New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-01-18
Av 1EIlaas DAM gsssa aNaEsalg sgaaa aaRsg lga6

lI'eEsetlsl aFltltHsil lufisllaa
re@aiest sala for shsse5 ditsarant
In aiAAt hat Ii ta sag the adhainis
tf.sfion Ill Governors Galvy atid Gafondeist, the
3ap pper aau soiirg M Mary having formad q panta
tion siiider ths nHuefship of tlie elder Graviery
vho, il we mistake not haa required hte after
tbe of tIe Jesuit fathers, from the
srnsnent " d sav that plantation had baef fer ~
nulnb er of years under the culture Eof the sugar
cane and also under that Of ind digo. This latter
branch of business VIA carried on upon
coast of ths Mississippi AS well as upon 4he
Rad River country ID the parish of Natchitoehes
as we were assnrsa some of oldest planters
there. Bit the reason af ts abando donnant, some
time before the eession of the country to the
United States, was, as we were also formed the
very unhealthy0r unwh olesolne labor condition Of
the fabriuatiVs process, The great prevalence Of
sickness at certain seasons OF the year among the
working saluahle slaYe hands; and their mortality
attributed 10 HE poisonous exh aiations during the
fern menting process of me indigo plant, which
finally caused Tie donment Of this staple pro
duct As for The quality Of the Louisiana indigo
made, IT ranked next 70 thatof Gnatamala, which,
Il we mistake not even estimated Superior to the
East India. sSls
III the back part of faubourg 81 Mary, some
where IN the neighborhood Of the present cotton
presses Of the Messrs. Freret lived, In 1916 the
only surviving brother of the elder Grayier the
primitive owner Of that plantation out Of which,
sometime before the eession in 1903, the plan Of
the faubourg on suburb had been laid. This old
man called by the ighbors the Doctor Grayier-
because he could cure by simple or vegetable de-
coctons, after the fashion Of the aborigines,
almost any disease and always gratuitonsly lived
| then Id an old building surrounded BY weeping,
willow trees, almost in the midst of noisome
bitches and naorasses, as IT was said, 4 hermit's
Life. We saac him but upon one Or two occasions
and be then seemed To us d singular being, alb
sorbea, 10 doubt, by some great problem, Or the
sorrow 81 great disappointment. Was. ,.. sAight
have been the real cause Of this great niaftal
calamity that seemed 10 weigh upon his mind, we
could not define. His surroundings certainly were
Iof the most gloomy kind. 1t would not hare done
for every one to have ustt,t,ed III the neighbor
hood Of that most retired spot, encrced as u then
was by the low cemeteries, the dismal willow
swamps and close e-entangled cypress thickets.
There were still to be seen remains Of old indigo
Sats and other gestiges Of that branch of industry
now totally extinct i'll our land and If all the
indigo required such localities il is no
wonder that this business should have been such
ali unhealthE one. Singular to relate. tho neigh
borheod Of that part of the outskirts Of our eity
WAS then considered somewhat ia The light of
romance, of dreadful accounts of atoms Or
midnight murders. Some would have II that
hunters had stumbled BY accident upon hollow
cypress trees, and had discovered at1flan skeles
tons in the hollow of their trunks others pre-
tended that s fear-foIlets' might be seen IN the
warm summer nights, In the near morasses; and
Others still had actually been ghtensd by hoot-
ings and halIooiDgs III the small hours Of tile morn
| ing. Won, oil tEia no doubt had its root in the
very nature of tile locality bats and other mid
/ night birds there must have been in abundance
as for the e fear Or igaass nothing
more natural il These loH ground swamps, impreg#
mated with 4 kind Of petroleum oozing out Of the
decayed cypress stumps then again, IN The hot
summer nights one would meet with al sorts of
irefies and shining reptiles whilst an incessant
noise If buIlfrogs of all sizes would disturb the
great silence at Intervals when, again, the swarm
ling Of innumerabls insects and the chipping and
loud noises of the shrl sea gull would III aH de-
moniaeal choruses. IA
Here IN the hot summer sun, id midday, tho
greatest silence did reign hence under all these
circumstances that part of the outskirts was con,
sdered as unhallowed ground, Is d sort Of Golgo-
tia. and in fact, il did not little resemble d
| place where all the dead bones Of men and ami
mails were heaped up as IN a charnel house. Long
this part Of the city was avoided for residence by
almost every decent family. In course Of time,
however, the many dismal stories Of buried trea-
sure by pirates the midnight assemblies Of despe-
rate characters efcs etc, were forgotten, and at
this present day few of the old survivors Of those
times would hardly remember those legendary sto-
ries4 had not the writer II these lines refreshed
their memories. The wiIiaw trees have dsap-
pearcd in the course Of time but still % their
mernerF preserved BY the name sf@the street
which ii about situated in their former midst. The
house. several cotton presses, lately occupied
by the black soldiery, the crossing Of Claiborne
and Poydras streets, stand now in the very center
Of that former dismal quarter. called the aeon-
demned ground. The old Poydras canal ran also
through this tractSa slnkpool Of presidential
efluYia. ~