New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-10-25
Robbery Upon the GENTLY ROnd-Past
History of the NeIghborhood.


History of the NeIghborhood.
A highway robbery which was recently com
mitted upon Judge Duyigneaud, on his way to his
plantation, leads US again to the Gentilly road, Of
which we have before spoken. While riding along
alone, he was suddenly set upon by robber, who
boldly wrested from the judge, too advanced in
years to struggle upon equal terms with his
younger assailant, gun which he held in his
hand and which, fortunately for the robber, hap
pened not to be loaded This is the fourth act Of
violence of which we have recently been informed,
and deeds of still darker hue are whispered of.
The GENTLY road, which runs from the city
through st. Bernard parish, to Michaud's planta-
tion-a well-known landmark-to Fort McComb,
down to Fort Pike, was even before the war con-
sidered dangerous, and was seldom gone over by
travellers many miles from the city. 1t has long
enjoyed an ilomened reputation for crime, and
the generally desolate and always tLinly inhabited
country contributed by its appearance, to awaken
thoughts of violence. The road rams upon a con-
tinuation of Metarie ridge, but upon either side
scarcely anything is to be seen but marshes 1t
was in part constructed by General-then leuten-
ant--Weitzel who was at that time stationed at
Fort McComb. The marshes to which We have
alluded were, before the war, the general resort OF
runaway negroes, who were thought to live in the
neighborhood to the number of two or three hun.
dred.
Owing to the character of these swamps, which
could not be traversed except by pirogues con
tanning more than one or two persons their arrest
for the crimes for which many of them were
noted matter almost impossible. and the
unwary traveller whose dress awakened theil
cupidity was in danger at any moment Of being
sbOt dhu, hvc cnrnn ,,uaoaD opuo=rin
To give an idea of the nature of the country
deer have been shot in five miles of the city, ant
few years ago bear was killed upon this roat
between this and Alichaud's plantation.
The latter locality has history of itself.
derives its name from the Chevalier Mchaud, wht
was said to be a man of considerable attainment
and was certainly possessed of wealth. With
fortune of one or two hundred thousand dollars
which he had made mostly in the junk iron trade
he yet lived in the most s0rdid style, and upon al
amount of food that would not have suficed for
, beggar. He lived solitary life, without an
family or near relation, and his property after hi
death passed into the hands Of distant heirs liyin
in Europe.
!. Where this country was capable Of cultivation
: was used generally for the planting of cane bt
fore the war; but the high price Of cotton sine
that time has led to an attempt at its cultivation
Il a staple for which the soil south of Point Coupe
s has been hitherto supposed to be unsuited. TIL
: raising of cotton is now being tried on sma
!. scales by contrabands, who have settled witho
IL right or title upon the SOIL and who, perhaps, d
r. pend as much upon thieving as upon any 9th
means of gaining a livelihood.
- At any rate travel upon the GENTLY road is st
- considered dangerous either by day or night
any distance from the city, and Is not often
tempted except by few resident property h,
ders and by hunters in search Of game.