USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 12
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instructions, remaining in the vicinity of the Rigolets to see that his injunctions were obeyed. In due time he received from Gov. Blanchard the following message:
"Inform captain of Grace that as long as he confines his opera- tions to strictly quarantine patrol duty, which is to see that no vessels from Louisiana land at Mississippi gulf ports, unless going first into detention, he will not be molested, but any interference other than this with Louisiana vessels, or harassing of Louisiana fishermen or hunters, or interfering with drawbridge at Rigolets, will result in his prompt arrest and prosecution in the Louisiana courts. This applies to captain of Winona as well, and all other commanders of patrol boats doing quarantine duty in Louisiana waters when such commanders exceed the authority given them by the marine hospital bureau, and violate state statutes. Their being aboard vessels in the service of the bureau will not exempt them from arrest. You will send a copy of this dispatch by mail to U. S. Surgeon Wasdin of Gulfport, and furnish copies to captain of Winona and other patrol boats. I am communicating same to Washington authorities, with whom I am in touch."
Capt. Bostick sent the copies as directed and prepared to enforce the governor's orders by calling out 111 men, with 2 automatic machine guns and 13,000 rounds of ball cartridge. The prompt and decisive action of the governor and Capt. Bostick resulted in amended instructions being issued to the commanders of the patrol boats, and the famous "shotgun quarantine" was thereafter con- dueted with more regard for the rights of Louisiana fishermen and shipping.
In his message to the general assembly of 1906 Gov. Blanchard discussed at length the revenue system of the state, recommending the equalization of assessments, the reduction of the tax rate, and an amendment to the constitution that would permit the election of the members of the state board of appraisers-one from each Con- gressional district-instead of the method then in vogue. He also recommended the elimination or repeal of article 236 of the state constitution, relating to the inheritance tax, and urged the enact- ment of laws for the protection of the mineral deposits and the pro- motion of the mining industry of the state. In response to his sug- gestions the state board of equalization was created, the state tax reduced from 6 to 5 mills, and the maximum rate of municipal and parochial taxation reduced from 10 to 8 mills. At this session a law was passed providing for school libraries. When it went into effect there were in the country schools of the state about 21.000 volumes in their libraries. Two years later, by the operation of this law, the number had been increased to about 100.000. Parisli school boards were authorized to issue bonds for public school purposes, to be secured by special taxes voted therefor, and as a result of this law over 200 schoolhouses were erceted during the year 1907.
Another act of the legislature of 1906 was to provide a state teacher's certificate. good for 10 years, and the creation of a state board of examiners for conducting examinations for such certificate.
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In his message to the next session of the general assembly the · governor said: "This certificate is stimulating teachers to a higher grade of professional work."
By act No. 190, approved July 11. 1906, Louisiana formally accepted the invitation of the State of Virginia to participate in the Jamestown exposition. The act authorized a commission of five persons to represent the state. Three of these commissioners were named in the act and the other two were appointed by the governor. (See Expositions.)
On Aug. 7, 1907. Geronimo Garcia arrived in New Orleans from Cuba. An investigation developed the fact that an agent of the state board of agriculture and immigration had paid Garcia's pass- age money and had given him the assurance that he would find employment in Louisiana. U. S. Atty .- Gen. Bonaparte decided that states have no more right than corporations or individuals to solicit immigration in this manner, and Garcia was excluded.
On Nov. 11, 1907, the general assembly was convened in extraor- dinary session by the proclamation of the governor "to consider measures relating to banking corporations and kindred legislation." Probably the most important act of the session was one requiring state, parish and municipal funds to be deposited with a fiscal agency or agencies-a bank or banks chartered by the laws of the State of Louisiana or the United States and domiciled in the state -offering the highest rate of interest therefor and giving satisfac- tory security. Concerning the acts of the special session increasing school revenues, Gov. Blanchard said in his message of May 12. 1908: "The parish superintendents were made treasurers of school funds, and thus the schools saved in commissions formerly paid the treasurers annually, $30,000. The assessors' commissions on special school taxes were reduced to 1 per cent and the tax collectors' commissions on special school taxes were abolished altogether, thus saving to the school fund on local school taxes, $33,000. The amount of commissions formerly paid assessors and tax collectors from school funds other than local taxes, but now saved to the schools, $20,600. The decision of the supreme court concerning commissions on fines in criminal cases heretofore collected by dis- trict attorneys adds to the school funds, $18,000. Total saved annu- ally $101,600."
