of the citj^ bends gracefully in the form of a half-moon. To 
 this circumstance is due the title of "Crescent City," bestowed upon 
 New Orleans years ago. The city has spread up stream, following the 
 bank of the river, annexing innumerable towns and villages, until it is 
 now in shape very much like the letter "S," long and narrow, while 
 a portion of it, the Fifteenth ward, or Algiers, is situated on the right 
 bank and cut off from the rest of the city. 
 
 In this movement upstream and backward towards the lake. New 
 Orleans has swallowed a large number of towns and villages — almost 
 as many as London itself. And as many of the districts thus devoured 
 still retain in ordinary parlance their old titles, it is very confusing to 
 strangers. Thus, the western portion of New Orleans is never spoken 
 of as the Fifteenth ward, but always as Algiers, recalling the fact that 
 forty years ago it was a city with a complete municipal government 
 of its own, mayor, council and policemen. The extreme upper portion 
 of New Orleans, constituting the Sixteenth and Seventeenth wards, 
 is universally known as Carrollton, while another portion, that border-
 
 6 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 ing on Lake Pontcliartarin, still bears the title of Milneburg, in honor 
 of the philanthropist Milne. 
 
 Lafayette Square. 
 
 New Orleans comprises to-day what originally constituted the 
 cities of Xew Orleans, Algiers, Carrollton, Jefferson City and La- 
 fayette, the faubourgs Treme, Delord, St. Johnsburg, Marigny, De- 
 Clouet, Sainte Marie, Annonciation, Washington, Neuve Marigny, las
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS T 
 
 Communes, and the villages of Greenville, Burtheville, Bouligny, Hurst- 
 ville, Fribourg, Rickerville, Mechanicsville, Belleville^ Bloomington, 
 Freetown, Metarieville, Milnebiirg, Feinerburg, Gentilly, Marley, 
 Foucher and others. 
 
 Of these, the only names still used to any extent are Algiers, Car- 
 rollton, Jefferson, Greenville, Gentilly and Milneburg. 
 
 Algiers is that portion of New Orleans on the right, or west bank 
 of the river, where the Southern Pacific or Louisiana and Texas Rail- 
 road has its work shops. 
 
 Carrollton embraces what is known as the Seventh District, or 
 the Sixteenth and Seventeenth wards. Upper Line street divides it 
 from the remainder of the city. It extends between parallel lines to 
 Lake Pontchartrain and includes the lake resort or pleasure ground 
 known as West End. 
 
 Jefferson City constitutes what is known as the Sixth District, or 
 Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth wards. It comprises all that por- 
 tion of New Orleans between Toledano and Upper Line streets. 
 
 Greenville is that portion of Jefferson next to Carrollton and bor- 
 dering the river, and in the immediate neighborhood of the Audubon 
 Park. 
 
 Gentilly is the small settlement mainly of farmers, dairymen and 
 vegetable dealers in the Bayou Gentilly, a corruption of Chantilly, 
 the celebrated estate of the Condes in France, just back of the Third 
 District on the line of the Pontchartrain Railroad. 
 
 Milneburg is the village lying at the terminus of hte Pontchartrain 
 Railroad on Lake Pontchartrain. The terminus of the New Orleans 
 and Lake Road is similarly known as West End. 
 
 New Orleans includes the entire parish of Orleans. All the land be- 
 tween the river and lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne is consequently 
 a portion of the city and controlled by municipal laws and ordinances. 
 The total area subject to municipal government is 187 square miles, 
 or 119,680 acres. A portion of New Orleans is still covered by the 
 primeval cypress forests and sea swamp and marsh. Chef Menteur, 
 the Rigolets, are part and parcel of the city, although thirty miles 
 distant from a house. Within the municipal limits are the best fish- 
 ing and duck-hunting resorts in the South.
 
 8 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 New Orleans is divided into districts and wards. The wards are 
 the political divisions, while the districts are mainly used for de- 
 scribing the location of a building. Thus, one seldom speaks of living 
 in the Third ward, but rather says, "in the First District." 
 
 The First District, including the First, Second and Third wards, 
 is the old faubourg Ste. Marie, or American quarter. It is the com- 
 mercial center of the city, and the seat of most of its manufactures. 
 
 The Second District includes the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth wards. 
 It is the old city, or the Creole quarter. The oldest portion is well 
 built up, well populated, and includes the greater portion of the for- 
 eign population of New Orleans. 
 
 The Third District includes the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth wards. 
 It is the old faubourg Marigny, and embraces the lower portion of 
 the town, with a population mainly of Germans and Creoles. 
 
 The Fourth District includes the Tenth and Eleventh wards. It is 
 nearly a residence quarter, and the location of the finest dwellings, 
 mainly occupied by Americans. 
 
 The Fifth District constitutes but one ward, the Fifteenth. It is 
 the seat of the railroad repair shops, dockyards, etc. 
 
 The Sixth District is like the Fourth, namely, a residence quarter. 
 It embraces three wards, the Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth, and 
 Audubon Park. 
 
 The Seventh District, or Sixteenth and Seventeenth wards, known 
 generally as Carrollton, is well settled, and mainly given up to dairies, 
 small truck farms, etc. 
 
 A still more marked division of the city is that between the 
 French, or Creole, and American quarters. Canal street, which sepa- 
 rates the First and Second districts, is that dividing line, and separates 
 two towns as widely different in race, language, customs or ideas as 
 two races of people living close to each other, and separated only by an 
 imaginary line, can well be.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW orlbaxs 
 HISTORY IN PARAGRAPHS. 
 
 Founded by France In 1718 as a suitable site for a city worthy to be 
 the capital of Louisiana— Sieur La Blond de La Tour, Knight of 
 St. Louis, Chief Engineer of the Army of France, supervised the 
 driving of stakes and drawn lines. 
 
 CHAPTER II.— EARLY HISTORY. 
 
 The city of New Orleans was founded in 1718; that is, a few men 
 were landed there and put to work constructing huts and warehouses. 
 In 1719 an overflow occurred which flooded the entire town, and com- 
 pelled the men to cease work on the buildings and begin the erection 
 of a levee around the place in order to prevent a recurrence of the 
 calamity. In 1720 New Orleans was placed under the military com- 
 mand of M. De Noyau. Bienville, in colonial council, endeavored to 
 have it declared the capital of the colony of Louisiana, instead of old 
 Biloxi (now Ocean Springs), but was outvoted. 
 
 He sent his chief of engineers, however, Sieur Le Blond de la Tour, 
 a Knight of St. Louis, to the little settlement, with orders "to choose 
 a suitable site for a city worthy to become the capital of Louisiana." 
 Stakes were driven, lines drawn, streets marked off, town lots granted, 
 ditched and palisaded, a rude levee thrown up along the river front, 
 and the scattered settlers of the neighborhood gathered into the form 
 of a town. To de laTour, therefore, is due the naming of the streets 
 of the old city. 
 
 On Bayou St. John, near this little town, was a settlement of In- 
 dians, called Tchoutchouma, or the place of the Houma or Sun, a title 
 which has been often poetically applied to New Orleans. 
 
 In 1721 warehouses had already been erected, and Bienville (then 
 Governor of Louisiana) reserved the right to make his residence in 
 the new city on certain governmental regulations. Finally, in June 
 of the following year, 1722, the royal commissioners having at length 
 given orders to transfer the seat of government from Biloxi to New 
 Orleans, a gradual removal was begun of the troops and effects of 
 the Mississippi Company, who had control of Louisiana. In August, 
 Bienville completed the transfer by moving thither the gubernatorial
 
 10 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 headquarters. In the January preceding these accessions the place 
 already contained 100 houses and 300 inhabitants. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that it was entirely due to Bienville's 
 perspicuity and obstinacy that New Orleans was finally made the 
 capital of the French possessions in America. The State of Louisi- 
 ana and city of New Orleans have ill requited him. In the United 
 
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 States Customs House there is a basso-rilievo in marble of Bienville, 
 which is the only monument ever erected to him in New Orleans. 
 A single street bears his name, thanks to de la Tour, his own engineer. 
 Beyond this, New Orleans has done nothing to honor the man to 
 whom she owes her foundation, and whom for years her people called 
 "father."
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 11 
 
 The buildings in the little city must have been very unstable, for 
 the next year, on September 11th, a storm destroyed the parish 
 church — the predecessor of the St. Louis Cathedral, and standing on 
 the same site now occupied by that building — the hospital, and thirty 
 of the one hundred dwellings the town contained. 
 
 In 1732, the population of the little city had grown to 5,000. A few 
 civil and military officials of high rank had brought their wives with 
 them from France, and a few Canadians had brought them from Can- 
 ada, but they were the exceptions. The male portion of the popu- 
 lation consisted principally of soldiers, trappers, miners, galley slaves 
 and redemptioners bound for three years' service, while the still dis- 
 proportionally small number of women was almost entirely made up 
 of transported and unreformed inmates of houses of correction, with 
 a few Choctaw squaws and African slave women. Gambling, duelling 
 and vicious idleness were indulged in to such an extent as to give 
 the authorities great concern. The company addressed Its efforts to 
 the improvement of both the architectural and social features of the 
 provincial capital, and the years 1726 and 1727 are conspicuous for 
 these endeavers. The importation of male vagabonds and criminals 
 had already ceased, stringent penalties were laid upon gambling, and 
 steps were taken for promotion of education and religion. 
 
 Though the plan of the town comprised a parallelogram of 4,000 
 feet on the river by a depth of 1,800, and was divided into regular 
 squares of 300 feet, front and depth, yet its appearance was disor- 
 derly and squalid. A few board cabins of split cypress (pieux) 
 thatched with cypress bark, were scattered confusedly over the 
 swampy ground, surrounded and isolated from each other by willow 
 brakes, reedy ponds and sloughs bristling with dwarf palmettos and 
 swarming with reptiles. 
 
 In the middle of the river front two squares had been reserved, 
 the front one as a parade ground, or Place d'Armes (now Jackson 
 Square), the other for ecclesiastical purposes. The middle of the 
 rear square had from the first been occupied by a church, and is at 
 present the site of the St. Louis Cathedral. On the left and adjoin- 
 ing the church a company of Capuchine priests erected in 1726 a con- 
 vent. A company of Ursuline nuns, commissioned to open a school 
 for girls and to attend to the sick, arrived in 1727 from France, and
 
 12 THE CBSOLff TOURIST'S GUIT^H 
 
 were given tcirn-mary ^j=««*iil rU tke hous5 on tl fe north corner of 
 Chartres and Bienville ttrtets, Mhile the foundations of a large and 
 commodious nunnery were laiG for them in the square bounded by 
 the river front, Chartres, rue de 1' Arsenal (now Ursuline street, in 
 honor of the nuns), and the lower limit of the ciity, now Hospital 
 street. This building, which was finished in 1730, being then the 
 largest edifice in New Orleans, was occupied by the nuns for ninety- 
 four years, until 1824, when they removed to their present convent 
 below the city. In 18.31 the old building became the State House of 
 Louisiana; in 1834 it was made the archiepiscopal palace for the 
 Catholic Archbishop of New Orleans. It is the oldest building in New 
 Orleans, being one hundred and eighty years of age, and as strong 
 and stable as when first built. 
 
 Some years ago the palatial residence of Joseph P. Hornor, de- 
 ceased, a distinguished attorney-at-law and pre-eminent in the ex- 
 alted degrees of Masonry in his day, situated in Esplanade and St. 
 Claude streets, was purchased by Catholics and converted into the 
 Archbishop's palace, where the Bishop has his official residence. 
 
 A soldiers' hospital was built near the convent in the square above, 
 v/hich gave to Hospital street its name. 
 
 A map of New Orleans, made in 1728 when Perier was Governor 
 of the colony of Louisiana, shows the ancient Place d'Armes of the 
 same rectangular figure as to-day, an open plot of grass, crossed by 
 two diagonal paths and occupying the exact middle of the town front. 
 Behind it stood the parish church of St. Louis, built like most of the 
 public buildings of that day — of brick. On the right of the church 
 was a small guardhouse and prison, and on the left was the dwelling 
 of the Capuchins. On the lower side of the Place d'Armes, at the 
 corner of Ste. Anne and Chartres, were the quarters of the govern- 
 ment employees. The grounds facing the Place d'Armes in St. Peter 
 and Ste. Anne streets were still unoccupied, except by cord-wood and 
 a few pieces of parked artillery on the one side and a small house for 
 issuing rations on the other. Just off the river front, on Toulouse 
 street, were the smithies of the Marine, while on the other hand 
 two narrow buildings lining either side of the street in honor of the 
 Due du Maine, and reaching from the river front nearly to Chartres 
 street, were the King's warehouses. Upon the upper corner of the
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 13 
 
 rue de I'Arsenal (now Ursulines), was the hospital, with its grounds 
 running along the upper side of the street to Chartres, while on the 
 square next below was the convent of the Ursulines. The barracks 
 and the Company's forges were in the square, bounded by Royal, St. 
 Louis, Bourbon and Conti. In the extreme upper portion of the city, 
 on the river front, at what in later years became the corner of Cus- 
 tomhouse and Decatur streets, were the house and grounds of the 
 Governor; and in the square immediately below them the humbler 
 quarters transiently occupied by the Jesuits. The fine residences, 
 built of cypress, or half brick and half frame, mainly one story and 
 never over two and a half, stood on Chartres and Royal streets. The 
 poorer people lived in the rear of the city, the greater number of 
 their houses being located in Orleans street. Prominent among the 
 residents of New Orleans at that early day, to whom belongs the honor 
 of being the original founders of the city — its F. F.'s — stand the names 
 Delery, Dalby, St. Martin, Dupuy, Rossard, Duval, Beaulieu-Chauvin, 
 D'Anseville, Perrigaut, Dreux, Mandeville, Tisseraud, Bonneau, De- 
 Blanc, Dasfeld, Villere, Provenche, Gauvrit, Pellerin, D'Artaguette, 
 Lazon, Raguet, Fleurieu, Brule, Lafreniere, Carriere, Caron and Pascal. 
 About half these names are now extinct, but the remainder still 
 flourish in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana. 
 
 In that same year, 1728, occurred the one important event, the ar- 
 rival of a consignment of reputable girls, sent over by the King 
 of France to the Ursulines, to be disposed of in marriage by them. 
 They were supplied by the King on their departure from France with 
 a small chest of clothing, and were long known in the traditions of 
 their colonial descendants by the honorable distinction of the fil les 
 de la cassette, or "the casket girls," to distinguish them from the 
 "correction girls" previously sent over from the prisons and hos- 
 pitals of Paris. 
 
 Incidents of Indian warfare and massacre are not lacking on the 
 pages of the early history of New Orleans. 
 
 It was in 1730 that the Natchez Indians murdered all the French 
 at Fort Rosalie (Natchez) and a number of other settlements above 
 New Orleans. This was followed in 1732 by a negro insurrection, 
 which was only suppressed by the execution of the ringleaders, the 
 women on the gallows, the men on the wheel. The heads of the men
 
 14 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 were stuck upon posts at the upper and lower extremities of the town 
 front, and the Tchoupitoulas settlement, and at other points, to in- 
 spire future would-be conspirators with awe. 
 
 The Creoles of New Orleans were at this time greatly agitated 
 over what is known in Louisiana history as the "Jesuit War," a quar- 
 
 A Carnival Scene — "Rex Parade." 
 
 rel between the Jesuits and Capuchins as to jurisdiction. The strife 
 was characterized by '"acrimonious writings, squibs, pasquinades and 
 satrical songs," the women in particular taking sides with lively 
 zeal. In July, 1763, the Capuchins were left masters of the field, 
 the Jesuits being expelled from all French and Spanish possessions 
 on the order of the Pope. Their plantation, which was in a splendid
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 15 
 
 condition and one of the best in Louisiana, was sold for $180,000, a 
 very large sum in those days. 
 
 In November, 1762, the treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, by which 
 France transferred Louisiana to Spain. In March, 1766, the new 
 Spanish Governor, Don Antonio de Uloa, arrived with only two com- 
 panies of Spanish troops. For some time, the incoming Spanish 
 and the outgoing French Governors administered the affairs of the 
 colony, but on October 25, 1768, a conspiracy, long and carefully 
 planned, and in which some of the first officers of the government 
 and the leading merchants of New Orleans were engaged, revealed 
 itself in open hostilities. At the head of this movement were La- 
 freniere, the Attorney-General; Foucault, the intendant Noyau and 
 Bienville, nephews of the city's founder, and Milhet, Carresse, Petit, 
 Poupet, Marquis, DeMasan, Hardy de Bois-Blanc and Villere, promi- 
 nent merchants and planters. On the night of the 28th, the guns at 
 the Tchoupitoulas gate at the upper side of the city v/ere spiked, and 
 the Acadians, headed by Noyau, and the Germans, by Villere, entered 
 the city. Ulloa and his troops retired aboard the Spanish frigate 
 lying in the river and sailed -for Havana. 
 
 Thus, freed from the Spanish dominion, the project of forming a 
 republic was discussed by the Louisiana Creoles, and delegates were 
 sent to the British American colonies to propose some sort of union 
 of all the American colonies. But the republic was short-lived. 
 
 On August IS, 1769, Don Alexandre O'Reilly — whom Byron's Donna 
 Juana mentions so favorably — arrive with 3,600 picked Spanish troops, 
 50 pieces of artillery, and 24 vessels. The Louisianians could not 
 resist this force. Twelve of the principal movers of the insurrection 
 v/ere arrested; six of them shot in the Place d'Armes, and the others 
 imprisoned in the Moro Castle at Havana. 
 
 At the time that O'Reilly took possession of New Orleans, the 
 trade of the city was mainly in the hands of the English. He soon 
 broke this up, however, refusing to admit any English vessels to New 
 Orleans. The commercial privileges of the city were, however, gradu- 
 ally extended. Trade was allowed with Campeachy and the French 
 and Spanish West Indies, under certain restrictions. The importa- 
 tion of slaves from these islands had long been forbidden on ac- 
 count of the insurrectionary spirit which existed among them, but
 
 16 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 the trade in Guinea negroes was encouraged. 1778, Galvez gave New 
 Orleans the right to trade with any port in France, or of the thirteen 
 British colonies, then engaged in their struggle for independence. 
 In 1776, Oliver Pollock, at the head of a number of merchants from 
 New York, Philadelphia and Boston, w^ho had established themselves 
 in New Orleans, began, with the countenance of Galvez, to supply, 
 by fleets of large canoes, the agents of the American cause with arms 
 and ammunition delivered at Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh). 
 
 On Good Friday, March 21, 1780, occurred the great conflagration 
 which destroyed nearly the entire city. It began in Chartres street 
 near St. Louis, in the private chapel of Don Vincento Jose Nunez, the 
 military treasurer of the colony. The buildings on the immediate 
 river front escaped, but the central portion of the town, including the 
 entire commercial quarter, the dwellings of the leading inhabitants, 
 the town hall, the arsenal, the jail, the parish church and the quar- 
 ters of the Capuchins were completely destroyed. Nineteen squares 
 and 856 houses were destroyed in this fire. 
 
 Six years later, on December 8, 1794, some children playing in a 
 court on Royal street, too near an adjoining hay store, set fire to it. 
 A strong north wind was blowing at the time, and in three hours 212 
 dwellings and stores in the heart of the town were destroyed. The 
 cathedral, lately founded on the site of the church, burned in 1788, 
 escaped; but the pecuniary loss exceeded that of the previous confla- 
 gration, which had been estimated at $2,600,000 Only two stores 
 were left standing, and a large portion of the population was com- 
 pelled to camp out in the Place d'Armes and on the levee. 
 
 Afterwards New Orleans now made rapid improvement. Don 
 Andres Almonaster y Roxas, father of Baroness Pontalba, erected a 
 handsome row of brick buildings on both sides of the Place d'Armes, 
 where the Pontalba buildings now stand, making the fashionable re- 
 tail quarter of the town. In 1787 he built on Ursuline street a chapel 
 of stucco brick for the nuns. The Charity Hospital, founded in 
 1737 by a sailor named Jean Louis, on Rampart, between St. Louis 
 and Toulouse, then outside of the town limits, was destroyed in 1779 
 by the hurrcane. In 1784, Almonaster began and two years later 
 completed, at a cost of $114,000, on the same site, a brick edifice, 
 which he called the Charity Hospital of St. Charles, a name the in-
 
 \ AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 17 
 
 stitution still bears. In 1792 he began the erection upon the site of 
 the parish church, destroyed by fire in 1788, of a brick building, and 
 ill 1794, when Louisiana and Florida were erected into a bishopric 
 separate from Havana, this church, suflSciently completed for occu- 
 pation, became the St. Louis Cathedral. Later still, he filled the void 
 made b}- the burning of the town hall and the jail, which, until the 
 conflagration, had stood on the south side of the church, facing the 
 Place d'Armes, with the hall of the Cabildo, the same that stands at 
 this time, consecrated to the courts, with the exception of the upper 
 story added since, the French roof which at present distorts its archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 The Government itself completed very substantially the barracks 
 begun by Governor Kerlerec, on Barracks street. Close by, it built 
 a military hospital and chapel, and near the upper river corner of the 
 town, on the square now occupied for the same purpose, but which 
 was then directly on the river, it put up a woodencustom house. The 
 "Old French market" on the river front, just below the Place d'Armes, 
 was erected and known as the Halle de Boucheries. 
 
 In 1794 Governor Carondelet began, and in the following two years 
 finished, with the aid of a large force of slaves, the excavation of the 
 "old basin," and the Carondelet Canal, connecting New Orleans with 
 Bayou St. John and Lake Pontchartrain. 
 
 In 1791 the Creoles of New Orleans became infected with Repub- 
 licanism, and Carondelet found it necessary to take the same pre- 
 cautions with New Orleans as if he had held a town of the enemy. 
 The Marseillaise was wildly called for at the theater which some 
 French refugees from San Domingo had opened, and in the drinking 
 shops was sung, "Ca ira, ca ira, les aristocrates a la lanterne." 
 
 To ensure safety the fortifications of the city were rebuilt, being 
 completed in 1794. They consisted of a fort, St. Charles, at the lower 
 river front, with barracks for 150 men, and a parapet 18 feet thick 
 faced with brick, a ditch and a covered way; Fort St. Louis, at the 
 upper river corner, was similar to this in all regards. The armament 
 of these was twelve 12 and 18-pounders. At the corner of Canal and 
 Rampart street was Fort Burgundy; on the present Beauregard square, 
 Fort St. Joseph, and what is now the corner of Rampart and Esplanade 
 street, Fort St. Ferdinan. The wall which passed from fort to fort
 
 18 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 Creole Mammy -French Quarters 
 
 was 15 feet high, with a fosse in front, 7 feet deep and 40 feet wide, 
 kept filled with water from the Carondelet Canal.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 19 
 
 In 1794, Etienne de Bore, whose plantation occupied the site where 
 the Seventh District of New Orleans (Carrollton) now stands, suc- 
 ceeded in producing $12,000 worth of superior sugar, and introduced 
 sugar culture into Louisiana. 
 
 In 1793, the citizens of the colony were granted the valuable con- 
 cession of an open commerce with Europe and America, and a num- 
 ber of merchants from Philadelphia established commercial houses 
 in New Orleans. On October 20, 1795, was signed at Madrid the treaty, 
 which declared the Mississippi free to the people of the United 
 States, and New Orleans a port of deposit for three years free of any 
 charge. 
 
 On the 1st of October, 1800, Louisiana was transferred by Spain 
 to France. It was not, however, until March 26, 1803, that the French 
 colonial prefect, Laussat, landed at New Orleans, commissioned to 
 prepare for the expected arrival of General Victor, with a large force 
 of French troops. Instead of General Victor, however, a vessel from 
 France brought the news in July that Louisiana had been purchased 
 by the United States. On November 3, with troops drawn up in line 
 on the Place d'Armes, and with discharges of artillery, Salcedo, the 
 Spanish Governor, in the hall of the Cabildo, delivered the keys of 
 New Orleans to Laussat. On the 20th of the next month, Laussat, 
 with similar ceremonies, turned Louisiana over to Commissioners 
 Claiborne and Wilkinson, and New Orleans became a part of the 
 United States. At that time, with its suburbs, it possessed a popula- 
 tion of 10,000, the great majority of the white population being 
 Creoles.
 
 20 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 OLD NEW ORLEANS AS IT WAS. 
 
 Its Main Points of Interest Yet to be Seen by Tourists. 
 
