USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Standard history of New Orleans, Louisiana, giving a description of the natural advantages, natural history settlement, Indians, Creoles, municipal and military history, mercantile and commercial interests, banking, transportation, etc. > Part 27
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In connection with these old cemeteries some interest attaches to the history of the San Antoine Mortuary Chapel. This chapel, now St. Anthony's Italian Church, is situated only a short square distant from the oldest of the cemeteries, at the corner of Rampart and Conti streets. About the same time that the council donated the ground for the new cemetery on Claiborne street, complaints began to be made of the frequency of the performance of funeral ceremonies at the Cathedral, which were no doubt a great interruption to business, the Cathedral being at that time still in the center of the city. In deference to these well-grounded complaints the city granted to the wardens of the Cathedral a piece of ground at the location named above, upon condition of their erecting there a chapel to which the dead might be brought for the last rites of the Church. In compliance with this pro- vision, on the 10th of October, 1826, a cross was set up to mark the site of the altar, and the following morning work was begun on the chapel, which was com- pleted within the year at a cost of $16,000. It was dedicated to the most holy Saint Anthony of Padua, and here for many years were performed the funeral rites of all persons dying in the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. The chapel was included in the list of the property belonging to the Cathedral made at the time the church and all its possessions were transferred to the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
The Cathedral is also the proprietor of a cemetery on Esplanade avenue, the ground for which was acquired by purchase in 1849, and which is known as St. Louis Cemetery No. 3. This cemetery is less crowded than the older ones, and is beautified with trees and flowers. Its acquisition for burial purposes gave rise to a lawsuit, the proprietor of a neighboring piece of land objecting to the opening of a graveyard so near his residence. An injunction was sued out to forbid the continu- ance of interments, and the case being appealed to the Supreme Court, the judges
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decided that, so far from being "necessarily shocking or offensive to the senses," a cemetery, under proper police superintendence, "may be rendered one of the most attractive ornaments of a city," and that, in the court's opinion, "such is the case with those of New Orleans." The injunction was therefore dissolved, and judgment rendered for defendants, with costs in both courts.
A curious little burial ground, with the odd personality of a former sexton clinging to it, is the Louisa Street Cemetery. Pepé Lula, a Spanish swordsman and an expert pistol shot, was sexton here for a great many years, and the fact having be- come known that he had killed a number of men, the people came to believe that he had established the cemetery for the purpose of burying his victims, and there- after called the place Pepé Lula's Cemetery, which title still clings to it in the popular mind.
The oldest of the "up town" cemeteries is known as Lafayette No. 1, and is situated on Washington avenue, between Coliseum and Prytania streets. This is now in the very heart of the choicest residence portion of the city, called the "gar- den district," from the universal practice of surrounding the dwellings with shade trees, lawns and parterres of flowers ; but in 1824, when the square was appropriated as a burial place, it was a thinly populated suburb, a mile or more distant from the upper limit of the corporation, which was then Delord street. For many years up to 1852, in fact, this suburb was known as Lafayette, and was governed by its own mayor and council.
This cemetery resembles those of the lower district already noticed in all essen- tial features, though an improvement upon them in the matter of arrangement, being laid out in regular avenues, and planted with trees. The central avenue is especially noticeable from the double line of magnolia trees from which it takes its appellation -Magnolia avenue.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 2 is also on Washington avenue, much farther out in the direction of the lake, between Saratoga and South Franklin streets. Its area is about equally divided between white and colored people, the tombs of many of the burial societies and benevolent associations of this latter class being located there. Among its most conspicuous monuments are those of the French Society of Jeffcr- son, and of the Butchers' Association.
The Girod Cemetery has the appearance of age, but whether from lapse of time or from neglect cannot be ascertained. It is located in the first district, between South Liberty, Perrillat, Cypress and Magnolia streets. It contains some interest- ing tombs, notwithstanding its dilapidated appearance, among them that of Colonel
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W. W. S. Bliss, General Taylor's son-in-law, and chief of staff during the Mexican war. Colonel Bliss survived all his battles, and sleeps peacefully beneath a monu- ment erected to his memory by his friends at West Point. This cemetery also contains the monument of the Marine Association and the splendid temple of the New Lusitanos, as well as several well constructed tombs belonging to various col- ored societies.