In Dec., 1907, the jetties of the Southwest pass were completed. They were begun in 1903 and cost $2,700.000. Hostility on the part of negroes toward Italian laborers employed at Chathamville, a little village in the eastern part of Jackson parish, culminated in a riot on Dec. 14, 1907. when 2 Italians were shot, the negroes being the aggressors. The next day the rioting was renewed, another Italian was killed and several were injured. Complaint was made to the Italian consul at New Orleans, who appealed to Gov. Blanchard to have the perpetrators arrested and punished, but as it was highly improbable that the right persons could be found, the governor refused to take any action.
At the state election on April 21, 1908, Jared Y. Sanders, who
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had been lieutenant-governor during Blanchard's administration, was elected governor, and on May 12 Gov. Blanchard's retiring message was read before the two houses of the general assembly. In it he pointed out that during his term of office two-thirds of the patronage formerly in the hands of the executive had been taken away from him and restored to the people. The supreme court justices, the register of the state land office. the 65 assessors in the state, all the members of the parish school boards, and the state tax collectors of New Orleans, all of which were appointable by the governor at the beginning of his administration, are now elected by the people, and vacancies in the offices of district judge, district attorney, clerk of the court, sheriff, coroner and police juror, are now to be filled by election, unless the vacancies occur within one year of the expiration of the terms of such offices. On the subject of education he announced that the amount of special school taxes had been increased from $84,000 in 1903 to $1.700,000 in 1907 ; that the length of the average school term had been increased during the same period one month each year: that the number of school children enrolled had increased by 65,498; that the salaries of teachers had been materially increased. thereby insuring a better class of instructors ; and that the total amount expended for school purposes had increased from $1,551.232 in 1903 to $3,481.275 in 1907. Said he: "The same vigorous prosecution of school work during the next four years as was the case during the four years just ending will confirm our leadership in education. But we should be careful to keep the work to the essentials. Fads and nonessen- tials should be kept out. The too great tendency toward 'paternal- ism' in education should be checked. * *
* If I were asked what levied the highest tax on the state, I would answer illiteracy first ; bad roads next."
In concluding his message the governor said: "Louisiana is a prosperous commonwealth of the American Union. She was never in a better condition than now industrially, commercially and in a general business way. Her resources are great and are being devel- oped rapidly, attracting capital and men of enterprise. Her advance along the highway of civilization will be accelerated by wise laws and their vigorous enforcement."
Blanche, a post-hamlet in the extreme southern portion of Rapides parish, is a station on the main line of the St. Louis, Watkins & Gulf R. R., and in 1900 reported a population of 40.
Blankston (R. R. name Corey), a post-hamlet in the northern part of Caldwell parish. is situated on the Ouachita river and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R., about 12 miles north of Columbia, the parish seat.
Blanque, Jean, a native of New Orleans and a member of one of the distinguished creole families, was one of the committee ap- pionted by Laussat to meet the American commissioners, Claiborne and Wilkinson, in Dec., 1803. at their camp 2 miles from the city and escort them to Laussat's house. Mr. Blanque was present at the ceremonies of the transfer of Louisiana to the United States;
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was active in promoting the common weal during the territorial · days; was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1811, and helped to frame the organic law under which Louisiana was ad- mitted into the Union as a state. It was he who received from Jean Lafitte and delivered to Gov. Claiborne the documents giving the information of the intention of the British to capture the city of New Orleans. At that time he was a member of the state leg- islature and a leader in the house. On Sept. 15, 1814, he was an active participant in the meeting at Tremoulet's coffee-house, was one of the nine members of the committee of public defense ap- pointed at that meeting, and was unremitting in his efforts to pro- tect the city from the invading army. On Dec. 15, 1814. he intro- duced in the house the address to the people of Louisiana, calling upon them to "Rush to arms, enlist promptly under the banner of . Gen. Jackson-of that brave chief who is to command you; give him all your confidence; the successes he has already obtained assure you that to march under his standards is to march to vic- tory." The address concludes: "Your representatives have sup- plied the executive with all the pecuniary means which he required of them for the defense of the state. and they will give you the example of devotion which they expect of you."