 From the Levee (now Decatur street) the town extended in depth 
 (on paper) about 600 yards, although Dauphine street was in reality 
 the limit of the inhabited quarter in that direction. The line of what 
 is now Rampart street was occupied by the palisaded fortification, 
 w^ith a few forts, all in a greater or less condition of dilapidation. 
 At the upper end of the ramparts was Fort St. Louis, and on the 
 ground now known as Beauregard square, was Fort St. Ferdinand, the 
 chief place for bull and bear fights. Esplanade street was a fortifica- 
 tion, beginning at Fort St. Ferdinand and ending at its junction with 
 the ramparts on Rampart street. Along what is now Canal street 
 was a moat filled with water, which terminated at a military gate on 
 the Chemin des Tchoupitoulas, near the levee. Thus was the city 
 protected from siege and attack. 
 
 Along the river the city's upper limit of houses was at about St. 
 Louis street, and the lower at about St. Philip. The Spanish barracks 
 on Canal street covered the whole block between what are now 
 known as Hospital and Barracks streets. 
 
 The house occupied by the Spanish Governor-General of the 
 province was situated at the corner of Toulouse and the Levee. It 
 was a plain residence of one story, with the aspect of an inn. It 
 fronted the river. One side was bordered by a narrow and unpre- 
 tending garden in the form of a parterre, and on the other side ran 
 a low gallery screened by latticework, while the back yard, inclosed 
 by fences, contained the kitchens and the stables. This house was 
 burned down in 1827, after having been used for the sessions of the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Other public buildings, now passed away, were the Military or 
 Royal Hospital, the Public or Charity Hospital, and a convent of 
 Ursuline nuns. 
 
 Of the public buildings which are familiar to the eyes of the present 
 generation, only the French market, the Cathedral, and the Cabildo, or
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 21 
 
 "^ty Hall, adjoining the Cathedral at the corner of St. Peter and 
 jhartres streets, still remain. The Cathedral was not yet finished 
 jnd lacked those quaint white Spanish towers and the central belfry, 
 which in 1814 and 1815, were added to it. The "Very Illustrious 
 Cabildo," which held weekly meetings in this building, was the 
 municipal body of New Orleans. It was composed of twelve indi- 
 viduals called regidors and was presided over by the Governor- 
 General or his Civil Lieutenant. Jackson Square, called then the Place 
 d'Armes, was used as a review ground for the troops, and was resorted 
 to by nurses and children, the elders taking their "airing" on the 
 Levee, or the Grand Chemin, that fronted the houses of the rue de la 
 Levee. It was then but a grass plot, barren of trees and used as a 
 playground by the children. It was rather a ghostly place, too, for 
 children to pla3^ A wooden gallows stood in the middle of it for 
 several years and more than one poor fellow was swung off into 
 eternity, about the spot where General Jackson now sits in eflBgy. 
 Then there were no trees and no flowers, and no watchman to drive 
 away the little fellows at play. The gallows was not the only stern 
 and forboding and uncongenial thing about the place either, for the 
 calabosa stood just opposite — it is the police station now. 
 
 Here, in front of the Place d'Armes, everything was congregated — 
 the Cathedral Church of St. Louis, the convent of the Capuchins, the 
 Government House, the colonial prison or calabosa, and the Govern- 
 ment warehouses. Around the square stretched the leading boutiques 
 and restaurants of the town; on the side, was the market or Halles, 
 where not only meat, fruit and vegetables were sold, but hats, shoes 
 and handkerchiefs; while in front was the public landing. Indeed, 
 here was the religious, military, industrial, commercial and social 
 center of the city; here the troops paraded on fete days, and here 
 even the public executions took place, the criminals being either shot, 
 or nailed alive in their coffins and then slowly sawed in half. 
 
 Lake Pontchartrain was connected with New Orleans by the Caron- 
 delet Canal and the Bayou St. John, by which water-way schooners 
 reached the city from the lake and the neighboring Gulf coast. The 
 canal served, moreover, to drain the marshy district through which 
 it ran to give outlet to the standing waters. 
 
 With the exception of Levee, Chartres, Royal and perhaps Bour- 
 bon streets in the direction of its breadth, and the streets included
 
 22 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 between St. Louis and St. Philip in its length, the city was more in 
 outline than in fact. The other streets comprised within the limits 
 of the town were regularly laid out, it is true, but they, as well as 
 the faubourg, were but sparsely settled. Along Levee street, Chartres 
 and Royal, and on the intersecting squares included between them, the 
 houses were of brick, sometimes of two stories, but generally one 
 story high, with small, narrow balconies. These had been erected 
 
 City Hall. 
 
 within a few years, and since the disastrous fires of the years 178S and 
 1794, terrible calamities which had compelled the inhabitants to flee 
 for safety to the Place d'Armes and the Levee to avoid death by the 
 flames. Farther back in the town the houses were of an inferior 
 grade, one story in height, built of cypress and resting on founda- 
 tions of piles and bricks, and with shingled roofs. On the outskirts
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 23 
 
 and in the faubourg the houses were little better than shanties. The 
 sidewalks were four or five feet wide, but walking was sometimes 
 rendered difficult by the projecting steps of the houses. In 1822 St. 
 Charles street was paved for several blocks, and patches of pavement 
 were made on other streets. 
 
 Prior to 1815, and, indeed, for some years afterward, the city was 
 lighted by means of oil lamps suspended from wooden posts, from 
 which an arm projected. The light only penetrated a very short dis- 
 tance, and it was the custom always to use lanterns on the streets. 
 The order of march, when a family went out in the evening, was 
 first, a slave bearing a lantern; then another slave bearing the shoes 
 Vv'hich were to be worn in the ball-room or theatre, and other arti- 
 cles of full dress that were donned only after the destination was 
 reached; and, last, the family. 
 
 There were no cisterns in those days, the water of the Mississippi, 
 filtrated, serving as drinking water, while water for common house- 
 hold needs was obtained from wells dug on the premises. Some 
 houses possessed as many as two of these wells. 
 
 New Orleans, one hundred and fifty years ago, was woefully de- 
 ficient in promenades, drives and places of public amusement. The 
 favorite promenade was the Levee with its King's road, or Chemin des 
 Tchoupitoulas, where twelve or fifteen Louisiana willow trees were 
 planted, facing the street corners, and in whose shade were wooden 
 benches without backs, upon which people sat in the afternoon, shel- 
 tered from the setting sun. These trees, which grow rapidly, extended 
 from about St. Louis street to St. Philip. Outside the city limits was 
 the Bayou road, with all its inconveniences of mud or dust, leading to 
 the small plantations or truck farms forming the Gentilly District 
 and to those of the Metairie ridge. It was the fashion to spend an 
 hour or two in the evening on this road, riding on horseback or in 
 carriages of more or less elegance. Almost up to the year 1800 the 
 women of the city, with few exceptions, dressed with extreme sim- 
 plicity. But little taste was displayed either in the cut of their gar- 
 ments, or in their ornaments. Head-gear was almost unknown. If a 
 lady went out in summer, it was bareheaded; if in winter, she usually 
 wore a handkerchief or some such trifle as the Spanish women de- 
 light in. And at home, when the men were not about — so, at least.
 
 24 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 said those who penetrated there — she even went about barefooted, 
 shoes being expensive luxuries. 
 
 A short round skirt, a long basque-like over garment; the upper 
 part of their attire of one color and the lower of another, with a pro- 
 fuse display of ribbons and little jewelry — thus dressed, the mass of 
 the female population of good condition went about visiting, or at- 
 tending the ball or theater. But even three years had made a great 
 change in this respect; and in 1802, for some reason that it would 
 be difficult to explain, the ladies of the city appeared in attire as 
 different from that of 1799 as could be imagined. A surprising rich- 
 ness and elegance of apparel had taken the place of the primitive and 
 tasteless garb of the few preceding years — a garb which, had it been 
 seen at the ball or theater in 1802, would have resembled to the 
 critical feminine eye a Mardi Gras disguise. At that period the 
 natural charms of the ladies were heightened by a toilette of most 
 captivating details. Their dresses w^ere of the richest embroidered 
 muslins, cut in the latest fashions, relieved by soft and brilliant trans- 
 parent taffetas, by superb laces, and embroidered with gold. To 
 this must be added rich ear-rings, collars, bracelets, rings and other 
 adornments. This costume, it is true, was for rare occasions, and for 
 pleasant weather; but it was a sample of the high art in dress that 
 had come just in the nick of time to greet the fast-approaching Ameri- 
 can occupation. 
 
 In 1802, New Orleans possessed a theater — such as it was — situated 
 on St. Peter street, in the middle of the block between Royal and 
 Bourbon, on the lefthand side going toward the swamp. It was a 
 long, low wooden structure, built of cypress and alarmingly exposed 
 to the dangers of fire. Here, in 1799, half a dozen actors and actresses, 
 refugees from the insurrection in San Domingo, gave acceptable per- 
 formances, rendering comedy, drama, vaudeville and comic operas. 
 But owing to various causes the drama at this place of amusement 
 fell into decline, the theater was closed after two years, and the ma- 
 jority of the actors and musicians were scattered. 
 
 The devotees of the dance in those primitive days were compelled 
 by circumstances to satisfy themselves with accommodations of the 
 plainest description in the exercise of this amusement in public. In 
 a plain, ill-conditioned, ill-lighted room in a wooden building situated
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 25 
 
 on Conde street, between Ste. Ann and Du Maine — a hall perhaps 
 eighty feet long and thirty feet wide — the adepts of Terpsichore met, 
 unmasked, during the months of January and February, in what was 
 called the Carnival season, to indulge, at the cost of fifty cents per 
 head for entrance fee, in the fatiguing pleasure of the contre-danses of 
 that day. Some came to dance, others to look on. Along the sides 
 of the hall were ranged boxes, ascending gradually, in which usually 
 sat the non-dancing mammas and the wall-flowers of more tender 
 years. Below these boxes or loges were ranged seats for the benefit 
 of the wearied among the fair dancers, and between these benches 
 and chairs was a space some three feet in width, which was usually 
 packed with the male dancers, awaiting their turn, and the lookers-on. 
 The musicians were composed usually of five or six gipsies; and to 
 the notes of their volins the dance went on gayly. 
 
 Tradition has preserved the memory of quarrels and affrays that 
 originated in, or were developed from this ball-room. Sometimes these 
 quarrels ended in duels with fatal results. To tread on one's toes, 
 to brush against one, or to carry off by mistake the lady with whom 
 one was to dance, was ample grounds for a challenge. Everything 
 was arranged. A group of five or six young men would quietly slip 
 young man who had received the fearful insult of a crushed corn 
 dropped his lady partner with her chaperone, and had a few minutes' 
 conversation with some friend of his. In a very short time everything 
 v/as arranged. A group of five or six young men yould quietly slip 
 out of the ball-room with a careless, indifferent smile on their faces. 
 A proper place was close at hand. Just back of the Cathedral was a 
 little plot of ground, known as St. Anthony Square, dedicated to 
 church purposes, but never used, A heavy growth of shrubbery and 
 evergreens concealed the central portion of this square from observa- 
 tion; and here, in the very heart of the town and only a few steps 
 from the public ball-room on the rue d'Orleans, a duel could be carried 
 on comfortably and without the least danger of interruption. If 
 colchemards, or Creole rapiers, which were generally used, and are 
 to this day, in Creole duels, could be obtained, they were brought 
 into use; but, if this was impossible, the young men had to content 
 themselves with sword-canes. According to the French code, the first 
 blood, however slight, satisfied jealous honor. The swords were put
 
 26 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 up again; the victorious duelist returned to complete his dance, while 
 his victim went home to bandage himself up. 
 
 After the close of the war with England, New Orleans began to 
 grow rapidly, and overflowed beyond its ancient boundaries. The old 
 Marigny plantation below had been cut up into squares, and new- 
 comers were building there, whilst above, scattered houses showed 
 
 Sugar Landing. 
 
 that the people could not be confined to the narrow and restricted 
 limits of the ramparts. A new and larger prison became necessary, 
 and in 1834 the foundations for the old Parish Prison were laid just 
 back of Congo Square. As soon as it was completed all the prison- 
 ers were carried thither, and the work of demolishing the calaboose 
 was commenced. It was a work of much more difficulty than was ex-
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 27 
 
 pected. The mortar of the Spaniards, made from the lime of lake 
 shells, was as tenacious as the most durable cement, and would not 
 yield. It was found easier to cut through the solid bricks than to try 
 to separate them; and, therefore, the work of tearing the old donjon 
 down occupied some time. There is a story of how the workmen dis- 
 covered skeletons bricked up in the walls, and chains and shackles 
 in the vaults, but none of our citizens who were living at that time 
 ever saw any of those ghastly souvenirs of Spanish rule. 
 
 Beneath the building, it is true, they came across some three or 
 four deep vaults, which had not apparently been used for years, and 
 this was enough to give rise to the report that they had discovered 
 the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. The tale has come down, and 
 many old Creoles still believe it. 
 
 New Orleans In 1805. 
 
 Governor Claiborne, when he came down here to inspect Louisiana 
 and take possession of New Orleans, noticed among the curiosities 
 and striking buildings of the city a sawmill with two saws turned by 
 horses, a wooden-horse riding circus for children, a French theater, 
 two banks, a custom house, navy yard, barracks, a fort, public store- 
 houses, government house (its hospital has been lately burnt), a Catho- 
 lic Church of the first order in size and elegance, and the Capitol, a 
 superb building adjoining the church, both built by a Spaniard, at an 
 expense of half a million dollars, and presented by him to the Spanish 
 Government at New Orleans. The cotton presses of the city give 
 much labor, and the pressing song of the men is interesting. It is 
 similar to the 'heave hoi" of the sailor, with this difference, that 
 several are engaged in singing, and each has his part, consisting of 
 two or three appropriate words, tuned to his own fancy, so as to 
 make harmony with the other. Other presses go by horse and steam, 
 where the men have no other labor than rolling in the bales, untying, 
 retying, etc. They repress a bale in seven or ten minutes.
 
 28 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 REMINISCENT. 
 
 As Gleaned from a Manuscript Written in 1822. 
 
 Among the public buildings standing in 1822 may be mentioned: 
 The City Hall, or Principal, with a front on Chartres street of 103 
 feet, built in 1795, in which are the City Council chamber, city officers 
 and city guard; the City and State Prisons, on St. Peters street, in 
 the rear of and adjoining the City Hall; the Presbytice, with a front 
 on Conde street of 114 feet, built in 1813, in which the Supreme, Dis- 
 trict and Parish Courts hold their sessions; the Government House, 
 built in 1761, where the Legislature meets and in which the Treas- 
 urer's office and the Orleans Library, of about 6,000 volumes; the Cus- 
 tomhouse, a spacious, plain brick building, with a coating of white 
 plaster, situated on the levee, where, besides the offices connected 
 with the customs, are the United States District court-room, and offices 
 of the United States District Clerk, Attorney, Marshal and Land; the 
 Charity Hospital, on Canal street, a large building, erected in 1815; 
 the Ursuline Convent, built in 1733; the New Orleans College, built 
 1812; the Market House, a neat building about 300 feet long, situated 
 on the levee, near the Place d'Armes, contains more than 100 stalls, 
 erected in 1813; the Orleans Theater, with Davis' Hotel, and the Or- 
 leans Ball-room, a considerable pile of brick buildings, first erected 
 in 1813, destroyed by fire in 1815, rebuilt and furnished with a very 
 handsome front and interior decorations in 1816 (there were dramatic 
 performances here almost every night throughout the year by full 
 and respectable French and English companies, who played alter- 
 nately) ; the St. Philip street Theater, a neat brick building, with a 
 handsome interior, erected in 1810. The public expectation, for a long 
 time manifested for an American theater, will soon be realized, as 
 Mr. Caldwell, the manager of the American Theater, has prepared 
 the ground between Gravier ad Poydras streets for a theater. Liberal 
 subscriptions have been made, and it is said that the foundation of a 
 large and elegant edifice, to be styled the American Theater, will be 
 laid in June next. A new brick market house, 42 feet in width, by 
 from 200 to 250 feet in length. Is to be built immediately on the upper 
 end of the batture, between St. Joseph and Delord streets. A new
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 29 
 
 and handsome brick building is to be erected at the corner of Orleans 
 and Bourbon streets, for the accommodation of all the courts and 
 public offiers of the parish. It is contemplated to build a corn and 
 vegetable market. The State Bank is a neat brick building with a coat 
 of white plastering, and there are two other banks, kept in buildings 
 that were formerly dwellings, altered for their reception. The 
 Louisiana Insurance Office is a small but neat brick building. The 
 United States Navy Yard and stores, a marine barracks, quartermas- 
 ters' stores, an ordnance arsenal, with a great number of mounted 
 field and battering cannon, mortars, shells, balls and other imple- 
 ments of war; and a fine commodious building, erected exclusively 
 for the accommodation of different lodges and Free Masons, may be 
 mentioned as the most important buildings in the city. 
 
 Among the public institutions of this city are a branch of the 
 United States Bank, and two others, whose joint capital is $3,000,000 
 — three insurance companies, whose joint capital is $1,000,000. Be- 
 sides there are agents of four foreign insurance companies; the New 
 Orleans Library Society, two medical societies, and a Board of Medi- 
 cal Examiners. 
 
 There are no less than nineteen lodges of the various orders of 
 Free Masons in New Orleans, and the Grand Lodge of Louisiana was 
 formed and constituted on the twentieth day of the month of June, 
 1820, and of Masonry, 5820,by five regular lodges which then existed 
 in the State, and deriving their charters from the Grand Lodge of 
 Pennsylvania. There is a "Female Charity Society," the object of 
 which is to relieve women and children laboring under sickness, and 
 for the accommodation of whom it is contemplated to build a hospital. 
 There are several handsome ball rooms, where balls are frequent and 
 well attended by the inhabitants, more particularly the French. 
 
 The means for extinguishing fires are twelve fire engines and hose, 
 ladders, hooks, and a great number of leather fire-buckets; "the 
 Washington Fire Society" has been formed for the protection of 
 property; each member is provided with two leather buckets, two 
 bags four feet long, a bed-screw and a knapsack. The citizens, during 
 fires, are generally active, are set a worthy example by the indefa- 
 tigable Mayor and Fire Wardens, who, on an alarm, are amongst the 
 first to repair to the spot. In order to remedy the evil of fire, no
 
 30 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 i.5 
 
 Gen'l Rob't E. Lee Monument, Lee Circle. 
 
 other than brick houses are allowed to be erected within the com- 
 pactly built part of the city.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 31 
 
 Perhaps no city in tlie Union can boast of being better lighted than 
 New Orleans. There are 250 of the most complete and brilliant re- 
 flecting lamps, suspended to iron chains, which are stretched from the 
 corners of houses or high posts, diagonally across the junctions of 
 the various streets, in such a manner as to be seen in a range from 
 the middle of any street, the cost of which is about forty-five dollars 
 each. 
 
 The following were the various branches of manufactures and busi- 
 ness carried on in the city and suburbs of New Orleans at that time, 
 embracing the professional, mercantile, mechanical and other estab- 
 lishments, namely: Many physicians and counsellors-at-law; 260 mer- 
 cantile establishments, wholesale grocery and dry goods merchants, 
 carrying on an extensive trade in produce and merchandise; seven 
 auctioneers, with a great business; 102 retail dry goods stores, twenty- 
 seven millinery and fancy stores and a number of small shops of vari- 
 ous kinds; a number of billiard tables; the Planters and Merchants' 
 Hotel, a spacious building, 60 feet front, situated on Canal street, con- 
 taining upwards of one hundred rooms,, besides which there were 
 other very extensive hotels and coffee houses that had not their 
 superiors in the Union; 350 taverns and groceries, retail, and seventy 
 groceries that sell by wholesale, besides a number of porter and 
 oyster houses, etc.; one public bathhouse, two fumigating bath houses; 
 thirty-two blacksmiths, five brass founders, one bell-hanger, thirty- 
 seven barbers, one brewery, twelve bricklayers; nine book and sta- 
 tionery stores, four bookbinders; the New Orleans Society Library, 
 kept in the Government House, containing 6,000 volumes, principally 
 in French and English, and one English and one French circulating 
 library; nine book and newspaper printing offices; the following daily 
 gazettes were printed: "The Louisiana Courier," the "Orleans Ga- 
 zette and Commercial Advertiser," the "Louisiana Advertiser," the 
 "Friend of the Lav/s," the "Louisiana Gazette," and the "Commercial 
 Report," a weekly paper; three of these were printed in French and 
 the same number in English; one lithographic printer, many commis- 
 sion and exchange brokers, four lottery offices, thirty-seven coopers, 
 fifty-three cabinet makers; many builders, carpenters and bricklay- 
 ers; six large steam sawmills, one of which was of brick, embracing a 
 gristmill, and was built by Dr. Geo. Hunter; 105 cordwainers, employ-
 
 32 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 ing 153 persons; sixteen confectioners and pastry cooks; a number 
 of public officers; several surveyors; four carvers and gilders, thirteen 
 coach and harness makers, forty-four coach, sign, ship and ornamental 
 painters, glaziers and paper-hangers; thirteen portrait and miniature 
 painters; several landscape and scene painters; four musical instru- 
 ment makers and stores; many musicians, dancing and fencing mas- 
 ters; two chocolate manufacturers, six cutters, a number of French 
 and English comedians, five chair stores and makers, twenty-four 
 drug and apothecary stores; six large rum distilleries, three for gin 
 and nine for cordials; seven dentists, four dyers and scourers, three 
 engravers; two iron founders, lately established; one fringe maker, 
 a number of gardeners, fowlers, fishermen, oystermen, boatmen, mari- 
 ners, caulkers, stevedores, riggers and ship carpenters; five sail 
 makers; three furniture stores, thirteen glass, china and queens ware 
 stores; seventeen gunsmiths; a very great number of would-be gentle- 
 men and ladies; or, in other words, persons who had no apparent 
 business; four working hatter shops; fifty-six hat, shoe and clothing 
 stores; twenty-one hardware and ship chandlery stores; a number of 
 perfumeries and hair dressers, two ice houses, one laboratory; sev- 
 eral large livery stable and veterinary hospitals, a number of wood 
 and lumber merchants, two last makers, one screw cutter, several 
 mill-wrights and engineers, one mathematical instrument maker, two 
 mineral water establishments, a number of mid-wives and nurses, many 
 notaries, translators, interpreters and ship brokers; three pump, block 
 and mast makers; one plumber, two rope-walks, twelve saddlers and 
 saddlery stores, one sugar refinery, four stone-cutters, one spectacle- 
 maker, two sculptors, many shoeblacks, sixty-two working tailor-shops, 
 nineteen tin and copper smiths; a great number of traders, peddlers 
 and traveling merchants, of all colors; four tanners and curriers, 
 seventy-seven tobacconists and sugar makers, employing 417 hands; 
 four soap and candle manufacturers, eight turners in wood and metals, 
 a number of victuallers and sausage makers, twenty-six watchmakers, 
 gold and silver smith and jewelry stores; 450 licensed drays and carts, 
 sixteen two-wheeled and thirteen four-wheeled carriages for hire.| 
 
 There were a number of extensive cotton pressing and tobacco 
 warehouses, among which were the large fire-proof warehouses of 
 Mr. B. Rilleaux, corner of Tchoupitoulas and Poydras streets, worthy of
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 33 
 
 particular notice. They were commenced in 1806; they were on 
 Tchoupitoulas, Poydras and Magazine streets, with passages leading 
 to each, and contained 11,500 bales of cotton; there were three cotton 
 presses — one by steam, one hydraulic and one by horse-power. With 
 this range of buildings were eight wells, a fire engine, hose and fire 
 buckets for extinguishing fire, if it should occur, and twenty-five 
 men who slept in the yard. This building, with the lots, presses, etc., 
 cost about $150,000; the passages and alleys through this building 
 were paved with pebble stones in 1806, so that this gentleman has 
 the credit of being the first to introduce that necessary and important 
 improvement in highways. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Morgan followed Mr. Rilleaux in the important ex- 
 periments of improving the highways by paving Gravier street with 
 pebble stone, between Tchoupitoulas and Magazine streets, which was 
 so well executed as to stand the test of some years, and convinced 
 every thinking person of its utility. 
 
 THE NAMES OF OUR STREETS. 
 
