LOUISIANA. 



men. -i-d such work shall suffer no discontinuance 

 until it shall have been thoroughly completed; 

 be it further 



" Ktwlwl. That in furtherance of the preced- 

 ing the police juries of the various parishes be 

 aiid are hereby requested, as soon as practicable, 

 to furnish to the president of this association in- 

 formation upon the water courses (the Missis- 

 sippi except ed) in their respective parishes., giv- 

 ing the farthest point ever reached by steamers, 

 the farthest point which, with the aid of locks 

 and dams, it would be possible to reach with 

 steam crafts; the lowest stage of water at the 

 shallowest places, the nature of existing obstruc- 

 tions to navigation, and, approximately, the cost 

 of opening navigation to stated points on the 

 water courses referred to, and such other infor- 

 mation upon this subject-matter as the said police 

 juries mav deem useful." 



Land Claims. By a decision of Commissioner 

 Hermann, of the General Land Office, the claim 

 of the State as to its rights under the swamp 

 indemnity laws was allowed. "By this decision 

 the State should receive about $35,000 in money, 

 Upsides land scrip for the swamp lands errone- 

 ou>ly taken by the Government. The lands cov- 

 ered" by the decision are swamp lands allowed 

 to l>e located by the United States between March 

 2. 1S4M. and March 3, 1857. The State also claimed 

 cash indemnity for lands sold by the United States 

 and granted to the State. The contention of the 

 clerk who drew up the first opinion, which the 

 commissioner overruled, was that it was the in- 

 tention of Congress in the passage of the act of 

 March 2, 1857, to confirm to the State lands in 

 places fraudulently selected in exchange and in 

 consideration for the retention by the United 

 States of all consideration which it had received 

 for lands subject to the grant of 1849 and 1850, 

 which had been sold and allowed to be located by 

 the United States prior thereto, save those few 

 particular tracts for which he concedes that the 

 States are entitled to indemnity in the law in 

 question, except that of 1849. The Government 

 received consideration from the purchasers or 

 locators of land located between March 2, 1849, 

 and March 3, 1857, for lands which, though in 

 fact swamp, had not been identified at the time 

 of their sale or location." 



New Orleans. A State industrial fair was 

 opened in New Orleans, May 8, with a peace 

 jubilee, to celebrate the ending of the war with 

 Spain and the return of the volunteers. 



New Orleans is the only great city in the coun- 

 try without sewerage, the waste being carried 

 off in open gutters. But in June an election was 

 held to take the vote of the taxpayers on the 

 question of improvements in this and other direc- 

 tions. The decision was overwhelmingly in favor 

 of a special tax of 2 mills for sewerage, drain- 

 age, pure water, paving, park, and other improve- 

 ments. The plan contemplates an expenditure 

 of $14.000,000 in the next few years. Woman 

 property holders were allowed to vote, and were 

 mainly instrumental in gaining the victory, hav- 

 ing a central league and clubs in every ward. 



The revised Constitution of Louisiana provides 

 that taxpaying women shall have the right to 

 vote in person or by proxy upon all questions 

 submitted to taxpayers. 



Suit against Texas. In October the State 



r-tmg through its Governor and counsel pre- 



d a petition to the United States Supreme 



rt praying for an injunction to restrain Texas 



rom keeping up a quarantine against Louisiana 



on account of alleged danger of infection from 



yellow fever. On the part of Louisiana it is said 



that the "health officer of Texas, who seems to 

 be vested with absolute and dictatorial powers 

 in the matter of declaring and establishing quar- 

 antine, has for several successive years entirely 

 cut off and prohibited all transportation of the 

 United States mails, of passengers, and of mer- 

 chandise between the two States of Louisiana 

 and Texas," although intercourse with other 

 countries known to be infected was maintained. 

 About Nov. 6 the quarantine was declared at an 

 end, and up to that time the court had not 

 handed down a decision. 



Lawlessness. A lynching that took place at 

 Tallulah in July acquired international signifi- 

 cance from the fact that the five men lynched 

 were Italians. The trouble arose about some 

 goats belonging to one of the Italians. The 

 goats w r ere in the habit of sleeping and running 

 on' the gallery of Dr. J. Ford Hodge's office and 

 residence. The doctor on numerous occasions 

 requested Frank Defatta to keep his goats shut 

 up; but Defatta would not do it, and on the 

 night of the 19th Dr. Hodge shot one of the 

 goats on his gallery. In revenge for this Defatta 

 with four other Italians, two of whom were his 

 brothers, waylaid the doctor on the evening of 

 July 20 and shot and mortally wounded him. 

 The sheriff arrested the men, but they were taken 

 from him by a mob and hanged to a gallows used 

 for slaughtering beeves. A dispatch from the 

 town said this was " the third outrage committed 

 by this same class. About two years ago Frank 

 Defatta shot and killed a negro for picking up a 

 watermelon that Frank had for sale, and about 

 one year ago Joe Defatta shot and killed Pat 

 Mathews, landing keeper at Millikens Bend, as 

 he was passing his store, in cold blood about a 

 trivial controversy they had had about some 

 freight, and was cleared by some technicality of 

 the law. They had frequently made their boasts 

 that they would do as they pleased, and their 

 money would clear them." 



The evidence as to whether the men had been 

 naturalized or were still Italian citizens appeared 

 to be conflicting. In the absence of the Italian 

 minister, the charge d'affaires, Count Vinchi, 

 made investigation. The report of the secretary 

 of the embassy seems to have asserted that there 

 were no mitigating circumstances, that Dr. Hodge 

 first drew a weapon, and that the first shot fired 

 by Defatta was in defense of his fallen brother, 

 and not a wanton attack. Describing the affair 

 in detail, the report points out that some time 

 after the first two men were lynched the mob 

 made a second and third visit to the jail, whence 

 they removed and lynched the three other Ital- 

 ians, all of whom, it is contended, were in utter 

 ignorance of the wounding of Dr. Hodge. Con- 

 ceding some extenuating circumstances in the 

 lynching of the two men immediately concerned, 

 Marquis Romano contends that the lynching of 

 the other three was a thing of particular atrocity. 

 The Governor's report clashed with this at nearly 

 every point. 



A man suspected of cattle stealing and other 

 offenses was hanged by a posse of men near Wil- 

 son on Oct. 15. 



Of lawlessness in another parish, the Picayune 

 said, Oct. 9 : " Another shooting scrape is re- 

 ported from Tangipahoa parish, and, from the 

 accounts received, the affair was on a par with 

 the many other such deeds which have made the 

 parish famous for the apparent spirit of law- 

 lessness which is believed to prevail there. It is 

 a notorious fact that, while there have been 

 dozens of violent crimes in the parish, not a sin- 

 gle person has been punished." 