Notwithstanding these patriotic utterances and his energy in promoting measures for the protection of New Orleans, Mr. Blanque was one of those accused of treason when the rumor be- came current that the legislature was ready to capitulate and sur- render the city to the enemy, but it is not likely that there was any real foundation for the charge. Jean Lafitte knew him, and knew his devotion to his country, when he entrusted him with private documents, and Marigny, in his memoir, pays a high tribute to Mr. Blanque's integrity, patriotism and courage.
Blenk, James Hubert, Roman Catholic archbishop, was born in Nenstadt, Bavaria, Aug. 6, 1856. He is the son of James and Catherine (Wiedemann) Blenk, and received his education at St. James college, Baltimore, and at Jefferson college, Convent, La. After completing his collegiate studies he entered the Society of St. Mary, in 1874, and took a course of theology at the Marist houses of studies in France and Ireland and a course at the Cath- olic university of Ireland at Dublin. In 1885, he was ordained priest. and the same year was appointed to a professorship at Jef- ferson college, Convent, La. He served as a professor until 1891, when he was made president of the college, holding this position until 1896. The next year he became rector of Holy Name of St. Mary church at Algiers, La., but upon being appointed auditor to the apostolic delegation to Porto Rico and Cuba, in 1898, he left Louisiana. On July 2. 1899, he was consecrated bishop of Porto Rico and performed the duties of this office until made archbishop of New Orleans. July 2, 1906. On April 24; 1907, he received the pallium. Archbishop Blenk has been foremost in every movement undertaken for the moral uplifting of the people of Louisiana. On April 13, 1909, on the eve of his departure for Rome, he was ten-
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dered a reception at the St. Charles hotel under the auspices of Mrs. W. J. Behan and other ladies of New Orleans. The meeting was . largely attended. Charles Janvier presided, and addresses were delivered by Judge F. A. Monroe in the name of the non- Catholics, and by Prof. Alcee Fortier in the name of the Catholics. Mrs. Behan presented the archbishop a large Easter egg beautifully decorated, containing nearly $2,000-subscribed by the Catholics of the city to defray his traveling expenses.
Blennerhasset, Harmon, who figures in the history of Louisiana only because of his connection with the Burr conspiracy, was born in Hampshire, England. of Irish parentage, about 1767. He studied law and upon the death of his father inherited about $100,000. He married Margaret Agnew, daughter of the governor of the Isle of Man, and in 1797 came to America. For a short time he lived in New York, after which he bought an island of 174 acres in the Ohio river near Parkersburg. W. Va., and there built a fine residence. This island had once been the property of George Washington, and it is still known as Blennerhasset's island. In 1805 the island home was visited by Aaron Burr, who persuaded the owner to join in the scheme for the liberation of Mexico or the establishment of an empire in the southwest. (See Burr Conspiracy.) Blennerhasset was arrested and tried at Richmond, Va., but was acquitted. He then bought a plantation near Port Gibson, Miss., and lived there until 1819. He died at the home of a sister on the Isle of Guernsey in 1831 ; his wife died at New York in 1842; their eldest son, Dom- inic, disappeared from St. Louis after a drunken debauch and was never heard from again: Harmon, the second son, died in extreme poverty in New York in 1854, and the youngest son, Joseph, died in Missouri in 1862 while serving as a soldier in the Confederate army.
Blewett, a post-hamlet and station in the western part of Cal- casieu parish is on a branch line of the Kansas City Southern R. R., about 12 miles northwest of De Quincy, and 10 miles east of the Sabine river, in the lumber district.
Blind, Institute For .- Like the deaf and dumb institute, this institution is located at Baton Rouge, and was established for the purpose of giving to every blind child in the state an opportunity . to secure the benefits of an education.
