USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 24
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to exceed $1,500 per annum. The report was signed by Michel Heymann, as vice-president ; F. S. Weis, as secretary ; and T. P. Thompson, E. B. Herndon and R. McG. Carruth, as members.
Charity Hospital .- This splendid eleemosynary institution is sit- uated in the city of New Orleans, where it was first established soon after the founding of the city, being one of the first free hospi- tals ever established in the United States. Gradually, since that time, through the bounty of the state and with the assistance of im- portant donations from philanthropic citizens, modern new buildings and equipments have been added, until the institution has grown into one of the largest and best hospitals in the country. The hospital grounds embrace two squares, with an ambulance house situated in a third square. Its energetic board of administrators and officers, its skilled and experienced surgeons and physicians have, for many years past, maintained its well-established reputa- tion, and no other charitable institution in the state is more affec- tionately regarded by the people as a whole. The great hospital, with its 52 wards, containing 900 beds, is annually occupied by from 9,000 to 10,000 patients. Of the 52 wards there are 23 medical, 14 surgical, 2 obstetrical, 2 gynecological, 2 for children, 4 for diseases of the nervous system, 2 for venereal diseases, 2 for di- seases of the eye and ear, and 1 for skin diseases. In addition to the indoor patients, the hospital treats annually some 20,000 outdoor patients. These are provided for in 2 clinical buildings, each of which is subdivided into 8 different services, 7 of which are alike in both buildings, namely: for medical cases ; for nervous diseases ; for surgical cases; for venereal and skin diseases; for discases of the eye, ear, nose and throat; and for cases of dentistry. Besides these 7 services, the men and boys' clinic has a surgical service for boys, and the women and children's clinic has a gynecological service.
The advantages of the Charity Hospital were further increased in 1899 by the addition of the Richard Milliken memorial annex, a model building for the accomodation of 200 sick children. The Pasteur department, which is also free, was added in 1903. The Delgado memorial for surgical cases was opened in 1908. It is also a model building.
The splendid work being done by the hospital is eloquently attested by the following records. During the year 1904, there were 8,816 indoor patients treated in the hospital : 19,302 outdoor patients, to whom 73,071 free consultations were given, and the ambulance service responded to 1.596 calls. Showing the record a little more in detail for 1905, there were 9,074 cases treated in the wards of the hospital : 19,429 outdoor patients, to whom 68,458 consulta- tions were given ; and in addition, there were 5.699 accident cases attended in the surgical amphitheatre. Of the outdoor patients, 4,314 were medical cases : 6,172, surgical ; 186, nervous ; 1,925, vene- real and dermatological; 2,478, diseases of children; 1,339, gyne- cological; 2,794, eye, ear, nose and throat ; and 321, dentistry. The
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sum total of all cases treated in 1905 was 34,202. There were 1,191 deaths, 269 births, and a daily average of 644 indoor patients.
The excellent medical department of the Tulane university makes constant and extensive use of the great hospital for prosceuting the study of medicine in all its branches, being located only two squares distant on Canal street. Ever since 1847 the law of Loui- siana has provided that "the medical department of the university shall at all times have free access to the Charity Hospital of New Orleans, for the purpose of affording their students practical illus- trations of the subjects they teach." The professors and clinical instructors of the department are attending physicians or surgeons of the hospital and visit their wards daily. They perform surgical operations and deliver lectures in the spacious amphitheatre of the hospital, which will accomodate an audience of about 400.
Charles III, king of Spain, second son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese, was born in Jan., 1716. In 1731 he took possession of the two duchies of Parma and Placentia, on the extinction of his mother's family, and in 1734 his father ceded to him the crown of the Two Sicilies, of which he was recognized king by the treaty of Vienna, in 1738. He married Maria Amelia, a princess of Saxony, and by the death of his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, in Aug., 1759, he became king of Spain. In 1762, in accordance with the family compact previously formed by the branches of the house of Bour- bon, he became the ally of France in the war against England, which resulted in Louisiana being ceded to Spain by the secret treaty of Fontainebleau, Nov. 3, 1762. Fortier says: "Had it not been that they were handed over like cattle by one master to another, the Louisianians should have felt relieved to be no longer the subjects of the infamous king who had been the cause of the disasters of his country." As it was, they opposed the cession, and the authority of Spain was not established in the colony until an army was sent there to awe the people into submission. Charles restricted the power of the Inquisition and expelled the Jesuits from Spain and all her colonies in 1767. In May, 1779, he declared war against England, which led to the conquests of Gov. Galvez in West Florida. He died in 1788 after a reign that was beneficial to Spain, and he has been referred to by historians as "a man who possessed a good disposition and sound judgment."
