The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-08-02

! and Byron, the Herald proceeds to
| narratc the real facts in the history of
this man, as follows:
| THE REAL LAFIrTE.
Alas the melancholy fact leaks out
| that the great head of this suppositi-
| tious piratical band, who had given
| such worldwide notoriety to the name
| of Latitte, was an intelligent French
blacksmith, who kept his forge at the
corner of st. Philippe and Bourbon
streets, and had no other connections
/ with any transactions on the sea, ex-
cept as an agent and manager of an
| association of smugg1ers and fflibusters
| who combined to defraud the United
| States CustOmhOuse of duties, and to
plunder the Spanish commerce under
privateering commissions issued by the
rebel Spanish State of Columbia No
pirates were they, but ffrst-class smug-
glers and privateers, who ran thriv-
ing trade, by smuggling the goods
| which they had captured from the
ldefenceless Spanish merchantmen,
through the Bayou Barrataria up to
| the point on the other side of the river,
now known as Harvey canal, where
they would be received and taken care
of by Jean Lafitte and his brothers,
| and brought over to the city by night
| and then distributed among the stores
| on the levee, to be retailed to the citi-
zens, to the great disgust of honest ira
ders who could not sell like goods ut
like rates.
LAFIrrE AS A PATRIOT.
This was the extent of the offending
| of Lafittc and his Barratarians; and
not even this was proved against them,
for though arrested and imprisoned by
| the United States, and indicted, no case
| could be proved against them, even
under the law punishing the violation
| of our neutrality laws. On the contra
| ry, it was shown that Lafitte and his
| followers had rendered most valuable
! services in the defense of this city IN
! 1s14-15 against the British invaders.
| vises, we may state the following con-
spicuous facts:
| 1. That I4afitte supplied the raw levies
which had been sent to this city to de-
fend it from the British, with the fiints
which they used so effectively.
2. That he furnished from his asso-
| citation the most competent cannOniers,
! who managed the only battery Of large
guns that aided in repelling the British
advance, and in destroying their bat
teries.
3. That it was through the inforna-
ton furnished by Lafitte, that the
United States learned first of the Brit
ish designs against this city ,and through
his art and .fuesse that those designs
were fOiIed.
| And those are not mere traditions !;
| least Of all do they rest upon the i'm
| aginings of sensational Sttcosateetrs and
| fiction rnOngers. The proofs thereof are
| of record in the United States District
| Court of this city, where the whole
| subject was thoroughly Investigated
and ventilated.
EDWARD LIVINGSTON AND JOHN r.
GRYMEs.
They rest also upon the testimony of
Edward Livingston. and John r.
Grymes, the two ablest lawyers who
ever ornnmented our bar, and as ar
dent and true patriots rs ever upheld
the flag and honor of the Republic.
These gentlemen never failed to de-
clare that Lafitte and his associates, so
far from being pirates, We're in truth
gentlemen, men of honor, of most lib
eral ideas, genial tastes, and only
slightly demoralized by an incurable
antipathy, which their learned defen-
ders shared, to revenue laws, restric-
tive tariffs and other impediments to
free trade.
On the part Of Col. Grynes this tes-
timony to the estimablc qualities OF
Latitte was given with peculiar zest
and JUNCTION, inasmuch as he had had
personal experience thereof, in visit
| to the Barratarian establishment, to
collect fee which he had earned by
successful defense of Lafitte on an in
dictment against him in the United
States Court. The eloquent and graphic
attorney who, by the by, resigned the
office of United States District Attor-
ney in order to defend Latitte against
the indictment of the grand jury, pre-
ferring fee of $4,000 in doubloons to
the 5000 salary Of that Federal office,
as we'll as the cause of prosecuted
gentleman against q prosecution insti-
gated, as he avowed, by the avarice of
merchants who were hostile to the
Democratic principle of free trade,
gladly accepted the invitation to ac-
company his client TO his Barratarian
home, there to receive his fees, in solid
Spanish donbloons, and partake OF
"piratical pot luck"
And jolly time the jovial counsel
lor had with Lafitte at Barrataria.
The visit was so delightful one, the
company so congenial, the wines SO
II