ROBERT MORRISS: CANNIBAL SLAYER

[releventchair]

Augusts heat slowed things to a crawl most days. A bustle of activity early and late in the day and a rush to be behind doors at dark.
Colander's were a common sight in dooryards and near chimneys. The theory being a Rougarou approaching the door or planning to descend the chimney would be distracted by hole counting long enough to forget it's mission and dawn would foil it's efforts.
Stores saw a run on salt and even sulfur though discretely, lest superstition be suspected of the highbrowed....
Gossip in an attempt to name a suspect solved nothing, but fanned an undercurrent of frenzy. Of course no one dare admit being out at night and anyone ill was regarded with great suspicion for months...with an alibi required of them during any unusual occurrences.
Those things, if dared directed towards those from the swamps or off train or ship, horse or carrige were not voiced.
The inmates of the city did not want attention directed at them from anyone not as vulnerable as themselves in their own created dilemma's.
Father and Jr. were supplying moss to the carriage trade and would be gone weeks at a time before showing up in town.
Cypress knees were left for consignment, aimed towards tourist's at the hotel.
Homespuns had replaced suitcoats and ties and neither could be accused of owning a comb or razor.
Short visits while a tool or rope or sundry was sought were attended with a few grunts and a whiff of whisky and smoke and they would head again towards town for who knows what before heading back to their skiff.
Why they even came around was almost a question but fathers attitude seemed one of possession of the property, yet with no desire to be on it.
I was not angry or feeling pity seeing them leave, Jr's. premature grey hair nearly matching the gaunt old mans. More I felt a sense of relief.
Something worse than anger seemed to emanate from them, even when smiling.

 

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[ECS]

One afternoon in August I noticed Amos was spreading brick dust on all of our homes door thresholds and window sills, explaining ,"It keeps the bad spirits out, Miss Eliza".
Outside, our dear Maddie was making designs on the ground out of cornmeal on all sides of the house.
I enquired what and why she was doing this.
"I'm making a vever, powerful gris-gris that will keep all evil from nearing this house, child. Here, Miss Eliza, I have a gift that will keep you safe from all harm, made for me by the great Bokor, Dr John the Night Tripper".
She held out her hand, and placed a flannel bag tied at the top with a leather thread.
I took the bag from her, curious of what it contained.
"No, Honeychile, do not open,never, but keep it on you at all times for protection from evil spirits and the zombi that hunts the streets of New Orleans".
I never told mother about the mojo garde, knowing as a Christian women she would object to Maddie's Voudon talisman, but somehow I felt comfort by its touch.

 

[ECS]

Amos harnessed the horses to the carriage and soon Maddie and I were on our way down Ursulines St to French Market. Our first stop were the vegetable stands on St Peter and Decatur streets, which carried the earthy pungent aromas of fresh cut produce.
Maddie, with her keen eye, selected the largest okra I had ever seen, green and red bell peppers, sweet onions, celery, and two pounds of chicory coffee. Amos loaded it all into the carriage and we made our way down to Peters street on the river where the meat stands were located, which were very close to father's Planters & Merchants Hotel on Canal street.
Two long links of Andouille sausage, a sugar cured ham, and a live chicken were purchased at Chouteau's meat stand, then we walked to Berthold's , the fish monger. At Berthold's, Maddie bought two large bags, one filled with crayfish, the other with Gulf shrimp.
"Honeychile, tonight we will be feasting on your yo' favorite,Crawdad Gumbo".
It was then I turned and saw father and Junior walking towards us.

 

[ECS]

Father looked frightful, like a skeleton covered in a thin shroud of skin. As he came towards me, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my summer dress, my left hand grasping the Mojo Garde given to me by dear Maddie.
Father reached out for a hug, and when he touched my shoulder, a flash, like a bolt of lightning struck my father, throwing him five feet backwards, landing on his back on the stone cobbled street.
Junior stood transfixed, open mouthed.
Amos came running as Maddie hugged me close to her body.
People at Berthold's and the other meat stands stared in shocked silence.
Amos led Maddie and me away towards the carriage, handing me a string of rock candy.
Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Junior lifting father, on unsteady feet, then walking back towards Canal Street.
Maddie made me promise to not tell mother about this, fearing that mother would be upset that I was given a Mojo Garde, upsetting her religious beliefs.
never told mother.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Yes
I see Junior`s dirty turdy birdy feet !

 

[ECS]

More half eaten mutilated bodies continued to be found as August crept into September causing the French Quarter Vigilance Committee to increase its nightly patrols. Be it a white zombie, rougarou, or a cannibal madman, they were steadfast in their determination to find it, kill it, end it.
Early Tuesday morning they came upon the chewed upon body of Garay, one of Domique Youx's battery gunners at Spanish Fort during the Battle of New Orleans. Garay took a British ball to the head and was never the same, but those at French Market gave him small jobs and kept him fed. Some claimed he was "touched", always talking in singsong rhyme.
The newspaper ARGUS, reported that when the Committee members lifted Garay from the street, he was still alive, and repeated the phrase, "I see Juniors dirty turdy birdie feet" over and over again before he bled out and died.
The word "Junior" flashed out at me, as a lighthouse beacon of warning.
Was Junior or father the white zombie?