 The old carre or parallelogram of the original city still preserves 
 the names given by Le Blond de la Tour, who laid it out. There have 
 been few changes here. The rue de I'Arsenal, Arsenal street, has 
 given way to the rue des Ursulines, named in honor of the Ursuline 
 nuns, who erected their convent here a century and a half ago. The 
 rue des Quarters, Barracks street, and the rue de I'Hospital, Hospital 
 street, are titles given to unnamed streets, because the Government 
 barracks and hospital were erected on them. . Similarly the rue de 
 la Douane, or Customhouse street (now Iberville street), received its 
 title, not from the massive granite customs house that now stands 
 there, but from the old wooden building, devoted to the same pur- 
 poses, erected by the Spaniards a century and a quarter before. 
 The boundary streets of the city, which marked the line of the old 
 ■wall, all bear military titles referring to the old fortifications. Espla- 
 nade street was where the troops drilled; Rampart, rue des Ramparts, 
 marks, like the boulevards of Paris, the destroyed walls; while Canal
 
 cA 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 street was the old fossee or canal which surrounded the city and 
 which was continued as a drainage canal to the lake, and filled up 
 years ago. 
 
 Of the old streets only two have disappeared — rue de I'Arsenal 
 into Ursulines, and rue de Conde into Chartres. 
 
 There have been some few corruptions in the old names. The rue 
 de Dephine, named after the province of Danpriny, in France, has 
 -dropped the accent on the e, and became simply Dauphine (pronounced 
 
 Audubon Place, in 'The Garden District.' 
 
 Daupheen) street, as if it were nam^ed after the Dauphin's wife. The 
 street named in honor of Due du Maine, has got the preposition 
 forever mixed with the noun, and is, and will be ever, Dumaine, in 
 stead of Maine street. 
 
 In naming the streets of the city as it grew beyond its original 
 boundaries, a dozen different systems were pursued. The gallantry 
 of the French Creoles is commemorated upon old city maps by a
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 35 
 
 number of streets christened with the sweetest and prettiest feminine 
 names imaginable. Some of these were christened after the favorite 
 children of rich parents, but again not a few were named after favorite 
 concubines. The old maps of New Orleans were covered with such 
 names as Suzette, Celeste, Estelle, Angelie, Annette, and others; 
 many of these have died away into later titles, but not a few still 
 survive. 
 
 The religious tendency of the population showed itself in giving 
 religious names to many of the streets. There are several hundred 
 saints so honored, and scarcely one in the calendar has escaped a 
 namesake in the Crescent City. There are besides these, such streets 
 as Conception, Religious, Nuns, Assumption, Ascension, etc. 
 
 At the time of the French revolution there was an outbreak In 
 France of Roman and Greek fashions. The modern French tried to 
 imitate the ancient classics by assuming the Roman dress and Roman 
 names. The Creoles who, although dominated by the Spaniards, were 
 red Republicans in these days, followed that fashion and all the names- 
 of antiquity were introduced into Louisiana and survive there to this 
 day. Achille (Achilles), Alcibiade (Alcibiades), Numa Demosthene 
 (Demosthenes), came into fashion. The streets found a similar fate 
 and the new faubourg Ste. Marie was liberally christened from pagan 
 mythology. The nine muses, three graces, the twelve greater gods 
 and the twelve greater gods and the twelve lesser ones, and the demi- 
 gods, all stood god-parents for streets. The city fathers went beyond 
 this, and there was a Xayades and a Dryades street, a Water Work, 
 a Euphrosine street, and so on without end. 
 
 Then came the Napoleonic wars, and with them, intense enthusiasm 
 over the victories of the Corsican. A General of Napoleon's army who 
 settled in Louisiana after the St. Helena captivity named the whole 
 upper portion of the city in honor of the little Emporer. Napoleon 
 Avenue, Jena and Austerlitz streets are samples which survive to 
 this day. 
 
 In addition to those came the names and titles of the early Louisi- 
 ana planters, such as Montegut, Clouet, Marigny, Delord, the early 
 Governors of Louisiana, Mayors of New Orleans, and distinguished 
 citizens.
 
 ^6 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 These, however, failed to supply the miles of streets that New 
 Orleans boasts of, with a sufTiciency of names. 
 
 In the naming of streets the French are not quite so matter of 
 fact as the Anglo-Saxons, and they have shown this in some titles they 
 have left behind. In New Orleans no Anglo-Saxon, for instance, would 
 ever think of naming a street Goodchildren street, rue des Bons En- 
 fants, or Love street, rue de 'lAmour, Madam's street. Mystery street. 
 Piety street, etc. Old Bernard Marigny christened two thoroughfares 
 in the faubourg Marigny w^hich he laid out, "Craps" and "Bagatelle" 
 in honor of the two games of chance at which he lost a fortune. A 
 curious mistake was that of the first American directory-maker who 
 insisted upon translating Bagatelle into English and described it as 
 Trifle street. 
 
 But even w^hen a person is acquainted with the names of the New 
 Orleans streets, the next thing is to know how to pronounce and spell 
 them. This is very important, for they are seldom pronounced as 
 they would seem to be. Tchoupitoulas — pronounced Chopitoulas — and 
 Carondelet are the shibboleth by which foreigners are detected. No 
 man is ever recognized as a true Orleanais until he can spell and pro- 
 nounce these names correctly; and the serious charge made against 
 an Auditor of the State, that he spelled Carondelet, Kerionderlet, 
 aroused the utmost indignation of the population, who could never for- 
 give this mistake. 
 
 The classical scholar who visits New Orleans and hears the names 
 of the muses so frightfully distorted may regard it as unfortunate that 
 G'reek mythology had been chosen. The explanation of the mispro- 
 nunciation, however, will relieve the people of New Orleans of any 
 charge of ignorance. The Greek names are simply pronounced in the 
 French style. Thus the street that the scholar would call Melpomene, 
 of four syllables and with the last "e" sounded, would be in French 
 Melpomene, and is translated by the people of New Orleans into Mel- 
 po-meen. So Calliope is Callioap; Terpsichore, Terpsikor; Euterpe, 
 Euterp; and others in the same way. Coliseum is accented like the 
 French Colisee, on the second instead of the third syllable; and even 
 Felicity street — it is named, by the by, after a woman (Felicite), not 
 happiness — is actually called by many intelligent persons Filly-city. 
 The influence of the old French days is seen in the spelling of Dryades,
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 37 
 
 instead of Drj'ads, as the word is pronounced, and in a number of 
 other apparent violations of orthoepy or orthography, the truth being 
 that the old French pronunciation and spelling are preserved and have 
 become current among the English-speaking portion of the population. 
 The constant annexation to New Orleans of suburban villages and 
 towns, with streets of the same name produces considerable incon- 
 venience to strangers and even to natives of the city. There is a 
 duplicate to nearly every name, and sometimes four or five streets 
 bearing the same title. 
 
 THE ELECTRIC CAR SYSTEM. 
 
 "All roads lead to Rome" is a common expression, which para- 
 phrased and applied to the splendid Electric Car System of New Orleans 
 gives the facts, as they are — "For all street cars lead to Canal street." 
 The sole exception is the Napoleon Avenue line, which is tributary 
 to the St. Charles and Tulane Belt. 
 
 A sight-seeing ride over the Electric Car System is either by the 
 St. Charles-Tulane Belt — traveling the Upper Districts — or the Es- 
 planade-Canal Belt, which courses "down town." Along these routes 
 are the palatial residences of New Orleans' prominent people. A per- 
 fect system of transfers, from line to line, is also an appreciated 
 advantage for tourists. 
 
 SIGHTS ABOUT TOWN. 
 
 Most visitors to New Orleans imagine that they have "done" the 
 city when they have seen the carnival, been to the lake, had the pro- 
 verbial fish dinner, been to the Metairie cemetery, to Carrollton, to 
 the Audubon Park, and to the French market. This is a great error. 
 There is no city, presenting more interesting sights, but these are 
 seldom visited, particularly in the French quarter of the town. There, 
 odd little balconies and galleries jut out from the tall, dingy, wrinkled 
 houses, peering into each other's faces as if in eternal confab. There, 
 queer little shops are to be found, apothecaries' and musty stores 
 where old furniture, brasses, bronzes and books are sold, bird stores 
 innumerable, where alligators are to be purchased as well — all these 
 lying in a sort of half doze.
 
 38 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 A tour through any of these streets will bring before one sights 
 to be found nowhere else in the world. 
 
 Chartres street is very picturesque, not merely to walk along, 
 keeping your gaze at a level; but to halt and look up the street and 
 down, at the oddly-furnished galleries that look as if the rooms had 
 come out to see what the neighbors were after. And one must halt 
 
 I 
 
 Archbishop's Residence, Esplanade Avenue. 
 
 and peer into doorways, even slyly penetrating a yard or so into some 
 of the long, dark tunnel entrances in search of the paved court-yards, 
 with arched piazzas or porticoes, such as one may see in Venice under 
 the shadows of St. Mark's. 
 
 The inhabitants of the grim houses are very kind; they will see the 
 stranger peering out of your eyes, the curious admiration, and will
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 39 
 
 smile graciously, and with a prettily mingled air of gracioiisness and 
 reserve motion you to look your fill. In most of these court-yards you 
 will find plants in huge pots, pomegranate trees, flowering shrubs; 
 sometimes you will see a battered bronze statue, or a marble figure, 
 gone as gray as any old Creole darkey that smiles a "bon jour" to 
 you from the banquette. And you will see great yellow and earthen 
 water-jars, the ones in which the "Forty Thieves" were hid on a 
 memorable occasion, but which have been transported into Frenchtown 
 and numerously duplicated. 
 
 There is nothing really of note to detain one in Chartres street 
 until the old Cathedral is reached. It stands between two of the most 
 picturesque buildings in New Orleans — the old court-houses, built a 
 little before the birth of the present century by Don Andreas Almon- 
 aster, a Spanish noble, the old histories of the town say, and who was 
 also perpetual regidor. Those buildings with their dormer windows 
 and stuccoed balustrades "peeling off for their final plunge into ob- 
 livion" have looked down on many an execution in the Place d'Armes, 
 which has been called "Jackson Square" ever since the General's 
 statue was erected under the orange and banana trees of the sweet 
 old garden. 
 
 In the "Cathedral of St. Louis" a number of persons lie buried. 
 Pere Antoine, whom the same old history of the town calls a good 
 and benevolent and saintly man, died in 1829; and during the forty 
 or fifty years he lived in New Orleans he must have baptized, married 
 and buried two-thirds of the persons who were born, married and who 
 died in that time. A marble angel broods over the top of this altar. 
 The huge yellow cross her arms embrace is said to be all of true, pure 
 gold. A narrow paved alleyway runs down by the high Cathedral 
 walls from Chartres street through to Royal. 
 
 Tall, many-storied houses look down on the alley, which is named 
 after blessed St. Antoine, and the sweet, green garden that blossoms 
 and grows behind the church. The balconies are hidden behind lattice 
 work, and behind the lattices the priests who belong to the Cathedral 
 live their simple, frugal lives. Their homes are plain, their fare is 
 scanty, their lives austere. It Is pretty and pathetic to note how 
 these men cultivate and care for the pots and boxes of flowers that 
 grow on their galleries. • i
 
 40 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 One can step from the Palace right into "St. Mary's Chapel," where 
 the Archbishop often holds service. Up over the altar of this chapel, 
 one of the oldest in the town, is a doorway hung with dark curtains, 
 and many times the worshippers in the church have seen the wan, 
 sweet face of the old Archbishop, looking down on them from between 
 the parted curtains, as with lifted hand he sent his benedictions on 
 their bent heads. 
 
 Now, if you will go around Hospital to Royal street, you will find 
 on the corner an immense house, which is a fine sample of the former 
 elegance of the houses of the wealthy people of New Orleans. It is 
 rich with carvings; richer in associations. It has been lived in by 
 great men. There is one room in which Louis Phillippe has slept, 
 Lafayette and Marechal Ney. From the observatory one gets the 
 finest view of the lower part of the city, for it is the highest point in 
 Frenchtown, excepting of course, the Cathedral towers. 
 
 Turning down Royal street toward Canal, one finds much that is 
 charming. One should look up and note how fond the old architects 
 were of exterior decoration, for the white cornices up under the eaves 
 are generally richly carved. Many of these houses have entre sols — 
 that is a sort of half-story between the first and second floor; and 
 tiny windows with carved stone or wooden balustrades, are sunk 
 into the walls across the window space. 
 
 In fact, there is nothing in Frenchtown more noteworthy than 
 the windows of the houses. They are round, peaked, mere little rod- 
 barred holes in the wall, gashes; they are filled with panes of stained 
 glass, with dozens of tiny panes, with doors half of wood the rest 
 of glass, with lattice work, or broad, flat jalousies, once painted green; 
 they are any and all of these, and are any and everything except the 
 modern conventional windows of the architecture of 1884. 
 
 Rooms are to be rented in many of these houses, as the dangling 
 sign, "Chambres a louer," let down by a bit of string from one of the 
 upper galleries, will inform you. 
 
 There is one fine house on Royal street, not very far from Hos- 
 pital. 
 
 In Toulouse street, near Royal, is the crumbled ruin of the old 
 Citizens' Bank. The only deposit this bank has now is weeds, dirt, 
 and vermin. It smells of bats; it is rank with weeds. In the blaze
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 41 
 
 of summer its ruined marble walls and broken roofs are illuminated 
 by the great yellow, flaring bloom of the golden rod. The skeleton 
 stalks of the last year's dip in the wind now. Toads, rats, and weeds 
 dispute for the front steps. Even tramps avoid seeking shelter in its 
 gloomy ruins. Two or three odd little second-hand shops will be found 
 in Toulouse street, near the bank. 
 
 Another place worthy of note is the Academy of the Bon Secours 
 in Orleans street, between Royal and Bourbon. The little green gar- 
 den of the Cathedral looks right out on this convent school. The 
 front of the building jamb on the street is of pinkish color, and with 
 its portico roof thrown over the sidewalk looks more like some grand 
 hotel entrance or theatre front getting superannuated. On the corner 
 of Bourbon and Orleans used to stand the gay old Orleans Theatre, 
 and this convent was the dance house of the theatre, the ball and 
 supper room, and in this building used to be given those famous 
 "quadroon" balls. 
 
 The visitor will be startled when he rings at the convent bell, 
 and the door opens in on that fine marble floor that has been in its 
 time pressed by the satin-clad feet of so many sadlj", fatally beau- 
 tiful women, to find himself in the presence of a colored sister of 
 charity. The famous dance hall for quadroon women has become a 
 convent for colored sisters of charity. 
 
 The old Spanish barracks were located down on Royal street; 
 there are but few traces of them left in the stone arches of the build- 
 ing now used for manufacturing purposes. One cannot but notice the 
 dilapidated condition of those old houses that under the French and 
 Spanish domination were somewhat famous. Tile roofs have begun 
 to disappear, the cozy little cottage tenements of those who were here 
 before Canal street existed are fast changing into the newer style of 
 corniced residences; and, in fact, on all sides, one, who is at all ob- 
 servant, can see how that fickle old fellow. Time, is pushing back the 
 past to make way for the present. 
 
 It is true there are neighborhoods where his hand seems to have 
 been stayed in a measure. Some of those old Creole houses whose 
 roofs have sparkled and glittered in the spring showers of one hun- 
 dred years still remain, but they are fast fading away. Curious old 
 houses these. The verv embodiment of the plain, simple, old-time ideas
 
 42 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 of what a Southern residence should be, where ample ventilation in 
 summer and warmth in winter were the main objects of those earnest 
 architects. 
 
 On the corner of Conti and Rampart streets stands a brown churcli, 
 which was, as a turbanned colored Frenchwoman will tell you, "billup
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 43 
 
 in dat good Pere Antoine day." This was the old Mortuary Chapel. It 
 vras finished in 1827, and is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua. All 
 funeral ceremonies of Catholics were compelled to be performed 
 there. The Mortuary Chapel is now the Italian Church of the city, 
 in charge of a quiet and gentle priest, who lives in a beautiful one- 
 storied cottage with a tiled roof, and stone floors, behind the church, 
 and where his sweet and simple household is in charge of his two 
 sisters, quiet, thin-faced ladies speaking no language but their own 
 smooth, flowing Italian. 
 
 The furniture in the priest's house is composed mainly of old 
 carved church benches, altar stalls, settees and chairs that have 
 served their time in the church. This cottage home, like so many 
 of the houses in this side of the city, has a roof that reaches far over 
 the sidewalk bej'ond the house walls. A queer little green railing juts 
 out from one end of the house-top, and one can fancy that sometimes 
 the thin, brown, little priest and his quiet, thin, brown sisters go 
 up there in the moonlight and talk half to each other, half to the 
 white and silent stars of Bella Italia. There is a famous shrine in the 
 Italian church — the shrine of St. Bartholomew — and about it are placed 
 innumerable thank-offerings from those whose prayers have been 
 answered. 
 
 Some of these offerings are curious, some beautiful; among the 
 former are waxen hands, arms, legs, feet, fingers, and under a glass 
 globe is a head of a young boy, modeled in wax and faithfully colored. 
 It was presented by the grateful mother of a sick lad, who long suffer- 
 ing with some illness in the head, was cured by the power of her 
 prayers to St. Bartholom_ew. A statue of St. Bartholomew with his 
 head in hand and skin over his arm — he was both flayed and beheaded 
 — stands at one of the side-altars. 
 
 Visitors also see further up Rampart street the beautiful green 
 Beauregard square, where long time ago Bras Coupe and other negroes 
 danced and sung, and where the ladies and gentlemen used to go in 
 early evening time to watch and listen to their strange, wild, weird 
 amusement. 
 
 The "marble room" in the Custom-House, the long or central room, 
 with walls, ceiling, pillars, floor, all of marble, is one of the largest and
 
 44 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 handsomest rooms in a public building in the country, and is well 
 worthy of a visit. 
 
 The old St. Louis Hotel, on St. Louis, Chartres and Royal streets 
 should also be visited. The dome of this building is very fine and 
 richly frescoed. It is adorned with allegorical pictures and busts of 
 famous men, the work of Canova and Pinoli. This building was orig- 
 inally the Bourse of the city, and a fine hotel was combined with it. 
 It afterwards became the State-House; was dismantled and restored 
 as the Hotel Royal, and then abandoned. To-day it is a mere shadow 
 of its former grandeur, and practicably uninhabitable. 
 
 Opposite is the new and modern Court building, dedicated to the 
 uses of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, the Civil Courts, etc. 
 
 Above Canal street, visitors should see the garden district, the 
 houses being chiefly distinguished for the exquisite gardens in which 
 they are placed. 
 
 North of Canal street the handsomest residence street is Esplanade, 
 upon which are situated some of the loveliest houses in the city. 
 
 On the south side of the town, or above Canal street, as it is locally 
 known, the handsomest houses lie on St. Charles avenue. 
 
 The town headquarters of General Jackson were on Royal street. 
 The old battle-ground of 1815, in St. Bernard parish, is where the 
 national cemetery — Chalmette — is now situated. It is two miles below 
 the United States Barracks, and a lovely walk or drive in good weather. 
 
 The old Jackson monument is on the battle-field. The road down is 
 lined with old plantation houses. 
 
 As for the other interesting sights to be visited in New Orleans, 
 either from the size and architecture, or on account of historical or 
 other interest, there are innumerable, but the following are some of 
 the most striking of them: 
 
 The Custom-House — Situated on Canal street, between Decatur and 
 N. Peters streets, from the top of which a full view of the city can be 
 had. 
 
 The United States Mint and Sub-Treasury— Located on Esplanade, 
 corner of North Peters street. 
 
 City Hall— Corner of St. Charles and Lafayette streets, contains 
 the different municipal business rooms, treasurer's office, lyceum, 
 Council chamber and library, etc. It is a large, commodious and
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 45 
 
 handsome structure of brick, marble and stone. The front is of the 
 Grecian Doric order, and remarkable for the graceful beauty of Its 
 stately columns. 
 
 Half-Way House — Situated just over the bridge at the intersection 
 of Canal street and the New Canal, and accessible by the Canal street 
 cars. In the near neighborhood are the Metairie, Greenwood, and other 
 beautiful cemeteries. 
 
 New Orleans Cotton Exchange — Situated on Carondelet street, cor. 
 of Gravier, was inaugurated in February, 1871, with a roll of 100 mem- 
 bers, which, after dwindling down to about eighty, increased, under a 
 system of daily news concerning the staple, to upwards of 600. Its 
 building is considered one of the handsomest edifices in the country. 
 West End, or Nev/ Lake End — One of the most frequented resorts 
 on the shares of Lake Ponchatrain. It may be reached by the New 
 Shell Road, a favorite drive, or by electric cars. 
 
 Milneburg — Or, as it is more popularly known, the "Old Lake End," 
 is the terminus of the Ponchatrain Railroad. It is directly on the 
 banks of the Old Lake, and the cool air always prevailing, the sails, 
 fishing and bathing to be enjoyed, make it a favorite resort with all 
 who wish to enjoy the day away from the brick and mortar of the city. 
 
 United States Barracks — A trip to the barracks is one of the pleas- 
 antest excursions in the neighborhood of New Orleans. The distance 
 from Canal street is about three and three-quarter miles, and the 
 whole distance may be accomplished by the street cars at the expense 
 of five cents each way. The buildings used by the French government 
 and afterwards by the Federal authorities, as a barracks, were located 
 on Chartres street. 
 
 Cemeteries — Firemen's, one of the Metarie ridge cemeteries, at 
 the end of Canal street, contains a monument of Irad Ferry, the first 
 fireman of this city who was killed while discharging his duty at a 
 fire; the society tombs of many of the fire companies, and other beau- 
 tiful crypts. 
 
 Greenwood, at the end of Canal street. Here is located the Con- 
 federate monument erected by the ladies of New Orleans. 
 
 Metarie Ridge, at the head of Canal street, across the canal. This 
 burial-ground has been laid out but a few years, yet contains many 
 fine tombs and splendid walks and drives. The monument of Stone-
 
 46 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 wall Jackson, and the one of the famous "Batallion Washington Artil- 
 lery," are greatly admired. 
 
 Old St. Louis, on Basin, between Conti and St. Louis streets. It 
 contains many beautiful tombs, and is the oldest cemetery in the city. 
 
 St. Louis, Xos. 1, 2 and 3, on Claiborne, between Customhouse and 
 St. Louis streets, contain some magnificent mausoleums. No. 2 holds 
 
 
 St. Roch's Mausoleum. 
 
 the monument of John Milne, "The Friend of the Orphan." No. 1 is 
 for colored persons. 
 
 The Protestant, Girod street, at the foot of Girod street, on Liberty. 
 It is the oldest Protestant burial ground in the city, and has many 
 fine tombs.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 47 
 
 Chalmette, the national cemetery, is in charge of the quartermas- 
 ter's department, United States Army. This beautiful resting-place of 
 the dead is situated on the left bank of the Mississippi River, a little 
 over one mile below the Jackson Barracks. The ground was donated 
 by the city in 1865, and was laid out by Capt. Chas. Banard. There 
 are 12,192 graves; 6,913 of these are classed as "Known," and 5,279 
 are marked "Unknown." 
 
 Washington, corner of Prytania street and Washington avenue, 
 contains many beautiful souvenirs of the Confederate dead, and the 
 monument erected by the people of Louisiana, in memory of Governor 
 Henry W. Allen. 
 
 DISTANCES IN THE CITY. 
 
 With Canal, corner Royal street as the starting point, it is one 
 mile, via St. Charles avenue, to Thalia street, two miles to Sixth street, 
 three miles to Napoleon avenue, four miles to State street, four and 
 one-half miles to Audubon Park, and five one-fourth to Carrollton. Out 
 Canal, it is one mile to Galvez, two miles to Genois, and three miles 
 to the first of the cemeteries. The Metairie cemetery from the river 
 is four miles. To the Barracks, is four and three-quarter miles. From 
 Carrollton to the Barracks, by the cars, is ten miles; by the river, 
 twelve miles; while by an air line it is only seven and three-quarter 
 miles. 
 