Charles IV, second son of Charles III and Maria Amelia, was born in Naples. Italy, in Nov., 1748, and became king of Spain upon the death of his father in Dec., 1788. Prior to that time he had received the title of Prince of the Astrurias (1759), and in 1765 had married his cousin, Maria Louisa Theresa of Parma, who has been described as "woman of very vicious morals." In 1792 she succeeded in bringing disgrace upon Florida Blanca, the prime minister, and the appointment to his place of her favorite, Godoy. The following year the French republic declared war against Charles for expelling French residents from Spain. After being defeated in a number of battles. Charles was compelled to sue for peace, which was concluded in 1795, when the French conquests in Spain
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were restored and the king evinced his satisfaction by creating Godoy "prince of peace, generalissimo, etc." In 1796, through the instigation of French diplomacy, the court of Spain declared war against England and Charles relinquished the direction of the gov- ernment to Godoy and the queen, though he retained the throne until March, 1808, when he abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand. It was during this period that the aggressiveness of France, under Napoleon, secured the retrocession of Louisiana to France by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, Oet. 1, 1800. After Charles resigned the throne to his son, Napoleon procured an interview with them at Bayonne and extorted from both of them an abjuration of the Spanish crown. Charles was granted a liberal pension, took up his residence in Rome, and died there in 1819.
Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xavier de, a Jesuit priest and dis- tinguished traveler and writer, was born at St. Quentin, France, Oct. 24, 1682. Ile entered the Jesuit society in 1698, was sent to Quebec in 1705, and later taught both there and in France. In July, 1720, he embarked for Canada on a visit to the missions and arrived there in September. After a stay, of some time at Sault St. Louis, he ascended the St. Lawrence to the lakes, whence he descended by the Illinois to the Mississippi and journeyed down that stream to the mouth, touching at the various French posts and establishments on the river, including New Orleans, which had just been selected for the capital of the colony. After an ab- scence of two years, he returned to France by way of San Domingo. He is the author of several important historical works. In 1744 appeared his Histoire de la Nouvelle France, which had been with- held for some 20 years for political and commercial reasons, and at the same time appeared his Historical Journal, made up of let- ters addressed to the Duchess of Lesdiguières, written during his voyage down the Mississippi. His history of Japan was also popu- lar. Father Charlevoix has given in his journal a most accurate and vivid description of French Louisiana, the Mississippi and its tributaries, the topography of the country, the manners and cus- toms of the Indian tribes and their villages, the missionary estab- lishments and colonial posts, and of the people and things as they existed at that time. After a somewhat protracted stay at the Natchez in Dec., 1721, he continued his voyage down the river to New Orleans, and under date of Jan. 10, 1722, writes most enter- tainingly as follows: "I am at length arrived in this famous city, which they have called la Nouvelle Orleans. Those who have given it this name, thought that Orleans was of the feminine gender ; but what signifies that? Custom has established it, and that is above the rules of grammar. This city is the first, which one of the greatest rivers in the world has seen raised on its banks. If the 800 fine houses, and the five parishes, which the newspapers gave it some two years ago, are reduced at present to a hundred bar- racks, placed in no very great order: to a great storehouse, built of wood ; to two or three houses, which would be no ornament to a village of France : and to the half of a sorry storehouse, which
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they agreed to lend to the lord of the place, and which he had no sooner taken possession of, but they turned him out to dwell under a tent ; what pleasure, on the other hand, to see insensibly increasing this future capital of a fine and vast country, and to be able to say, not with a sigh, like the hero of Virgil, speaking of his dear native place consumed by the flames, and the fields where the city of Troy had been, but full of a well-grounded hope, this wild and desert place, which the reeds and trees do yet almost wholly cover, will be one day. and perhaps that day is not far off, an opulent city, and the metropolis of a great and rich colony. You will ask me, Madam, on what I found this hope? I found it on the situation of this city, at 33 leagues from the sea, and on the side of a navigable river, that one may come up to this place in twenty-four hours; on the fruitfulness of the soil; on the mild- ness and goodness of its climate, in thirty degrees north latitude; on the industry of its inhabitants; on the neighborhood of Mexico, to which we may go in fifteen days by sea; on that of Havana, which is still nearer ; and of the finest islands of America, and of the English colonies. Need there be anything more to render a city flourishing? Rome and Paris had not such considerable be- ginnings, were not built under such happy auspices, and their founders did not find on the Seine and Tiber the advantages we have found on the Mississippi, in comparison with which these two rivers are but little brooks."
