1834 Madame Lalaurie's Legend

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Historians are in conflict over the story of Madame Lalaurie and her once-imposing residence at 1140 Royal Street, but, they are agreed that she fled the mansion on April 10, 1834, after a fire swept the building and led neighbors to discoveries in the slave quarters.

This story originally appeared in The Times-Picayune on Jan. 28, 1941. It is reprinted in its entirety.

Epitaph-Plate of 'Haunted' House Owner Found Here

Marble Cutter's Discovery Starts New Talk of Madame Lalaurie

Legends of New Orleans' famed 'haunted house' at 1140 Royal Street, which since 1873 has served as a refuge for homeless men and boys, were revived Monday with the announcement of the 'discovery' of an epitaph-plate of one of the former owners of the residence.

Corroded and cracked by time, the copper plate bore the inscription: 'Madame Lalaurie, nee Marie Delphine Maccarthy, decedee a Paris, le' 7 decembre, 1842, a l'age de 6 --. '

The plate was discovered by Eugene Backes, 53-year-old marble cutter, four or five years ago in the No. 4 alley of St. Louis cemetery No. 1, where he served as sexton from March, 1923 to January, 1924.

Backes, who is engaged in polishing, grinding and cutting stones at his little shop at 807 St. Peter Street, decided to delve into the conflicting history of the 'haunted house,' which is now known as the Warrington House, and of Madame Lalaurie, its early mistress.

Historians are in conflict over the story of Madame Lalaurie and her once-imposing residence at 1140 Royal Street, but, they are agreed that she fled the mansion on April 10, 1834, after a fire swept the building and led neighbors to discoveries in the slave quarters.

Jealous Gossip

Newspapers of the day pictured, rightly or not, the Lalaurie slaves, chained in the cubby-holes as tortured and half-starved creatures and the mistress of the mansion. Newspapers reported that she and her husband went by carriage to Lake Pontchartrain, boarded a sloop at Bayou St. John, deposited gold with the captain, and sailed for ....

There is disagreement whether Madame Lalaurie sailed for France from Mobile or New York; and another school of thought maintains that Madame Lalaurie never left New Orleans, that she died and was buried here.

They are agreed, however, that she was born Marie Delphine, daughter of Louis Barthelemy Chevalier de Maccarthy, whose name was later simplified to Macarty, and then on June 11, 1800, she was married to Don Ramon de Lopez y Angulo.

Her first husband died on March 26, 1804, at Havana, Cuba, and she married in 1808 to Jean Blanque, who died in 1816. Madame Lopez-Blanque on June 12, 1825, became the wife of Dr. Leonard Louis Lalaurie.

Staunch Support

Stanley Arthur, president of the board of curators of the Louisiana State Museum, is staunch in his support of Madame Lalaurie.

'I have always thought,' he said, 'that Madame Lalaurie was the first victim of yellow journalism. There is nothing in the record to indicate that she was the type of a woman pictured by them. One must remember that there was much social jealousy in those days, and that Madame Lalaurie occupied an enviable position socially.'

He revealed that he had found a record of Madame Lalaurie granting permission for the emancipation of a slave in the early 1830s, which contradicts the tales of her cruelty.

Mrs. L.R. DeBuys, 1417 Delachaise Street, whose husband is a fifth descendant of Madame Lalaurie, concurs with Mr. Arthur and believes that the mistress of the 'haunted house' has been unjustly accused and mercilessly victimized; and Mrs. Debuys intends to prove it through exhaustive search of the records. The family had long known of Madame Lalaurie's burial place here, she said.

But to passengers in the sight-seeing busses, the mansion will still be pointed out as the 'haunted house,' where the ghost of tortured slaves walk the halls at night.

Source: http://www.nola.com/lalaurie/trail/plate.html

1834 Madame Lalaurie's Legend

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