USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 55
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Fort Saint Philip .- (See Military Reservations).
Fort Saint Philip, a money order post-village in the south-
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eastern part of Plaquemines parish, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi river, near the fortification of the same name and about 25 miles below Pointe a la Hache. Buras, 6 miles west, is the nearest railroad station. The population in 1900 was 51.
Fort Toulouse .- This early French outpost was established in the district of Alabama and served primarily as a protection against English encroachments from Carolina and Georgia. It was built by Capt. de la Tour under orders of Gov. Cadillac, in 1714; was located on the east bank of the Coosa river, + miles above its junction with the Tallapoosa; was kept constantly gar- risoned by the French during their control of the region, and was occupied by the English after the peace of 1762. Fort Jackson was built on its ruins during the War of 1812.
Fortier, Alcée, author and educator, was born in St. James parish, La., June 5, 1856. and is a descendant of one of the oldest French families in the state. François Fortier, his first ancestor in Louisiana, came from St. Malo, Brittany, in the early part of the 18th century. Michel Fortier, a son of François Fortier, was one of the signers of the petition protesting against the transfer of the province from France to Spain. Col. Michel Fortier, another ancestor, mentioned elsewhere in this work, was an officer in Galvez's army in his wars against the British (1779-1781), and a member of the first city council of New Orleans in 1803. Alcée Fortier is a son of Florent and Edwige (Aime) Fortier, the former a sugar planter of St. James parish ; the latter a daughter of Val- cour Aime and a niece of Gov. A. B. Roman. After completing the course in one of the best schools in New Orleans, Alcée For- tier entered the University of Virginia, but was prevented by failing health from graduating at that historic institu- tion. ( He then read law for about two years, when, his father meeting with financial reverses, he abandoned his legal studies to become a clerk in a banking house in New Or- leans. He continued his studies at every opportunity and finally gave up banking for educational work by accepting a position as teacher in the city high school. From the high school he became principal of the preparatory department of the University of Louisiana ; was made professor of French in that institution in 1880; was reelected when it took the name of Tulane University, in which he is now the professor of Romance languages. He studied also at Paris and is well known in university circles in that city. From 1888 to 1896 he was a member of the State Board of Education : has served as vice-president and president of the Civil Service Commission of the city of New Orleans : as vice-president and president of the Board of Curators of the State Museum ; has been president of the Louisiana Historical society since 1894, of the Athenee Louisianais since 1892: was president of the Catholic Winter School of America from 1897 to 1902; vice-president of the American Dialect Society: corresponding secretary of New Or- leans Academy of Sciences : president of the Modern Language As- sociation of America, of the American Folk-lore Society, of the
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Federation of the Alliance Francaise of the United States and . Canada, and is now president of the Public School Alliance of New Orleans. He was chairman of the history jury at the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904; a member of the Congress of Arts and Science at that exposition, where he read one of the two principal papers in the section of Romance literatures; and was a member of the advisory council of the Warner Library. Prof. Fortier has delivered lectures on French history and literature and on Louisi- ana history and literature before a number of iearned societies and at many American universities. During the summer sessions he has been a member of the faculty of the universities of Chicago, California, Tennessee, Kansas, Colorado, and Wisconsin, and at Harvard University. He received from the French government the decoration of "Officier de l'Instruction Publique" and "Chev- alier de la Légion d'honneur"; from Washington and Lee and Laval Universities the degree of Doctor of Letters. He is a mem- ber of the Academy of Macon in France; of the American Anti- quarian Society; the American Historical Association ; the Sons of the American Revolution ; the Raven Society of the University of Virginia ; and an honorary member of the Minnesota and Missouri Historical Societies, and of the Geographical Society of Quebec. Prof, Fortier has written many articles for literary and historical magazines and journals, has edited several French texts for American colleges, and has published the following books: Gabriel d'Ennerich, a historical novelette (1886) : Bits of Louisiana Folk-lore (1888) ; Histoire de la Littérature Française (1893) ; Louisiana Studies (1894) ; Louisiana Folk-Tales (1894) ; Voyage en Europe (1895) ; Précis de l'Histoire de France (1899) : History of Louisiana, four volumes, (1904) : History of Mexico (1907. In 1881 Prof. Fortier married Miss Marie Lananze, daughter of a highly esteemed French merchant of New Orleans, and a niece of M. Féraud-Giraud, one of the greatest French jurists in Paris. Mrs. Fortier is descended also from one of the oldest families in Louisiana, which was among the earliest settlers of St. Louis in Upper Louisiana-the Sarpy family. Prof. Fortier has four sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Edward Joseph, is following the profession of his father, and is a member of the faculty of the University of Illinois : the second son, James, is studying law, and the two other sons, Frank and Gilbert, are students in the New Orleans public schools. Prof. Fortier has been active as a citizen, an educator, and a writer on historical and literary subjects, and is one of the most widely known members of the faculty of the Tulane University of Louisiana.