Perhaps the most picturesque cemetery of New Orleans is the Campo Santo of the Church of the Holy Trinity, situated in the Third district, and bounded by Washington avenue, Solidelle, Prosper and Music streets. The cemetery is small, and is only partially filled with graves and tombs, but it possesses several features of peculiar interest. The tomb of the Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration occupies one corner of the enclosure, and in the rear is a frescoed mortuary chapel, the work of the Carmelite monks. It is also the only cemetery in which the devout pilgrim can make "the way of the cross" in the open air, with only the blue vault of the sky for roof. The fourteen stations are carved in low relief on wood instead of being painted, as in the churches, and here at almost any hour of the day may be seen penitent suppliants following the "Via Dolorosa," the road to Calvary, trodden by the Great Martyr nearly two thousand years ago.
The supreme attraction of this little place of graves, however, is the chapel dedicated to Saint Roch, the patron of the sick, and more especially of those stricken by the plague. Saint Roch, according to the Roman breviary, was a native of Mont- pellier, France, said to have been born with the mark of the red cross upon his person, a sign interpreted as signifying future eminence. At the age of twelve he began to practice strict asceticism, and on the death of his parents when he was twenty, he gave all his substance to the poor and joined the Franciscan Tertiaries. Happening to be in Italy during the prevalence of the plague, he devoted him- self to ministering to the sick in the public hospitals, and, falling ill himself at Piacenza, would have died in the forest had not the dog of a certain nobleman daily brought him a piece of bread. He died in prison at his native place, having been arrested as a spy on his return from Italy. Before his death he obtained from God the promise that persons stricken with the plague who invoked him should be healed. He is represented as a pilgrim in the garb of a cavalier of the period, staff in hand, and a dog by his side.
The chapel is a wooden structure, Gothic in style, and so overgrown with ivy as to completely cover its walls. The side walls are formed by tiers of vaults be- longing to the societies of Saint Anne and Saint Joseph. Above each of these is a
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stained glass window inscribed to the patron saint. Its shrine is a favorite place of pilgrimage for the performance of novenas, the nine days' prayer vowed to some particular saint for the attainment of some desired good. The orthodox method of performing a novena is to walk (barefooted, according to the strictest rule) from one's home to the shrine of the saint, bearing a lighted taper, and without having broken fast. This must be done nine days in succession, the same prayer or invoca- tion being many times repeated each day. It is said that this is sometimes done even now, and at Saint Roch's, but the more usual practice is to light the taper at the gate, and walking with it up the central avenue, place it at the foot of the shrine, at the same time naming the desired favor. The following invocation to Saint Roch is then recited :
O great Saint Roch, deliver us, we beseech thee, from the scourges of God. Through thy intercessions preserve our bodies from contagious diseases, and our souls from the contagion of sin. Obtain for us salubrious air; but, above all, purity of heart. Assist us to make good use of health, to bear suffering with patience, and, after thy example, to live in the practice of penance and charity, that we may one day enjoy the happiness which thou hast merited by thy virtues.
Saint Roch, pray for us (repeat three times).
Alms are then deposited in the box placed for their reception, and the suppliant "makes the way of the cross," repeating the prayers prescribed for the various sta- tions, and adding that for the special object of the novena.
It is said that the young girls of the vicinity, and in fact throughout the city, who are anxious to exchange the single state for that of wedlock, are accustomed to pray every evening at St. Roch's shrine for a husband, but such prayers should be, and probably are, addressed to Saint Joseph, the patron of marriages, who has also a shrine in the chapel, and whose images are for sale at the gate by the sexton or janitor.