In the light of later developments the Jesuit father has here displayed a most remarkable prophetic gift. On Jan. 22, still in company with the engineer Pauger, with whom he had journeyed down the river from Natchez, he left New Orleans and set out for the colonial headquarters at New Biloxi. After a comparatively uneventful trip down the river, he arrived on the night of the 24th at the little island of Balise. which he blessed the next day and renamed Toulouse. He was delayed at the mouth by contrary winds for a day, and spent the interval with Pauger and the pilot, Kerlasio, in sounding the passes, of which he gives a most inter- esting description. He writes that he was detained at Biloxi for a month by a jaundice. He has little that is complimentary to say of Biloxi, and even writes in disparaging terms of the splendid harbor of Ship Island. He says: "All this coast is extremely flat ; merchant ships cannot come nearer to it than four leagues, and the smallest brigantine than two; and even these are obliged to go further off when the wind is north or northwest, or else they find themselves on ground. What they call Biloxi is the coast of the main land, which is to the north of the road. They could not have chosen a worse situation for the general quarters of the colony, for it can neither receive any succors from the ships, nor give them any, for the reasons I have mentioned. Besides this, the road has two great faults; the anchorage is not good and it is full of worms, which damage all the ships: the only service it is of use is to shelter the ships from a sudden gust of wind when they come to discover the mouth of the Mississippi, which,
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having only low lands, it would be dangerous to approach in bad weather, without having first discovered it. The Biloxi is not more valuable for its land than for its sea. It is nothing but sand, and there grows little besides pines and cedars." Late in March Charlevoix returned to New Orleans by way of the inside passage and then took passage for San Domingo.
Charlieville, a hamlet in the southern part of Richland parish, is about 9 miles southwest of Mangham, the nearest railroad station. It has a money order postoffice and is a trading center for the neighborhood.
Chase, a post-hamlet and station in the central part of Franklin parish, is on the New Orleans & Northwestern R. R., about 3 miles south of Winnsboro, the parish seat.
Chataignier, a post-village in the southern part of St. Landry parish, is on the Louisiana East & West R. R., about 12 miles west of Opelousas, the parish seat. It has a population of about 80.
Chatham, a little post-village in the northwestern part of Cald- well parish, is about 15 miles northwest of Columbia, the parish seat. It is the southern terminus of the Monroe & Southwestern R. R., and is a trading and shipping point for that section of the parish.
Chattel Mortgages .- Instruments of this character are unknown to the laws of Louisiana, but all movables, whether corporeal or incorporeal, may be pledged or pawned. As against third persons, the pawn or pledge must be an act before a notary, or under private signature. It must mention the amount of debt, the species and nature of the thing pledged, or have a statement annexed thereto of its number, weight and measure. Promissory notes, bills of exchange, stocks, obligations or claims upon other persons may be pledged by simple delivery to the creditor, if made in good faith. All pledges of movable property must be accompanied by actual delivery, either to the pledges, or some third party agreed upon. Delivery of property in a warehouse shall pass by private assignment of warehouse receipt and be valid without further formalities. Notice to the debtor must be given in the case of pledge of credits not negotiable, and a copy of the act of pledge served on him. Acts of pledge in favor of the banks of this state shall be considered as forming authentic proof, if passed by the cashiers and contain a description of the objects given in pledge. Unless it be specially agreed in the act of pledge as to the mode of disposing of the articles pledged, the creditor must first obtain a judgment against his debtor before he can have them sold.
Chauvin, a post-hamlet in the central part of Terrebonne parish, is situated at the head of Quitman lake. It is a station of the Cumberland telephone and telegraph company, and in 1900 had a population of 200.
