The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-03-27

times kept awake "ayent the twal." Still
advancing, the reporters kept on to the ex
IRENE end of this gloomy vista, not, it mus
be confessed, without some hesitation, for il
was within these precincts that within the
past thirty years more than seventy-fiye Ital
ians have fallen victims of the always fata
vendetta, and the stiletto or shotgun has
never failed to accomplish its work.
Gifted by nature with most harmless class
of countenances, the reporter in daylight
would not have had any fears, but III the
shadowy gloom he thought possibly there
might be a case of mistaken identity, and
some one bent on mischief might think him
a suitable victim. Piles of oyster shells were
distributed with luxury of layishness about
the place, and gently swaying to the pleasant
south breeze, a child's apron, hung opposite a
window, seemed to be about the only thing in
motion in the court
The drop, drop drop of the water from a
leaky spout appeared to be the last ebbing of
life blood OF some one of the forgotten murs
dered, and the platonic murmurings of de
crepit felines on the old roofs were not unlike
their last choking screams. Antares and AL
debarran glistenend overhead like two twin
lighthouses in the heavens, and now and
then the flash of distant candle would give
notice OF some one astir The whole scene
was perhaps the most peculiar and essentially
foreign of any other afforded within the pur-
lieus of this metropolis. There was nothing
American about it and can be appreciated
only when seen.
Oyster Alley.
Shall we go in here? said one reporter to
another as they halted before the dark, and
it appeared an almost closed alley, at No. 1913
Old Levee, some few doors above the we'll
known vendetta place. Unlike it's neighbour
this entrance was uncommonly narrow and the
pyramids Of Egypt in their deepest caverns
only could approach this Zimmerman gloom.
The alley was perhaps some fifty feet in
length before the broader avenue was reached.
This in its long and attenuated stretch ran
back into the square some one hundred and
fifty feet, but was only inhabited by those
who favored the north wind and so the south
side was jlmmed 1t is said more than two
hundred families find quarters within this
court, and as these necessarily must be some
what crowded, the community here might be
almost close corporation.
The reporters, with the old idea of stiletto i!
sill lingering in their memories, werded
their way down this thoroughfare, if it could
be called such, vigilantly on the lookout for
Danger. After the length of the yard had
been reached, a sound Of trampling feet was
aeard and down an old stairway descended
some eight brawny Siciians, evidently on
he ga rice for strangers The reporters with
! GOODNESS unusual for them, looked about as
hough they were old residents of the place,
md after satisfying their curiosity quietly
The place could not be said to be one
where a stranger would care to remain long
The nail in the old wall where lately hung
he pistol of one OF the latest murdered men
TODD out in the lamp light silent reminder
collection of the many like deeds COM
oitted in the alley naturally had q tendency
o accelerate ones exit.
rough, uncouth fruit vendor, with huge
nite in his basket, met the visitors at tn en-
rance, and the shimmering steel added not
title to the pleasure of their safe passage. 1t
las in this alley that the latest of those old
endettas had been ended, and as the star of
mpire wends its way westwardly so from
he other alley these crimes seem to seek this
ew place. |,