The Metairie Cemetery is the very newest of the thirty-one burial places of New Orleans, but as it is also the most beautiful, it cannot be passed over without a word of notice. Metairie Ridge is a ridge of land midway between river and lake, formed many years before the settlement of Louisiana by the meting of the waters at that point in the great inundations. It was formerly used as a race-course, and was the scene of many famous races, notably that of the contests between Lexington and Lecompte in 1855. In 1872 it was determined to convert the old course into a cemetery, and an association was formed for the purpose of raising funds and considering plans for the carrying out of the design. One hundred and eight acres of ground were purchased at a cost of $175,000, and $171,000 more were expended in the laying out of walks, carriage roads, the digging of artificial lakes, building of
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bridges and planting of trees, shrubbery, flowers-beds, ete. The plan adopted was furnished by Mr. Harrod, and retains the old race-course as the main drive. In this cemetery are many beautiful and interesting monuments, conspicuous among them being the tomb of the Army of Northern Virginia, surmounted by a column bearing a statue of Stonewall Jackson; the tomb of the Washington Artillery, crowned by the statue of their old commander, Colonel J. B. Walton; and the Gothic vault of the Army of Tennessee, upon whose grassy summit is poscd a bronze cquestrian statue of Albert Sidney Johnston.
The other eemeteries located on or near the Metairie Ridge are :
Hebrew Cemetery .- "Dispersed of Judah;" Canal street, between Anthony street and Metairie Ridge; size 250 feet square.
Polish Hebrew Cemetery .- Canal street, opposite above. Sometimes called "Jewish Rest."
Odd Fellows Cemetery .- Canal street and Metairie road; size 360 feet square.
Charity Hospital Cemeteries, Nos. 1 and 2 .- Canal strect, between Anthony and Metairie road; and Metairie road, between Bienville and Canal. Exclusively for burials from Charity Hospital.
Masonic Cemetery .- Bienville street, between Metairie Ridge and Anthony street ; size three squares.
St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1 .- Canal strect, between Anthony street and Me- tairie Ridge; size 400 by 1,500 feet.
St. Patrick Cemetery No. 2 .- Canal, between Anthony and Metairie road, op- posite above; size one square.
St. Patrick Cemetery No. 3 .- Metairie road, between Canal and Bienville; size two squares.
Firemen's Cemeteries .- Known as Cypress Grove Nos. 1 and 2, and Green- wood. Metairie Ridge and Canal street.
In addition to these there are:
Valence Strect Cemetery .- Sixth district, size one square, bounded by Valence, Bordeaux, Rampart and Dryades streets.
Carrollton Cemetery .- Seventh district, size four squares, bounded by Adams and Lower Line, Seventh and Eighth streets.
St. Joseph Cemetery .- Fourth distriet, size two squares, bounded by Washing- ton avenue, St. David, South Liberty and Sixtli streets.
St. Vincent Cemetery .- Sixth distriet, size three squares, bounded by St. David, Green and St. Patrick streets.
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Locust Grove Cemeteries, Nos. 1 and 2 .- Fourth district, size one square each, bounded by Locust, Freret, Sixth and Seventh streets. Sometimes called "Potter's Field."
St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery .- Third district, size one square, bounded by Louisa, Piety, Villere and Urquhart streets.
Holt's Cemetery .- First district, size five to six acres.
Hebrew Cemetery .- Elysian Fields, near Gentilly road, size one square.
Hebrew Cemetery .- Sixth district, on Joseph street, known as "Hebrew Place of Prayer ;" size one square.
German Hungarian Lutheran Cemetery .- Canal street, between Anthony and Bernadotte.
Chalmette Cemetery .- One mile below Barracks, on river. For Union soldiers. Verret Cemetery .- Sixth district, corner Verret and Market streets.
St. Bartholomew Cemetery .- Fifth district, bounded by De Armas, Lassey- rusee, Franklin and Hancock strects.
William Tell Cemetery .- Gretna, Tenth street, between Lavoisier and Nerota streets.
CHAPTER XI.
THE PRESS.
BY J. M. LEVEQUE.
T IS an ancient saying that the press is the great mirror of the times. This is possibly true. It is certainly true here, with us, in America. In a country like Russia, where the press is subject to a censorship, it is likely that neither the joys nor the sorrows of the people, neither the things which they love nor those which they hate, find a candid voice in the press. The press reflects there power- the power of the absolute monarchy which censors it. But here the monarch, being the people, in theory, and, to a pretty large extent, in fact, the press reflects that monarch with a fine degree of nicety and accuracy. Show any man of discrimina- tion and of experience the press of a given city and let him study it, and he can accurately judge if it be a cultured or a rude city; what its chicfest business is; what is the temper of its mind. This inevitably must be. The press depends, in this country, for its success, not upon government subsidies, not upon the favoritism of this, that or the other rich patron, but upon its popularity with the people, and the people usually patronize that which they like.
