Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-07-12
THE VOUD0U QUEEN.
The History Of Maria Laveau.

l
The History of Maria Laveau.
HE EARLY LIFE OF THE BEAUTIFUL
YOUNG CREOLE-THE PROMINENT
MEN WHO SOUGHT HER ADVICE AND
SOCIETY-HOW SHE BECAME AN OBJ
JECT OF MYSTERY.
lCorrespondence New York Times.]
New ORLEANS, June 21.-Marie La.
veau, the ''Queen of the Voudous," died
last Wednesday at the advanced age OF
% wears. To the superstitious Creoles
Marie appeared as dealer in the BLACK |
arts and q person to be dreaded ana
avoided. Strange stories were told OF
the rites performed by the sect Of which |
Marie was the acknowledged sovereign.
Many old residents asserted that on
st. Johns night, the oath OF June, the
Voudou clan had been seen in deserted
places Joining in wild, weird dances, all
the participants in which were perfectly
nude. The Voudous were thought to be
invested with supernatural powers, and
men sought them to find means to be
rid of their enemies, while others asked
for love powders to instill affection into
the bosoms of their unwilling or unsus'
pecting sweethearts. Whether there
ever was any such sect, and whether
Marie was ever its Queen, her life was
one to render such belief possible.
Besides knowing the secret healing
qualities of the various herbs which
grew in abundance in the woods and
fields, she was endowed with more than
the usual share of common sense, ana
her advice was ofttimes really valuable
and her penetration remarkable. Ad-
ding to these qualities the gift of great
beauty, no wonder that she possessed
large influence in her youth and at
tracted the attention of L0uisiana's
greatest men and most distinguished
visitors. She was the creature of that
peculiar state of society in which there
was no marrying or giving in marriage;
yet they were not like the angels IN
heaven.
Marie was the descendant of an old
slave woman on her mothers side, and
on the other hand the best French blood
of Louisiana coursed in her veins. She
was born in the golden days of Spanish
Louisiana, Just at time when the gal
liant boy governor, Galvez, cooperating
with the struggling colonies in the East,
had driven the British out of the Gull
of Mexico. She was nineteen years old
when the flag of freedom was unfurled
from the flag staff of the Place d. Armes
the flag that brought with it new pref
udices against old social customs, and
the Black Code, which made marriage
between black aud white penal offense,
while the interblending of the races was
a matter which the law left uninterfered
with by any statutory prohibition. This
beautiful, bright-eyed, intelligent little
creole, while the men who made New
Orleans famous in those day were almost
in daily attendance upon her, admiring
her charms and enjoying her converse
ton, was led to the altar by Jacques
Paris, carpenter of her own color.
The ceremony took place at the st.
Louis Cathedral, Pere Antoine ofti-
ciating, and Mazereau, the brilliant
leader of the bar, being one of the wit.
nesses. The union was short and
happy one. When Marie had been
welded only one year Jacques suddenly
he had gone or what had become of him,
she was left neither wife nor widow.
After waiting year, and still no tidings
of the missing Jacques, she consented
to be the bride of Capt. ChristOphe Do
minique G!apion. The latter seems to
have been man of much character,
and served with distinction throughout
the war of 1915 as ordnance officer in
d'Aquin's gallant San Domingo bat
TALON. When peace was established.
Marie became more sought after than
ever. She lived all her life in little
adobe house covered with red tiles, sit
uated in st. Ann, between Rampant and
Burgundy streets. It was built by the
early French settlers $50 years ago. Not
brick was employed in its construc-
ton. The walls were formed of a Pc
culiar combination of clay and moss.
The entrances were made very low, and
the panes of glass in the door were OF
small size and peculiar make. When
this interesting residence was erected,
it stood on the very outskirts of the
town. Rampant street was then will
derness, and later it became a line of
intrenchment. At that time the cottage
was considered the handsomest dwell
ing house in the place. All the other
houses then existing have been torn
down and more modern buildings
sprung up, SO that the quaint Laveau
mansion. with the high half broken
down fence in front, and the branches
of several ancient trees peeping over,
seems a relic of the New Orleans of
long ago.
In this place Marie received the CO.
lebrities Of the day. Lawyers, legisla.
tors, planters, merchants, all came to
pay their respects to her and seek her
offices, and the narrow room heard as
much wit and scandal as any of the
historical salons of Paris. There were
business men who would not send a
ship to sea before consulting her upon
the probabilities of the voyage. Marie
entertained her guests in royal style.
Her cuisine was excellent, and all who
possessed characteristics emitting them
to more than ordinary consideration
were welcome at her table. Those who
cBme from the parishes or other States
were compelled to take up their quar-
tiers under her roof, for she would allow
no other house to be called more hOspi
table than her own. Coming in daily
contact with the best informed men of
that period, and possessing remarka
bly, retentive memory, it is no wonder
that she acquired large store of valua
BILE information. She was by no means
backward in delivering her opinions,
and as her predictions nearly always
came true, and the course she suggested
generally proved the wisest, Marie soon
possessed larger clientele than the
most astute and far. seeing legal coun-
selor. And it was not alone for advice
that men and women of all conditions
called on her. Her skill in medicine,
already referred to, and her ability as a
nurse made her desirable at the sick
bed. Marie had large, warm heart
and tender nature, and never refused a
summons from the suffering, no mat
ter how dangerous the disease. Where
ever she went she labored faithfully and
earned lifelong friends. During the
yellow fever and cholera epidemics she
proved herself a noble, disinterested
woman, going from patient to patient,
administering to the wants of each and
saving many from death.
People were not all as enlightened
and unprejudiced as they are now, and,
failing to understand how she arrived
at her conclusions, they could imagine
no better source than Voudouism. At
first she encouraged this idea, and de-
lighted to cover her actions with an air
of mystery. Nurses would frighten
their charges into silence by the men
ton of the name Of the Voudou Queen,
and the children thus grew up in fear of
her. Many older people had more real