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Article THE OCTOBER ELECTION OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL. ← Page 3 of 3 Article MIXED BLOOD IN LOUISIANA. Page 1 of 1 Article MIXED BLOOD IN LOUISIANA. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The October Election Of The Boys' School.
^ Ve hope see son amongs t tho successful no distant date . He has already had 309 votes recorded in his favour . No . 51 , R . Beaumont , is a new case . The parents are both living , and so are ten children who aro dependent on them . The father was initiated in the Faithful Lodge ,
$ o . 85 , Norfolk , and is returned as W . M . thereof . Further than this we know nothing , but would suggest to the petitioner that it would be to his benefit if some reason were assigned for his being compelled to appeal to his brethren , and ' perhaps if he pointed the matter out doubtless the
authorities at the Institution would find a means of supplying the desired information , not only in his case but in that of others . We cannot close this article without expressing our determination to persevere in our effort to induce the
authorities to supply information from which it might be possible for all to judge the merits of the several candidates . If this were done fully we think a large number of undoserving cases could be picked out . On the other hand , others might be discovered in which assistance would bo a blessing , and lead up to exercise of the truest charity .
In our review , last week , of the Girls' School Ballot Paper , when speaking of No . 14 , B . A . Cookes , we said that some further information in reference to the case would be acceptable to the general body of subscribers ; we did so because the father , who is still living , is returned as
W . M . of his Lodge , and we could hardly imagine a W . M . during his year of office seeking the aid of one of our Schools It seems , however , that in this case , as in most others where the rank is given as W . M ., a mistake has
been made in the preparation of the ballot papers , the fact really being that the brethren have been W . M . of their Lodge . The Masonic rank should be recorded as P . M . We believe the same error occurs in the case of the Boys ' School List .
Mixed Blood In Louisiana.
MIXED BLOOD IN LOUISIANA .
IN New Orleans a traoe of negro blood is never forgotten—the record ia preserved for centuries . Some twenty years ago a member of one of our first families was elected to the City Council . His oppo . nent objected to his being sworn in , on the ground that he had negro blood in his veins and was ineligible to office . To test the question , the gentleman against whom this charge was made brought a snit for damages , declining in the meanwhile to take his seat in the Conncil
nntil the matter was determined . The records of tho old parish chnrch of St . Louis , now the cathedral , were investigated , and the ancestry of the plaintiff traced back untilit was found that one of his ancestors , at the beginning of the last century , had been an "esclare "—a slave . He acknowledged this , but replied that this slave was not a negress , but an Indian squaw .
In the colonial days of Loaisiana the French reduced the Choctaws and Horemas to slavery , and at one time New Orleans boasted of as many redskin slaves as Gninea negroes . These Indians have long since melted away into the Africau race , like the bead and basket Indian of Niagara , and are represented to-day by a race of mestizoes , mixing the blood of all three races , the white , black , and red . It is
a common boast of maDy New Orleans coloured people thafc they are of Indian rather than of negro descent . Tbe white people langh at this negro vanity , but it is more half than true , as is proven by the aquiline noses and straight stiff hair to be seen on some of the very blackes t negroes . Then the damage suit rested on the question whotner
this slave ancestor was Choctaw or Congo . This , of course , could only be determined by oral testimony . The oldest inhabitant was called in for testimony . An incident ocourred in this case pro"ably withoot parallel since the days of Methnselab . An ancient Weole dame , who had hp . p . n nnllnrl nn tn £ fiat , i ( V no hn t-. hu nrro r . e t . Viio
Marie , recalled the fact that she ( Marie ) had kept a shop on Chartresstreet , before the bi g fire that burned that portion of the city . Nobod y remembered this fire , and Marten ' s " History of fl "siana" had to be brought into court to find the date of the conaeration . It was then discovered that it had occurred inst a century
and I' testimony of the witness could scarcely be credited , see ™ v carefully cross-examined . She never wavered for a knii J P ° ved conclusively that she could relate from personal owled ge and observation , facts occurring more than a century vions
P . The old lady claimed to be 120 , perhaps an exaggeration factl J'earS ° r S 0 ' ' ^ mos ( i 'trough cross-examination left the tha ^* es tablished that her memory covered the space of more PlaintV 3 entary " T '' le decision in tne caso waa in favonr of the
When ffc ° ky Wa 8 tho P laintiff in a similar suit just after the war , for a £ ^ had cnan S somewhat . This gentleman was a candidate year ? ° ^ . for a lucrative , office worth over 50 , 000 dollars a hjtj , ¦ - ^ opposition newspaper overhauled his record , and charged _ W'th Dej n „ traitor tr > t . hfl nnnforltvrntn mnw Vinvini ? rloonrforl
n « To M , erate army in the fielc 1 5 and . furthermore , with being of the ne These two charges , by-the-bye , elected him to office , for then < \ ° i- an ( * Union elements happened to be in a majority just 5 but , far from pleased with his good fortune , ho brought a suit
Mixed Blood In Louisiana.