 CREOLE NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 Down in the neighborhood of the old Cathedral, where Chartres 
 street, buzzing and lazily bustling, widens out into the broad, green 
 smile of a public square, there are queer little alleyvv^ays piercing from 
 one street to another, running by the cool Cathedral doors. The 
 mother church bends defiant front to the glare of the river, to the in- 
 novation of shrill steam-car whistles, that would cry down the deep 
 bay and growl of her bells, but cannot; and away from the church into 
 the narrow alley falls grateful shadow, in which a beggar or two 
 makes monotonous moans for unexpected alms. A hot rush of wind 
 from the river, sweetened by filtration through the rose patches of the 
 big square, comes down into the shadowy alley, rattling the green 
 Venetian blinds at the white windows, and whipping at the long cur-
 
 48 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 tains of knotted cord hung over certain of the open doorways, just as 
 one may see them in Florence and Rome in the summer time. The 
 signs hereabout are all French, and that of "avocat" seems predomi- 
 nant. Groups of men chattering over their cigarettes interfere with 
 pedestrianism in the alley, and stare with Gallic curiosity and gallant- 
 ry after every petticoated individual that passes. A priest, in cassock 
 and he plump and good-tempered, with face shining like a newly-peeled 
 onion — leans laughing against the black balustrade in one of these old 
 French houses. 
 
 Try speaking English to any of the dvrellers in this neighborhood 
 and one is answered in their own carressing accents and delicious 
 dialect. 
 
 There can be no place in America quite like old New Orleans. One 
 who has seen them, can never quite forget the gray stone-arched en- 
 trances to the old courtyards, and the houses wrinkled with age and 
 with dusty dormer windows blinking down like faded, aged eyes over 
 which a growth of golded rod leans like a monstrous bushy eyebrow. 
 A wild tangle of vines grows in most of these dark courtyards, some 
 of which are given over to complete decay; others, however, being 
 trimly neat and pretty as the homes of prosperous French people in- 
 variably are. 
 
 Many of the shops contain odd wares. In a house whose round 
 upper windows, covered interiorly with white blinds, look precisely 
 like sleeping eyes, is a music shop. Songs in the windows are French 
 the master stands within, humming a gay little chansonette, and a 
 curious gray old print, representing a concert in a monastery, gathers 
 a laughing crowd at the show window. 
 
 Next door in the jeweler's shop, among the odds and ends, is an 
 exquisite Venetian gondola, done in filagree silver, with gondoliers and 
 all complete. 
 
 The down-town people of the poorer localities are great lovers of 
 potted flowers and singing birds. Some streets are fine with color, 
 owing to the brilliant red masses of geraniums that blossom boldly 
 in defiance of the hottest sun; and many a tiny bit of iron gallery jut- 
 ting in curious fashion out of some tall window is transformed into 
 the coolest of arbors by looped-up cypress vines, which lay their long 
 fingers on everything they can reach.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 49 
 
 Here seed dealers do a brisk business in mignonette, morning 
 glory and pansy seeds, while the flower dealers over at the market 
 hard by can, on Sunday mornings, hardly supply the demand for pots 
 of purple Marguerites and pink China asters. 
 
 In this French town everything is so widely different in new New 
 Orleans. Here the mover's cart is but seldom seen; in a strange, 
 un-American way the people are deeply rooted, and many talk of their 
 ancestry or posterity. Many a young matron lives in the house her 
 great-grandmother occupied, and the passer-by making excursions 
 down some of those long, narrow streets, where there is a hazy per- 
 spective of red-tiled roofs tangled together or strung one to the other 
 by freighted clotheslines, has now and again glimpses of quaint in- 
 teriors. Cool, red sanded floors, quaint spindle-legged dressing tables, 
 cabinets positively antique, rich with carvings, and black with age, 
 mosaic tables pieced together long before the grand mosaic of these 
 United States was half designed, and over the tall, high and narrow 
 mantel shelves with their heavy cornices and mimic Corinthian col- 
 umns, reared about an absurdly small bit of a fireplace, gigantic vases 
 of Sevres, odd bits of Bohemian ware, bottles and absinthe glasses. 
 In these stiff, straight up and down brick mansions with solid green 
 shutters, damp courtyards and corridors, like the tunnels of the cata- 
 combs, the occupants come and go in generations. 
 
 So long have they been in possession, undisturbed by agents or 
 repairers, that the younger members of the family are almost sure 
 that the "landlord" living beyond the sea is but a myth, and the 
 rental faithfully forwarded at the close of each month is but a sad 
 waste of money. 
 
 Sometimes in the wedge of light streaming in between the bowed 
 wooden shutters one can see a neat old French lady — a Madame of a 
 style at least fifty years out of date, rocking back and forth. She is 
 brown, slim of build, and with a fine aquiline face; and she has great 
 glittering, barbaric hoops of gold in her old ears. She wears a thin, 
 short gown of cross-barred nainsook — now-a-days such gowns are 
 worn by her great-grandchildren and called "Mother Hubbards." She 
 is a quaint, sharp, knowing and talkative old French Mother Hub- 
 bard, rocking away in the high-backed wooden chair which contrasts 
 illy with the mahogany dressing-cases and oaken sideboard.
 
 50 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 Sauntering down one of the side streets, we glance into porte 
 cocheres that reveal vistas of beautiful quadrangular gardens, ivy- 
 clad walls, bubbling, sparkling fountains. Stairways lead to galleries, 
 upon which open salons whose proportions dwarf Queen Anne cot- 
 tage parlors into doll-house apartments. The lower floors, still re- 
 
 Creole Courtyard, French Quarter. 
 
 served for business, once the scene of fashion's barter, are now the 
 resort for those in search of oddities in goods and trades. 
 
 Placards — "Chambres garnies" dangle from twines tied to hang- 
 ing balconies, the point of juncture hidden bv vines that swing over 
 the railing to catch upon other twines stretched tautly to upper win- 
 dow-sills. Behind their greenery, geraniums blaze and bloom in their
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 51 
 
 improvised beds, as brightly and blithely as if rooted upon spacious 
 lawns. 
 
 Windows with contents sacred and secular advertise the stock 
 of interiors near the old French Cathedral. Slate pencils and rosaries, 
 candles and slates, tape and missals, perhaps, one window devoted to 
 those lugubrious tributes to the departed, black and white beads, 
 wreaths and baskets of all sizes and qualities, interspresed with 
 boxes of the tiny nails which fasten them to the tombs. Passing by 
 the Cathedral gardens we join the constant stream of the devout and 
 enter the ancient pile. 
 
 A qui yacen los restos 
 Dn. Andres Almonaster y Roxas, 
 is inscribed upon the tomb of the builder, born in Andalusia to die 
 in New Orleans on April 26, 1798, aged seventy-three years. Tinted 
 sunbeams steal in through the lofty lunettes of stained glass. Holy 
 men look down from the spandrels upon the devotees before the 
 shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes. Tributes of gratitude for her mercy 
 and grace hang thick upon the wall, varying from the tiny print to 
 handsome vases and tablets. 
 
 LA BELLE CREOLE. 
 
 Modest and retired, with but little attempt at architectural orna- 
 ment, the Creole's home is nevertheless his most sacred possession, 
 about which cluster his most endearing memories and fondest hopes. 
 
 Handed down from father to son, and always inhabited by persons 
 of similar tastes and education, these old Creole homes have under- 
 gone only such changes as the needs of successive occupants demand- 
 ed, leaving their original design without material alteration. The 
 old trees — venerable centenarians — still stand where they were plant- 
 ed by the founders of the homestead. Here are still the same ex- 
 pansive patterns of quaintly-shaped beds, w^ith center-piece of curi- 
 ously clipped pitti-sporum, and borders of sweet violets, where bloom 
 in succession the old-fashioned jonquils, lilies and amaryllis, and 
 where the fragrant myrtle and cape jessamine maintain their ground 
 against the newer favorite of more modern gardens.
 
 52 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 Winds, dews and sunshine indeed seem to have leagued with 
 each generation, as it came, against such influence as would mar the 
 beauties of the old homestead, or steal from the revered demesne 
 any of its wealth of flower or foliage, or in any way disturb the peace- 
 ful harmony of form and color which have been so pleasantly pre- 
 served in the long lapse of years. 
 
 And so the charming old Creole homestead comes down to its 
 occupants of to-day, one of the few memorials of olden times, worth 
 preserving, that have been well preserved. So many pleasant things 
 cluster about its rooms and galleries and gardens that one wonders 
 if there be any nook or corner wherein to stow a new one. There 
 comes a time, however, during the warm summer months, when an 
 added charm is bestowed upon the old homestead, a charm that casts 
 over it a spell like that of enchantment. 
 
 The pretty Creole maiden born to it some dozen happy years 
 before, returns from the convent where she had gone for her edu- 
 cation, to spend the summer vacation at home. Although she may 
 not have crossed the flowery borders of young maidenhood, one can 
 realize the fascination slumbering in her dark eyes, as their fringed 
 lids droop over them, softening, but not diminishing their brilliance. 
 Her petite figure is formed with the grace and lightness of a fairy, 
 and her voice is as musical as the song of a bird. Of course, the 
 little Creole maiden takes kindly to music. She has been as it were 
 cradled in song. It is mother's milk to her. Her earliest lullabies 
 were operatic airs. She comes of a musical family, and, would be 
 untrue to its traditions if she were not a lover of the art musical. 
 She is fond of the flowers of every hue that decorate the old garden- 
 walks, which in their delicate loveliness seem akin to her, and of 
 the feathered songsters of the woodlands, who cease their song to 
 listen to hers. 
 
 Although the Creole maiden is naturally merry and vivacious, 
 there is none of that wild rompishness about her for which others 
 of the same age, but of different training, are often distinguished. 
 Though at the sound of her voice Sisypus would rest upon his stone 
 and pause to listen, there is none of that boisterous merriment which 
 in other households defy the rules of etiquette and the frowns of 
 mothers. And yet at all the merry-makings of the neighborhood
 
 AXD SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 
 
 63 
 
 demoiselle seems at the summit of girlish felicity. In the gay par- 
 ties given her as ihe is about to return to her studies in the convent- 
 
 Interior View of St. Stephen's Church, Cor. Napoleon Ave & Camp St. 
 
 the feast which ushers in the fast — she is the merriest of all the 
 demoiselles assembled. 
 
 A year or two elapses — probably more, as fortune smiles or frowns 
 upon the familv. One dav there comes into this old Creole homestead,
 
 54 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 with its oasis of verdure, a young girl, pretty as its flowers, happy 
 as its birds. It is our little demoiselle of the vacation. She has 
 finished her education at the convent, and enjoyed a brief but gay 
 
 
 
 Episcopal Church— Camp St., Corner Gainnie 
 
 season at home or with some of her schoolmates. Orange blossoms 
 shine like stars in the midnight of her hair, and a single rose-bud 
 nestles in the white wonder of her bosom. She returns to her home 
 with the benedictions of Holy Church, a Creole bride.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 
 
 65 
 
 Tpavel where you will, you will not meet with one so fair, so 
 fresh, so smiling, so graceful, merry and easily contented as she. 
 See her once, whether in the happy family circle or in the dancing 
 throng, and it is a picture framed in memory undimmed forever. 
 
 St. Alphonsus Catholic Church - Constance Street 
 
 Of course, here is at once one of the brightest names on the illu- 
 minated page of society. In accordance with the law and custom 
 of her peculiar circle, she selects her acquaintances and makes up 
 her list of visiting friends, and is fastidious in her selection. She
 
 56 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 could not be more so if the destinies of the republic were at stake. 
 None but the select are to be found at her receptions, and to be ad- 
 mitted at her reunions is a much coveted honor. All the surround- 
 
 Temple Sinai C'arondelet St., near Howard Avenue 
 
 ings of her home, even down to the little bits of porcelain of rare 
 "Faience de Diane de Poitiers" — the heirlooms of honored ancestors — 
 are comme il faut, elegant and refined. Her days are passed in fetes 
 and entertainments of everv description.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 67 
 
 Is the fair Creole bride given over to the gaus and fripperies of 
 fashionable life? Nay. The brighter parts of her character, which 
 shines with increasing lustre with each passing year, have had their 
 source in another school. Her unbounding generosity, her true nobil- 
 ity of thought and feeling, her courage and her truth, her pure, un- 
 sullied thought, her untiring charities, her devotion to parents and 
 friends, her sympathy with sorrow, her kindness to her inferiors, her 
 dignified simplicity — where could these have been learned save at the 
 altars of her faith? And as the family increases does the Creole 
 matron give up her pleasant receptions and bais dansantes? And has 
 the fashionable world only left to it a memory and a tear for what 
 was so brilliant and recherche? Not so. Not for her the recluse life 
 of the household cypher or the nursury drudge — 
 "Retired as noontide dew. 
 Or fountain in the noonday grove." 
 She unites the duties of home with the pleasures of social life. Her 
 graceful influence is felt in both, pleasantly reminding one of the 
 orange tree of her own sunny groves, which bears in its beautiful 
 foliage in the same month the golden fruit of maturity with the fair 
 blossoms of its spring. 
 
 With all her wealth of maternal affection the Creole matron is 
 not imprisoned in her nursery to be devoured by her children. In 
 them she has renewed her youth. With her maternity 
 "Another morn 
 Has risen upon her mid-noon." 
 Her motherly virtue is her cardinal virtue. Care for her children 
 seems to have contributed indeed to the number and the sensibility 
 of the chords of sympathy and affection. 
 
 The Creole matron, however, does not squander upon the infancy 
 of her children all the health necessary to their youth and adoles- 
 cence, nor does she destroy their sense of gratitude and her own 
 authority, and impair both their constitution and temper by indiscrim- 
 inate and indiscreet indulgence. She economizes her own health and 
 beauty as she adds both to her offspring. 
 
 She is all the fonder of what many deem frivolities, because of 
 her children. For them the gay reception, and the graceful dance 
 are pleasant and harmless pastime. In such indulgences her children
 
 58 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 learn that ease of manner, grace of movement, and the thousand little 
 prettinesses which are so adorable in after years. She has nursed 
 her babies, prepared them for their studies in the convent school, 
 and she thus finishes an important branch of their education which 
 the school books could not furnish. 
 
 And thus another belle Creole grows up to womanhood under 
 her loving eye. She is not permitted to form intimacies outside of 
 home. 
 
 Cotton Picking, Near New Orleans. 
 
 The watchful care of the Creole matron may be somewhat relaxed 
 as the mind of demoiselle becomes more perfectly formed, but the in- 
 visible rein is still held with a firm, though gentle hand. 
 
 The Creole matron is the inevitable duenna of the parlor, and 
 the constant attendant chaperone at all public assemblies; an ever- 
 vigilant guide, and protector against aught that may offend the fine 
 feeling, the noble pride, or the generous heart of demoiselle. And
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 69 
 
 when the time comes for la belle to marry she does not trust her own 
 unguided fancies, although she may have read in story books of gal- 
 lant knights, and had many pleasant dreams of such heroes as live 
 only in the pages of poetry and romance. The Creole matron saves 
 her all the trouble in the perplexing choice of a husband, and man- 
 ages the whole affair with extreme skill, tact and ability. The pre- 
 liminaries arranged, the selected husband in future is invited to the 
 house, the drawing-room cleared of all superfluities, and the couple 
 left to an agreeable tete-a-tete, during which they behave like sensible 
 children and exchange vows and rings. The nuptial mass at the 
 church follows, as there is no breaking of engagements or hearts in 
 Creole etiquette. 
 
 The Creole matron grows old, as she does everything else, grace- 
 fully. She has not been shaken by the blasts of many passions, or 
 enervated by the stimulants of violent sensations. There is no paled 
 reflex of her youthful warmth in the glance she gives to the past, with 
 its buried joys, or the present, with its all-pervading contentment and 
 happiness. 
 
 Although an increased avoirdupois has added magnificence to her 
 embonpoint, and her waltzing days are over, her pretty, well-shaped 
 feet still beat time in unison with the spirit of its music. She is an 
 artiste of conversation, and her bon mot is uttered with such natural 
 avoidance of offense, and the arch allusion is so gracefully applied 
 that she gives one the idea of a new use of language, and yet she is a 
 marvelous listener. Her complaisance is ever ready; words come of 
 themselves upon your lips merely from finding themselves so oblig- 
 ingly listened to; and whilst others follow the conversation, it is she 
 wTio directs it, who seasonably revives it, brings it back from the 
 field from which it has strayed, restores it to others without osten- 
 tation, stopping with marvelous tact precisely at the proper point. 
 And the world may not know how much of the stately dignity, the 
 polished ease, the refined elegance that reign supreme in her house- 
 hold is the inspiration of its gay mistress, who remains, in age as in 
 youth, the life and ornament of it. 
 
 And so with the snows of many winters on her head and the 
 sunshine of many summers in her heart, surrounded by three or four 
 generations of children, blessing and blessed, the Creole matron is 
 at length gathered to her fathers.
 
 60 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 UNDER THE OAKS. 
 
 The "code," as it is called, the duello, was universally recognized 
 in New Orleans before the war, and even to this day duels occur, 
 although growing rarer every year. The man who would not fight 
 although growing raer every year. The man who would not figbt 
 "in the days before the war" was regarded as uDt entitled to the 
 treatment due a gentleman and was socially tabooed, and liable to 
 insults. 
 
 AH the efforts of the religious portion of the community to stop 
 duelling proved a failure and aroused the most bitter prejudice. An 
 Article was inserted in the Constitution of the State in 1848, dis- 
 franchising duellists. The Creoles complained bitterly of this, which 
 they claimed was an attempt to drive men of courage from the 
 State, and so vigorous was the opposition raised — for nearly all the 
 leading men found themselves disfranchised by this provision — that 
 the anti-duelling article was repealed four years later, and duellists 
 restored to favor again. 
 
 In the early days the rapier or colechemarde was ithe weapon 
 most in favor in duels, but broadswords and sabres were sometimes 
 used. The Americans introduced the pistol, rifle and shot gun, 
 which made duelling more fatal. With the rapier, a slight wound 
 was sufficient to satisfy honor, whereas with the shot gun or rifle one 
 of the principals was nearly always seriously wounded. In fact in 
 a majority of the duels in which the shot gun was used, one or 
 more deaths ensued. 
 
 There was no excuse for refusing to "fight." No matter how 
 high your position, you 'must accept any challenge sent you by a 
 gentleman. Thus, the first American Governor, Claiborne, left the 
 gubernatorial mansion to fight Daniel Clarke, the State represent- 
 ative in Congress an encounter which resulted in the severe wound- 
 ing of Clarke. This duel took place at the mouth of Bayou Marechal. 
 
 In the old Basin street division of the St. Louis cemetery may be 
 seen a neat marble shaft erected over the remains of W. C. C. Clai-
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 61 
 
 borne, the first Governor of Louisiana, and the Protestant members 
 of his family. On one of the four sides of this shaft there is the 
 following epitaph: 
 
 Sacred to the Memorj' of 
 
 Micajah Lewis, 
 
 Brother-in-law and Secretary of 
 
 Gk)vernor W. C. C. Claiborne, 
 
 who fell in a duel, January 14, 1804, 
 
 Aged 24 years. 
 
 Young Lewis's death resulted from political antagonism, whi?h 
 provoked a bitter personal assault upon the Governor, whose wife, the 
 sister of young Lewis, had recently died. 
 
 Lewis called to the field the author of this slanderous assault, and 
 at the first exchange was shot through the heart. He was a young 
 man of great promise and elevated sentiments, and his death gave 
 infinite sorrow to the Governor and all his friends. The tomb at the 
 time it was constructed was a very costly and tasteful one. The epi- 
 taph was directed by the Governor himself, who recognized the author- 
 ity of the code at that period. 
 
 Gayarre, in his history of Louisiana, tells a story of a duel which 
 occurred between six young French noblemen promenading on the 
 green sward, on the very spot on which New Orleans now has its 
 centre of trade. "Oh, what a beautiful night! what a splendid level 
 ground for a. joust! Suppose we pair off, draw our swords and make 
 this night memorable by a spontaneous display of bravery and skill!" 
 Upon the word they drew, paired off, and under the clear light of 
 the moon their shining blades gleamed in courteous and deadly en- 
 counter, and such valor was displayed as would have immortalized 
 in reasonable battle, these giddy-headed and light hearted heroes. 
 Two of them remained on the field, pale and bloody corpses, victims 
 of a foolish but heroic bravado. 
 
 A very similar story is that of the duel between Major Henry, of 
 Nicaraguan fame, and Major Joe Howell, renowned among all those 
 who remember the old Louisiana traditions for coolness and daring. 
 Howell and Henry had met in a coffee-house at the corner of Canal 
 and St. Charles streets (where the Crescent Hall now stands), and 
 had a difiiculty which wound up in a challenge to fight that even-
 
 63 THE CREOLE TOURISTS GUIDE 
 
 ing at the Half-Way House. It was impossible for the seconds to 
 find out what was the origin of the trouble. Howell himself not re- 
 collecting anything about it. It seems that he and Major Henry — 
 
 a noted brave of the Xicaraguan army — who had servei with Walk- 
 er had had a mal-entendu in Nicaragua, and cherished no frieii'd)- 
 ship for one another. They met, and Henry invited Joe to drink.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 63 
 
 Both were under the influence of liquor. Unfortunately two news- 
 boys came in and commenced to fight. According to the theory of the 
 times, Joe bet on one and Henry backed the other. Henry's newsboy 
 caved in, when he then remarked that the fight would have been 
 very different if he and Joe had been engaged instead of the boys. 
 Joe nodded "Yes." "Well, then," put in Nicaragua Henry, "sup- 
 pose we do have it." Joe whipped out his six-shooter, for short an- 
 swer. "Hold on, old boy, I'am not ready; let us meet at five o'clock 
 this evening at the Half-Way House; bring your navy; I will have 
 mine." "All right/' answered Joe, and the whiskey straights, which 
 had been losing some of their lightning by evaporation, instantly dis- 
 appeared in well-accustomed channels; not, however, before the glasses 
 had violently tinkled against each other. Just then two policeman 
 put in an appearance, and both belligerents were taken to the station. 
 Mutual friends, actuated as much by a desire to see the sequence as 
 by any other Christian motive, soon obtained their release. Henry 
 kept on drinking, and Joe went to sleep, as some great generals 
 have done before him on the eve of mighty battles. 
 
 Both parties were known as men of indomitable pluck and des- 
 perate courage. Major Henry's reputation was proverbial; further 
 on we will give some particulars of his eventful career. Joe Howell 
 was a brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis, stood six feet seven inches in 
 his boots, was admirably proportioned, and his body was covered with 
 scars caused by wounds inflicted with knife, arrow and bullet. 
 
 At 4 o'clock Joe woke up, took one cocktail, and without the 
 least nervousness or concern bid his friends au revoir and jumped in- 
 to the carriage. Dr. Sam Choppin, acting surgeon on the occasion 
 followed . 
 
 On the way, as is customary in the fulfillment of his duty, Howell's 
 second offered some advice to his man. He told him to endeavor to 
 get the first shot in on his antagonist, to fire low and to cock with 
 his right hand without lowering his pistol. 
 
 His answer was, after driving a cloud of smoke from his cigarette: 
 "Tut, tut, my boy, teach your grandmother how to suck eggs!" 
 
 The second said more. 
 • Wben the grounds were reached 300 persons were found there. 
 All the hacks and cabs had been engaged as soon as the news flashed
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 65 
 
 over the city that these two men were about to meet in mortal com- 
 hat. Not less than fifty Nicaraguans were there; but these were clus- 
 tered around Henry, who could be seen some two hundred yards out 
 in the field, resting on one elbow in a dry hollow. 
 
 Joe Howell had also many friends among the spectators and gay- 
 ly '.chatted with them. 
 
 All efforts to settle the affair failed. 
 
 "Will you please give me your version of the cause of this dif- 
 ficulty," Howell's second asked. 
 
 "It don't matter; we are here to fight," was the sharp answer 
 from Henry's second. 
 
 "Well, but brave men don't fight like children, for nothing. We 
 want to know what we are going to fight about; if we are wrong we 
 may apologize, or vice versa." 
 
 "We don't know anything about it; but if there is to be an apology. 
 Major Howell must make it." 
 
 "But if you are ignorant of the origin and cause of this difficulty 
 how can you point out our wrong?" 
 
 "Wait; we will see Major Henry." 
 
 And off they went to the ditch where Henry sat leisurely resting. 
 
 In less than three minutes the Nicaraguans were back. 
 
 "Well?" asked Howell's man. 
 
 "Well," Major Henry says, "if Joe Howell will apologize it's no 
 fight." 
 
 "Apologize for what?" asked the other with some animation. 
 
 "Don't know, and don't care," was the laconic reply. 
 
 "Then there is no possible way of arranging this matter amicably. 
 Suppose both parties approach each other half way and shake hands 
 without a word? Will you see Major Henry and tell him the propo- 
 sition comes from our side?" 
 
 After some discussion they consented to this, but very reluctantly. 
 
