Empire of Sin (53 page)

36
“Bagnetto, Scaffidi, Polizzi …”
For the hanging of Polizzi and Bagnetto, and for Parkerson’s speech afterward, see the
Illustrated American
article, page 322, and Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 35f.

37
“You have today wiped the stain …”
is from the NODI of March 15, 1891.

38
a gruesome tableau …
 Details of the scene back at the Parish Prison mainly as per Gambino, p. 87.

39
“Of course, it is not a courageous thing …”
is from the interview in the
Illustrated American
, 322.

40
virtually unanimous in its approval …
 For the reactions of the business community and the newspapers, see especially Hunt and Sheldon,
Deep Water
, 358f.

41
“Government powers are delegated …”
is from the NODP of March 15, 1891.

42
“When the ordinary means of justice fail …”
is from the NODI of March 14, 1891.

43
promised further extralegal means …
 The threat to burn down Little Palermo as per the interview in
Illustrated American
, 322.

44
Many were forced to leave town …
 For the plight of Seligman and the other jurors, see especially the NYT of March 15, 1891, and the
Deseret Weekly
, March 21, 1891.

45
As for the lynchers themselves …
 The report of the grand jury about jury bribing and the lynching is reprinted in its entirety in Gambino,
Vendetta
, 163–81.

46
“the entire people of the parish …”
Quotes are from the grand jury report as reprinted in Gambino,
Vendetta
, 180–81.

47
became something of a national celebrity …
 Information about Parkerson in later years from various newspaper reports and his obituary in the NODP.

48
“a rather good thing”
Gambino is best on the aftermath of the lynchings and its effect on US-Italian relations; see
Vendetta
, 97 (for Theodore Roosevelt’s comments) and 113–28.

49
“the able manner in which …”
Letters to Mayor Shakspeare (including the one quoted) are from the Joseph Shakspeare Collection at the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection (MSS 96, Folder 7).

50
“They are quiet, quieter …”
See Smith,
Crescent City Lynchings
, 277.

51
the city’s Italian underworld—“Mafia” or not …
 The question of whether the defendants in the Hennessy case were guilty or innocent is at this point all but impossible to say. The possibility that non-Italians might have been involved was never even entertained. But as Gambino has pointed out, whether or not Mayor Shakspeare and the city’s commercial elite truly believed that the defendants were guilty and that they were tools of the Mafia, it was very much in their interest to reinforce that belief among the general populace.

Chapter 5: A Sporting Man

The best single source on Tom Anderson is the court case that resulted in the wake of his disputed will,
Succession of Anderson
(Louisiana Supreme Court Docket No. 32,083).

  
1
dapper and always well groomed …
 Tom Anderson’s appearance from various sources. See also photo in Rose,
Storyville
, 42.

  
2
a hand in many different ventures …
 Anderson’s activities as a business entrepreneur and sporting man as reported in local news reports—for instance, the NODPs of May 7, 1894 (boxing manager) and October 3, 1895 (horseracing entrepreneur) and the
Mascot
of November 24, 1894 (restaurant owner).

  
3
“Only Independent Oil Company …”
Anderson touts Record Oil in ads collected in the “Thomas C. Anderson Record Oil Company” files at Historic New Orleans Collection.

  
4
contemplating that inevitable next step …
 Anderson’s growing interest in politics as reflected in the NODP news reports of, for instance, October 21, 1892 (marching with then-Mayor Fitzpatrick in Columbus Day parade) and August 4, 1897 (chosen VP of the Choctaw Club, the base of Ring operations in New Orleans).

  
5
a disaster from the beginning …
 For Anderson’s contentious second marriage, see Orleans Parish Civil District Court Case 43,575:
Thomas C. Anderson v. His Wife
(Louisiana Division of the New Orleans Public Library).

  
6
the product of a bloody-fisted childhood …
 For Anderson’s personality and early history, see especially Rose,
Storyville
, 42–43.

  
7
a bookkeeper and shipping clerk …
 For details of his apprenticeship at Insurance Oil, see
Succession of Anderson
.