for libel and damages against tho offending journal . Ho was promptly ruled ont of conn . The Uopnblican judge held that " negro " was not an approbrious or libellous term , and it was no insult to oall a man a negro , and that certainly no action could lie for showing that he preferred tho Union to the rebel cause . About this time mixed blood was at a premium , because of its
immense benefit in politics , and men who in their colour and features did not betray the slightest trace of negro ancestry actually boasted of it . A curious case was that of a Republican ward leader . He was a native New Orleanean of Spanish descent . His mother , a fine old Creole , come from one of the West Indies , and clung patriotically to the dress of her native isle , a stylo unfortunately very familiar to
that worn by the Creole darkies . Her son lived in a negro ward , and required negro votes to elect him . Being hard pressed in a race for the Legislature , he hit on the novel and brilliant idea of passing himself off as a quadroon , which , thanks to the dark complexion of his Spanish blood , he was very well able to do . He took a number of his coloured constituents aronnd to his house , pointed to his mother
and her coloured head kerchief , and claimed to be of African lineage , and thus the old lady , possessed of all the bitter race prejudice of tho West Indian against mixed blood , was made a most effective eleotoral card , until one day her whole history was shown up , and Charlie , being discovered to be a white man and a fraud , wa 3 relegated to private life .
This head kerchief , by-the-bye , is a fatal emblem in Louisiana , and one of her sons , prominent in the oonnoils of the State and nation , has had the charge of negro blood brought publioly against him , on no other foundation than the fact that his grandmother wore this kind of headgear . Outside of politics , however , the old prejudice continued as strong
as ever . A Westerner came down here just after the war to get out a directory of the city . Ho unfortunately determined to distinguish between whites and blacks , and instead of simply giving " John Smith , carpenter , 530 Adole-stroet , " made it " John Smith , coloured . " The book had been printed and bound , and was just about being delivered , when the discovery was made that the fatal word
'' coloured " was placed against the name of one of our most prominent white merchants , and , unfortunately , one of swarthy com . plexion . There was only one way of escaping a libel suit , a duel , or perhaps something worse—to out out the offending word . Tho directory man did so , but it cost him several hundred dollars , and left his book badly mutilated . Tho accident had its lesson , for the
word " coloured " was then finally and for ever dropped from our directories , which now refuse to recognise any difference of race , colour , or previous condition . There is a family living in New Orleans completely white , but whose negro blood is indisputable and nndenied . Unfortunately for tbe younger members , the old grandmother , through whom the
African blood comes , survives , nnd instead ef getting rid of this troublesome death ' s head , this ancient female , an octoroon , still resides with them . She being one-eighth negro , the present generation of girls is , consequently , one-thirty-second part coloured . This would seem to make them white , bnt public opinion in Louisiana , like Congress in the Vallandigham-Campbell contest , holds that one drop of
blood in 100 of white contaminates . The girls are ideal blondes . Being handsome and personally attractive , they entertain many male visitors , and generally wiud up their career by marrying welland white men , of conrse . A young man of very good family was married to one of the girls some years ago . The fruit of their nnion is a child which is , of course , just one sixty-fourth part coloured ,
By one of those curious freaks common , however , in cases of heredity , this child shows , in an exaggerated form , all the features of its negro ancestors . Ifc is perfectly white , bnt a white negro , at least in feature . Its hair is woolly , its mouth protrudes , its nose is flat , and its lips are large and seusual . After several generations the original African type is produced . It is accidents suoh as this , only too
frequent , that frighten susceptible young men from miscegenation , more surely than the stories frequently told and implicitly believed before the war that the mulatto race became sterile at the fourth or fifth generation , and that the descendants were subject to a most horrible disease resembling leprosy that spotted the skin and caused the teeth to drop out .