 This time the seconds remained fully ten minutes by the side of 
 their principal. There was animated discussion and much gesticu- 
 lation among them, but they returned and said: "Major Henry says 
 Joe ought to apologize, and then they can shake hands." 
 
 "Then it means fight. Load your navy, we will do likewise; ten 
 paces; six barrels loaded; fire at will, and advance."
 
 66 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 The line of fire was a narrow path, flanked on either side by a 
 small ditch. Howell stood six feet seven inches in his boots and con- 
 trary to advice, wore white pants and an alpaca coat, making him a 
 dangerously conspicuous target. 
 
 The command was given: 
 
 "Gentlemen are you ready?" 
 
 Old Absinthe House, Bourbon and Bienville Streets. 
 
 Joe, w^ho was facing 'the woods, answ^ered firmly, "Ready!" but 
 kept his eye looking steadily along the barrel of his cocked pistol. 
 Henry in a nonchalant fashion, threw his head on one side, his pistol 
 dangling at his arm, and in a lazy tone said, "Ready." The word was 
 then given: "Fire!" Both raised simultaneously, fired and missed. 
 Howell cocked with his right thumb and fired again before Henry was 
 ready for his second shot. Howell's ball pierced Henry's left fore-
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 67 
 
 arm, when Henry again fired and missed. Howell now came in with 
 his third shot, strikng Henry in the abdomen. To this Henry respond- 
 ed with a shot which threw up the dirt right at Howell's feet. The 
 latter then advanced one step, and taking deliberate aim, pulled the 
 trigger. Seeing that Henry was done for, Howell's second rushed up 
 and threw up Joe's pistol with his hand. The shot flew away up in 
 the air, that certainly would then and there have killed Henry. 
 
 The other side having cried "Stop!" according to agreement, in 
 case of either party being badly wounded, uttered shrill cries of "Foul! 
 Foul!" and immediately whipped out their revolvers Then followed 
 a scene of confusion, and for a long time it looked as if a wholesale 
 duel would follow; but the crowd interfered, and prevented the fight. 
 The wounded man was taken to the Halfway House, where he remain- 
 ed for some weeks before he could be transported to the city. 
 
 Major Henry was, what is known in the vernacular of the ordi- 
 nary novelist, a character. Retiring in disposition, little given to 
 talk, of a melancholy temperament, he gave no external evidence 
 of the power and determination of the man beneath. Those who knew 
 him intimately and who were with him in the most desperate of dai;!- 
 gers say that he was one of the few men they knew who had no ap- 
 preciation of the word fear. He would face what appeared to be al- 
 most certain death with an equanimity that was startling. Joining 
 Gen. Walker's filibustering expedition to Nicaragua, as an officer 
 in the hattle there, he was noted for his daring and coolness. With- 
 out caring whether he was followed or not he would charge single- 
 handed into the enemy's ranks, cutting and shooting, right and left, 
 himself receiving wound after wound. He seemed to bear a charm- 
 ed life, notwithstanding the fact that his body was covered with 
 scars, he received new wounds without blenching, and so great was 
 his vitality that he recovered in a very short time. 
 
 He served for many years as an enlisted soldier in the Seventh 
 •Regiment Infantry, United States army; was made quartermaster- 
 sergeant of the regiment during the Mexican war on account of gal- 
 lant conduct, and at the close of the war was promoted to a lieuten- 
 ancy. In this capacity he was stationed for a long time in the Chero- 
 kee Nation, where his taciturn disposition made him very unpopu-
 
 68 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 lar with the men, but his daring and recklessness in amorous ex- 
 ploits caused him to he quite a favorite with the squaws. 
 
 This came very near being the 'Cause of his death, for one night 
 at a mall he found himself suddenly environed by a crowd of Chero- 
 kee braves, and when they dispersed he was lying on the ground in 
 a pool of his own hlood, with seven stabs in his body. No other 
 man would have recovered, hut he did. 
 
 In the assault and taking of Monterey, during the Mexican war, 
 Major Henry accomplished a feat which, for reckless daring, has 
 scarcely a parallel in the annals of military venture. 
 
 It will be remembered that Monterey, like its sister city of Spain, 
 the immortal Saragossa, was defended foot by foot and inch hy inch. 
 Every window was a fortalice from which murderous shots were 
 fired, and every terrace a fortress dealing death and destruction to 
 the alvancing foe. 
 
 Major Henry, in the hottest of the fight, wagered a dinner with 
 his friends of the regiment that he would ride three squares on a 
 mule, at a slow pace, through the cross-fire of the Mexican patriots 
 and return. And so indeed he did. The mule did not come back, 
 however, having fallen pierced by a dozen balls, a victim to the tem- 
 eiity of its rider. Major Henry returned on foot, and won his wager 
 somewhat the worse for his experience, with three bullets in his .body. 
 
 During the Nicaraguan war this remarkable fighter distinguish- 
 ed himself on every occasion, and was much admired and respected 
 as a soldier. His temper, however, was not such as would permit 
 him to live in peace with his fellow-officers. He was noted for sev- 
 eral brilliant duels during that eventful campaign — among which, 
 one with Col. Jules Dreux, was fought at Messiah. He was major 
 of the regiment of which Dreux was colonel, and they had a mis- 
 understanding. Dreux waived his rank, and they fought with navy 
 revolvers at twelve paces. 
 
 It was in '843 that a very violent political campaign occurred in 
 this State between the Whig and Democratic parties. The contest for 
 Representatives in Congress. 'Each party had brought forward its 
 strongest candidates. The journals of the two parties were especially 
 vigorous and aggressive in their assaults upon the nominees of the ad- 
 verse party. Personality and virulent criticism were never before
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 69 
 
 carried lo such a pitch in this State. The Tropic, a daily newspaper, 
 conducted with great vigor and savagery by Col. McArdle, infused 
 a fiercely helligerent tone into the party and its press throughout 
 the State, Many personal conflicts and affairs of honor resulted 
 from this bellicose spirit. These quarrels of individuals were adopt- 
 ed by their parties, and the fights assumed the character of faction 
 fights instead of personal affairs of honor. One of the most unhappy 
 and tragic of these combats was that which resulted in the death of 
 Hueston the editor of the Baton Rouge Gazette. Hueston was of 
 Northern birth, and had recently assumed editorial charge of the 
 paper, which had previously maintained the reputation of a prudent, 
 sedate and cautious Whig journal. Hueston gave an entirely new 
 character to the Gazette. The Tropic had innoculated the Gazette 
 with its partisan virus, and its editorials "bristled with sarcasms and 
 offensive personalities. One of the most offensive and unjustifiable 
 of these, which led to the tragic scene we have to relate, was contained 
 in a review of the Congressional candidates. The Democratic can- 
 didates in the Fourth and Second Congressional districts were Gen. 
 Bossier and the Hon. Alcee La Branche. Both gentlemen were high- 
 ly honored and admired by their party and the large circles of per- 
 sonal friends. They were Creoles. Mr. La Branche had been Speaker 
 of our House of Representatives; was the first Charge d'Affaires to 
 Texas, and, in all his relaitons was greatly esteemed as a gentleman 
 of great propriety and dignity of behavior. So far from being a 
 duelist, as has been charged, he was one of the few public men in 
 Louisiana who had never been engaged in an "affair." 
 
 General Bossier on the other hand, the Democratic candidate in 
 the Fourth district, had had several affairs of that character, in one 
 of which, a sword comhat, he slew General Gaiennie, the great Whig 
 leader of his district. Now, the Baton Rouge Gazette, referring to 
 these characteristics of the two Democratic candidates, taunted the 
 Democrats of the Second district with a preference for a man desti- 
 tute of spirit and manhood, and those of the Fourth district with a 
 selection of a candidate who had, by his superior physical power, kill- 
 ed his antagonist. This article was regarded by Mr. LaB.'s friends 
 as an Insult of the grossest character to himself, his party and his 
 frienis. Shortly after the appearance of this article, Hueston vis-
 
 70 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 ited Nev.' Orleans where he was received by the fighting men of his 
 
 party as a "lion." His arrival was announced in one of the papers 
 with a flourish. Thereupon Mr. LeBranche sought him in the St.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 71 
 
 Charles billiard-room, and demanded some reparation for the gross 
 insult offered him. Receiving a defiant response, he struck Hueston 
 with a cane or hilliard-cue several blows, knocking him down and 
 disabling him. Hueston was taken to his rooms. A surgeon was 
 sent for, who attended to his wounds. Next friends (political friends) 
 were called in, and from them two of the most experienced in such 
 affairs were selected to make arrangements for the earliest possible 
 meeting at the Oaks. These friends were Colonel W. H. McArdle 
 and Richard Hagan, both of whom had been engaged in several af- 
 fairs of a serious and sanguinary character. Hueston's wounds were 
 of a more serious character than was at first imagined. His sur- 
 geon remonstrated against his going out for several days. But Hues- 
 ton with an obstancy which characterized his whole conduct in this 
 affair, insisted upon the meeting taking place within three days. Ac- 
 cordingly the arrangements were 'made. Mr. La Branche's friends 
 were General John L. Lewis and Jos. Genois. The weapons selected 
 were double-barreled shotguns, both harrels loaded with ball. Prompt- 
 ly the parties came to time at the Oaks at break of day. A crowd 
 of spectators had been attracted to the scene. In consequence of this 
 interruption and the rumored approach of police, the parties changed 
 the ground to a more remote locality. They could not elude the in- 
 truders, of whom nearly two hundred reached the spot selected. The 
 seconds proceeded rapidly with their arrangements. The ground was 
 measured. Forty yards was the distance agreed on. The words were: 
 "Fire— one, two, three, four, five." The combatants must fire both 
 barrels between the words "fire" and "five." The weapons were ordi- 
 nary shot-guns, loaded with ball. General Lewis loaded Mr. La 
 Branche's gun and Colonel Hagan Mr. Hueston's. The word was 
 given by Colonel McArdle. Both parties were cool and determined. 
 It was observable, however, that Mr. Hueston still bore marks on his 
 face of his recent scuffle. 
 
 At the first fire both parties discharged their pieces nearly sim- 
 ultaneously. One of the balls from Mr. LaBranche's piece passed 
 through Hueston's hat, another through his coat. Those of Hueston 
 flew wide of the mark. It was obvious to the seconds and the spec- 
 tators that Mr. LaBranche had the advantage of greater quickness 
 and skill in handling his weapon.
 
 72 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 The seconds of Mr. LaBranche approached those of Mr. Hueston 
 with the usual inquiry whether their principal was satisfied. These 
 gentlemen consulted Hueston. He shook his head with great posi- 
 
 tiveness, and requested them to load up. 
 
 A second exchange was then had, with similar results to the first. 
 The two balls of LaBranche whizzed close by the head of Hueston, 
 who again fired wild.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 73 
 
 There was another interview of the seconds an.l a repetition of 
 the emphatic shake of the head by Mr. Hiieston. His seconds remon- 
 strated and apologized to the seconds of the other side for the persis- 
 tency of their principal, Col. Hagan remarking that after the next fire 
 the distance should be shortened or the parties retire. 
 
 The spectators manifested the same sentiment by crying out that 
 the affa^'r should end there. But Hueston was immovable, and with 
 cool jocularity requested that the suns be reloaded. His obstinancy 
 prevailed. 
 
 There was a third exchange. As the smoke cleared away tne 
 combatants were observed in the same position, apparently unhurt. 
 One of the balls from LaBranche's gun had barely missed the skull of 
 Hueston, passing through his hair and slightly puncturing the skin, 
 causing blood to flow. 
 
 At the third interview of the seconds it was suggested that, Mr. 
 Hueston being wounded, the combat should there end. This sugges- 
 tion appeared to inflame the o'bduracy of Hueston. "Feel my pulse," 
 he asked of the surgeon, "and say whether it does not beat steady 
 and regular." The surgeon felt his pulse and declared that there was 
 no irregularity, but added that the affair ought to end there. So 
 thought and declared everybody else but Hueston. He was inflex- 
 ible in his resolution to kill or be killed. With manifest sorrow and 
 indignation arrangements were made for the fourth exchange of 
 shots. 
 
 At the word the parties fired, as before. Each discharged botn 
 barrels. At the discharge of LaBranche's first barrel, this being his 
 seventh shot, Hueston reeled and fell. He had discharged both bar- 
 rels of his gun. LaBranche's second barrel was discharged, being the 
 eighth shot, before he could perceive the effect of the last. His 
 friends and surgeon advanced to Hueston, who was prone on the 
 ground, lifted him into a carriage, and bore him to the city. An ex- 
 amination discovered that he had been shot through the lungs, and 
 had but a few moments to live. He was taken to the Maison de 
 Sante, where, after the most intense agony, during which he begged 
 one of his friends, as the last kindness he could render him, to fire 
 a ball through his head and end his torture, he died.
 
 74 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 Colonel S. L. Oakey came to this city from New York early in 
 the thirties. He engaged at first 'in the wholesale dry goods business, 
 and afterwards in the commission business for the sale of planters' 
 product 
 
 In any pursuit in which he was embarked he displayed great 
 activity, zeal and earnestness, a strong will and dauntless valor and 
 determination. With these he combined a courtly and knightly bear- 
 ing, a love of drama, a taste for military display, an intense Demo- 
 cracy and an ardent patriotism. 
 
 As illustrative of these qualities in 1843, he assumed the cham- 
 pionship of the cotton factors of the city against certain very bitter 
 and denunciatory charges which had appeared in letters from this 
 city in the Vicksburg Sentinel, then conducted by that famous polemi- 
 cal editor, Hagan, who, on account of similar articles, was involved 
 a short time after in a combat, in which he was killed by the late 
 General D. W. Adams. 
 
 The letters from this city were traced to an English cotton buyer, 
 named Wright, as the house of Colonel Oakey was involved in the 
 slanders pu'blished by the Sentinel, the Colonel sought the writer and 
 called on him to account for the same. A personal recontre ensued, 
 which was deferred to the field of honor. Wright had boasted much 
 of his skill as a marksman. The rifle was the weapon selected by 
 him. Colonel Oakey had .never fired a rifle in his life, and refused 
 even to practice with the weapon. The parties met across the lake, in 
 Mississippi. Wright was a large, stout man; Oakey was a small, 
 insignificant-looking man, of calm, cool and determined manner, not 
 vaunting, boastful, or demonstrative. The combatants were support- 
 ed by gentlemen of prominence in the community. The distance was 
 sixty yards. Oakey chose the Yager, known afterwards as the Mis- 
 gissippi rifle; • Wright used a highly-finished English rifle. At the 
 word Wright fired precipitately; Oakey received and returned the 
 fire with great coolness. His adversary fell at his discharge — shot on 
 a line through the heart. The parties returned to the city that eve- 
 ning, on the same steamer bearing the unfortunate victim of a duel 
 conducted with the strictest punctillio. 
 
 The Creoles of New Orleans were always very spirited and coura-
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 75 
 
 geous, but sometimes fought on provocations, which the Americans 
 would not have resented in a manner so deadly. 
 
 The Creole element was impatient of dissent, and resorted to 
 small arms on all occasions of differences even among themselves. 
 One paper was especially provocative of such disputes. The writers 
 were Americans, who expressed their opinions w'ithout much circum- 
 locution, and so provoked the firery native greatly. There was one 
 article upon a performance at the opera. This critique occasioned 
 three duels, and upon reading it carefully one will be at a loss to find 
 material to have justified one, even conceding that rational people 
 should peril life at all on a question of singing or dancing. 
 
 There appeared in New Orleans, some forty years ago, a very 
 learned savant and academician from whom there was no appeal on 
 any question of science, known as the Chevalier Tomasi. Tomasi 
 published a communication on the hydraulics of the Mississippi. He 
 would either stop the river, or make it deeper, or restrict it within 
 boundaries specified by science. The style of the article was dog- 
 matic and dictatorial. The Academy of Sciences on Paris was de- 
 clared as omnipotent in physics as the Sorbonne has been in ethics. 
 Americans were an ignorant tribe expelled from Europe for stupidity 
 or other crimes. To cite a Creole authority only provoked a grimace 
 or a sarcasm. It is proper to say that there was a vehement feud 
 between the Creoles and French. Men grew tired of the society of 
 their superiors, and to have Paris eternally thrown in their teeth, 
 with a word now and then about the filles de cassette and an assump- 
 tion of general superiority, would disturb the equanimity of the most 
 phlegmatic, much less of the most mercurial people. 
 
 So Tomasi was descanting to a Creole upon the perfection of the 
 system, whatever it was, when a Creole associate ventured to remark 
 that tha Mississippi was a very headstrong stream, and that possibly 
 the basis of calculation assumed for the smaller rivers of Europe 
 would not be found applicable to so mighty a stream. At this Tomasi 
 merely employed a gesture of contempt, and added with a sneer,"How 
 little you Americans know of the world. Know that there are rivers 
 in Europe so large that the Mississippi is a mere rill, figuratively 
 speaking." To this the enraged Creole replied, "Sir, I will never allow 
 the Mississippi to be insulted or disparaged in my presence by an arro-
 
 76 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 gant pretender to knowledge." This he accompanied with the flirt of 
 a glove in the face of the Chevalier. A challenge was the consequence, 
 and Professor Tomasi was wounded, as is supposed, mortally. A day 
 or two afterwards, however, the Chevalier appeared in the streets wear- 
 ing what the surgeons call a T bandage about his face and jaw. He 
 wore quite a ghostly aspect, and when asked about it, remarked, 
 "c'est rien; une egratignure seulemeiit,'' and stripped away the ban- 
 
 The Historical French Market. 
 
 dage, to show that the sword of his antagonist had duly vindicated 
 the dignity of the Mississippi by passing entirely across the mouth 
 of the defamer from one cheek to the other. "But," said the Cheva- 
 lier, as he replaced his bandage, "I should have killed my antagonist 
 hut for the miserable character of your American steel. My sword, 
 sir, doubled like lead. Had it been a genuine coTichemarde he would 
 have fared properly for having hrutally outraged the sensibilities of
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 77 
 
 a French gentleman. He here opened a lecture on the carbonization 
 of iron, which could nowhere be effected properly except with wood 
 cut in a certain forest of France. This lecture was delivered with 
 pain and contortion of visage, but no doubt gave him great relief, as 
 all his premises and deductions were accepted without dispute. 
 
 But to merely recount the duels that have taken place at New Or- 
 leans would fill a large volume. The Oaks, the fav^orite meeting place 
 of the old days, and which now lie in the City Park, have witnessed 
 hundreds of fatal duels. Since the war duelling has ^not been quite 
 so much in favor as it was a half of a century ago, but hostile meet- 
 ings are still frequent, and not a few of them have terminated fatally. 
 
 KNIGHTS OF THE GREEN CLOTH. 
 
 TTntil about the year 1827 or 1828, no extensive gambling houses 
 had heen opened to the public in New Orleans, and any gambling 
 whatever before that period was on a small scale and very private. 
 At the time designated 'by the above dates, the first two establish- 
 ments were opened by John Davis, Sr., the impresario of the old Opera 
 House, on Orleans street, and the first impresario in the United States. 
 One of these gaming resorts was at the corner of Orleans and Bourbon 
 streets, and the other on Boyou St. John. The latter place was in- 
 tended more especially for Saturday night and 'Sunday games, which 
 were favorite days at that period for such indulgencies, and dinner was 
 always provided for the Sunday players. The Orleans street 'branch 
 was for daily or nightly operations. At this place large crowds con- 
 gregated, the games being faro, roulette, and vingt-et-un, and the bet- 
 ting heavy. At these public games, however, the elite and notabilities 
 of that day not as a rule participate to any great extent. For these, 
 especial and private rooms were set apart in which hrag and escarte 
 were played almost exclusively. Large, very large sums, were won
 
 78 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 or lost in these private rooms, and the gamesters were business and 
 professional men, who kept regular memorandum books in which 
 were entered their daily gains or losses. 
 
 As a confirmation of these facts, years after the occurrence, one 
 of the players at this resort, in an unguarded moment, related that 
 he had lost in one year upwards of thirty thousand dollars at es:arte; 
 
 In the French Quarter. 
 
 that this loss was covered by his winning at brag, which had exceeded 
 fifty thousand. It was well known that Colonel Ghrymes, the most 
 distinguished lawyer and advocate at the New Orleans bar, not ex- 
 cepting Edward Livingston, notwithstanding his large professional 
 income, never accumulated; but on the contrary was frequently in 
 an open impecunious condition, although living in no extravagant
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 79 
 
 style. This abnormal condition in so remarkable a man, was only- 
 accounted for by his contemporaries upon the hypothesis of heavy 
 losses at Davis's, while the rapid accumulation of a large fortune hy 
 another by no means brilliant professional man of the same period, 
 within a career of less than ten years, and while keeping up an ex- 
 pensive style of living, was attributed to his enormous gains. This 
 success was probably achieved by the same shrewd and machiavellian 
 methods, which, added to the powerful 'backing of a patriarchal fam- 
 ily, finally and in the face of bitterest opposition, won him the poli- 
 tical success he had long vainly struggled for. 
 
 Davis was very successful, made money fast, and no one envied 
 his success and good fortune, for with the money thus acquired he 
 was enabled to cater to the musical taste and to the attractions of 
 our city by inroducing the opera. 
 
 True, he only brought out at first such operas as "La Dame 
 Blanche " "Le Cheval de Bronze," "L'Eclair, Le Postillion de Lon- 
 jumeau," and other light gems; but he was at the same time laying 
 the foundation and creating the resources which were thereafter to 
 enable his hrilliant son, John Davis, Jr., or "Toto" Davis as he was 
 familiarly called, to bring out in our city, and in advance of any 
 and all impresarios in America, the chef d'oeuvres of the great mas- 
 ters — such operas as "Robert," the "Huguenots," "Moise,' "La Juive, 
 "Don Giovanni," "Le Prophete," "Trovatore,' in short, the entire 
 erpertoire up to his times. This John, or "Toto" Davis, was one of 
 the most talented and accompHished men ever in Louisiana. Apart 
 from a thorough classical education, acquired in one of the royal col- 
 leges of France, he had also gone through a complete course of musi- 
 cal studies, an artistic training which was of great service to him in 
 the selection and formation of his opera companies in Europe. 
 
 Davis's success in his gambling-room ventures soon prompted 
 others to follow in his foot-steps, and by 1832 not less than fourteen 
 large gamhling establishments had sprung into existence. To effect 
 this, however, legislative sanction was required, and an appeal hav- 
 ing been made to the Leg'islature, an act was passed by that body au- 
 thorizing the opening and ru,nning of gambling houses in New Or- 
 leans upon the payment 'by each to the State of an annual license of 
 $7,500. Under the enabling clause of this law the fourteen houses
 
 80 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 above referred to went into operation. These were owned and man- 
 aged by the following named parties: Hicks and Hewlett opened at 
 the •corner of St. Louis and Chartres street; Duval, on Chartres, be- 
 tween Conti and Bienville; St. Cyr, on Chartres, between St. Louis 
 and Conti; Toussaint, on Chartres, between St. Louis and Conti; 
 Charton, on Canal, between Camp and St. Charles; Elkin, on Canal, 
 near St. Charles, and Pradat, also on Canal, corner of Camp, in the 
 building at present oc^cupied by Moses as a photograph gallery. The 
 remaining seven were distributed between the two old municipalities, 
 the First and Second. 
 
 These houses were public in the full sense of the term,, open to 
 all by day and by night, as similar houses have been under the more 
 recent administrations; and they were resorted to by all classes, but 
 more especially by strangers from all parts of the world, who flocked 
 to New Orleans at that period, as if to an El Dorado, in quest of 
 wealth which they supposed could be grasped without effort, and 
 which only required the pains of picking up. Those were lively times, 
 not unlike those of San Francisco in 1849 and 1850, and all of these 
 gamblers and gambling-houses did what is so forcibly expressed by 
 the term, a "land office" business; but in 1836 all these institutions, 
 like many others of a more legitimate character, camn to grief. Thei^ 
 end was an act passed, accelerated by the repeal of the Act of 1832, 
 at the instigation and upon the motion of Mr. Larrimore, Representa- 
 tove of the parish of St. Tammany. As a matter of course, they ceased 
 to keep open houses, in compliance with the legislative mandate, but 
 they continued their operations in a clandestine manner. Out of the 
 whole number of individuals engaged in the gambling business as far 
 back as 1828, and of those who owned and operated a house under the 
 Act of 1832, there still lives in our midst one old man, the only sur- 
 vivor of the thousands who witnessed and participated in those excit- 
 ing times. This is old St. Cyr, aged eighty-six years, but with all those 
 years, still possessed of health, vigor and memory. This same octo- 
 genarian was also a member of Plauche's celebrated battalion, which 
 distinguished itself at the battle of the 8th of January, and won the 
 applause and commendation of General Jackson. 
 