Chenal, a village in the eastern part of Pointe Coupée parish, about 2 miles southwest of Glynn, the nearest railroad station, and 7 miles south of New Roads. the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice and in 1900 reported a population of 60.
Cheneyville, a town in the southeastern part of Rapides parish,
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was founded by the act of March 14, 1836, which provided that "the town laid off by W. F. Cheney on the right bank of Bayou Bœuf, be, and the same time is hereby created a body politic, by the name of Cheneyville." It is a station on the Southern Pacific and Texas & Pacific railroads, about 22 miles southeast of Alex- andria, the parish seat, and is one of the oldest towns in the parish. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, express office, telephone and telegraph facilities, and in 1900 reported a population of 250.
Cheniere, a post-village in the northwestern part of Ouachita parish, is situated on the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific R. R., about 9 miles west of Monroe, the parish seat. It has an express office, some retail trade, and in 1900 had a population of 100.
Cherry Ridge, a hamlet of Union parish, is situated on the Ar- kansas & Southeastern R. R., about 12 miles north of Farmer- ville, the parish seat. It is the supply point for a rich agricultural district, has a money order postoffice and a population of about 50.
Chester, Peter, an Englishman by birth, was appointed governor of West Florida in 1772, being the third English governor of that colony. It is said that under his administration Pensacola made rapid progress, and that "the large military establishment, and the advantages of the port as a headquarters for Indian trade, attracted several enterprising merchants." Chester was still governor when Gov. Galvez of Louisiana appeared before Pensacola with his fleet. in March, 1781, and demanded a surrender. He wrote to Galvez, offering to release the Spanish prisoners at Pensacola if the Span- ish commander would promise they should not take up arms until regularly exchanged. The offer was ignored by Galvez, who went ahead with the investment of the place. When Pensacola sur- rendered on May 9, 1781. Chester also surrendered the whole of West Florida, and agreed that all British subjects should leave the colony within eighteen months. (See Spanish Conquest.)
Chestnut, a village in the northeastern part of Natchitoches parish, is at the junction of the Louisiana & Arkansas and the Louisiana & Northwest railroads, about 20 miles north of Natchi- toches, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, a tele- graph station, and is the shipping and supply town for a large agricultural district, although the population is small.
Chickasaw Bluffs .- The highlands on the Mississippi river, where the city of Memphis, Tenn .. now stands, are of considerable im- portance in the history of Louisiana down to the beginning of the 19th century. Very early in the French period a stockade, named Fort Prudhomme, in honor of one of La Salle's companions who was lost there for 9 days, was built at the mouth of Wolf river. and formed one of the chain of posts to protect the French claims to the great Mississippi valley. In Bienville's second campaign against the Chickasaws (1739-40), he assembled his army at this point, in Aug., 1739, and to accommodate his men built a spacious fort near the mouth of the Wolf (Spanish Margot) river, a house for Commandant Aymé de Noailles, barracks for the soldiers, store- houses and a bakery. He called it Fort Assumption because the
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French army disembarked on the 15th of August. During their stay here until April, 1740, when a treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians, the troops suffered severely from sickness and lack of food. On the retirement of Bienville's army to New Or- leans, the fort and other buildings were razed. During the later English control of this region, the Chickasaw bluffs obtained an unenviable reputation as a rendezvous for Chickasaws and rene- gade whites, who preyed upon the commerce of the river. The whole region about the bluffs belonged to the Chickasaw nation until western Tennessee was finally ceded by them to the United States. Pending the negotiations between Spain and the United States regarding the boundary, after the treaty of 1795, this was one of the posts which Gov. Carondelet was so reluctant to sur- render. Gayoso, then governor of Natchez, concluded a formal treaty at Chickasaw bluffs in 1795, with "Augliakabee and some other Chickasaw chiefs," by which the Indians ceded a tract of land for a military post. Gayoso hoisted his king's flag over the new post May 30, 1795, and named it Fort Ferdinand of the Bluffs, in honor of his prince. When the Spaniards finally saw that they would be compelled to carry out the terms of the treaty of 1795 and evacuate their posts on the eastern