Before the war the two races were mixing with such extraordinary rapidity thafc it was a mere question of time when the last pureblooded African would disappear . Freedom has stopped miscegenation . The quadroon and octoroon girls , who were without prospect in the old days , now marry the leading coloured men who have
worked their way np to prominence and a comfortable fortune , if not wealth . Thus the negroes of Louisiana are growing darker yearly instead of lighter . There is a perceptible decrease in the families of mixed descent , and a continned increase in those of pure negro blood .
[ The above article , which appeared in a New York paper of recent date , proves that the statements made from time to time by Bro . Jacob Norton as to the prejudice against negroes are not in the least exaggerated . The prevailing antipathy of New Orleans of to-day is a fair representation of the New York of half a century ago . —ED . P . O . ]
HOIIOTVAT ' OIXTXENT Am Puis . —During' the autumn months , when the atmospheric changes are alike sudden and extreme , it is a subject for grave and serious consideration how the health can be best preserved . An occasional alterative , like these Pills , will be tho surest preventive of disease , because it overcomes all derangements of the system , purifies and regulsitcs the
circulation , and gives that needful energy to the nervous structures which cairies the frame triumphantly throng ]! trials to which tho weak and sickly would s"ccumli . Neuralgic pains and rheumatic agonies derive present and permanent relief from diligent friction with Holloway ' s Ointment , which , ac ing as a derivative , releases the gorged and irritated blood vessels from their congestion , and the nerves from pressure ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The October Election Of The Boys' School.
^ Ve hope see son amongs t tho successful no distant date . He has already had 309 votes recorded in his favour . No . 51 , R . Beaumont , is a new case . The parents are both living , and so are ten children who aro dependent on them . The father was initiated in the Faithful Lodge ,
$ o . 85 , Norfolk , and is returned as W . M . thereof . Further than this we know nothing , but would suggest to the petitioner that it would be to his benefit if some reason were assigned for his being compelled to appeal to his brethren , and ' perhaps if he pointed the matter out doubtless the
authorities at the Institution would find a means of supplying the desired information , not only in his case but in that of others . We cannot close this article without expressing our determination to persevere in our effort to induce the
authorities to supply information from which it might be possible for all to judge the merits of the several candidates . If this were done fully we think a large number of undoserving cases could be picked out . On the other hand , others might be discovered in which assistance would bo a blessing , and lead up to exercise of the truest charity .
In our review , last week , of the Girls' School Ballot Paper , when speaking of No . 14 , B . A . Cookes , we said that some further information in reference to the case would be acceptable to the general body of subscribers ; we did so because the father , who is still living , is returned as
W . M . of his Lodge , and we could hardly imagine a W . M . during his year of office seeking the aid of one of our Schools It seems , however , that in this case , as in most others where the rank is given as W . M ., a mistake has
been made in the preparation of the ballot papers , the fact really being that the brethren have been W . M . of their Lodge . The Masonic rank should be recorded as P . M . We believe the same error occurs in the case of the Boys ' School List .
Mixed Blood In Louisiana.
MIXED BLOOD IN LOUISIANA .