Fortier, Florent, a member of an old French colonial family of Louisiana, was born in 1811 in St. Charles parish. He was educated at Sorrèze college in France, and on his return home was sent by his father to Transylvania university at Lexington; Ky., to study English. He married in 1836 Miss Edwige Aime, the eldest daughter of the wealthy and enterprising sugar planter. Valcour Aime, of, St. James parish, and contributed greatly to
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the success of his father-in-law in the management of the latter's plantation and refinery. Mr. Fortier was a man of high literary culture and wrote graceful French verse. He died in 1886, leav- ing one son, Prof. Alcee Fortier, and four daughters-Mrs. Nelvil Le Beuf, Mrs. Edward Roman, Mrs. Alfred Fortier and Mrs. Ed- mond Le Breton.
Fortier, Col. Michel, merchant, planter and soldier, was born in Louisiana in 1750, his family having been among the early French pioneers of the colony. He was a member of the first city council of New Orleans, and when Gov. Galvez called the mass-meeting in the Place d'Armes in 1779, to decide on the question of making an attack on the British posts, Mr. Fortier enlisted and took part in all the campaigns of the young governor. For his bravery in these campaigns he was made a captain of artillery by Charles III, King of Spain, and his commission is still in the possession of his descendants in Louisiana. Gov. Claiborne, in a letter to Gen. Jackson, dated Aug. 12, 1814, mentioned a battalion of picked men of color commanded by Col. Michel Fortier, "a respectable and rich merchant of New Orleans." During the war of 1812 he rendered valuable services with this battalion, and at the time of the British invasion of Louisiana he performed duty in New Orleans among the veterans who guarded the city. His eldest son, Col. Michel Fortier, Jr., was aide-de-camp to Gov. Claiborne and took an active part in the battle of New Orleans. In a series of resolutions the legislature said of the conduct of Col. Fortier on this occasion: "In town, Col. Fortier, Sen., contributed in a great measure to the prompt departure for Chef Menteur of the free men of color, already embodied, by furnishing them, at his own cost, with such articles as they stood in need of. To him also the country owes the forming and organizing a second corps of free men of color, to whom the brave Savary was appointed a captain. At his call, both captain and soldiers repaired to his house to be enlisted. He personally attended to the arming and equipping of them; and through his exertions that company, under command of Maj. Dauquin, was enabled to take the field and face the enemy a few hours after its formation. M. Fortier caused also several hundreds of muskets unfit for use to be repaired." Col. Fortier's death occurred in 1819, and he was laid to rest in the old St. Louis cemetery at New Orleans. His grave was decorated in July, 1908, by the "Sons of the American Revolution" in Louisiana.
Foster (R. R. name Bayou Sale), a village in the central part of St. Mary parish, is situated at the junction of two divisions of the Southern Pacific R. R., 4 miles southeast of Franklin, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice, express office, tele- graph station and telephone facilities, and in 1900 had a population of 86.