 After the suppression of the houses under the law of 1836, a,nd in 
 consequence of the great panic which ensued, and the consequent scar-
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 81 
 
 city of money, the business did not flourish as it had in the years 
 described, and continued to languish until 1846. With the breaking 
 out of the Mexican war, which brought thousands of soldiers and olfl- 
 cers to our city, then the base of operations and supplies, and the great 
 California mining fever, which concentrated tens of thousands of 
 emigrants for the land of gold in our midst, another bright era dawn- 
 ed upon the sporting element. Under the stimulating effects of two so 
 powerful agencies as an immense and reckless transient population, 
 all of them by nature and temperament bold speculators, ready to 
 stake anything or everything on the throw of the dice, and the ple- 
 thora of money produced by such causes it will not be wondered at 
 that gambling furor again broke out in New Orleans. Gambling 
 houses were now opened in all directions, all over the city, near the 
 St. Mary's Market, near the steamship landings, near the hotels, the 
 boarding and lodging houses, w^herever returning soldiers or emigrants 
 Quartered or congregated. At that time certain houses were licensed 
 by ^ity ordinance, such as carried on the games of "rondeau" and 
 "loto;'' and all through the night, from "dusky eve to early morn," in 
 every frequented thoroughfare, could be heard the deep and sonorous 
 voice of the game keeper as he called time and game at rondeau. 
 None of these establishments, nor of those which had preceded them, 
 assumed any pretentions to luxury or elegance. It was not until the 
 fifties, that elegantly-furnished houses, where sumptuous dinners and 
 suppers were supplied to visitors and patrons, were introduced in 
 New Orleans and the new departure was first brought to perfection 
 by a trio comprising three notable men. 
 
 McGrath, Sherwood and Perritt were men of marked individual 
 character, with strong distinctive personal points, and all of them 
 self-made men. In all their dealings and in all their Intercourse in 
 New Orleans or elsewhere — ^and these were not confined to sporting 
 business and sporting circles, but extended in many directions and 
 embraced many sections of legitimate trade — those three men ever 
 enjoyed a name and reputation for fair play, for strict honesty and 
 integrity in all transactions of whatever nature. Price McGrath, one 
 of the partners, upon the breaking out of the war between the States, 
 closed up his establishment and went North, but finally settled down 
 in Kentucky, established a stock farm, and turning his attention to
 
 82 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 racing and blooded stock, became one of the most successful turfmen 
 of latter days, and the owner of many winners, among them the fam- 
 
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 Hi 
 
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 r"*^j^^ 
 
 Camp Street. 
 
 ous Tom Bowling. McGrath died some years ago on his farm in his 
 native State, Kentucky.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 83 
 
 Henry Perritt, one of the trio, in his pride and devotion to his 
 adopted State, and for the South, at his own expense organized, equip- 
 ped, and sent to the battlefields of Virginia, one of the finest military 
 commands which set out from New Orleans in '861, known as the 
 "Perritt Guards." 
 
 The firm of McGrath & Company had established itself at No. 4 
 Carondelet street, afterward the domicile of the "Boston Club," which 
 they had purchased and fitted up at a cost of nearly seventy thousand 
 dollars. This establishment was patronized and visited by leading 
 men not only of this State and city, 'but by prominent men of the 
 West and North, and especially was it the headquarters of all South- 
 ern and Western turfmen. All the pools on the races of the period, 
 and particularly those on the races of the grand Old Metairie, were 
 sold at McGrath's; and on these occasions the house, thronged with 
 merchants, planters, lawyers, looked more like a club, or an exchange, 
 than a gambling house. It would 'be superfluous, with such patron- 
 age and so much popularity, to speak of its success. It coined money, 
 and no one begrudged this well-deserved success. 
 
 James Sherwood was born in North Carolina, of a poor but respec- 
 table family, and enjoyed few opportunities of early education; but 
 gifted with lively mental qualities, those of imagination, imitation and 
 observation, he contrived most successfully in after life to overcome 
 the disadvantages and deficiencies of his youth. In his composition, 
 egotism and selfishness found no lodging place. He had drifted un- 
 consciously into this line of life, though born with tastes, inclinations 
 and abilities, which in the sphere for which nature had fitted him, 
 would have placed him on the highest pinnacle. Had Sherwood gone 
 upon the stage and devoted himself to the study of comedy, he must 
 have ranked with George Holland, the Placides, Chippendale, and 
 Owens. As a raconteur he had few equals, and columns could be 
 filled in reproducing the amusing stories and anecdotes with which he 
 kept his friends or listeners in a perpetual state of merriment. So 
 great was his enjoyment of social pleasures that he often invited 
 friends and acquaintances to his palatial parlors with the express 
 understanding that no game should be played, entertaining them with 
 a sumptuous feast, at which the wit was as sparkling as the wine.
 
 84 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 It was in the beginning of the late war, and during the early- 
 stages of that conflict, that he fairly exhibited the shining qualities 
 of his loyal and generous nature. Ill health and a delicate constitu- 
 tion not permitting him to undergo the fatigues and hardships of 
 camp and military life, he more than compensated for this exemption 
 by aiding several organizations of New Orleans, supplying them with 
 money, clothing and equipments. 'Nor did his good and loyal deeds 
 
 Sugar Cane Cutting, 18 Miles from New Orleans. 
 
 stop there, for he contributed generously to the families of those who 
 remained at home. 
 
 At the same period that the popular house of Sherwood & McGrath 
 flourished, there were several other large and elegantly apointed gam- 
 ing houses which attempted to compete with it for popularity. One 
 of these was owned and conducted by Lauraine and Cassidy. They,
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS S") 
 
 no tdoutit, were very popular, and secured some share of success, as 
 they had made their estahlishment very attractive by profuse liber- 
 ality in their entertainments. Their supper service was of massive 
 embossed silver, and formed <a feature of the house. At this estab- 
 lishment it was that a prominent Greek merchant, the representative 
 of a large Greek commercial firm having branches in all the large 
 commercial cities of Europe and America, lost very large sums, which 
 embarrassed his firm and led to his recall from the city. The loss at 
 one night's play was reported at the time to have been eighty thous- 
 and dollars. This establishment, like that of McGrath, closed its 
 doors in 1861. 
 
 One of the partners, Charles Cassidy, who went to New York, 
 where he died, was a facile and entertaining writer, particularly on 
 racing and turf matters. For awhile he was correspondent of the 
 Spirit of the Tirrbes, reporting to that valuable sporting journal the 
 spring and fall races at New Orleans, under the nom de plume of 
 "Larkin." 
 
 Augustus Lauraine, his partner, also left New Orleans in 1861, 
 and, after swinging all around the country, finally settled in the flour- 
 ishing city of Dallas, Texas. There,however, he fell from grace in the 
 estimation of his brother professionals in New Orleans o,n account of 
 certain infractions of their rules. It must be understood that among 
 these sporting men there exists a code as rigid and exacting as any 
 enforced on any exchange and stock board. A debt between one 
 and another is a sacred obligation — one which is never proscribed and 
 never sued upon. If loss and misfortune befall any of them, they are 
 ever ready to assist the unfortunate and contribute to his support. 
 They never oppress with lawsuits, but at the same time they do re- 
 quire and exact by their code that if one retrieves his fortunes he 
 shall come up like a man and take up his old obligations. This, it is 
 claimed, Lauraine has not done, and that he has failed in gratitude, 
 especially to one, a veteran of the fraternity in this city, the man and 
 brother ^'lio had started and staked him in his first ventures in New 
 Orleans. 
 
 A number of other establishments existed, among them that kept 
 by Sam Levy and "Count" Lorenzo Lewis, called count, on account of 
 his urbane and polite manners and faultless dressing. Then Montiro,
 
 86 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 game and plucky little Montiro, who was located on Canal street, near 
 'Eyrich's. He followed our boys to Virginia, opened a house in Rich- 
 mond, where he received, fed, and succored many a sick and wounded 
 New Orleans soldier. Who of the old ones will forget the episode of 
 Montiro's wounding and checking the boldest and most daring burg- 
 lar ever in New Orleans, the notorious Charles Alexander Gordon? 
 
 There was also a quaint establishment at the corner of Toulouse 
 and Chartres streets, kept 'by a Frenchman, with the Roman name of 
 Curtius, called by courtesy a club, which is worthy of description on 
 account of those who frequented the place, and were considered 
 "habitues," or mem'bers. It was a hightoned place. There was no 
 initiation fee, but every player paid fifty cents an hour. This entitled 
 him to refreshments free of cost, and also to a solid, substantial and 
 well cooked dinner, with claret ad libitum. The games played were 
 Boston, poker, and chess. There was a limit to the betting at poker, 
 not more that $100 heing allowed as a bet on one single hand. It was 
 not public, and a formal introduction by an old member and indorse- 
 ment of character were required before admission. 
 
 There were also, in olden times, a class of traveling gamblers, 
 who journeyed up and down our western rivers, among whom there 
 were characters worthy of a pen picture. 
 
 It was during the winter of 1850, that New Orleans was honored 
 by the visit of a trio of titled and peripatetic gamblers, who might 
 with more propriety, be called adventurers and imposters. Their 
 names were the Duke de Calabritto, an Italian, and the Counts de 
 Biennerie and de Frienge, both Hungarians, hailing from Pesth, who 
 fleeced the whole town, especially the jeunesse doree, very thoroughly.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 87 
 
 GRUESOME EXECUTIONS. 
 
 In former years all or nearly all executions were public; but the 
 last one was that of Delisle and Adams, the former a Creole and the 
 latter a Frenchman, who were convicted of murdering a woman in 
 what is now known as the Third district. They saw the w^oman se- 
 crete a bag containing what they thought was specie, and they killed 
 her to obtain possession of it, w^hen, to their consternation, the bag 
 w^as found to contain pecans. The circumstances surrounding their 
 execution were so horrible that a riot was imminent. It is said that 
 they appeared — to the eyes of the multitude assembled in the neutral 
 ground on Orleans street — on the small gallery extending across the 
 alley or court between the two buildings, the male and female depart- 
 ments, which form the Parish Prison. 
 
 Delisle was violent and demonstrative, whilst Adams was subdued 
 and quiet, and wished to precipitate matters. The ropes were ad- 
 justed around their necks, Delisle expostulating loudly all the time. 
 The weather w^as dark and gloomy, a sombre cloud overspread the 
 face of the blue sky, angry flashes of lightning lit up the scene with 
 short lurid darts of flame, followed by the dull, rolling noise of thun- 
 der in the distance. 
 
 The trap fell, and at the same instant a blinding flash of light- 
 ning, almost instantaneously followed hy a loud clap of thunder, al- 
 most frightened the people into spasms. The rain poured down in tor- 
 rents, drenching all. Many fled the terrible scene, rendered doubly 
 terrible by the ominous appearance of the heavens. When the fear, 
 which was only momentary with most of those present, had somewhat 
 subsided, the ropes were seen dangling and swaying loosely in the 
 wind, for there was nothing at the lower end. 
 
 On the flagging beneath the gallows two forms were seen lying 
 on the pavement; they were the bodies of Delisle and Adams. The 
 former started to crawl away on hands and feet, and the latter lay 
 moaning with pain. His arm was broken. Pity for the two men be-
 
 88 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 came predominant in the hearts of the multitude; but the law was 
 inexorible, and its servants were compelled to perform their horrible 
 duty. The two men were picked up and conducted back to their for- 
 mer positions on the scaffold, despite the torrents of rain which fell; 
 and in defiance of what seemed to the terror-stricken people to be an 
 Intervention of Providence, they were hung. 
 
 'h2 Haunted Hcuse, Chartres Street. 
 
 The police force at that time was under the command of Steve 
 O'Leary, and he with a detail of fully two hundred men had great 
 diflaculty in quieting the mob during the confusion which ensued. 
 
 This execution was viewed with so much abhorrence and indig- 
 nation throughout the city, that the Legislature at its next session 
 passed a law prohibiting public executions.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 89 
 
 Up to this time hangman's or execution day was a gala day; for 
 the morbid curiosity so common to human nature then had an oppor- 
 tunity for gratification, and there were but few persons who remained 
 at home. 
 
 Many persons are yet living in this city who remember when the 
 condemned criminals were conducted under strong military escort to 
 the Place d'Armes, or Congo square, the corner of Orleans and Ram- 
 part streets, or the neutral ground in front of the Parish Prison. In 
 1843, or thereabouts, a man was executed somewhere in the vicinity 
 of Dryades and Felicity streets, then known as Gormley's Pond. His 
 crime was the attempted assassination of Recorder Baldwin. 
 
 A numTDer of instances where condemned criminals sought to 
 cheat the hangman by suicide ,can be cited. One was the case of a 
 German who had murdered a child, and who sought to cut his throat 
 with a piece of tin-plate or spoon; but the most notable and successful 
 attempt was that of a man named Costello. He and a man named Pat 
 Kennedy, both convicted of murder, were doomed to die on the same 
 day. Kennedy had been respited on a previous occasion, although 
 fully prepared then to meet his doom. When Costello was sentenced 
 his execution was fixed for the same day. Several days previous to 
 that fixed for the execution, the clothes which were to be worn by 
 the condemned men were ^Drought to them. In the cuff of Costello's 
 shirt was concealed a small package of strychnine. 
 
 On the morning of the execution Costello said to Kennedy: "Are 
 you going to let that howling crowd see you dance on nothing?" 
 
 Kennedy did not answer; whereupon Costello tore open the wrist- 
 band of his shirt and produced a package containing the poison. 
 Facing Kennedy he said: "Here you can have half of this; there is 
 enough for two." 
 
 Kennedy asked him what he was going to do, when Costello 
 opened his, mouth and dropped the contents of the package on his 
 tongue and swallowed it. Kennedy gave the alarm, but too late, for 
 half an hour afterwards Costello was in convulsions and beyond the 
 reach of human skill or science. Kennedy died quietly, confident that 
 his sins had been forgiven. 
 
 During what is now called Know-Nothing times, Antoine Cambre, 
 who was under sentence of death, suicided by poison in the condemned
 
 90 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 cell. He had been convicted of murder, having wantonly shot and 
 killed a lamplighter, who was in the act of extinguishing a lamp one 
 morning in the Third district. 
 
 On June the 16th, 1858, the first private execution under the law 
 of theLegislature took place in the criminal yard of the Parish Prison, 
 and James Nolan, a young man of 22 years, was launched into eter- 
 nity. 
 
 The Sugar Exchange. 
 
 On March the 8th, 1869, a triple execution took place and Joseph 
 Lindsey, Peter Smith and Henry Haus paid the penalty for the crime 
 of murder. Lindsey was a young boarding-house runner, who killed 
 a mate in a difficulty on shipboard, Henry Haus a German, who killed 
 a fellow-prisoner in the lock-up, and Peter Smith, a backsliding 
 minister of the gospel, who murdered his mistress. 
 
 On July 29, '859, James Mullen expiated the crime of murder on 
 the gallows. For weeks previously Mullen used his coffin to sleep in. 
 He passed his time in decorating this, his last home.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 91 
 
 On May 7, 1862, W. B. Mumford was executed in front of the 
 United States Mint on Esplanade street, charged with tearing down 
 the Federal flag from that building. The trap door was huilt out in 
 front of the middle of the landing at the head of the double flight of 
 of stairs leading up on each side. A strong military escort, both 
 cavalry and infantry, was present, and kept the large crowd back 
 from the fence. Mumford died, apparently without a struggle. The 
 next execution was also a public one, and was carried into effect on 
 the levee. The victim in this case was a soldier named Frances T. 
 Scott, who foully murdered Major Pullen, of the 28t'h Maine Regi- 
 ment. Father Duffo ministered to his spiritual wants. Scott was 
 shot to death. 
 
 In 1870 a Malay named Bazar was on the scaffold, the rope was 
 around his neck, the black- cap had 'been drawn over his eyes. The 
 executioner stood in cell No. 9 arrayed in his hlack domino, with his 
 face covered by the somhre-hued mask. The nervous fingers of the 
 hangman had already grasped the handle of the keen-edged axe, the 
 arm was uplifted and about to fall ,when a commutation of sentence 
 stayed proceedings, and Bazar's sentence was commuted to imprison- 
 ment for life. 
 
 Another case where a reprieve was granted at the last moment, 
 almost, was that of six Confederate soldiers: Abraham McLane, 
 Daniel Doyle, Edward C. Smith, Patrick Kane, Greorge L. Williams 
 and William Stanley. They had been captured at Fort Jackson by 
 the Federal troops and paroled, and afterward endeavored to organ- 
 ize a company of Confederates in the city, called the Monroe Life 
 Guards, armed and equiped to force their way through the lines. They 
 were sentenced to fbe shot on the 4th of June, 1862, by Gten. Butler, 
 hut their sentence was commuted to imprisonment on Ship Island.
 
 92 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 MARDI GRAS, THE GREAT CARNIVAL. 
 
 One of the most graphic papers of the celebrated Parisian critic 
 and newspaper writer, Jules Janln, is an article published many years 
 ago, entitled "Le Carnaval." Combining wit, erudition, philosophy and 
 social ethics, the sketch, graced with all the fascinations of this inimit- 
 able feniUetoniste's style, would be as truthful and readable now as 
 it was when, some forty years ago, it presented a dazzling kaleido- 
 scope of the Mardi Gras celebration in Paris, at the height of that 
 city's splendor and gayety, in Louis Philloppe's time. 
 
 Those were the days, too, of the prosperity of Louisiana, when 
 her wealthy planters and merchants, descendants of the adventurous 
 Frenchmen who colonized the delta of the Mississippi, looked to the 
 motherland for their fashions, their amusements and their literature; 
 and sent scores of their sons to Paris to complete their education. 
 These young Creoles returned home with Parisian ideas and tastes so 
 engrained in them that it was natural they should seek to transplant 
 to New Orleans the theatrical, operatic, terpsichorean and other 
 amusements of the great metropolis on the Seine. 
 
 It was in 1827, sometime before the elder Davis opened the old 
 Orleans Theatre Ball-room, that a number of young Creole gentlemen, 
 some of them just returned from finishing a Parisian education, or- 
 ganized the first street procession of masqueraders in New Orleans. 
 One more splendid still, and still larger in numbers, took place on the 
 Mardi Gras of 1837; and another, still more brilliant, in 1839. 
 
 The French side of the Bee, of Tuesday, 13th February, 1839, had 
 a very gay and witty article on the day's celebration, written by one 
 of its assistant editors, Hans Boussuge, a talented young Frenchman, 
 a new-comer from Paris, who died a year or two after, of yellow fever. 
 This article concludes thus: 
 
 "The persons who are to take part in the masquerade are re- 
 quested to meet at the Theatre d'Orleans, at 3 1-2 o'clock p. m., at the 
 latest.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 93 
 
 ORDER OF MARCH. 
 
 From the Theatre d'Orleans, Royal street, St. Charles, Julia, Camp, 
 Chartres, Conde, Esplanade, Royal." 
 
 We very well remember the appearance of this long and brilliant 
 cavalcade as it passed up St. Charles street, near Lafayette square, 
 one of the most conspicuous figures being an immense chicken cock, 
 six feet high, who rode in a vehicle and whose stentorian crow, as he 
 flapped his big wings, elicited cheers of admiration and applause from 
 the crowds on the sidewalks. A distinguished physician, then quite 
 a young man, it was understood, bore this admirably rendered disguise. 
 
 A grand mask and fancy dress ball in the old St. Louis Hotel Ball- 
 room, and one in the Salle d'Orleans (next to the theatre) wound up 
 the famous Mardi Gras of '839. 
 
 From 1840 to 1845, several of these brilliant day displays took 
 place. They were in the hands of gentlemen representing all the re- 
 spectable element of the city's heterogeneous population, and were 
 conducted in the same thorough style, and with the same taste and 
 liberal expenditure that have made the later displays of the Mistick 
 Krewe, the Twelfth iNight Revelers, and the Knights of Momus mem- 
 orable gala nights in the history of New Orleans. 
 
 The lapse of years and changes of fortune 'brought many changes, 
 also, in the social characteristics of New Orleans; and the day cele- 
 bration of Mardi Gras lapsed into oblivio,n. The last, most brilliant 
 and most successful of all, delighted and amused the town, after sev- 
 eral years' quiescense and neglect, on the Mardi Gras of 1852. 
 
 A number of New Orleans' first young men determined to get up a 
 procession, on the occasion alluded to, that would equal in numbers, 
 in order, variety, elegance and piquancy of costumes, any that the 
 chronicles of Mardi Gras in this country could record. The announce- 
 ment of this intention, through the press, excited universal curiosity; 
 and s\^hen the memorable day came. New Orleans boasted of an ac- 
 cession to her population, in the shape of visitors from the North, 
 West and South, that has not been surpassed since. 
 
 The procession traversed the leading streets of the city, which 
 were positively jammed with admiring throngs, and at night the old 
 Orleans Theatre was the center of attraction for all that the Crescent
 
 94 THE CREOLE TOURISTS GUIDE 
 
 Citv held of beauty and fashion. The maskers of the day there re- 
 
 ceivel their friends; ani that bewildering ball was long remembered
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 95 
 
 as the gem of many such jewels clustering in the diadem of the 
 Queen of the South. 
 
 In these days, however, the celebration of Mardi Gras was can- 
 fined mainly to a number of maskers who walked or rode around the 
 streets. It was a great day with the boys, also, who, clothed in old 
 dominoes and masks, with a stout hickory club in their hands and a 
 bag of flour by their sides, would march around the streets, looking 
 for an available victim on whom they could throw their flour, and 
 whom, if they resisted, they would punish with their shillelaghs. Some 
 of the wilder boys, conceived, however, the idea of substituting lime 
 for flouf, and as this on more than one occasion came very near pro- 
 ducing blindness, the police had to step in and arrest the boys. This 
 surveillance was kept up for several years, until both the flour auu 
 the lime disappeared. The flour throwing was evidently a relic of the 
 Roman habit of throwing little confetti made of paste or plaster at 
 maskers 
 
 But, although for many years Mardi Gras was celebrated by the 
 appearance of many maskers on the streets, there was no attempt at 
 a general procession or cele.bration such as we have to-day. 
 
 Mobile first inaugurated the idea of presenting scenes on floats 
 moving around the streets, the Cowbellions of that city having had a 
 parade as early as 1831. The first entertainment of this kind in New 
 Orleans was 'given in 1857. The affair had :been well worked up, and 
 there was so much secrecy about it that ^not even the wives of those 
 who were engaged in it knew aught of it. All that the public was 
 aware of was that an organization, known as the Mistick Krewe, 
 would appear on the streets at night, representing various tableaux. 
 The consequence was that the streets were crowded with people, who 
 welcomed this display with shouts of applause. Its complete success 
 was assured, and as a consequence the Mistick Krewe has not since 
 ceased to parade on Mardi Gras except when war or pestilence for- 
 bade. 
 
 The following is a description of the first appearance of the Mis- 
 tick Krewe procession on our streets, from a paper of that date: 
 
 "This Krewe, concerning whose identity and purposes there had 
 been tortures of curiosity and speculation, made their dehut before 
 the public in a very unique and attractive manner. They went
 
 96 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 through the streets at nine o'clock with torchlights, in a guise as 
 much resembling a deputation from the lower regions as the mind 
 could possibly conceive. The masks displayed every fantastic idea 
 of the fearful and horrible, their effect being, however, softened down 
 
 o 
 
 s_ 
 3 
 03 
 
 by the richness and beauty of the costumes, and the verdant decorum 
 of the devils inside. 
 
 "After going through the principal streets, and calling upon 
 Mayor Waterman for the purpose, we suppose, of obtaining a license
 
 AXD SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 97 
 
 to "raise the supernatural" in the Gaiety Theatre, they proceeded to 
 that elegant establishment in order to entertain the hosts of guests 
 they had summoned. 
 
 "The interior of the theatre was decorated with a profusion of 
 hanging wreaths and festoons of flowers. In a short time after the 
 doors were thrown open, all the space inside, apart from the floor 
 and stage, was jammed with an audience composed of the elite of 
 Louisiana and the adjace.nt States — none being in mask but the Krewe, 
 
 "In due time the Mistick Krewe appeared on the stage in the full 
 glare of the lights. If we may so speak, they were beautiful in their 
 ugliness — charming in their repulsiveness. There were upwards of 
 a hundred of them, and no two alike, whilst all were grotesque to the 
 last degree. They represented the different characters with which re- 
 ligion, mythology and poesy have peopled the Infernal Regions, and 
 which Milton has aggregated in his "Paradise Lost." 
 
