Empire of Sin (52 page)

15
“No! For God’s sake …”
is from Smith,
Crescent City Lynchings
, xiv.

16
“Scour the whole neighborhood …”
For the scene at the Central Station, and Shakspeare’s quote, see especially the NODP of October 16, 1890.

17
Chief Hennessy was now lying on the table …
 Details of events at Charity Hospital are culled from various newspaper accounts, with priority given to the NODP report of October 17, 1890.

18
“Now go home, Mother …”
The conversation with Mrs. Hennessy as reported in the NODS of October 16, 1890.

19
“Chief, you know who I am …”
and Hennessy’s reply is from the NODP of the same date.

20
“Captain, I tell you …”
The conversation with Beanham (ending with “These people can’t kill me”) was in the next day’s NODP. [NB: Gambino makes much of the fact that one newspaper, the NOTD, reported that Hennessy at one point shook his head when asked whether he had recognized the shooters. Since no other reporter mentioned this, however, I suspect the chief may just have been refusing to answer rather than denying that he knew his assailants.]

21
“a class of foreigners …”
was in the NODS of October 16, 1890.

22
“to assist the officers of the law …”
For the newspaper notices, see William E. Burrows,
Vigilante!
, 201.

23
Forty-two Italians had already been arrested …
 as per the NOTD of October 17, 1890.

24
Makeshift memorials to the chief …
 as cited by the daily papers.

25
police assembled at Francis Johnson & Sons undertakers …
 Details of the wake at the Girod Street house come principally from the NODP of October 17, 1890.

26
A detail of police arrived at the Girod Street cottage …
 All of the papers of October 18, 1890, carried extensive reports on the chief’s funeral. I have relied mainly on that in the NODP.

27
“bosom friend” …
 Anderson is described as such in the NODP of October 16.

28
short but powerfully built figure …
 Description of Anderson as per Rose,
Storyville
, 42.

29
“David Hennessy, died Oct. 16, 1890” …
 Anderson’s role in placing the temporary marker as per the NODP of October 18.

30
“by the hands of despicable assassins” …
 The special council meeting of Saturday was covered by all of the newspapers. This and all quotes are from the NOPD report of October 19, 1890.

Chapter 4: Retribution

Official records for the Hennessy murder trial were either lost or conveniently destroyed, so I have depended principally, as have the authors of the four books on the subject mentioned in the previous chapter, on the understandably detailed newspaper reports.

  
1
In the main courtroom at St. Patrick’s Hall …
 Details for the courtroom scene while the jury deliberated come from the NODI of March 13 and 14, 1891.

  
2
the jury had supposedly reached its decision very quickly …
 The rumors of an early verdict were from the NODP of March 13, 1891.

  
3
the police had ultimately arrested more than a hundred Italians …
 as per the NODI of February 16, 1891. [NB: The newspapers and most of the population of New Orleans at this time seemed certain of the existence of a full-fledged “Mafia” in the city at this time, modeled on its predecessor in Sicily. Many later historians have accepted this belief as fact, without much proof to back it up. Others, like Richard Gambino and Humbert Nelli, disagree vehemently. While I think it is disingenuous to deny that there was any organized crime whatsoever in the city’s Italian community, particularly in later years (see Michael L. Kurtz’s unconvincing “Organized Crime in Louisiana History: Myth and Reality”), I tend to agree with Nelli that Italian crime in New Orleans in 1890 was at best loosely organized and decentralized.]

  
4
proved to be maddeningly complicated …
 Details of jury selection, witness examination, the bribery allegations, and Polizzi’s antics were ubiquitously reported. For Peeler’s alleged drunkenness, see Smith,
Crescent City Lynchings
, 176.

  
5
evidence from more than 140 witnesses …
 Smith is especially thorough in his presentation of the overabundance of testimony on both sides.

  
6
prizefighter John L. Sullivan showed up to watch …
 Gambino,
Vendetta
, 76, writes about Sullivan’s visit.

  
7
no other outcome …
 The newspapers of the day (see, for instance, the NODI of March 3, 1891) seemed to believe that the prosecution made a strong case, but to me this seems more like wishful thinking than objective analysis. It’s worth noting that a federal investigator examining the trial transcripts months afterward found the evidence “exceedingly unsatisfactory” and “not, to my mind, conclusive one way or the other” (see Gambino,
Vendetta
, 192).