The school is required by law to receive "all persons blind or of such defective vision as not to be able to acquire an education in the ordinary schools, between the ages of seven and twenty-two and of sound mind." Board, lodging, medical attendance, tuition and books are all entirely free, and to those who are too poor to provide clothing and traveling expenses, the institute will furnish them. The course of study is based upon the same course in use in the public schools of the state, and work done in the primary, grammar and high school grades is very nearly the same as that of the ordinary school. The sense of touch is made to serve in place of the sense of sight, and the intellect is reached through the finger tips. By means of a system of raised dots known as "New York
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Point," the pupils readily acquire the ability to read from books printed in these characters, and also a facility in writing the point on a special kind of tablet. When reading and writing have been learned, the pupil's rate of progress in learning depends, as else- where, upon the effort and industry of the individual. Besides the literary course the pupils are taught music on the piano. violin and other instruments, with the purpose of fitting them for the position of music teachers. The boys are taught. as trades, piano tuning, broom making, and mattress making. Many earn a good living by means of one or the other of these trades. The girls are taught the use of the sewing machine, and instructed in needlework, cro- cheting and knitting. The school had an enrollment for the past year of 56 pupils, and aims to teach and help every blind child in the state. (See report of W. W. Bynum, superintendent, for the year ending 1907.)
Blount Conspiracy .- Prof. F. J. Turner, in his introduction to documents relating to the Blount Conspiracy, in the American His- torical Review for April, 1905, says: "The so-called Blount Con- spiracy must be considered in relation to the designs of France upon Louisiana : the attitude of the Tory settlers at Natchez and the retention of the Spanish posts upon the Mississippi; England's war with Spain and her attitude toward the Mississippi valley from 1795 to 1798: Pitt's negotiations with Miranda, and the latter's overtures to Adams, Hamilton, etc .; and the critical relations with France during Adams' administration." After the treaty of 1783. Great Britain had maintained military posts within the limits of the territory assigned to the United States, and insisted upon the right to make treaties with the Indians as independent nations, at liberty to give their allegiance to European monarchs if they might so elect. France, taking advantage of this situation, sent agents to the fron- tier to induce the people to make war on the Spanish, in the hope that such a movement would lead to an alliance between France and the United States against Spain and England. The project failed, however, and France made an alliance with Spain.
In Oct., 1796, Gen. Jean Victor Collot, one of the emissaries of France, arrived at Natchez and acquainted Gov. Gayoso with a plot on the part of the British and Americans to dispossess the Span- iards of the territory east of the Mississippi river. About a month later John D. Chisolm escorted a party of Indian chiefs to Phila- delphia, then the capital of the United States, and also carried a petition signed by some 25 British subjects living among the Indians, asking to be made naturalized American citizens, etc. Chisolm was an adventurer who had come to America with the British army during the Revolution. When Florida was ceded to Spain he took refuge among the Indians, subsequently became a trader in the Holston district, and was a loyal friend to William Blount while the latter was governor of "the territory of the United States south of the Ohio." Upon his arrival in Philadelphia he was not received with as much respect by the Federal authorities as he felt he was entitled to, and in his pique he sought ont Mr. Liston,
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the British minister, to whom he proposed a plan of attack on the Spanish posts. Liston wrote to London that, according to the information received from Chisolm, "there are settled among these tribes from 1,000 to 1.500 white inhabitants, principally British subjects, attached to their country and sovereign, and ready to enter into a plan for the recovery of the Floridas to Great Britain." Chisolm afterward stated that he "communicated the plan to Col. William Blount, who immediately agreed to give all his aid and influence." Blount was at that time a U. S. senator from the State of Tennessee, and it was in this way his name became connected with the conspiracy. Two months later Liston sent Chisolm to London, and on April 21, 1797, Blount wrote a letter from "Col. King's iron works" on the Cumberland river, to James Carey, a friend of Chisolm, in which he said: "I believe, but am not quite sure, that the plan then talked of will be attempted this fall, and, if it is to be attempted. it will be in a much larger way than then talked of; and if the Indians act their part I have no doubt but it will succeed. A man of consequence has gone to England about the business, and if he makes arrangements as he expects, I shall myself have a hand in the business on the part of the British. You are, however, to understand, that it is yet not quite certain that the plan will be attempted, and to do so will require all your manage- ment ; I say, will require all your management, because you must take care, in whatever you say to Rogers, or anybody else, not to let the plan be discovered by Hawkins, Dinsmoor, Byers, or any other person in the interest of the United States or Spain."