 "Four tableaux were given. The flrst represented Tartarus, the 
 second, the Expulsion, the third, the Conference of Satan and Belze- 
 bub, and the fourth, and last, the Pandemonium. 
 
 "At the conclusion of the tableaux, the barriers were removed, 
 and the brilliant audience crowded upon the dancing floor. The 
 Mistick Krewe having disbanded, dispersed among the crowd and 
 joined in the dance in a manner which showed them to be very gen- 
 tlemanly and agreeable devils." 
 
 MINOR MASKING CLUBS ALSO ADD TO THE ANNUAL REVELRY. 
 
 Knights of Proteus,, new organization, appeared in 1882, the day 
 before Mardi Gras, with a very handsome parade. A Dream of Egypt, 
 showing the various Egyptian deities, Osiris, Isis, Thoth and Nilus; 
 the Mourning of the Egj'ptians, an Egyptian "Wedding, etc. 
 
 HOW THE PARADES ARE PREPARED. 
 
 The Carnival celebration in New Orleans has of late years sur- 
 passed, in extent and grandeur, all similar events occurring either in 
 Europe or this country. Beside it the carnivals of the Corso of Rome 
 and the canals of Venice are tame affairs, lacking the exquisite order
 
 98 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 and organization with which the Americans have endowed it. Though 
 frequently described in letters and by the public press, it yet has to be 
 seen to be appreciated, and few enjoy that privilege once without 
 thereafter making an annual pilgrimage to the Crescent City during 
 its festive season. 
 
 Til ton's Librarv — Tulane University 
 
 Few understand the admirable and thorough system of organiza- 
 tion, through which alone such grand successes can be achieved — a 
 system as complete in its little way as that of an army or an estab- 
 lished government. 
 
 In fact, it does embrace a phantom government, ruled over by the 
 mythical Rex, whose reign is absolute for twenty-four hours, during
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 99 
 
 which his flag is alone permitted to fly; and whose edicts are as im- 
 plicitly obeyed as were those of an Alexander or a Nero. The central 
 power is contributed to and supported by several secret societies, each 
 independent within itself, but all co-operating to a single e.nd. Outside 
 of Rex's court there are other and some older secret associations, 
 such as the Mistick Krewe, the Twelfth Night Revelers, the Knights 
 of Momus, etc. Each of these has its own distinct gala night devoted 
 to its street procession and its tableau balls, to which the tickets are 
 invariably complimentary. 
 
 The expense of one these displays ranges in cost from $12,000 to 
 $18,000, and sometimes higher. In one instance Rex's display cost 
 $28,000. Each association owns its twenty floats, its ladders and 
 lights, housings for the draft-horses and disguises for the torch-bear- 
 ers, but none of them have any known permanent meeting-place, which 
 changes constantly and is kept sacredly secret. 
 
 Each association ntimbers from 150 to 200 men, generally club 
 men, some of them grand-fathers. One hundred are generally se- 
 lected to appear in the display, while the others are utilized in other 
 duties which are more onerous than is generally supposed. The prep- 
 aration for a display occupies almost an entire year, and the torch- 
 lights of one hardly die out before work is on foot for its successor, 
 all of which is conducted with the greatest secrecy. 
 
 The first step taken after Mardi Gras is a meeting for the election 
 of a design committee for the ensuing year, over whom is elevated 
 "the captain," with absolute power, experience having demonstrated 
 imperial power and blind obedience to be the main essentials of the 
 system. 
 
 Next the artist is summoned for consultation. Each member of 
 the committee .now proposes one or more subjects for treatment, the 
 best half-dozen of which are delivered to the artist to reproduce in 
 rough crayon sketches throughout. When completed, the committee 
 meets again for consultation, and a final selection is made. This is 
 always the most difficult problem encountered, and generally con- 
 sumes an entire month, after which the work begins in earnest. 
 
 The artist at once commences the preparation of accurate water 
 color sketches of each of the hundred characters, upon cardboards 
 about the size of an imperial photograph. These are finished to the
 
 109 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 minutest detail and carefully colored for the use of the costume man- 
 ufacturer, the material of which every part of the dress is to be made 
 being inscribed upon it. 
 
 These completed to the satisfaction of the design committee — .no 
 easy task, .by the way, and one requiring a couple of months for exe- 
 cution — the cast of characters is then made in liarmony with the in- 
 dividual characteristics of the members, who from that time forward 
 also their identity and are designated only by .numbers w^hich are 
 inscribed upon the separate character cards. These cards also bear 
 upon their reverse the height, girth, weight, size of foot, head and 
 hand, together with a record of the physical peculiarities of the indi- 
 vidual who is to assume the indicated role. 
 
 This done, the artist at once commences upon a duplicate series of 
 eighteen or twenty larger and much more elaborate water color de- 
 signs in which all the characters appear grouped in the respective 
 emblematic tableaux they are to exhibit upon the floats in the street 
 procession, together with the float, designs, decorations and aacesso- 
 ries, each one being a little scene within itself. 
 
 When completed, one set of these — each figure duly numbered — is 
 posted upon the walls of the club-room, or "The Den," as it is generally 
 called, for the members' close scrutiny and study during the balance 
 of the year. 
 
 The other set, together with the individual character cards, are 
 then either taken or sent to Paris, where the costumes are manufact- 
 ured and numbered to correspond. These preliminaries are generally 
 consummated by July 1, and a short breathing spell ensues, during 
 which time the local papier-maiche maker is 'busy moulding the prop- 
 erties which are required to decorate the floats. 
 
 By December 1st, the costumes generally arrive in Xew Orleans. 
 They are at once removed to "The Den," where tliey are ranged upon 
 long tables, each costume being surmounted with its appropriate pict- 
 ure. Here, during a period of six or eight weeks, the members come 
 in regular detail to be fitted with their dresses by a corps of tailors, 
 armorers and milliners in constant attendance for that purpose. 
 
 This task completed to perfect satisfaction, each costume is 
 placed in one of a hundred boxes, duly numbered with the cast num-
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 101 
 
 ber, which is locked up and laid aside in waiting for the eventful night. 
 Meanwhile the Float Committee, with the dupli2ate set of designs, 
 has 'been engaged for weeks at some out of the way place, generally 
 the yard of a coiton press, building up, with the aid of carpenters, 
 painters, carvers, gilders and papier-mache makers, the wonderful 
 structures upon which the figures are to pose during the street pro- 
 cession. Another committee is at work preparing for the ball, which 
 takes place at the Opera House, and is generally preceded by three 
 tableaux, the last embracing all the characters, the large and elaborate 
 designs for which have consumed most of the artist's leisure time up 
 to the holidays. 
 
 As the eventful day, or rather night, approaches nearer, everybody 
 is at work — some preparing the lights for the procession, some en- 
 gaging horses, others drilling the torch bearers, who are forced to 
 discharge their duties with military precision; others arranging mat- 
 ters with the authorities, so that the streets wall be in order and all 
 obstructions removed — all this being accomplished with such thorough 
 system and secrecy that not until the display is actually upon the 
 street, are the public aware of either its subject or where it will first 
 appear. 
 
 A few days prior to the great event the boxes containing the cos- 
 tumes and other properties are moved at dead of night to some building, 
 in the immediate vicinity of the yards where the floats have been pre- 
 pared. The front of this building, generally a warehouse, is kept 
 closed and the windows darkened. Temporary entrances are impro- 
 vised by cutting through the walls into adjoining houses, sd that it 
 can be reached from two or three different streets by members of the 
 association, who alone are in the secret. 
 
 The processions usually move about 9 o'clock at night, but as early 
 as 2 p. m., upon the appointed day, the members commence straggling 
 into the Den, all in full evening dress. This they remove and deposit 
 in their numbered boxes in place of the costume in w^hich they array 
 themselves. About 7 o'clock in the evening, when all are dressed, the 
 roll is called; the characters (all masked) take their places in line, 
 and a final inspection takes place.
 
 102 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 About this time a squad of police arrives upon the scene, and after 
 
 3 
 
 clearing the street in front of the building, cordon all the cross streets
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 103 
 
 for four or five squares. Into the left of this reserve space shortly file 
 the torch-bearers under guidance of officers, who silently take up the 
 places along the curbs for the entire distance. In a few moments the 
 floats follow and drive in regular order up to the door of the ware- 
 house. When the first arrives the hitherto sealed doors are thrown 
 open, and a long bridge is run out over the sidewalk. As the captain 
 calls the numbers each man steps out and takes his appointed place 
 upon the fioats, which are driven off expeditiously until all are in line. 
 The bands are then marched to position, and everything is in order in 
 a remarkably short space of time. 
 
 The proceedings, so far, have heen conducted in utter darkness.. 
 The captain then rides rapidly along the lines, and, finding everything. 
 in order, gives an appointed signal. In a moment all the torches flash 
 out into a blazing parallogram of light, securely inclosing the proces- 
 sion, and guarded outside at regular intervals by the police, who have 
 quietly taken up position. 
 
 The procession thus formed marches rapidly until it reaches the 
 nearest prominent thoroughfare, when the bands' strike up, the bombs 
 explode, the rockets fly, and port fires of every color blaze brilliantly 
 along the line, over which hangs a heavy cloud of smoke, reflecting 
 the many-hued tints of a monstrous fantastically illuminated canopy, 
 which lends an indescribable weirdness to the unnatural, yet artistic 
 scene. 
 
 After traversing the route appointed, which is generally short and 
 hemmed in by throngs of admiring and wonder-stricken people, the 
 floats flnally arrive at the stage-door of the Opera House, where they 
 unload their living freight, and drive rapidly away in the darkness. 
 
 Meanwhile the boxes containing the clothing of the members have 
 been taken by express wagons to the Opera House, and are all arranged 
 in order in the dressing rooms. 
 
 The tableaux generally occupy the time up to 11 o'clock, after which 
 the characters are permitted to mingle with the guests upon the dancing 
 floor, under no restrictions save that of keeping their individuality 
 unrevealed. 
 
 Precisely at 12 o'clock the captain's shrill w^histle sounds, and 
 from that moment they gradually disappear, until long before the next
 
 104 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 hour strikes every one has vanished and the members are mingling 
 unnoticed among the guests, save where they are occasionally found 
 explaining their absence for the day to unsuspecting wives or daught- 
 ers, with the most unconscionatle excuses, and — not to put too fine a 
 point up it — lies. 
 
 They have merely slipped into the dressing rooms, exchanging 
 their costumes for ordinary everyday dress, and long before the ball 
 closes in the wee sma' hours the express wagons have carried the entire 
 paraphernalia back to the den and packed it away securely. When the 
 actor gets up in the morning it is all over, as fleeting and illusive as 
 the dreams from whi:h he wakes.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 
 
 105 
 
 WHERE THE DEAD SLEEP. 
 
 The day of All Saints, Hallowmas or All Hallows has from very- 
 early times been celebrated as a festival by the Church. In pagan 
 times, before the Christian era, the people of various nations, particu- 
 larly those of the Celtic race, were accustomed to celebrate the 1st 
 of May, when the earth was crowned with flowers, and the 1st of 
 November, when the fall of the leaf hearalded the death of nature. 
 
 Entr?nce to Metairie Cerretery. 
 
 The Church, wisely choosing rather to adopt and utilize these popular 
 festivals than to destroy them, incorporated them into the calendar. 
 
 The death of the flowers and the approaching dissolution of nature 
 as represented in the vegetable kingdom, naturally suggests to a 
 poetical fancy the death of friends and loved ones, and so the 1st of 
 November became a day w^hen the dead were remembered and their 
 tombs adorned with the floral offerings of the living.
 
 106 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 The cemeteries of New Orleans are in many respects different from 
 those of most other countries and cities. Built in a marsh, the city 
 has neither cellars for the houses of the living nor graves for the 
 dead. For both, habitations must be built above the ground, and side 
 by side with the city of the living is the city of the dead. In fact, 
 the older cemeteries, such as the St. Louis, Girod, Lafaj^ette and 
 others, which were once the outskirts of the town, are now in the 
 heart of the populous part of the city, and every consideration of 
 public sanitation demands that they be closed against further inter- 
 ments. 
 
 The old cemeteries of New Orleans are rich in engraved annals 
 which include nearly all the names identified with the founding and 
 growth of the city. Inscriptions of the French, Spanish and English 
 tongues show the successive nationalities that have dominated this 
 ancient municipality, while the Latin epitaph marks the last resting 
 place of the priest or prelate, respresenting the Church which belonged 
 to every age and to which all nationalities were as one, since people 
 of all races were its children. 
 
 The weather is always bright, crisp and delightful. On All Saints' 
 day that is proverbial, and a rainy November 1st is almost unknown. 
 
 By act of Congress the entire North has adopted one of the most 
 poetic traditions of this French city. This flower town, on the first 
 day of November, has from time immemorial, closed all her places 
 of toil or trade and gone forth by thousands and hundreds of thou- 
 sands with baskets of flowers to decorate the graves of its dead. There 
 are flowers in the yards in New Orleans in November, flowers in the 
 fields, on the walls and in the hedges, v/ild and tame; flowers of all 
 colors and all kinds. And on this particular day it is as if all these 
 flowers, gathered in the arms of a hundred thousand pretty children, 
 had set out to decorate the graves of the cherished dead. Nearly every 
 street in New Orleans is a living, moving mass of fragrant flowers and 
 beautiful children. And all this is sincere. No idle sentimentality 
 about it; but each one who bears flowers has some memory of cher- 
 ished kindred to hold sacred and beautify with flowers, as has been 
 the custom here for generations out of mind. 
 
 A vast, flat field, with trees here and there, some stately and vener- 
 able oaks with moss sweeping almost to the ground; a field of tombs,
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 107 
 
 with lanes and avenues, a painful monotony of rounded sepulchres 
 that constantly reminded one of the white covered wagons in a great 
 camp, for the dead are buried above ground here, laid in tiers inside 
 these great white wagon covers that dot the vast level field of green 
 grass and mossy oaks and orange trees. The floral offerings are mostly 
 immortelles wrought into anchors, harps, crosses and crowns, and other 
 emblematical figures. A very pretty design represents a sickle em- 
 bracing a sheaf of wheat which it has cut down. Of fresh flowers, 
 white chrysanthemums are used in great numbers, and with beautiful 
 effect. The large trumpet flowers of the white dotura are also seen 
 in numbers. ^ ^'W. 
 
 A singularly pretty sight as you enter this home of the dead is 
 that of a heavily laden orange tree growing close up to and over 
 one of these white and monotonous tombs. The apples of gold in 
 the fervidly green foliage, and there, this gold and green, this life 
 against death, this green and gold dashed against the cold, white tomb, 
 making a marked and a remarkable picture. 
 
 At each of the many gates of the very many graveyards of New 
 Orleans on All Saints' Day sits a silent nun, or sister of charity, in 
 her snowy habit of purity, with little orphans at her side. These 
 are her flowers; their fathers, mothers, are up the avenue, further on, 
 resting with the dead. A little plate sits by, and each person as he 
 enters the cemetery drops something into it. 
 
 The Firemen's Cemtery at Metairie Ridge is full of interest. It 
 has a num.ber of fine tombs belonging to various fire companies. They 
 were splendidly decorated and were the centers of great attraction 
 for visitors. 
 
 On the main aisle is the column that commemorates John T. Mon- 
 roe, the war Mayor of the city. 
 
 Maunsel White, the merchant, soldier and patriot, sleeps there. He 
 lives in the hearts of many and is immortalized among epicures by 
 the celebrated sauce he invented, which to-day is found on many a 
 dinner table. 
 
 Irad Ferry, the heroic fireman, who lost his life in saving that of 
 a child, is celebrated by a splendid marble column. He died January 
 4, 1837, while rescuing a little one from a burning building. 
 
 The Bakers' Society tomb is also in that cemetery.
 
 108 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 In Metarie Cemetery, which marks where the famous old Metarie 
 race-course once was, the Army of Northern Virginia has a tomb sur- 
 mounted by a column bearing a statue of Stonewall Jackson, and the 
 Washington Artillery monument is crowned by a statue of their old 
 commander, Colonel J. B. Walton. 
 
 Just as the gate is entered the new tomb of the Army of Tennessee 
 is seen. It is a Gothic vault covered with a green, grassy mound. In- 
 side are receptacles for forty-eight bodies. The whole is of solid 
 masonry, finished in marble. It is to be surmounted by a equestrian 
 
 Albert Sidney Johnson Monument — Metarie Cemetery 
 
 statue in bronze of General Albert Sidney Johnston, the statue to be 
 executed by Alexander Doyle, the scultor. 
 
 On a block of stone near the entrance is to stand in marble an 
 orderly sergeant "calling the roll," executed by Doyle. Inside the 
 vault, marble tablets bear the names of the battles of the association. 
 
 The entrance of the vault is surmounted by a trophy of arms and 
 flags, such as appears on the badges of the association. It was de- 
 signed by Perelli, the New Orleans sculptor.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 109 
 
 In Greenwood, the societies of the Swis,, of the Typographers, in- 
 augurated in 1855, and of the Association of Alsace and Lorraine, in 
 1874, are conspicuous; but the beautiful and artistic monument dedi- 
 cated to the Confederate dead, under which sleep near five hundred 
 soldiers of the Lost Cause, and over which a marble sentinel ever 
 keeps watch, is one of the finest tombs in the country. 
 
 In the Old St. Louis No. 1, the oldest of the cemeteries, are seen 
 almost in juxtaposition the tombs of Benedics Van Pradelles, an officer 
 of the Revolution with Lafayette, who died in 1808, and of Paul Mor- 
 phy, the world's greatest chess player, who died in June, 1884. 
 
 In this cemetery many of the oldest tombs are so dilapidated that 
 they can not be identified, and some are missing altogether. 
 
 In St. Louis No. 2, the various historic stratifications appear in 
 strong contrast, but closely associated. The fine tomb of General 
 J. B. Plauche, the friend of General Jackson, the Commander of the 
 Orleans Batalion in the v/ar of 1812-14, and one of the defenders of 
 Kew Orleans in the famous victory over the British, tells of the early 
 history of the city. The veteran was subsequently Lieutenant-Governor 
 of the State. 
 
 Dominique You, one of Lafitte's pirates, another defender of New 
 Orleans in that same memorable battle, sleeps in a plain brick tomb 
 not far off. The tablet bears no date, but discloses the words: "The 
 New Bayard, the intrepid warrior and patriot." His was a history full 
 of romance and strange adventure. 
 
 Alexander Milne, the philanthropist, born in Scotland, but long a 
 resident of this city, sleeps under a massive granite pillar. He died 
 at the age of 94 in 1838, and left a large fortune to endow the Milne 
 Asylum for orphan boys in New Orleans. 
 
 Francis Xavier Martin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 State, and author of a history of Louisiana, is represented by a granite 
 column. He graced the Supreme bench as early as 1815. 
 
 Pierre Soule, Senator of the United States, jurist, diplomat and 
 orator, sleeps there. A native of France, he attained the highest dis- 
 tinction in Louisiana, and he rests in the bosom of his adopted country. 
 
 On all hands are the tombs of men who were identified with the 
 history of the city from the earliest times to the present, and to men- 
 tion their names would be to fill a volume. A relic of the days of
 
 no 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 reconstruction is the tomb of Oscar J. Dunn, colored, Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor of the State under Warmoth. 
 
 Of society tombs, those of the Iberian Society, erected in 1848; 
 the Spanish Cazadores, erected in 1836, are most distinguished. 
 
 Chinese Funeral in St Louis Cemetery 
 
 St. Louis No. 3, at Bayou Ridge, contains many interesting tombs. 
 Colonel Charles D. Dreux, one of the first Southerners to give his life 
 for his country, sleeps there. He fell at Bethel, Va., July 5, 1861. 
 
 A tomb, bearing an inscription which tells that James Gallier, archi- 
 tect, and his wife, Marie, were lost at sea October 31, 1866, when the
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 111 
 
 steamship Evening Star foundered with all on board, in a hurricane 
 off the coast of Florida, brings up a thrill of sympathetic horror as the 
 dreadful event is recalled. 
 
 G'irod Cemetery is old and dilapidated. It does not bear the marks 
 of constant attention seen elsewhere, but it had many visitors, and its 
 tombs are interesting. Prominent is the monument to Colonel W. W. 
 S. Bliss, a son-in-law of General Taylbr, and chief of staff of the army 
 commanded by him in the Mexican war. He survived all its battles 
 and died peacefully. The monument was built by his friends of West 
 Point. 
 
 The monument of the Marine Association and the splendid temple 
 of the New Lusitanos are also prominent. Many colored societies have 
 large and well constructed receptacles for the dead, but an item of 
 more than ordinary interest is recorded on a marble tablet of a slave, 
 an old family servant. It reads as follows: "Mammy, aged 84, a 
 faithful servant. She lived and died a Christian." Nothing could be 
 more simple, nothing more touching. It was a gleam of light from 
 the days of slavery, showing that the ties of a common humanity 
 were not destroyed by that institution. 
 
 Lafayette Cemetery contains many fine and historic tombs. 
 
 Henry W. Allen, the war Governor of Louisiana, sleeps here be- 
 neath a lofty column. General John B. Hood and General Harry T. 
 Hays, distinguished figures on the Southern side in the Civil War, 
 are there also, besides many lesser officers and soldiers. 
 
 S. J. Peters, who died in 1855, rests there. 
 
 Lafayette No. 2 is a new cemetery; but prominent among its monu- 
 ments are those of the French Society of Jefferson, built in 1872, and 
 that of the Butchers' Association, built in 1868. The last-named is very 
 large, containing room for eighty corpses. It was much visited by 
 ladies. 
 
 The Valence Street Cemetery, better known as the City Cemetery 
 of Jefferson City, is situated at the far end of Valence street. 
 
 St. Vincent No. 1 is comparatively a new cemetery, and one of the 
 most beautifully arranged in the city. On entering the main gate 
 are seen on both sides of the center avenue handsome and well-kept 
 tombs, showing that those who sleep within their portals are well 
 remembered.
 
 112 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 There are four cemeteries in Algiers — St. Bartholomew, St. Mary, 
 Olivier and the Firemen's Charitable Association of the Fifth District. 
 All Saints' Day is always observed in Algiers, and flowers and wreaths 
 are profusely strewn over the graves of the dear departed. 
 
 St. Bartholomew Cemetery occupies the square bounded by De 
 Armas, Verret, Lapeyrouse and Franklin streets, and is the oldest 
 cemetery in Algiers, having been established in 1849. St. Mary's, 
 on the opposite side of De Armas street, was opened recently as a re- 
 ceptacle on account of the overcrowded condition of St. Bratholomew 
 Cemetery. 
 
 At the corner of Market and Verret streets is situated the Olivier 
 Cemetery, established and used by the wealthy and numerous family 
 of that name and their descendants. It covers nearly a square of 
 ground, surrounded by a high plank fence, which is always kept in 
 excellent repair and well whitewashed. On the grounds there has been 
 a house built by Mr. Olivier and his brother, in which reside the 
 keepers of the cemetery. A small chapel adjoins, the altar of which 
 is always festooned with flowers, and on either side are the portraits 
 of members of the family. 
 
 The Firemen's burying ground is on Webster avenue. It was pur- 
 chased but a few years ago, and as yet contains only a few tombs. 
 
 In the rear of the town of Gouldsboro, which was formerly called 
 McDoncghville, in a Peld near the Morgan Railroad track, is an 
 empty sarcophagus, in which once rested the remains of the philan- 
 thropist .John McDonogh. It is built of marble, and is about four feet 
 high, ten feet long and six feet wide, and is in a good state of preserva- 
 tion, although brown with age. The remains were removed to Balti- 
 more some years since, and his tomb in that city is said to be an- 
 nually decorated by the school children in grateful remembrance for 
 the benefits derived from the wealth he bequeathed for educational 
 purposes. 
 
 There are other graves in the field where once did rest the remains 
 of McDonogh. Some are old and dilapidated, and some well kept. 
 
 In Gretna there is the cemetery of William Tell Hook and Ladder 
 Company. This cemetery was first made a resting place for the dead 
 in 1858, and each year the graves are decorated with care.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 113 
 
 The Bisbee gravej^ard, as it was once known, is the oldest in Gretna, 
 and was named out of respect to the memory of Judge D. W. F. Bisbee, 
 who is buried there. It has recently been purchased by the Catholics, 
 and called after St. Joseph. 
 