bank of the Mis- sissippi, above the 31st parallel, they razed the fort and transported the material and garrison across the Mississippi to their post of Esperanza. This was shortly after Ellicott's arrival at Natchez in Feb., 1797, and several months before the arrival of Capt. Guion and the U. S. troops at the Chickasaw bluffs in July. It was Guion's belief, expressed in a letter to the secretary of war soon after his arrival at the Chickasaw bluffs, that the Spaniards in- tended to reoccupy the post. The time of his arrival was most opportune, as Guion reported : "Had I halted at New Madrid but one day with the troops, and every means but violence was used to effect it, a great point had been gained by our neighbors, whose vessel from Natchez, laden with presents of blankets, shirts, hats, muskets, powder and lead, tomahawks, saddles and bridles, etc., for the Chickasaws, arrived at their garrison of Hopefield oppo- site to this place about eight hours before our arrival here. Great pains and much industry had been used to detach from the friend- ship of the United States this nation of Indians, and I fear they have been in a degree successful." He further added: "It is cer- tain that the Spaniards intended to reoccupy this post very soon." A faction of the Chickasaws, led by Wolf's Friend, was disposed to object to the occupation of land by the Americans, which had already been ceded to the Spanish, but Chief Piamingo, who ruled the majority, sided with the Americans. Capt. Guion exercised his discretion and built a hexagonal stockade, over which he hoisted the Stars and Stripes on Oct. 22, 1797, and left a garrison hiere when he went down the river in November. He named it Fort Adams, but when that name was shortly after applied to the post at Loftus Heights (q. v.), Guion's stockade was rechristened Fort Pickering.
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Chickasaws .- (See Indians.)
Chief Justices .- The following is a list of the justices who have presided over the supreme court of Louisiana since its organiza- tion, together with the dates when each entered upon and retired from the office: George Mathews, 1813 to 1835; François Xavier Martin, 1836 to 1846; George Eustis, 1846 to 1853; Thomas Slidell, 1853 to 1855; Edwin T. Merrick, 1855 to 1865; William B. Hyman, 1865 to 1868; John T. Ludeling, 1868 to 1877; Thomas C. Man- ning, 1877 to 1880: Edward E. Bermudez, 1881 to 1892; Francis T. Nicholls, 1892 to 1904; Joseph A. Breaux, 1904 -.
China, a small hamlet in the eastern part of Calcasieu parish, is about 5 miles west of Bayou Nezpique and 4 miles south of Elton, the nearest railroad station. It has a money order postoffice and in 1900 had a population of 25.
Chinchuba, a village of St. Tammany parish, is situated in the southern part, on a branch of the New Orleans Great Northern R. R., about 3 miles north of Mandeville. It has a money order postoffice, express office. telegraph and telephone facilities, and in 1900 reported a population of 75.
Chinn, Thomas W., member of Congress, was born in Kentucky, of a prominent family ; moved to Baton Rouge. La., where he held a number of public offices before he was elected a representative from Louisiana to the. 26th Congress as a Whig. President Tay- lor appointed him minister to the Two Sicilies in June, 1849, but he resigned in October of the same year.
Chipola, a village in the northwestern part of St. Helena parish, is situated near Darling's creek about 5 miles north of Darlington, the most convenient railroad station, and 10 miles northwest of Greensburg. the parish seat. It has a population of about 50.
Choctaws .- (See Indians.)
Cholera .- The malady known as Asiatic cholera is described by pathologists as "a malignant disease due to a specific poison which, when received into the human body through the air, water, or in some other way, gives rise to the most alarming symptoms and very frequently proves fatal to life. An attack of cholera is gener- ally marked by three stages, though these often succeed each other so rapidly as not to be easily defined. There is first a premonitory diarrhea stage, with occasional vomiting. severe cramps in the abdomen and legs, and great muscular weakness. This condition is succeeded, and often within a remarkably short period. by the second stage, which is one of collapse, and is called the algid or cold stage. This is characterized by intense prostration, great thirst, feebleness of circulation and respiration, with coldness and blueness of the skin, and loss of voice. Should death not take place at this, the most fatal period, the sufferer will then pass into the third or reaction stage of the disease. This, though very fre- quently marked by a high state of fever, with a tendency to con- gestion of internal organs, as the brain, lungs. kidneys, etc., is a much more hopeful stage than that which has preceded it, and the chances of recovery are very much increased."
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