New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-04-25

dictions roared with merriment and ram
med the floor with his foot.
why, it will make bis old place wortl
ten dollars to 0ne," said the official to tn
interpreter.
"'Tis not for de worse OF de property,
said the interpreter.
II should e1ess not" said the other
whiting his chair" seems to me as j
some of these old Frenchmen would lievel
live in q crawfish hole than to have {
neighbour"
you know what make old Jean Poqueli1
make like that! l will tell you. You
know"
The interpreter was rolling a cigarette
and paused to light his finder; then, as the
smoke poured in q thick double stream frou
his nostrils, he said, in solemn whisper:
"He is q WITCH"
"Ho, no, ho!" laughed the other.
"You don't believe it! What you want to
betP cried the interpreter, jerking himself
halt up and thrusting out one arm while be
barred it of it's coat sleeve with the hand OF
| the other.
How do you know!" asked the official.
"Dass what l goin' to tell you. You
know. one evening l was shooting some
grosbec ] killed three; but / had trouble
to fine them, it was becoming so dark.
| w ueU udto tUCu kJdTJ u COIu0 uOIue,
| then got to pas at Jean POluelins house. "
! ''HO, no, hO!" laughed the other, throwing
| his leg over the arm Of his chair.
| "Wait," said the interpreter. II come
along slow, not making some noises; still,
| still"
"And scared, SAID the smiling one.
"Mais, wait. l get all pas the 'ouse.
'Ah" say; all right" Then l see two
things before! Hah! | get as cold and
humide, and shake like a leaf. You thing
it was nothing! There see, so plain as
can be Though it was making nearly dark,
l see Jean-Marie-Po que lin waIkin' right
in front, and right there beside OF him as
something like a man-but not man
white like paint! l dropp' on the grass
from scared-they pass; so cure as live
twas the ghos' Of Jacques Poquelin, his
brother
''Pooh!" said the listener.
"Pll put my han in the fire., said the in
terpreter
but did you never think" asked the
other, "tnat that might be Jack Poguelin,
as you call him, alive and well, and for
some cause hid away by his brother?"
But there har' no cause"' said the other.
and the entrance of third parties changed
the subject.
Some months passed and the street was
opened. A canal was first dug through the
marsh, the small one which passed 80 close
to Jean Poquelin's house was filed and, the
street, or rather a sunny road, just touched
corner OF the old mansions door-yard
The morass ran dry. Its venomous deni-
zens slipped away through the bulrushes;
the cattle roaming freely upon its hardened
surface trampled the superabundant under |
growth. The believing frogs croaked to |
westward. Lilies and the fOwer-de- luce |
sprang up in the place of reeds; smilax and |
poison oak gave way to the purple plumed |
iron weed and pink spiderwort; the bind. |
weeds ran everywhere blooming as thew |
ran, and on one of the dead Expresses a |
giant creeper hung its green burden of |
foliage and lifted its scarlet trumpets. Spar
rows and red birds fitted through the
bushes, and dewberries grew ripe beneath.
Over all these came q sweet, dry smell of |
salubrity which the place had not known
since the sediment of the Mississippi first
lifted it from the sea.
But its Owuor did not build. Over the
willow brakes. and down the vista of the
opened street, bright new houses, some
siLgly, some by ranks, were prying in upon
the old mans privacy. They even settled
down toward his southern slde First a
hut or two, then a market
gardeners shanty, then a painted cottage.
and all at once the faubOurg had thanked,
and half surrounded him and his dried IN
marsh.
All! then the common people began to
,ate him. The old tyran.n "You don't
lon't he build when the public need de-
hands 1t! What does he live in that un-
way fort" 1.-The old piratew
The old kidnapper!' How easily even the
most ultra LOuisianians put on the i'm
,orted virtues of the North when thew
Gould be brought to bear against the her
mt. "Ihere ne goes, with the boys after
!im! All! ha! ha! Jeanah Poquelin All.
Aha! aha! Jean all Marie Jean
h Poquelin! The old villainv' How mer.
lily the swarming Americans echo the
pirit OF persecution! 1.-THE old fraud.-
hey say, "pretends to live in a haunted |
ouse, does he! Wen tar and feather him
ONE day. Guess we can fix him."
he can not be rOwed home along the old
anal now; he walks. He has broken sadly
+ late, and the street urchins are ever at
is heels. 1t is like the days when thew
ried: go up, thou bald head" and the
Id man now and tken turns and delivers
leffectual curses. s
To the Creoles-to the incoming lower !
lass of superstitious Germans, and Irish, !
nd Sicilians, and others-he became an !
men and embodiment of public and private b
l-fortune. Upon him all the vagaries of
leir superstitions gathered and grew. If '
house caught fire it was imputed to his 9
Did a woman 20 off in fit, v
3 had bewitched her. Did child stray v
d for an hour, the mother shivered with a
le apprehension that Jean Poquelin had Il
Tered him to strange gods. The house was n
10 subject of every bad boys invention Q
no loved to cOntrive ghOstly lies. las v
ng az that house stands we shall have bad q
OK. do you not see our peas and beans n
wing, our cabDages and lettuce going to
ed and our gardens turning to dust, while a
'ery day you can see it raining in the 81
oodsl The rain will never pass old Poque- a
rs house. He is a fetch. He has copjured fl
e whole Faubourg St. Marie. And why, P
9 old wretchs Simply because our play r,
l and innocent children call after him az p
passes" a
A Building and Improvement Com 2;
N.Y." which had not yet got its charter, .,
,ut was going to-" and which had not. u
deed, any tangible capital vet, but "was 6,
ing to have some," joined the Jean all 81
'quelin" war. The haunted property r.
ould.be such capital site for market &c
'use! They sent deputation to the al
q mansion to ask its occupant to "
Ii. The deputatiOn never got beyond u
9 chained gate and very barren W
terview with the African mute The &c
esdent of the board was then empowered IL
" he had studied French in Pennsylvania
d was considered qualifiedl to call and 10
rsuade M Poquein to subscribe to the al
stock; but 10
Fact is, gentlemen" he said at the next 10
eeting, SIT would take us at least twelve to
)nths to make Mr.. POkaleen understand
. rather original features of our system, "
d he wouldn't subscribe when we'd done: al
sides, the only way to see him is to stop
II on the street." NJ
There was great laugh from the board;
ey couldn't help it. Better meet bear be
bbed of her whelps," said one til
You're mistaken as to that" said the tr
aaidanf 81 did Nd | m