In his proclamation of Jime 14, 1797, Gov. Gayoso intimated the possibility of a conflict with the United States, and about the same time the rumor gained credenee in New Orleans that an American and British military force might at any time descend the Missis- sippi and attack the Spanish posts. Another rumor said that Chis- olm had enlisted 1,000 Tennesseeans for the same purpose, and that he had "obtained a list of 1,500 Tories or English loyalists of the Natchez, who had agreed to take up arms in favor of the Eng- lish, whenever they appear to attack lower Louisiana and march on Santa Fe." This report also said that 6 pieces of artillery origin- ally intended for the expedition of Genet were ready on the Ten- nessee river: that the Americans would rendezvous at Knoxville on July 1; that a British force was to come from Canada to aid the movement : that this expedition would be accompanied by 2,000 Indians under the redoubtable Brant : and that several members of the U. S. senate were connected with the conspiracy. Chisolm, who seemed to know more about the affair than any one else, sub- sequently told his story of the scheme, which was in substance as follows: The Tennesseeans, Whitley's men from Kentucky, with the Natchez and Choctaw Indians were to attack New Orleans, probably under the command of Blount; Chisolm was to attack Pensacola at the same time with the Creeks and Cherokees; and Craig, Mitchell and Brant with the Canadians, Indians and fron- tiersmen were to attack New Madrid. The letter written by Blount
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to Carey was intercepted and sent to President Adams, who sub- mitted it to Congress with a special message on July 3, 1797. In his message he asserted that the nation was in a critical condition, that there was a conspiracy to wrest New Orleans and the Floridas from Spain and transfer them to the English crown, and that Senator Blount had been engaged in a correspondence that proved him to be implicated in the plot. On the 8th Blount was expelled from the senate by a vote of 25 to 1, Tazewell of Virginia being the only one to cast a negative vote. The charge against him was "high misdemeanor entirely inconsistent with his public trust and duty."
Yrujo, the Spanish minister at Philadelphia, with whom Blount had been all the time a "frequent guest and intimate companion," lost no time in communicating with Timothy Pickering, the Fed- eral secretary of state, demanding the immediate punishment of the senator. Mr. Liston, the British minister, advised that the whole matter would better be kept quiet. He explained the pub- licity that was given to the affair by the fact that President Adams was constantly accused of being in sympathy with the British by the Jefferson party, of which Blount was a member. Blount. upon his expulsion from the senate, returned to Tennessee, where he was elected to the legislature and became president of the senate. The sergeant-at-arms of the U. S. senate went to Knoxville to arrest him and take him to Philadelphia for trial and impeachment, but he refused to go and none of the citizens would aid the officer in mak- ing the arrest. On Jan. 14, 1799, the court of impeachment decided by a vote of 14 to 11 that as Blount was no longer a member of the senate it had no jurisdiction. Turner says: "From the point of view of the larger diplomatic problems, the most tangible result of the affair was the retention by Spain of Natchez and the other posts east of the Mississippi. under the sincere apprehension that if they were evacuated, in accordance with the treaty of 1795, a clear road would be opened for the British into Louisiana."
Bluff Creek, a post-hamlet in the southeastern portion of East Feliciana parish, is situated on a creek of the same name, which flows into the Amite river about a mile southeast of the village. It is 8 miles northeast of Pride, the nearest railroad station.
Bluffs, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Bossier parish, is . about 4 miles south of Bodeau, the nearest railroad station, and 8 miles southeast of Shreveport.
Board of Liquidation .- (See Finances, State.)
Boarman, Alexander, lawyer and member of Congress. was born in Mississippi in 1830. He received his education at the Kentucky military institute at Frankfort, Ky., after which he studied law and began practice at Shreveport. He was elected a representative to the 42nd Congress as a liberal. in place of James McCleary, de- ceased, and served from Dec. 3, 1872, to March 3, 1873.
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