This is said by way of preface to the chronicling of the history of the press of New Orleans, from the infancy of this class of letters here to the present. It is con- siderably over a hundred years old, and what a marvelous revolution has taken place in that time! Yet, through all the lapse of years, it seems as if the saying concern- ing the press had been verified-as if that great organ had been indeed the reflex of popular life in this famous old city.
In the archives of the city are to be found to-day copics of the early papers printed here. As one looks over them, it seems strange that these publications then took the place of the present product of the Mergenthaler and the perfecting press, of well-ordered counting-rooms, and of the perfect discipline of editorial and repor- torial staffs, of ability and ceaseless work. Yet doubtless if he compared the city of those days with the New Orleans of to-day, the parallel between the progress of the press and that of the city would be scen to be perfect.
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The first impression-and, indeed, it is more than an impression ; it is a direct lesson-the first lesson that these yellow, time-stained reminders of a by-gone time convey to one, is that, in those days, there was a fine degree of lcisure in every walk of life here, and a fine desire to spend it leisurely, like a gentleman, sir, like a gen- tleman. To read the thoughts of others was a direct restraint upon the originality of our own thoughts, to say nothing of an encroachment upon our leisure. Con- sequently, the very earliest products of the printing press took the shape of the gazettes. As one looks over a copy of an early gazette, he is impressed that the hard- est task ever connected with it must have devolved upon the salutatorian in the first number. To explain why it was born into the world must, indeed, have been a task. It was not a purveyor of news. It was not a disseminator of opinions. It con- tained such business in the shape of advertisements as was sccurable, and contented itself usually with slapping into type matter which it is as puzzling as the hiero- glyphics of the Nile to discern why it ever found print. "A letter from abroad" was apparently a prize. It was usually obtained by the editor in the course of his rounds among the business men. A ship captain, discharging cargo in some foreign port, was usually an important correspondent. His letter was given leading place, even if it were two months old, and even though it told of nothing in the world but of cargocs and of shipping. There was a swaggering inclination, too, to pay flatter- ing personal compliments to the advertisers whom the editor had successfully "interviewed." In those good old days there seemed little care on the editorial mind. The choice of subjects, the influencing of intelligent opinion on the most important topics of the day-such considerations as these never bothered the inag- nate at the helm of a gazette. "Local news" was manifestly scorned. Why give space to that which anyone could find out by a little inquiry ; or rather, why take the time and the trouble to put it in type?
New Orleans was indebted to a San Domingan refugee for its very first paper. It was called Le Moniteur de la Louisiane. It was issued in 1794. At that time the city was practically a French city and the French tongue was predominant. Le Moniteur was printed in French. The fate of Le Moniteur is lost in the obscurity of a past century. The historical accuracy of the fact that it did exist is attested by the copies of it now to be found in the archives of the city. It was a weekly.
With the dawn of the next century, New Orleans is found in the enjoyment of a semi-weekly, printed in English, showing the change that was even then taking place in the language of the city. This publication was known as The Louisiana Gazette, and its first issue appeared on July 27, 1804. It was a little, badly printed
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folio of 10x16 inches. One John Mowry was its editor. As far as known, Editor Mowry had the honor of printing the first of many gazettes whose history is lost in the haze of the far past. His gazette, however, is a most interesting study. Sam- ples of it are also preserved in the archives of the city, where the diligent historian may peruse them and learn many interesting things, possibly, for to the man who loves to rebuild, in his imagination, the conditions of the past, it is unquestionably mteresting. The Gazette exhibits the characteristic disregard of "news." The colossus of war across the water, at that time disturbing all Europe, appears to have stirred up the native burgher as far away as New Orleans, however, for the Gazette is found bitterly inveighing against Napoleon. The subject is vastly more important than even matters concerning public men and measures at home, who receive only a casual share of attention. In this appcars also the lingering French character of the city. The Louisiana Gazette appears to have had considerable staying qualities, for it continued to live for a number of years. It was domiciled at (old) No. 36 Bienville, the house of C. Norwood. That was in the neighborhood of the commercial center of the city in those days, and the city was by no means as large as it