 The National Cemetery at Chalmette is in charge of the Quarter- 
 master's Department. 
 
 This beautiful resting place of the dead is situated on the left bank 
 of the Mississippi River, a little over one mile below the Jackson 
 Barracks. The ground was donated by the city in 1865, and was laid 
 out by Captain Barnard. 
 
 There are 12,192 graves — 6,913 of these are classed as "Known." 
 and 5,279 are marked as "Unknown." 
 
 MONUMENTS. 
 
 The Mcnuments and Statues In and Around New Orleans. 
 
 The m.onuments of New Orleans are numerous and handsome. 
 While the founder of the city is without one, if we may expect a 
 has relief in the central room of the Customhouse; while, indeed, not 
 one of the many of the native Creoles who have obtained high positions 
 in the world of literature and art has received recognition, the city 
 has raised memorials to more than a dozen persons. 
 
 Another case of neglect, fully as great as that shown Bienville, 
 is the decayed condition of the monument erected in honor of the 
 battle of New Orleans. 
 
 The .Jackson monument, as this is called, on the plains of Chal- 
 mette, named in honor of the old bachelor planter who owned the 
 grounds — Chalmette — is situated about a mile below the slaughter- 
 house. You reach it via the Levee & Barracks cars and walk along 
 the levee.
 
 114 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURISTS GUIDE 
 
 On the other* hand, New Orleans can claim some credit for raising 
 the only monument to a woman ever erected in the United States. 
 In a little grassy plot of ground at the intersection of Camp and 
 Prytania streets, stands the white marble figure of a woman, inscribed 
 with the simple name, "Margaret." Seated in a chair with a shawl 
 around her shoulders and one arm thrown around the neck of a child, 
 is the figure of the deceased Margaret Haughery, "the orphans' 
 
 Jackson Statue and St. Louis Cathedral 
 
 friend." The location is well selected, for it faces the Female Orphan 
 Asylum, toward the establishment of which Margaret did so much. 
 The woman whom it is intended to honor, was unable to either read 
 or write, but by her energy acquired a considerable fortune, all the 
 income from which was given to the various orphan asylums of New 
 Orleans, without regard to sect; and at her death a few years ago, 
 the whole of her fortune was bequeathed for their support.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 115 
 
 Clay statue, once on Canal street where Royal and St. Charles 
 meet, is now in Lafayette Square. The corner-stone was laid by the 
 Clay Statue Association on April 12, 1856. The inauguration, which 
 called out one of the grandest and largest public gatherings that ever 
 took place in New Orleans, was on the 12th of April, 1860. On that 
 occasion Colonel J. B. Walton acted as Grand Marshal and Colonel 
 J. O. Nixon as First Assistant-Marshal. Joel T. Hart, of Kentucky, 
 the artist who gave form and proportions to the Clay statue, was pres- 
 ent at the inauguration, and Wm. H. Hunt, Esq., was the orator of 
 the day. 
 
 The statue itself is a perfect likeness of the illustrious statesman. 
 Its height is about fifteen feet. This, with the foundation circle, steps 
 and pedestal, makes it stand some forty feet high. 
 
 The marble statue of Franklin, once in the center of Lafayette 
 Square where now stands Clay statue, and then removed to Camp 
 street, and at present is at the Main Public Library Building, is con- 
 nected with the story of the great American sculptor, Hiram Powers, 
 the author of the "Greek Slave." When Powers first went to Italy 
 to study art, a number of New Orleans people, in order to assist him, 
 ordered from him a statue of Benjamin, for which they paid five 
 thousand dollars in advance; while the State of Louisiana gave him 
 fifteen thousand dollars for a statue of Washington. This was in 1844, 
 before Powers had won the reputation he afterwards enjoyed. The 
 statue, however, was not completed, and, the war intervening, the 
 original gift to Powers was forgotten until 1869, when the matter was 
 brought up again. Powers then agreed to complete the statue, which 
 was done in 1871, and it was given to the city upon the condition that 
 a granite base should be erected. A series of contretemps followed. 
 The statue arrived, but by some mistake was advertised for sale; 
 the granite for the pedestal was shipped from Boston, but lost at sea; 
 a second lot was never heard of, and it was not until 1873 that the 
 statue was finally erected on its present location. 
 
 The statue of General Robert E. Lee, in Lee Circle, at the inter- 
 section of St. Charles avenue and Delord street, was unveiled during 
 the carnival of 1883, in the presence of an immense multitude, and 
 while a severe rain and wind storm was raging. The pillar, which is 
 100 feet high, is hollow, and a stairway in the center gives access to
 
 116 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 a small chamber at the top immediately under the statue, from which 
 
 V 
 V 
 
 E 
 O 
 
 (0 
 
 a view of the city can be obtained. The statue is a colossal of bronze 
 representing Lee with folded arms surveying the scene of battle.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 117 
 
 The Jackson monument, in Jackson Square, is the first equestrian 
 statue ever produced representing the horse in the act of rearing. This 
 peculiar attitude was the invention of Clark Mills, who designed the 
 statue, and is rendered possible by making the fore part of the animal 
 hollow, while the remainder is solid. 
 
 The monument was erected in 1851, the money for this purpose 
 being raised by popular subscription, the largest contribution coming 
 from Madame Pontalba, who owned the rows of buildings opposite, 
 and who placed the square, the old Place d'Armes, in which the statue 
 stands, in its present condition. At the cemeteries are a number of 
 statues memorial of the war, which have been described in a previous 
 chapter. 
 
 McDonogh, patron of our public schools, is remembered by a monu- 
 ment in Lafayette Square, occupying a place of honor facing the City 
 Hall. 
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 THE COTTON EXCHANGE. 
 
 The Cotton Exchange, at the corner of Carondelet and Gravier 
 streets, is considered by many the handsomest and most graceful 
 building in the city. The building is of the ornate Italian style of 
 architecture, elaborately carved and ornamented. 
 
 The Exchange room proper is situated on the ground floor of the 
 building, and extends from Carondelet street back to Varieties alley, 
 a distance of 100 feet, with a width of 50 feet. There is, perhaps, no 
 room on this side the Atlantic on the embellishment of which so much 
 time and pains have been expended. 
 
 On first entering the visitor is surprised at the wealth of decora- 
 tion, and the eye is for the moment dazed with elaborate design and 
 prodigality of fresco. The interior is of the Renaissance style through- 
 out, and is one of the most gorgeous illustrations of Lienard's school.
 
 118 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 Entering from Carondelet street, the ceiling is ornamented witli 
 three medallions of most delicate tracery. The colors are of the rarest 
 shades, from vermillion to pale lilac, and the figures wrought in these 
 panels are exquisite. 
 
 Surrounding a beautiful center-piece — gold, crimson and lilac — are 
 four paintings, representing De Soto's first view of the Mississippi, 
 a view of the jetties at South Pass, with steamers passing up, La Salle 
 taking possession of Louisiana, and a cotton field with the cotton 
 ready for picking. 
 
 To describe the ornamentation of the walls would be difficult. 
 Panels with griffins' heads and ornate borders; rich friezes and rosettes 
 with gold predominating; fruit and fiowers, wreaths and festoons, 
 everywhere meet the dazzled eye. 
 
 Supporting the ceiling four double columns, resting on pedestals, 
 rise in beautiful symmetry in the perfection of the Renaissance style. 
 The lower third of the columns is adorned with rosettes of a rich 
 pattern, and give to these shafts an Indian type, although the style 
 is French. 
 
 Near the entrance on Varieties alley is, perhaps, the chef d'oeuvre 
 of art in the building. It is a young Triton blowing a conch shell, 
 and stands in the center of the fountain's bowl. The figure is of a 
 bronze color, and the attitude is full of life. 
 
 Around the walls there are set in large slabs of slate, on which 
 the quotations of the market and movements of cotton will be noted. 
 These slabs are of unusual size, and were quarried for the Exchange. 
 
 As a recess from the large Exchange room, is the space devoted 
 to the officers of the institution. Here all that taste could suggest 
 has been done to make it par excellence the model business office of 
 the city. An artistic rail and screen separates it from the main room, 
 and the work is handsomely finished in oil. 
 
 The building is four stories high, and an elevator near the rear 
 entrance transports passengers to the upper story, from which a stair- 
 way of easy ascent leads to the roof. This is inclosed by a handsome 
 iron railing, so that parties can walk around with perfect safety. 
 From this lofty altitude a view of the city and its surroundings can 
 be had, scarcely to be obtained from any accessible building in the 
 city. In clear weather Lake Pontchartrain can be distinctly seen.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 119 
 
 and the windings of the Mississippi for miles, both above and below 
 the city. On this roof are hung the large bells, which strike both quar- 
 ters and hours. 
 
 THE SUGAR EXCHANGE. 
 
 The Sugar Exchange Hall proper is of magnificent proportions, be- 
 ing 60x110 feet and 54 feet high from floor to skylight. It is lit on 
 three sides by plate-glass windows, 13x24 feet, and a skylight 23 feet 
 square. The wing building is 120x33 feet, and is two stories high. 
 On the first fioor there is a public vestibule, telegraph oflices, offices 
 of the Exchange, stair-hall, lavatory and water closets and a board 
 room. On the second floor a library, 12x19, reading room and museum, 
 77x20, lavatory, etc., and two committee rooms. The ventilation is 
 through the cornice of the skylight, and the acoustics perfect. The 
 entrances to the hall are covered by porches, and a Schillinger pave- 
 ment has been laid on three sides, and on the j^ard in the rear as well. 
 
 Great taste has been employed by the architect in both the exterior 
 and interior finish. Freehand ornamentation has been judiciously 
 applied wherever practicable. Between the Exchange and the sugar 
 sheds was formerly a triangular islet of city property used as a general 
 dumping ground for worn-out machinery, lumber and trash. This 
 islet the Council set aside for a public park, and appointed its com- 
 missioners from the members of the Sugar Exchange. On its trees 
 and shrubs have been planted, the surface sodded and walks laid 
 out, and the whole surrounded by a high dressed curb, with a Schil- 
 linger banquette at the Bienville street side, the base of the triangle.
 
 120 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 THE CUSTOMHOUSE. 
 
 Sixty years ago, the First Municipality of New Orleans offered 
 the United States its choice of several squares, to be conveyed in 
 fee simple, provided a Customhouse, worthy of the growing commerce 
 of the city, would be erected on the ground chosen. The United States 
 accepted the proposition, the Secretary of the Treasury selected the 
 "Customhouse Square" as the most eligible of those offered, and in a 
 short time thereafter the plans of A. T. Wood were adopted, November 
 22, 1847, and the work commenced October 23, 1848. The work was 
 carried on with greater or less expenditure, according to the means 
 at disposal, till the war, when, for a time, it was entirely suspended. 
 After the war work was begun again. 
 
 In the center of the Customhouse is the finest business room in the 
 world. The size of the entire room is 125x95 feet; the height — from 
 floor to glass dome or ceiling — fifty-four feet. Fourteen lofty columns 
 are placed so as to give the central part of the room a space of 45x65 
 feet for the use of the general public, and outside of that for the 
 accommodation of the officers and clerks. The columns are of the 
 Corinthian order with Attic bases; the lower portion of the shafts 
 plain and polished; the capitals varied to allow designs indicative of 
 the purposes of the room. At the top of each capital is a basso- 
 rilievo of Juno, and another of Mercury, and designs of cotton and 
 tobacco plants. These are so arranged that each faces its opposite 
 on every column, and by looking at four capitals from any position, 
 all the designs can be comprehended at a glance. The floor is laid 
 out, in pattern, of black and white marble, in tiles, each two feet 
 square, with borders in black marble from column to column. Sixteen 
 light holes are cut in the floor, four feet six inches in diameter, floored 
 with glass one inch thick, cast on a hammered surface to break the 
 rays of light, and ground to a smooth surface, presenting the appear- 
 ance of green marble. Each plate is the center of a star, handsomely 
 inlaid with black marble. The room is heated by steam, the steam 
 coils being suspended in the floor from the arches, and shielded by 
 hexagon pedestals with marble tops. In this hall is to be seen a 
 marble figure in basso-rilievo of Bienville, the only monument of its 
 founder the city possesses; one of Jackson and of some others con- 
 nected with the history of New Orleans.
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 121 
 
 THE LOUISIANA JOCKEY CLUB. 
 
 The Louisiana Jockey Club was chartered ]May 15, 1871, for the 
 purpose of establishing a race-course for the advancement of racing 
 and improving the breed of horses, and the erection or the purchase 
 and equipment of a clubhouse for the social enjoyment of the mem- 
 bers. The stock of the association was fixed at $100,000 in 1,000 
 shares. By agreement with the Fair Grounds Association, the Club 
 was given the exclusive use of the race-course, for four weeks before 
 and during each spring and fall meeting, for the period of twenty 
 years, upon condition of erecting upon the grounds a Public Stand 
 of the value of $20,000, which is to revert to the Association at the 
 end of the period of the lease, without incumbrance. 
 
 The Club bought the property adjoining the Fair Grounds, which 
 was once the residence of Mr. Luling, for $60,000. It has a front of 
 500 feet on Esplanade street, by 2,500 feet deep, with an area of nearly 
 thirty acres, situated on the Metarie Ridge and exempt from over- 
 flow. The grounds are well arranged and thickly set with choice 
 shrubbery. The family mansion has been converted into a club house. 
 It is a substantial and handsome three-story brick edifice, with a 
 gallery extending entirely around it at each story. The lofty, wide 
 and airy rooms are employed for reception and dining rooms, parlors, 
 library, reading and billiard rooms, restaurants, etc., all very hand- 
 somely and liberally furnished, most of the oaken furniture being 
 elaborately carved by hand. The other buildings on the premises are 
 in keeping with the main house, consisting of bowling alley, pavillion, 
 kitchen, and ten costly stables, with ample room for a hundred 
 horses. 
 
 The flower garden contains an extensive collection of indigenous 
 and exotic plants and flowers, comprising all the rarer varieties to be 
 found in the temperate zone or within the tropics. The adjoining 
 park has a great number of forest trees of every kind, and orchards 
 of orange, peach and apple trees, and grapevines, all bearing plenti- 
 fully in their proper seasons. In the center of the park is a lake of 
 pure fresh w^ater surrounding a small island. Here the Club gives 
 during the summer and fall its famous promenade concerts, where are 
 collected each night several thousand of the leading people in New 
 Orleans.
 
 122 
 
 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 
 ^
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 123 
 
 A CHAPTER ON VOUDOUISM. 
 
 St. John's eve is specially devoted to the worship of the Voudous. 
 It is on that night that they congregate at some secret meeting place 
 on Lake Pantchartrain — changed from time to time — and hold their 
 religious dances and impious ceremonies of worshipping the prince of 
 evil, for, in their theology, the devil is God, and it is to him they pray. 
 Voudouism is rapidly dying out, even among the negroes of Louisiana; 
 but, for all that, a negro is frightened to death if he is "hoodooed" 
 and with reason. The secret magic of the Vondous was nothing more 
 than an acquaintance with a number of subtle vegetable poisons, 
 which they brought with them from Africa, and which caused their 
 victims to fade gradually away and die of exhaustion. 
 
 Every St. John's eve thousands of persons visit the lake ends in 
 the hope of coming upon the Voudous, but few succeed in finding them. 
 
 On St. John's eve, last year, the night was dark, and on the eastern 
 sky hung a black cloud, from which now and then burst flashes of 
 lightning, which lit up the road, the bayou and the surrounding swamp 
 with a lurid glow, in fit introduction to what was to follow. The scene 
 on the lake coast from Spanish Fort to Milneburg was one which can 
 not easily be forgotten. All along the shore, at intervals scarcely 
 more than 300 yards, groups of men and women could be seen stand- 
 ing around blazing pine-knot fires, their dark copper-colored faces 
 weirdly gilded by the red flames and their black forms thus illuminated 
 appearing gigantic and supernatural against the opaque background 
 of the lake and sky on one side and the mystical darkness just tinged 
 with starlight of the seemingly limitless swamps on the other. Some 
 of the men were stripped to the waist, and all were gesticulating with 
 animation, or seemed to be in waiting for something. Along the road 
 at various intervals were negresses standing by small tables where 
 gumbo and coffee were dispensed. 
 
 Between Spanish Fort and Milneburg the shore was crowded with 
 negroes, who seemed to be enjoying themselves laughing, talking and 
 romping like children, but the music which came from the shanty 
 where a dance had evidently been started, sounded like that of an 
 ordinary negro ball.
 
 124 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 As soon as the purlius of Milneburg were left, the way down the 
 lake shore toward the now brilliant bonfires was difficult, for in the 
 darkness one had to pick his steps. Between the lake on the one side 
 and the swamp on the other there was a belt of land not more than 
 fifty feet across, and in some places this was diminished by more than 
 half, by the encroachment of Pontchartrain's waves. There was no 
 roadway, but simply a devious by-patch which wended around stumps 
 and mud holes in a most irregular manner. 
 
 After some ten minutes' walk there came to the ear the faintest 
 sound as of a drum beaten rhythmatically, and on listennig a chorus 
 of voices could be heard. 
 
 Behind the hundreds of small watchfires along the shore twinkled 
 like stars in the distance, and where they were built upon little points 
 of land they were reflected in the water so brightly the duplication 
 added a peculiar wierdness to the scene. 
 
 Pursuing the same path was a party of Creole negroes, the men 
 carrying musical instruments and the women laden with coffee pots 
 and tin buckets of gombo. They were not inclined to talk, and when 
 asked where the Voudou dance was to take place answered that they 
 knew nothing about it. 
 
 Passing around a little willow copse that grew almost in the lake 
 there opened to the view a scene Dore would have delighted to paint. 
 The belt of land here was about 100 feet in width, and in the middle of 
 this little plot was burning a huge fire. G'rouped around it were some 
 thirty or forty negroes, the rising and falling of the firelight giving a 
 grotesqueness to their figures that was as curious as it was entertain- 
 ing. Their shadows stretched out over the rushes and reeds of the 
 swamps, and their faces brought out in effect looked wild enough 
 to satisfy any lover of the wild and mysterious. 
 
 Built half over the swamps and half on the land stood a small hut, 
 or, to give it all its pretensions, a house of two rooms. It was like 
 most of the fishermen's cabins seen along the lake, but rather more 
 roomy. 
 
 Through the open window there came quite a flood of light, and a 
 song was heard chanted, it seemed by some eight or ten voices. 
 
 It was about three-quarters of a mile below Milneburg, and the place 
 was appropriately selected, for certainly no more dismal and dreary
 
 AND SKETCH BOOK OF NEW ORLEANS 125 
 
 spot could have been found. Citywards the swamp, with its funereal 
 cypress, stretched in gloomy perspective, while in front, lapping the 
 rushes and stumps, the ripples in the lake came in, the water appear- 
 ing almost black from the vegetable matter held in suspension. 
 
 Near the fire were two or three tables laden with gombo and dishes 
 of rice, while on the embers hissed pots of coffee. 
 
 When the group near them was approached they gave evidence of 
 uneasiness at the appearance of the party, there being no white per- 
 sons present. 
 
 A few words in Creole patois made the negroes feel more at ease, 
 and when a cup of coffee was purchased they ceased to look suspi- 
 ciously on the new arrivals. 
 
 The music in the house began with renewed vigor at this time, 
 and there was by general consent a movement thither. It was nearly 
 midnight. 
 
 The wide gallery on the front was soon thronged, and it was no- 
 ticed but few were allowed to enter the large room which formed the 
 eastern side of the building. The door was closed, and a stout young 
 negress guarded it on the inside. 
 
 A few words from Chief Bachemin in Creole proved an open sesame, 
 and the door was opened just wide enough to permit the party to enter 
 one at a time. With their entrance the music ceased and all eyes were 
 turned upon the new comers. 
 
 A bright mulatto man came forward and, in good English, said that 
 if the gentlemen desired to remain they would have to obey the orders 
 that had been given. It would spoil the charm if they did not take 
 oft" their coats. 
 
 Accordingly the coats were removed. 
 
 Seated on the floor with their legs crossed beneath them were 
 about twenty-five negro men and women, the men in their shirt sleeves, 
 and the women with their heads adorned with the traditional head 
 handkerchief or tignon. 
 
 In the center of the floor there was spread a small tablecloth, at 
 the corners of which two tallow candles were placed, being held in 
 position by a bed of their own grease. 
 
 As a center-piece on the cloth, there was a shallow Indian basket 
 filled with weeds, or, as they call them, herbes. Around the basket
 
 126 THE CREOLE TOURIST'S GUIDE 
 
 were diminutive piles of white beans and corn, and just outside of 
 these a number of small bones, whether human or not, could not be 
 told. Some curiously wrought bunches of feathers were the next 
 ornamentations near the edge of the cloth, and outside of all several 
 saucers with small cakes in them. 
 
 The only person enjoying the aristocratic privilege of a chair was 
 a bright cafe au lait woman of aboutforty-eight, who sat in one cor- 
 ner of the room looking on the scene before her w^ith an air of dignity. 
 She was of extremely handsome figure, and her features showed that 
 she was not of the class known in old times as field hands. She was 
 evidently about the plantation house. She was neatly attired in a 
 blue calico dotted with white, and on her head a brilliant tignon was 
 gracefully tied. 
 
 On inquiry it was learned that her name was Malvina Latour, and 
 that she was the queen. 
 
 As soon as the visitors had squatted down in their places against 
 the wall an old negro man, whose wool was white with years, began 
 scraping on a two-stringed sort of a fiddle. The instrument had a 
 long neck, and its body was not more than three inches in diameter, 
 being covered with brightly mottled snake skin. This was the signal 
 to two young mulattoes beside him, who commenced to beat with their 
 thumbs on little drums made of gourds and covered with sheepskin. 
 
 These tam-tams gave forth a short, hollow note of peculiar sound, 
 and were fit accompaniments of the primitive fiddle. As if to inspire 
 those present with the earnestness of the occasion, the old darkey 
 rolled his eyes around the room and then, stamping his foot three 
 times, exclaimed: "A present commencez!" 
 
 Rising and stepping out toward the middle of the floor a tall and 
 sinewy negro called the attention of all to him. He looked a Hercules, 
 and his face was anything but attractive. 
 
 Nervous with restrained emotion, he commenced at first in a low 
 voice, which gradually became louder and louder, a weird song. 
 
 As he sang he seemed to grow in stature and his eyes began to roll 
 in a sort of gild frenzy. There was ferocity in every words, boldness 
 and defiance in every gesture. 
 
 Keeping time to his song the tam-tams and fiddle gave a weird 
 and savagely monotonous accompaniment that it was easy to believe 
 was not unlike the savage music of Africa.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Map of the City of New Orleans Frontispiece 
 
 Illustrations. Page. 
 
 Lafayette Square 6 
 
 Carnival Crowd 10 
 
 A Carnival Scene — Rex Parade 14 
 
 Creole Mammy — French Quarters 18 
 
 City Hall ."^ 22 
 
 Sugar Landing- 26 
 
 General Robt. E. Lee Monument 30 
 
 Audubon Place 34 
 
 Archbishop's Residence - 38 
 
 The Old St. Louis Hotel 42 
 
 St. Roch's Mausoleum 46 
 
 Creole Courtyard 50 
 
 Interior View of St. Stephen's Church 52 
 
 Episcopal Church •'^4 
 
 St. Alphonsus Catholic Church 55 
 
 Temple Sinai 56 
 
 Cotton Picking 58 
 
 The Old Dueling Grounds 62 
 
 Confederate Monument ^"^ 
 
 Old Absinthe House 66 
 
 Steamboat Landing '^^ 
 
 The Old Cabildo 72 
 
 The Historical French Market 76 
 
 In the French Quarter '^^ 
 
 Camp Street 82 
 
 Sugar Cane Cutting ^^ 
 
 The Haunted House ^^ 
 
 The Sugar Exchange ^^ 
 
 Carnival Crowd on Canal Street ^'* 
 
 General Beauregard's Residence ~ ^6 
 
 Tilton Library ^^ 
 
 The Main Public Library JXT 
 
 U S. Mint ]^l 
 
 Entrance to Metairie Cemetery jj:^ 
 
 Albert Sidney Johnston Monument |y° 
 
 Chinese Funeral ||^ 
 
 Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral 114 
 
 An Old Vault in St Louis Cemetery ]}^ 
 
 The New Court House ^^'^
 
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