The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1905-02-11
wasn e.ptss OR TAe 8. co.s. Eea1 .pp.a,snr

The calendarr,issued this year b,
NE HancUcK county Sank Is al
ideal blending Of the present and past
On the new style gray card board is
rope entitled .'The Historian. Tw,
Indians upon the soft skin of wolf ar,
studying parchment suspended befor,
them upon an inprovised easel Of sticks
vhsreon are traced by the crude hand o
the red man subjects for the young say.
ages receptive mind to grasp.
This scene is evidently pictured from
The heart of the woodland and, ii is pos.
dble and probable, may have really
been enacted upon the very site Of Tn,
Bank, say, some two centuries ago.
Yet, at this later day, We can moi
fancy the corner Of Main and From
streets harboring such a~scene, for the
N poor Choctaw, like the rest of his nation
gave way TO the white man long ago
who brought with him civilization and
progress.
It seems pathetic to have driven the
red man from his haunts of thousand
years or more, but, in the course oi
events, 1t had to be; for progress con-
Quers all before it, and, unless We march
with It's victorious forces. we would meet
extinction in time, as has been the fate
Of 1.-THE savage.
A century or more ago our now beau
Eful little City Of Bay st. Louis was .
mixed settlement, called by the red man
"Chou-cou-pou -Iou", and by the white
man "the District Of the Bay OF st
Louis.
In 1858, when The French and Indian
War came to an end and peace was made
between France and England, France
gave up all her territory, part Of which
was given to Spain. Spain afterwards
gave it secretly back to France. Thus
fora time the little village Of "Chou-
eou-pou-lou" was governed by the
y Spanish. !.
About that time, to encourage imigra-
ton, the Government gave grants OF
hnd to whomsoever would cultivate the
ground and make their homes here in
he District Of the Bay of st. Louis.
Many men of French and Spanish ex-
traction availed themselves of the Gov
anment's offer and became the owners
defensive tracts Of land.
After Spain had returned France her
territory it was necessary for all these
Spanish grants TO be confirmed by the
French Government.
In the early part Of the year of 1904
the Baron de Carondelet, then Governor
Of these provinces, had the Spanish
grant of one Louis Alexo Lessassier
made good by the French Government,
which he represented.
Later in the same year, upon return
trp from France, this Louis Alexo Les
sassier suffered ship wreck and lost his
papers. among them his grant to lands
at Chou-cou-pou-lou in the District of
Bay st. Louis.
In the year of 1893 Louis Alexo Les
sassier applied to Manual Gayoso de
Lemos, Brigadier Of the Royal Army
and Governor General of those prov
inces, and, at the request Of his excel
lency, the Baron de Carondelet, General
Manual Gayoso de Lemos directed his
secretary, Don Andrew Lopez Armesto,
70 search for record of the Lessassier
claim 1t was found copied, and Louis
Alexo Lessassier again gained possess
sion Of his lands.
The above mentioned old document
is in the writer's possession and was ex-
actly one hundred and seven years old
the 18th Of last December. Time has
touched its former white pages with the
unit OF saffron, but it is otherwise as per-
iect as when it was signed by the fol-
lowing men, prominentin the history Of
New Orleans: = First, his excellency,
the Baron de Carondelet. one OF the
kih,, st. hearted nob~aen of his time;
then Don Manual Gayoso de Lemos,
Don Andrew Lopez Armesto, Don
Anesto Montes de Oca, Franco Masco
de st. Mareant and fernando Domingo
Sansa.
All these signatures are well written,
and it is evident that these old Spanish
grandees and French noblemen were
men of character and intellect.
This ancient deed bears many marks
left by the proverbial cred tape
OF the law of the land, having been re.
corded no less than four times at differ.
ent stages in it's career of a century.
{ AShou coY- pou lou" continued a
N yiilage OF Spanish, French and
4 inhabitants until the year Of
hen q storm, much more violent
kt Of 1888, accompanied By Q
swept the village out Of ex-
d drowned most Of its inhabit-
kears later families from other
Me United States. and some
Is well, came to the shores Of
& ASt. Louis and made theiI
Ahcnce arose another vii
||1 |ss7 = ike. from the ashes oi
Aou-lou". Itwas named