Foster, Murphy James, lawyer, governor and U. S. senator, was born'at Franklin. St. Mary's parish. La .. Jan. 12, 1849. After the Civil war he attended a preparatory school near Nashville. Tenn., for two years, and in 1867 entered Washington and Lee college at
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Lexington, Va. The following year he left that institution for Cumberland university, Lebanon, Tenn., where he graduated in 1870. In 1871 he graduated at the law school of Tulane university, and in 1872 was elected a member of the John McEnery legisla- ture, but as this government was not recognized, did not take his seat. In 1879 he was elected to the Louisiana state senate under the constitution adopted that year, and continued a member of that body for 12 years, being president pro tem. during his last term. In 1890 he led the anti-lottery fight in the legislature, and this led to his nomination for governor on the anti-lottery ticket in 1892. Four years later he was reelected, and at the close of his second terin he was elected to the U. S. senate to succeed Donelson Caffery, his term beginning on March 4, 1901. Before the expira- tion of his term the legislature of Louisiana passed the primary election law, and Senator Foster requested that the U. S. senator- ship be included in the primary. He received 42,990 votes in the primary, his opponent, B. F. Jonas, receiving 26,122, which insured his reelection for the term expiring on March 3, 1913.
Foster's Administration .- Gov. Murphy J. Foster took the oath of office on May 9, 1892, Charles Parlange being at the same time inaugurated lieutenant-governor. The lottery question had been the paramount issue in the campaign, and Francis T. Nicholls, the retiring governor, in his concluding message to the legislature, said: "From that contest Louisiana emerges victorious, her virtue vindicated, her morality strengthened, her future, I trust, assured. Again she stands among her sister states as fair as any, as pure as any, a's proud as any. The shadow has passed away. Once more she is moving to the front, and it will be for you to see that her course be steadfast and true. It will be for you to see that what has been faithfully and gloriously won shall be firmly and successfully maintained."
Immediately upon the inauguration of Foster and Parlange, the Republicans entered a protest before the general assembly, claim- ing that Albert H. Leonard and H. D. Coleman had received the highest number of votes for governor and lieutenant-governor respectively, and these defeated candidates demanded an investi- gation. With the exception of this incident, which in the end amounted to nothing. Gov. Foster began his administration under the most favorable auspices. During the legislative session a number of ballots were taken for a U. S. senator to succeed Gen. Randall I .. Gibson, whose term would expire on March 4, 1893, but the general assembly finally adjourned without an election. Gen. Gibson died on Dec. 15, following, and Gov. Foster appointed Donelson Caffery to fill out the unexpired term. The governor approved 110 acts, one of which prohibited the sale of lottery tickets, or the drawing of any lottery or scheme, in the state after Dec. 31, 1893. (See Lotteries).
Oct. 21. 1892, the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, was celebrated by appropriate cere- monies in all the schools, in many of the New Orleans, churches,
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and by a great popular meeting, preceded by a grand eivil and military parade, in Lafayette square, at which speeches were made in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian. Mayor Fitz- patrick presided at the meeting, and among the other speakers introduced James D. Coleman, who said the success of the cele- bration was due chietly to the patriotic efforts of Archbishop Janssens; that the Catholics had assembled on Oct. 12-the true anniversary of the discovery-at the call of the Pope to com- memorate the anniversary of the event, and that the present meet- ing had been called by the president of the United States for a similar . purpose.
In the presidential campaign of 1892 a fusion was effected by the Republicans and Populists, the ticket consisting of 5 Harrison and 3 Weaver electors. At the election in November the Cleveland electors received 87,922 votes, and the highest vote received by any elector on thie Fusion ticket was 26,563. On that ticket the Weaver electors ran about 1,200 ahead of the Republicans. In Aug. 1893, Judge Charles E. Fenner, of the supreme court, re- signed, and Lieut .- Gov. Parlange was appointed to fill the vacancy. Early the following year Judge Parlange was appointed to the Federal judgship for the eastern district of Louisiana to fill the vacancy caused by the death of E. C. Billings.
