Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-02-24
The QuadrOon Millionaire OF new Or
leans.

for which the French quarter of New
Orleans has become celebrated, is ali
oil! quadroon, who is possessed Of prof.
erty valued at upward Of 81 900 ,OOu,
and who at one time owed the city ano
State upward of $4,000 for taxes.
Unlike the political property-ownerx
mentioned above, 0 d Francois Lucroix
professe~. no opposition to the keliost
Government nor was be ready to orlot
keIlogg's Collectors and Assessors,
The resul, of this neglect was sha$
ao,ne 100000 worth of his properly
was ,ecaD;;," :" sold for unpaid taxes
Some of this he has '" "a stll he n
Even without it he wou.u a
very rich man. The history of The o..
| qnadrooD, aside from his remarkable
resistance to the tax. gatherer, is net
without interest. From an old resi-
dent OF New Orleans ! have gained the
following account OF his life: He was
born sa New Orleans. his parents be
longing to that class of free French.
colored people now almost extinct ip
Louisiana Forty years ago be Was the
fashionable tailor Of New Orleans and
made mopey with surprising rapidity.
The young French dandies of the city
never thought Of showing themselves
on the streets unless their legs were
encased in pair Of Lacroix's s trousers,
and at the opera and in the fashionable
saloons Of :" he best society y" none but
Lacroix coats appeared In those DAYS
money was plenty in New Orleans.
Hundreds of Negroes toiled from years
end to years end to support one family
of lazy whites, a+d be sons of rich
sugar planters thought nothing of pay
ing 100 gold dollars for garment
BY their patronage the quadroon tailor
became wealthy and investing his
money in real estate which doubled
in value as the city grew. he was soon
millionaire. He owned large tracts
of land in every suburb, and as the
population Of New Orleans increased,
be built houses aud rented them to ex-
travagent and careless planters. Soon
there were sopse in bis debt, and be
obtained mortgages Oh their estates,
and SO continued to increase his prop
erty nat1s, at the breaking out 0: war.
he was resarde1 asssbe richest man in
Louisiana. One psca3iarity of the old
man was his aversion TO- paying taxes-
With . prineely revenue he lived like
pauper, and always declaring that be.
had no money, by one device or anoth-
er succeeded ia escaping she tax-gath-
erer. Four years ago his bill for an
paid CITY taxes amounted TO upward of
S35 900. As usual, he tsied to evade
payment, but Governor Yarmouth
wanted money, his followers were poor
and hungry, and they told tbeoId man,
with an air Of determination which
was not to be mistaken, that be must
pay his taxes or lose his property.
Being assured oil" this, Lacroix collect
es the required amount and iatrusted
it to his son with, orders to pay the tax
bills. The young man took the money.
That night he came back to his old
father, telling hzn hat the $4,000
was gone. His story was that be had
been induced to snter a gambling house
and that he had lost every penny IF
the money. Laaroix, with all the pas
S on. of his race, cursed his son and
drove him from his house. Then be
sank into state Of lnaction and appar-
ent Indifference, from Which he has
never been completely aroused. Year
by year the taxes on his immense estate.
accumulated, until last spriag, when
they amounted 10 some $50, 900. Then
a part of his property was sold. He
made no effort to redeem It, Within
the last month. however, he, has dis
played some little, energy, and is max
ing feeble effort to arrange his af-
Iairs.-Neao Orleans Correspondence
of the New Ysrk Times.
MORTALITY AMONGST EoGs.-We
hear of serious losses amongst hogs In
the Western, States. Unnrtunately.
there is little accurate knowledge
amongst the owners as to tae nature of
the disease, and none as to, the RENE
dies. Thus we are told by some that
it is hog cholera, that ID is caused by
trichane sysratss, that it is worms, and
others do not sugges- any opinion.
1t is impossible for any private indi-
vldual to make the necessary investi-
cations into the causes or proper treat
ment of these diseases, which annually
costs nafllions of dollars DO our farmers
There rs an agricultural department as
Washington. but this serious matter is
not considered there of sufficient i'm
portsnce to attract notice, or to be
worthy of an expenditure of a few
hundred dollars, for the purpose of
gaining some knowledge Of it. Why
do not the Patrons take hold of this
matter, and procure thorough inves-