IN New Orleans a traoe of negro blood is never forgotten—the record ia preserved for centuries . Some twenty years ago a member of one of our first families was elected to the City Council . His oppo . nent objected to his being sworn in , on the ground that he had negro blood in his veins and was ineligible to office . To test the question , the gentleman against whom this charge was made brought a snit for damages , declining in the meanwhile to take his seat in the Conncil
nntil the matter was determined . The records of tho old parish chnrch of St . Louis , now the cathedral , were investigated , and the ancestry of the plaintiff traced back untilit was found that one of his ancestors , at the beginning of the last century , had been an "esclare "—a slave . He acknowledged this , but replied that this slave was not a negress , but an Indian squaw .
In the colonial days of Loaisiana the French reduced the Choctaws and Horemas to slavery , and at one time New Orleans boasted of as many redskin slaves as Gninea negroes . These Indians have long since melted away into the Africau race , like the bead and basket Indian of Niagara , and are represented to-day by a race of mestizoes , mixing the blood of all three races , the white , black , and red . It is
a common boast of maDy New Orleans coloured people thafc they are of Indian rather than of negro descent . Tbe white people langh at this negro vanity , but it is more half than true , as is proven by the aquiline noses and straight stiff hair to be seen on some of the very blackes t negroes . Then the damage suit rested on the question whotner
this slave ancestor was Choctaw or Congo . This , of course , could only be determined by oral testimony . The oldest inhabitant was called in for testimony . An incident ocourred in this case pro"ably withoot parallel since the days of Methnselab . An ancient Weole dame , who had hp . p . n nnllnrl nn tn £ fiat , i ( V no hn t-. hu nrro r . e t . Viio
Marie , recalled the fact that she ( Marie ) had kept a shop on Chartresstreet , before the bi g fire that burned that portion of the city . Nobod y remembered this fire , and Marten ' s " History of fl "siana" had to be brought into court to find the date of the conaeration . It was then discovered that it had occurred inst a century
and I' testimony of the witness could scarcely be credited , see ™ v carefully cross-examined . She never wavered for a knii J P ° ved conclusively that she could relate from personal owled ge and observation , facts occurring more than a century vions
P . The old lady claimed to be 120 , perhaps an exaggeration factl J'earS ° r S 0 ' ' ^ mos ( i 'trough cross-examination left the tha ^* es tablished that her memory covered the space of more PlaintV 3 entary " T '' le decision in tne caso waa in favonr of the
When ffc ° ky Wa 8 tho P laintiff in a similar suit just after the war , for a £ ^ had cnan S somewhat . This gentleman was a candidate year ? ° ^ . for a lucrative , office worth over 50 , 000 dollars a hjtj , ¦ - ^ opposition newspaper overhauled his record , and charged _ W'th Dej n „ traitor tr > t . hfl nnnforltvrntn mnw Vinvini ? rloonrforl
n « To M , erate army in the fielc 1 5 and . furthermore , with being of the ne These two charges , by-the-bye , elected him to office , for then < \ ° i- an ( * Union elements happened to be in a majority just 5 but , far from pleased with his good fortune , ho brought a suit
Mixed Blood In Louisiana.
for libel and damages against tho offending journal . Ho was promptly ruled ont of conn . The Uopnblican judge held that " negro " was not an approbrious or libellous term , and it was no insult to oall a man a negro , and that certainly no action could lie for showing that he preferred tho Union to the rebel cause . About this time mixed blood was at a premium , because of its
immense benefit in politics , and men who in their colour and features did not betray the slightest trace of negro ancestry actually boasted of it . A curious case was that of a Republican ward leader . He was a native New Orleanean of Spanish descent . His mother , a fine old Creole , come from one of the West Indies , and clung patriotically to the dress of her native isle , a stylo unfortunately very familiar to
that worn by the Creole darkies . Her son lived in a negro ward , and required negro votes to elect him . Being hard pressed in a race for the Legislature , he hit on the novel and brilliant idea of passing himself off as a quadroon , which , thanks to the dark complexion of his Spanish blood , he was very well able to do . He took a number of his coloured constituents aronnd to his house , pointed to his mother
and her coloured head kerchief , and claimed to be of African lineage , and thus the old lady , possessed of all the bitter race prejudice of tho West Indian against mixed blood , was made a most effective eleotoral card , until one day her whole history was shown up , and Charlie , being discovered to be a white man and a fraud , wa 3 relegated to private life .