  
8
“Well, boys …”
is from the testimony of William Ulmo in that trial, as are the quotes in the following paragraph.

  
9
his childhood sweetheart …
 For Anderson’s early marriage to Emma Schwartz, see his succession case and the reports of same in the NODPs of June 2, 8, and 28, 1932.

10
Emma succumbed to typhoid fever …
 For Emma Schwartz’s death, see the NODP of November 23, 1881.

11
a boondoggle of impressive proportions …
 The most useful source for the Louisiana Lottery is Kendall,
History
, 483–501; $40,000 for Charity Hospital as per Kendall, 485.

12
No. 110–112 North Rampart Street …
 Tom Anderson’s restaurant opening and the establishment’s use as a rendezvous point as cited in Rose,
Storyville
, 43; Asbury,
French Quarter
, 434–35; and Long,
Babylon
, 155.

13
“neutral ground” …
 See Rose,
Storyville
, 43.

14
“My motto …”
is from Rose,
Storyville
, 45.

15
“The Ball of the Two Well Known Gentlemen” …
 A good source for the French balls generally is Rose,
Storyville
, 21–22.

16
created expressly to bring order …
 For the elite appropriation of Mardi Gras, see Leathem, “Carnival,” 3, 18.

17
“the queen and her court …”
is from Leathem, “Carnival,” 189.

18
“excesses of cruel treatment and outrages …”
For details of Anderson’s marriage to Catherine Turnbull (a marriage that seems to have eluded most of the literature on Anderson), see Orleans Parish Civil District Court Cases 43,575 and 48,601. Quotes here are from the appeal in these court records. For the two-dollar keg of pickles, see the “Inventory of Assets” in the same court record.

19
Rumors of a romantic relationship …
 Many writers, like Rose and Asbury, seem convinced that there was a romantic relationship between Anderson and Josie Arlington; I side with others, like Long, who have examined the various court records and see no evidence for it.

20
a businessperson on the rise …
 Details of Josie Arlington’s years after breaking with Lobrano come mainly from
Succession of Deubler
.

21
a new paramour, John Thomas Brady …
 Brady’s real surname was Hearn, but like many in New Orleans’ sporting world, he used a pseudonym.

22
a former orphaned child …
 The
Succession of Deubler
case records are best for Josie’s orphan years (see also Long,
Babylon
, 150).

23
“gracious, amiable foreign girls …”
and quotes from advertisements are from Asbury,
French Quarter
, 450.

24
“a hoochy-koochy dancer …”
from Asbury,
French Quarter
, 450.

25
Josie Arlington sold an interest in the Chateau …
 For the partnership between Anderson and Josie Arlington, see Rose,
Storyville
, 43, and Long,
Babylon
, 155–56.

26
allowing the genial Tom Brady …
 Brady’s ability to quit his job and buy a partnership in a poolroom as per his testimony in
Succession of Deubler
.

27
to regulate and isolate the trade …
 For Storyville’s genesis, see Rose,
Storyville
, 36–39; an interview with Sidney Story in the NODI of December 22, 1902; Long,
Babylon
, 102–06, 110–15.

28
reputation as a center of sin and perdition …
 Early New Orleans history overview comes principally from Campanella,
Bienville
, and Kendall,
History
.

29
“to establish, thirty leagues up the river …”
John Law is quoted in Campanella,
Bienville
, 109.

30
“Disorderly soldiers …”
is from Phelps’s
Louisiana
, as quoted in Asbury,
French Quarter
, 9–10.

31
a chronic shortage of women …
 as per Landau, “Spectacular Wickedness,” 13, and Hansen,
Louisiana
, 95.

32
among them eighty-eight inmates …
 The women from La Salpêtrière comes from Asbury,
French Quarter
, 11–12.

33
“without religion, without justice …”
is from Asbury,
French Quarter
, 20; see also Rose,
Storyville
, 56, for the city’s early history with “sinful women.”

34
the Spaniards sent over few additional colonists …
 according to Hansen,
Louisiana
, 80.

35
Napoleon sold New Orleans …
 See Asbury,
French Quarter
, 67.