Developments with regard to the assessment of property for tax purposes this year caused a great deal of dissatisfaction in some of the parishes where the people felt that they were paying more than their just proportion of the public expenses. Consti- tutional amendments were recommended by some to correct the glaring inequalities, while others argued that the legislature al- ready had ample power to provide some method of equalizing valuations. Toward the close of the year the assessor of St. Landry parish issued a call for a convention of assessors to meet in New Orleans on Jan. 16, 1894, to consider and if possible devise some plan by which the desired end might be attained, but nothing definite was accomplished along this line until after the adoption of the constitution of 1898. Some trouble also came up this year. with regard to the use of surplus that had accumulated in the fund set apart for the payment of interest on the state bonds. At a meeting of the state board of liquidation it was decided to apply the surplus to the purchase of state bonds, under the act of 1874, and thereby reduce the bonded debt. The state treasurer was not present at the meeting, and when informed of the action of the board he set up the claim that the act of 1874 had been annulled by the constitution of 1879, and refused to pay out money for the purchase of bonds unless ordered to do so by an act of the general assembly. The attorney-general held that the law left nothing to the discretion of the board, and applied to the civil district court of New Orleans for a writ of mandamus to compel the treasurer to obey the order of the board. The district court decided that the board had the authority to order the purchase of the bonds, whereupon the treasurer appealed to the supreme court, which
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affirmed the decision of the lower court. During the next three years bonds to the amount of $206,700 were bought and canceled. These bonds, bearing 4 per cent interest, were purchased for $199,825.73, a saving of nearly $6,000, besides stopping the pay- ment of interest on the bonds thus redeemed.
In the first half of 1893 Louisiana was scourged by storm and flood, which caused much suffering and greatly injured the grow- ing crops. In March, the parishes of Catahoula and Concordia were partly overflowed; bad breaks occurred at several places along the Mississippi in May, and the governor, with others, made a tour of inspection along the levees, extending their observation into Arkansas. The substance of the governor's report was as follows: "Most of the old levees in Arkansas are in a wretched condition, poorly constructed, and inadequate to resist any flood of the mag- nitude of that which now threatens us. The levees in Louisiana I find in fine condition. Immense dikes have been built which will resist almost any flood in the river, and at points where any weakness has manifested itself the danger has been promptly met." After this report was made a break occurred in East Carroll parish, and by May 30 it was 3,000 feet wide. Over 5,000 people were driven from their homes and were sheltered in two large camps. In June two breaks occurred on the east bank-one above and the other below the city of New Orleans-and late in the month the New River country was flooded by an overflow from the Rescue crevasses. During the entire summer the governor and the state officers were at their posts, doing what they could to avert disaster, or to relieve distress after the disaster came.
The legislature of 1894 met on May 6 and remained in session until July 12. Some time was spent in the consideration of the report submitted by the constitutional commission appointed at the preceding session. (See Constitutional Commission.) A reso- lution was adopted declaring it to be the sense of the legislature that U. S. senators should be elected by direct vote of the people, and that Louisiana senators and representatives in Congress should work to that end. In response to a general demand for a radical change in the election laws, an act was passed to regulate elections, but it was not satisfactory to the people, who wanted the Australian ballot system, and was generally denounced by the newspapers throughout the state. An appropriation of $1.200 was made for the purpose of locating the positions of the Lousiana regiments on the battlefields of Chickamauga and Gettysburg, and several acts relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors were passed.
The political campaign of 1894 was more exciting than the usual "off year" contest, owing to the Wilson tariff bill, one feature of which was the proposal to discontinue the bounty on sugar manu- factured in the United States. In May the sugar planters of Lousiana held a convention. adopted a series of resolutions. setting forth the fact that they regarded the bounty as one of the pro- visions of contract with the government, to run for 15 years, on
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the strength of which they had expended large sums for im- proving their plants for the production of sugar, and sent a copy of the resolutions to the senators and representatives of the state in Congress, with a memorial, in which they said: "If this govern- mental policy be now suddenly reversed and the sugar planters of Louisiana be abandoned to hopeless competition with the superior natural advantages of tropical countries and with the government- aided sugar industry of European countries, the sugar industry of Louisiana will be instantly annihilated, all these extensive im- provements will become mere useless incumbrances on the soil and utterly valueless, our plantations will pass under the sheriff's hammer in foreclosure of mortgages which they will not satisfy, half the people of the state will be thrown helpless on the world without employment, and Louisiana will present a picture of desolation comparable only to the Palatinate after its devastation by the armies of its invaders."