is to-day. The Gazette's motto was "American Commerce and Freedomn," and it is not on record whether the commerce and the freedom in mind was that so much affected by the renowned Lafitte. In subsequent years it repeatedly changed its domicile and it added a sub-heading, "Merchantile Advertiser." At different times it published at 21 Conti, 26 Conti, and, in the history-making year of 1812, its office was removed to 51 Chartres, at that time the leading commercial thorough- fare, as Royal was the leading residential street. In 1823 it removed again to 31 Customhouse, and still again the next year to 22 Bienville. It must not be too quickly surmised that heartless landlords were responsible for these changes, for there are evidences of a fairly prosperous business in The Gazette. Its prosperity was evidently on the increase, too, for on April 15, 1817, a concession was made to the French readers by the appearance of the paper in both French and English, and it was repeatedly enlarged, both that year and the next. Editor Mowry had made repeated attempts to establish the paper as a daily, but evidently the times were not ripe for it. His first endeavor was on April 3, 1810. There seems to have been, about this time, some awakening consciousness to the fact that news should be given by a newspaper, as Editor Mowry is found promising that he will endeavor to give "the latest intelligence" in his paper. The outcome of this endeavor as a daily was apparently not successful, for in 1814 the paper was issued tri-weekly. David McKeehan was then its proprictor, having bought it from Mr. Mowry. At
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that time The Gazette began to change hands with great frequency, viewed from the modern standpoint. G. B. Cotten bought it, and, in 1816, he sold it to William Bur- ner. Next year, Mr. Burner took as a partner Charles W. Duhy. Editor Duhy became sole proprietor in July, 1820, and there are evidences that he prospered, for he made it a daily, enlarging the size of it. Mr. Duhy, by the way, is possibly the most conspicuous newspaper man of his times. Four years later he sold it to R. D. Richardson, who in the same year, 1824, turned the paper over to James Mc- Karaher. In May of the following year, Mr. Richardson regained possession of the property, being joined in the venture by a Boston printer named A. P. Penniman. This firm purchased this paper and also the material of The Orleans Gazette, which had gone out of existence. When it is stated that these gentlemen advertised four handpresses as evidences of a very large job printing outfit, some idea may be gained of the proportions to which "the art preservative" had attained in that day.
In the meantime new candidates were in the field for journalistic honors. In 1820 The Louisiana Advertiser was being published, and in 1825 that sheet is found in the possession of one James Beerdslee, who was publishing it at No. 37 Bienville street. He sold it out five years later, in 1830, to Jolin Penrice, from whom the paper in time passed into the hands of Stroud & Jones. James Beerdslee in 1824 had started a paper called The Weekly Advertiser. This was the organ which the distinguished John Gibson used to telling advantage to New Orleans journalism in the "thirties." He became the proprietor of The Weekly Advertiser in 1833, and two years later he changed its name to The True American, which lived into the forties. Gibson had manifestly some ideas of his own about the province of a news- paper, which, while trite now, were new in New Orleans then. He paid great atten- tion to local news. He followed the history of local politics closely and faithfully and he succeeded in so revolutionizing the old gazette style of journalism that all the old papers died out one by one. He was the biggest figure in journalism of New Orleans up to his day, realizing that in nothing is a newspaper so strong as in being the faithful chronicler of passing events. On the success he upbuilded was created the condition in which it was possible for newspapers to thrive.
Gibson received the flattering sobriquet of "the faithful and bold." He was a man of conviction and courage. Unswervable, clear, daring and undauntable, his life was a forceful factor in shaping the destinies of the city in his time.
The True American probably came to its end in 1842, when The Daily Tropic came into existence. Its proprietor was Alden S. Merrifield. This was, like The
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True American, one of the best edited specimens of journalism in New Orleans to that date. It was a whig paper and a champion of Henry Clay. Among the no- tables of the time connected with it were P. Besançon and B. F. Flanders.
Another paper, the history of whose career is lost in the oblivion of the past, but which must have had its origin away back in the first years of the eighteen hundreds, being accounted a half century old at the time of its demise, May 29, 1859, was The Courier, which had attained considerable prominence in the forties, being the exponent of the conservative democracy of the State. It seems to have been distanced by its more energetic rivals in the race, although it had been highly esteemed by a very respectable element of the city.
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