, 1885-05-01
NEW ORLEANS.
cAsLE's SKETCH or THE CITY 'eE.
FORE THE CAPTURE"
Neglected Street. and Del6rted I1arbor =
The Alarm Bells-cotton burning
Landing of the Federal Marines
Incidents of thu Surrender.


George W. Cable in The Century.l
Decay hal coma in. In that warm. moist
climate IL II always hungry, and. wlersver
it Is allowed to feed. eats with a greed that
is strange TO sss. With tho wharves al
ways expensive and dificult TO maintain, it
made havoc. This occasional idle, weather
stained ship moored beside them. and rest
ing on the water almost a light and voil as
an empty pcascod, could hardly find n place
to fasten 10. The streets fell into sad ne.-
lect, but tho litter OF commerce was not in
them, aud some of their round-stono pave
monts after a shower woulI nave a m3lnn-
choly ~clcannesl OF eeather-blcache bones
How quiet and lonely the harhor grew, Tit
big ~iry-docks against tho farlhsr shore
wers all empty. Now and thsn u tug fused
about. with tho yellow river all to itself;
and one or two steamboats, came AMI went
each day, but thsy novel drowsily,
river, a whole feet of their dlngy
white sisters lay tod up to the bank. sine
die. My f~avorits OF all tho sea steamer,
the little Habsna, that had been wont 10 ar
rive twice a month from Cuba. disgorgs her
Spanish American cargo, and hustle away
again, and that / had watched the ship
wrights, Mt their very elbows, race and ut
with three big. raking masts in place of her
two small ones. had long ago slipped down
the river and through the blockaders, and
was now no longer the Habana, but the far
famed and dreaded Sumter.
. 3 .
shall not try to describe the day tho
alarm bells told US the city was in danger
and called every man to his mastering
point The children poured out from tho
school gate, and ran crying to their homes,
meeting their sobbing mothers at their
thresholds The men fell into ranks. l was
left entirely alone in charge Of the store
where I was employed. Late in the after
noon, receiving orders to Close 1t, l did so,
and went home. But l did MT stay. Invent
to the river eide. There until far into tho
night l saw hundreds OF drays carrying cot
ton out Of the presses and yards TO the
wharveS whore 1t was fred This glare of
those slnuous miles Of flames set men aud
women weeping and waiting thirty miles
away ON tho further shore OF Lake Pontchar-
train. But the next day was the day OF ter
rorA. During the night fear, wrath, aud n
sonse OF betrayal had run through the poo
plo as the fire had run through the cotton.
You have seen, perhaps, u family fleeing
with lamentations aud wringing OF hands
out OF a burning house; multiply ii by thou
sands upon thousands. That was New Or
leans, though the houses were not burning.
Tho iircmsn wore oat; but thoy cast fire On
the waters. putting the torch to the empty
ships and cutting them loose TO float down
the river.
Whoever could go was going. The great
mass who had nc place to 90 to or means to
go with, was beside itself. Betrayed be-
trayedlp il criod, and ran in throngs from
street to street, seeking some vent, some
victim for its wrath. saw a crowd catch
a poor fellow at the corner Of Magazine
and Common streets, whose crime
was that no looked like a stranger
and might be a spy. He vas the
palest living man L ever saw. They swung
him to Il neghboring lamp post, but the for
eign legion was patroling the town in strong
squads, and ono Of its lieutentants, all green
and gold. leaped with drawn sword, cut the
rope, and saved the man. This was one oc-
currence; thore were many like it stood
in the rear OF tho store, Canal street, soon
after reopening it. The junior OF the firm
was within. l called him to look toward the
river. The masts of tho cutter Washington
were slowly tipping, declining, sinking
down she went The gunboat moorod next
her began b smoke all over. and then to
blaze. Ny employers lifted up their heels
and left the city-left thoir good AMI their
affairs in tho hands q, on, mora lad
stranger would have thought | had reached
Il, and one big German porter. l closel the
doors, AMI sent thu porter to his place in tho
foreign legion, and ran 10 the levos to SEQ
tho sights.
What a gatheringl The riR-raff Of the
wharves, the town, the CUTTERS. Such
women-such wrecks OF womenl And all
the juvenile rag-tag. The lower steamboat
landing. well covered with sugar. rice, and
molasses. was being rided The men
smashed; the women scooped up the smash
tpvs The rfvar xrsa or-arnorufD. che 49,. -
tho leves. A rainstorm began to threaten.
Are the Yankee ships in sightf' l asked OF
an idler. He pointed out the tops of their
naked masts as they shovel up across the
huge band OF the river. They were engag-
ing the batteries at Camp Chalmetts-the
old field OF Jackson's renown. Presently
that was over. All, mel l see them now as
they coma slowly round Slaughterhouso
point into full view, silent, so grim, and
terrible; black with msn, heavy with
deadly portent; the long banished stars and
stripes flying against the frowning sky. Oh,
for the Mississippi the Mississippi Just then
here she came down upon them. But howl
Drifting helplessly, "a mas5 of flames.
Tho crowds on the leveo howled and
screamed with rage. The swarming decks
answered never a word: but one old tar on
tbs Hartford, standing with lanyard in
hand beside a great pivot-gun, so plain to
view that you could soc him smile, silently
patted it, big black breech and blnndly
grinnoi.
And now tho rain came down in sheets.
About ! or . o'clock in the afternoon las !
remember1. I being again in the store with
but ono door ajar, came o roar Of shoutings,
and imprecations, and crowiiny feet down
Common street. "Hurrah for JEFF Davisl
Hurrnh for JEFF DAVIS, Shoot themi XIII
eE.-.N H. 49, III A.
the outside and ran to the front OF the mob,
bawling with the rest, "Hurrah for Jsf
Davisl7 About every third man Tiers had
a weapon out Two officers Of the United
States navy were walking abreast. un-
guarded and alone. looking not { iAs right
or left, never frowning. never hinching.
while the mob screamed la their ears, shook
cooked pistols In thor fa-os, cured and
crowded and gna he'd upon thsm. SO
through the gates Of death thoe two msn
walked TO the city hall and dean lnlvI the
towns surrender. 1t was one Of the bravest
deeds l ever saw done.
Later events. except one, l leave 10 other
pens. An officer from the ii5et stood on the
city hall roof about to low e. tue n.g Of
louisiana. In the stress bena III cleaned
the bayonets Of a body OF mar.ne< A how
itzer pointed up and another dJwn the
street All around swarmei the mob. Just
then Mayor Mouroe-lest the officer above
should be fired upon and the howitzers open
upon the crowd-came out alone and stool
Just before one of the howitzers. tall. slen-
der. with folded arms, eyeinz % gsaIer.
Down sank the flag. Capt. Bell, tall and
stiff, marched off with tho flag rolled under
his arm and tho howitzers clanking behind.
Then cheer after cheer rang on, for Monroe
Rheumatism has one invincible antagon-
list. one never Welding enemy that will