This head kerchief , by-the-bye , is a fatal emblem in Louisiana , and one of her sons , prominent in the oonnoils of the State and nation , has had the charge of negro blood brought publioly against him , on no other foundation than the fact that his grandmother wore this kind of headgear . Outside of politics , however , the old prejudice continued as strong
as ever . A Westerner came down here just after the war to get out a directory of the city . Ho unfortunately determined to distinguish between whites and blacks , and instead of simply giving " John Smith , carpenter , 530 Adole-stroet , " made it " John Smith , coloured . " The book had been printed and bound , and was just about being delivered , when the discovery was made that the fatal word
'' coloured " was placed against the name of one of our most prominent white merchants , and , unfortunately , one of swarthy com . plexion . There was only one way of escaping a libel suit , a duel , or perhaps something worse—to out out the offending word . Tho directory man did so , but it cost him several hundred dollars , and left his book badly mutilated . Tho accident had its lesson , for the
word " coloured " was then finally and for ever dropped from our directories , which now refuse to recognise any difference of race , colour , or previous condition . There is a family living in New Orleans completely white , but whose negro blood is indisputable and nndenied . Unfortunately for tbe younger members , the old grandmother , through whom the
African blood comes , survives , nnd instead ef getting rid of this troublesome death ' s head , this ancient female , an octoroon , still resides with them . She being one-eighth negro , the present generation of girls is , consequently , one-thirty-second part coloured . This would seem to make them white , bnt public opinion in Louisiana , like Congress in the Vallandigham-Campbell contest , holds that one drop of
blood in 100 of white contaminates . The girls are ideal blondes . Being handsome and personally attractive , they entertain many male visitors , and generally wiud up their career by marrying welland white men , of conrse . A young man of very good family was married to one of the girls some years ago . The fruit of their nnion is a child which is , of course , just one sixty-fourth part coloured ,
By one of those curious freaks common , however , in cases of heredity , this child shows , in an exaggerated form , all the features of its negro ancestors . Ifc is perfectly white , bnt a white negro , at least in feature . Its hair is woolly , its mouth protrudes , its nose is flat , and its lips are large and seusual . After several generations the original African type is produced . It is accidents suoh as this , only too
frequent , that frighten susceptible young men from miscegenation , more surely than the stories frequently told and implicitly believed before the war that the mulatto race became sterile at the fourth or fifth generation , and that the descendants were subject to a most horrible disease resembling leprosy that spotted the skin and caused the teeth to drop out .
Before the war the two races were mixing with such extraordinary rapidity thafc it was a mere question of time when the last pureblooded African would disappear . Freedom has stopped miscegenation . The quadroon and octoroon girls , who were without prospect in the old days , now marry the leading coloured men who have
worked their way np to prominence and a comfortable fortune , if not wealth . Thus the negroes of Louisiana are growing darker yearly instead of lighter . There is a perceptible decrease in the families of mixed descent , and a continned increase in those of pure negro blood .
[ The above article , which appeared in a New York paper of recent date , proves that the statements made from time to time by Bro . Jacob Norton as to the prejudice against negroes are not in the least exaggerated . The prevailing antipathy of New Orleans of to-day is a fair representation of the New York of half a century ago . —ED . P . O . ]
HOIIOTVAT ' OIXTXENT Am Puis . —During' the autumn months , when the atmospheric changes are alike sudden and extreme , it is a subject for grave and serious consideration how the health can be best preserved . An occasional alterative , like these Pills , will be tho surest preventive of disease , because it overcomes all derangements of the system , purifies and regulsitcs the
circulation , and gives that needful energy to the nervous structures which cairies the frame triumphantly throng ]! trials to which tho weak and sickly would s"ccumli . Neuralgic pains and rheumatic agonies derive present and permanent relief from diligent friction with Holloway ' s Ointment , which , ac ing as a derivative , releases the gorged and irritated blood vessels from their congestion , and the nerves from pressure ,