The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-04-30
AN HISTORICAL OLD HOTEL.

New Orleans April 27.--Tho unsuccessful at
tempt OF the State OF Louisiana 10 sell. a few
days ago In New Orleans the Hotel ROYAL.
brings to mind rccollections not only of one
OF the most famous buildings In the south,
but a structure whose inner and outer walls
as well have Witnessed scenes that seriously
affected the career OF the United States. Re
public.
That lip-worn but most suggesuye OF
phrases. III walls could sneak" never found
more striking application than IN this famous
old hostelry. which is lust now entering
upon what seems TO be the last OF Its many
and marvellous vicissitudes II walls. indeed.
had tongues. the Hotel Royal would be the
most wonderful storvtelor OF the age. II
may be stated without a shadow Of hyperbole
that there is no other edifice in the Nation
that has been. in its time. the theater OF such
varied and extraordinary adventure. that has
witnessed such amazing transitions from farce
to tragedy. and TRAGEDY back again to farce;
that has sesn the passing show Under so maay
curious lights and shifting circumstanc and
that has entered SO Intimately into the social
and political life of a great community
In general way the history OF the Hotel
Royal is familiar to everybody who knows the
history of New Orleans and Louisiana. but
its most fascinating passages are the in
Vulnerable strange and unwritten Incidents
with which formal record never burdens IT,
self. great many of these were recalled in
the progress of dismantlement which recently
wrung Its furnishings. floor by floor under
the hammer of the auctioneer
| The casual visitor at the sale. who takes
the trouble TO penetrate the cayernous inte-
rior OF the structure. to descend few rick
ETY. stairs and traverse a grimy corridor on
the Toulouse street side. will find himself
In the presence of somber reminder Of the
glories that have been. AS all old timers
are aware, the present office equipment at tho
Royal street entrance dates only from the
lease of Colonel Rivers In 1884. The original
office was on Toulouse street. and behind II
was what was no doubt the most gorgeous
and rem arkable rotunda in the woid
| That was In the early los. The fist hote.
on the site, magnificent structure, OF which
strangely few facts arc known. was built in
1853 and was DESTROYED bv fire In little more
q an twelvemonth. IT was succeeded by
the present structure. which after short
season of mismanaeement. passed into tile
hands of James Hewlett. an experienced and
ACCOMPLISHED caterer. who soon spread its
fame all over Christendom. Those were the
! ralmy days OF its first period The office on
Toulouse street was a wide. spacious apart
ment the ceiling supported b. row of cnor-
nous Corinthian nilars. behind which stood
the desk and counter
~
The public rendezvous of the house how
and or he mos
prisng features. was the vast circular rotunda
In the rear. entered both from the office by
way Of arched corridors leading from Chartres
and Royal streets, The rotunda was in the
basement directly beneath the present din
ing room. which did not then exist. Its height
was therefore from the ground to the apex
Of the dome. much more than hundred feet
The floor was laid with colored marble In an
intricate geometric pattern radiatng from
gided dais in the center. and the supporting
columns were studded with graceful branch.
ing brackets of bronze carving innumerahle
candelabra. On the Royal street SIDE was a
curved bar. over eighty feet long and be-
tween the pillars opposite were series OF
little platforms sarnished with mahogany
balustrades. These platforms were for tho
convenience of guests who brought slaves TO
Ing to tradition. human chattels were auc-
toned to the highest bidder.
BY night especially the great rotunda was
the supreme focus of metropolitan LIE 1t
blazed with life and swarmed with visitors.
Wealthy planters. men of fashion. merchant
princes. literary celebrities. notables from
foreign lands sea captalns newly arrived in
port, slave SPECTATORS. cotton buyers states
mo nd ALI drad apd
other figures in the Kaleidoscope whirl Of the
gayest capital of the Western world met and
mingled under the lofty dome and incident
ally Mine Host Hewlett coined many shekels
Today all that remains Of this wonderful hall
of encounter is vast. gloomy, rubbish lit
tered basement. Its ceiling is the floor OF the
dining room. shutting off the dome some thr
ty feet above the ground. and converting ii
into sort of closed we'll, monstrous, hollow
and indescribably strange and dismal.
Only one OF the platform auction blocks
now remain. 1t stands before a window giving
air to the court. and is in the ultimate stages
Of diapdatlon and decay. The mahogany bal
ustrade has been wrenehed awry. but the
elegance of its workmanship proclans itself
in spite of It's ruin, The branching bracket
lights disappeared long years ago, but the
and indicate where they were once placed.
~
Behind the fragment OF the bar is yawn-
ing black archway which leads to sinister
and mysterious section of the disused base
ment. For wears the entrance was choked
with rubbish. and its very existepce was for,
gotten. but when Colonel Rivers took charge
Of the house the debris was cleared away and
short straight gallery disclosed 1t extends
dozen or SO feet between the walls Of enor-
mously thick masonry TO pair 81 pondsrous
iron-face doors. Beyond them the explorer
of TODAY will find low-ceiled room about
thirty feet square. and even at noontime al
most as dark as a cavern. The narrow win
dows are guarded by rusty iron bars, some
OF which bear plain evidence Of hav-
ing been snawed at by nile They
set on little passage running hetwe n
the central structure and the Royal street
wing. and the brick walls in which they are
pierced are as solid as a fortress. This place
was not originally one room. but divided by
partitions into twelve OF fifteen little cells,
in which were confined the slaves who were
oonttnuaIiv brouaht m the house by specu- |