  
8
At one thirty P.M., a knock …
 The moments before the verdict as described in the NODI of March 13 (which also reports the excitement on the street as comparable to that on the day after the shooting).

  
9
“to turn and look at one another …”
and the heckling of the jurors are both from the NODI of March 14.

10
“Red-handed murder …”
is from the NODI of March 14, 1891.

11
“Alien hands of oath-bound assassins …”
is from the NODS of the same date.

12
When William S. Parkerson stepped into his second-floor law office …
 Much of the description of Parkerson’s activities on the night of the verdict are from an interview he gave to the
Illustrated American
for the issue of April 4, 1891.

13
Balding, bespectacled, and somewhat portly … Parkerson’s appearance and history
from the
Illustrated American
interview; from his entry in Fortier’s
Louisiana
, Vol. 3; and his obituary in the NOTP of February 15, 1915.

14
“Southern ‘special gentlemen’s police’ ”
is from Giose Rimanelli, as quoted in Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 339.

15
at the corner of Royal and Bienville Streets …
 The location of Hayne’s home as per the NODP of March 15, 1891.

16
Many had heard stories of raucous demonstrations …
 For the meeting at Hayne’s, see also Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 337–41. [NB: Some Italian community leaders insisted that the celebrations had to do with King Umberto’s birthday and had nothing to do with the acquittals.]

17
MASS MEETING!…
Text of the newspaper announcement as per numerous sources (see, for instance, Smith,
Crescent City Lynchings
, 213).

18
rode a horse-drawn wagon …
 For the trip to Albert Baldwin’s hardware store for arms, see Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 341.

19
at eight thirty A.M. he left his office …
 Villere’s search for the mayor comes mainly from the
Illustrated American
account and from Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 342ff.

20
heading through the streets in the same direction …
 Corte described his search for the mayor in a letter to Ambassador Francesco Fava dated March 15, 1891, reproduced in various sources (e.g., Gambino,
Vendetta
, 158–60).

21
Corte and Villere hurried over …
 The Corte letter indicates that the governor was “not far away at a lawyer’s office,” though other sources, like Gambino,
Vendetta
, 79, say he was at a friend’s house on the outskirts of town.

22
a white-haired former Confederate general …
 The governor’s appearance and history as per Gambino,
Vendetta
, 80.

23
crowds were already gathering …
 The mass meeting at the Clay statue was widely reported in the press.

24
“People of New Orleans, once before I stood before you …”
The complete text of Parkerson’s speech was reprinted ubiquitously (e.g., in Gambino,
Vendetta
, 157).

25
made their way down Royal …
 The newspapers disagree slightly on the exact route the mob took to the Orleans Parish Prison.

26
“The crowd accordingly fell in line …”
is from the NODI of March 14, 1891.

27
“like a mighty roaring stream” …
 This and other details in this paragraph are from an account in the
Deseret Weekly
, March 21, 1891.

28
“It was the most terrible thing …”
is from the Parkerson interview in the
Illustrated American
, 321.

29
Two municipal detectives left the park …
 The two municipal detectives and the scene with Lemuel Davis is principally from Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 344ff. Other accounts are similar, though there is some disagreement over whether Davis actually gave a set of keys to the prisoners.

30
“I’ve done all I can” …
 is from Smith,
Crescent City Lynchings
, 220.

31
Eventually, Parkerson himself stepped up …
 Here again, the newspaper accounts and secondhand literature disagree somewhat on the exact details of the scenes in the prison, though not substantially.

32
among them Phillip Lobrano …
 Lobrano’s presence in the prison as noted in an article about the Marchesi family’s later lawsuit against the city, in the NODP of December 19, 1893.

33
“The intention had not been to shoot …”
is from the
Illustrated American
interview.

34
“There’s Scaffidi!” …
 This quote and the rest of this scene primarily from Smith,
Crescent City Lynchings
, 223.

35
Macheca was the first to be found …
 Hunt and Sheldon are best on the killing of Macheca (
Deep Water
, 352–54).