Notwithstanding this vigorous protest the bill was passed by . Congress, the bounty clause of the Mckinley tariff bill was re- ·pealed, and on Sept. 17 the planters held another convention, in which they came out openly for the Republican party. Candidates were nominated, but at the election in November the Democrats carried the state, electing all six of the Congressmen, though the opposition charged that intimidation, fraud and violence had been used to carry the 1st, 2nd and 3d districts. An attempt was made by the Miles planting company to test the bounty question in the courts by an application to the supreme court of the District of Columbia for a mandamus to compel the secretary of the treasury to appoint the necessary inspectors to determine the amount of sugar produced, etc. In November the case came be- fore the court of appeals, and in Jan., 1895, it was decided adversely to the planters, the court holding that the bounty was unconsti- tutional.
The drought of 1893-94 had produced wide-spread suffering in Nebraska, and about the close of 1894 Gov. Foster issued a call to the charitably inclined people of Louisiana to contribute sup- plies for the relief of the needy of the former state. On Jan. 6 a train of 20 loaded cars was started for Nebraska. Among the sup- plies were over 500 barrels of molasses, 93 barrels of sugar, about 100 barrels and sacks of rice, flour, cornmeal, potatoes, clothing, a carload of dressed lumber, and a carioad of salt from the Avery island mines, and many other useful products.
In 1890 the First National bank of Shreveport refused to pay its taxes, claiming that the assessment was illegal and excessive ; that the board of reviewers had assessed the stock of the bank, which was in U. S. bonds, and therefore exempt from taxation : and that the stock had been assessed at a higher rate than the property of individuals, which was a violation of the Federal constitution. The case was taken to the courts, and in Aug., 1895, it was de- cided, the court sustaining and making absolute a rule compelling
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the bank to settle or produce its stock for sale to satisfy the de- mand for taxes.
.On Dec. 18, 1895, the Democratic state convention met at Shreve- port, nominated Gov. Foster for reelection, and completed the ticket as follows: for lieutenant-governor, Robert H. Snyder ; secretary of state, John T. Michel; auditor, W. W. Heard; treasurer, A. V. Fournet : attorney-general. Milton J. Cunningham ; superintendent of education, Joseph V. Calhoun. A large free- silver convention had been held in New Orleans on June 10, and on July 20 the Ballot Reform League also held a convention in New Orleans. The latter organization met again at Shreveport the day before the Democratic convention, with the object of influenc- ing that party to declare in favor of the proposed amendment to the state constitution which provided that only those who could read the constitution in the mother tongue or owned property to the amount of $200 should be permitted to vote. The league was also interested in securing a resolution committing the Demo- cratic party to the Australian ballot, but the convention of the 18th made no declaration on the currency question and merely ap- proved the action of the last legislature on the question of suffrage. The national Republicans, composed of the sugar planters and their associates who went over to the Republican party in 1894, held a state convention on Jan. 4, 1896, and nominated a ticket. The Populists met at Alexandria on the 8th and also placed a ticket in the field, but later in the month a fusion was affected with the Republicans. The fusion ticket was made up as follows : for governor, J. N. Pharr ; lieutenant-governor, J. B. Kleinpeter ; secretary of state. J. W. McFarland: auditor. H. P. Kernochan ; treasurer, H. E. Nelson: attorney-general, Lucien D. Suthon ; superintendent of education, G. A. M. Cook.
The election occurred on April 21, but the result was not settled until the assembling of the legislature on May 14, when the tellers made two reports. The majority report declared the Democratic ticket elected, Foster receiving 116,216 votes, and Pharr, 90,188, the majority on the other candidates being about the same. The minority report said: "The undersigned beg leave to report that they have not been able to examine and correct the vote as pro- vided by Article LIX of the constitution, because what purport to be the returns of the election are mere tabulated statements from the board of supervisors of the several parishes, and no legal re- turns were presented to your committee. The undersigned beg further to report that they are informed that the legal returns are now in the office of the secretary of state, whose office is in this building, and we therefore. pray that the secretary of state be ordered to produce instanter and lay before the general assembly said legal returns, consisting of the original tally sheets, compiled statements of voters and lists of voters, in order that this honorable body may examine and count the vote for governor and lieutenant- governor of this state as provided by Article LIX of the constitu- tion."
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