 

[ECS]

NEW ORLEANS ARGUS SEPTEMBER 27, 1820

LAFITTE SAVES NEW ORLEANS FROM ROUGAROU !
New Orleans Battle hero, Jean Lafitte, shot and killed the Rougarou with a silver pistol ball, after it attacked Thomas Beale Sr, friend of Lafitte and fellow Battle hero.
The attack occurred on Peters Street shortly after Beale and son, Lafitte, and the lawyer, Grymes, had departed a sporting house.
The wounded Beale was taken to his Planters & Merchants Hotel,15 Canal Street, where he succumbed from his wounds.
There will be a brief funeral at Presbyterian Cemetery before Mr Beale is laid to rest this afternoon.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

LAFITTE SAVES NEW ORLEANS FROM ROUGAROU !
New Orleans Battle hero, Jean Lafitte, shot and killed the Rougarou with a silver pistol ball, after it attacked Thomas Beale Sr, friend of Lafitte and fellow Battle hero.
The attack occurred on Peters Street shortly after Beale and son, Lafitte, and the lawyer, Grymes, had departed a sporting house.
The wounded Beale was taken to his Planters & Merchants Hotel,15 Canal Street, where he succumbed from his wounds.
There will be a brief funeral at Presbyterian Cemetery before Mr Beale is laid to rest this afternoon.

NCIS-New Orleans, is investigating; Lafitte is "Navy"...

 

[ECS]

Mother folded the newspaper into her lap and announced, "Your father is dead".
She then instructed me to help Maddie in the garden, to gather green snaps and field peas for dinner.
Mother then retired to her bedchamber and did not return until the ring of the dinner bell.
Shortly after our dinner of salted ham, snaps and peas and corn bread, the sound of an arriving carriage rose us from the table.
Walking up our porch steps was Junior, Lafitte and two other men unknown to me.
"Mrs Beale, we are here to discuss the estate of your late husband", stated the man, a lawyer, John Randolph Grymes.

 

[ECS]

Once again I laid on the balcony floor between the balusters and listen in on the discussion below. The lawyers said they would run father's businesses for Junior, because Junior and Lafitte were to leave on the morrow for important business in Virginia. Mother question about this business in Virginia, knowing that Juniors mother lived in that state, but no answer was given.
Shortly after, they all took leave of our home.

 

[ECS]

Lafitte returned to New Orleans a few months after that visit. The lawyers Grymes and Henderson handled the business affairs of my father's estate, now belonging to Junior, until his return , late summer, 1823.
Like father, Junior had become gaunt, and that crazy haunted look in his eyes, mostly kept his own company at the Planters & Merchants Hotel on Canal Street.
In September, the ARGUS ran the headline, "ROUGAROU HAS RETURNED"
Panic and fear once again gripped New Orleans, and the FRENCH MARKET VIGILANCE COMMITEE was once again on nightly patrol.
Once again I pondered the connection I feared, but never mentioned to another soul, but I still kept the Mojo Garde that Maddie gave me with me at all times.

 

[ECS]

NEW ORLEANS ARGUS OCTOBER 16, 1823

Thomas Beale Jr, passed away yesterday at his Planters & Merchants Hotel, 15 Canal Street, in the same where his father succumbed three years previous.
Businessman and hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte, reported that Beale Jr was in a duel earlier that day, and that he carried the fatally wounded man back to his hotel where he met his calamitous demise.
Lafitte stated that," It was young Beale's unbridled quest for riches that cause his date with death".

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Thomas Beale Jr, passed away yesterday at his Planters & Merchants Hotel, 15 Canal Street, in the same where his father succumbed three years previous.
Businessman and hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte, reported that Beale Jr was in a duel earlier that day, and that he carried the fatally wounded man back to his hotel where he met his calamitous demise.
Lafitte stated that," It was young Beale's unbridled quest for riches that cause his date with death".

DUELING! Like Father, like SON! HA!

 

[ECS]

John Randolph Grymes
99 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana
March 23, 1824
Mr. Grymes
It has come to my attention that you are in charge of the Estate and business affairs of my deceased son, Thomas Beale Junior. It is my intention to travel to New Orleans this May, and claim what is rightfully mine.
Chloe Delaney
Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia

 

[ECS]

Juniors mother came to New Orleans in a attempt to claim all father's property. The lawyers Grymes and Henderson defended my mother's interest in this affair, and after many months, that Delaney women returned to Virginia, empty handed.
My only keepsake from those days, is the mojo garde, given to me by dear Maddie.
Eliza Beale Ricker

 

[ECS]

FROM THE DIARY OF CHLOE DELANEY JUNE, 11, 1826

After spending over a year in a New Orleans courtroom, I have lost all hope of benefit from my rightful inheritance, having lost the father of my son, my son, and all the property that should have come to me, and not Celeste Beale.
I have been reduced from comparative affluence to absolute penury, with a slight rumor of hope concerning a vault of riches four miles from Buford's Tavern, a tale told by my son and Lafitte when they were here years ago.

 

[ECS]

Charles W Button was hunched over his desk, entering numbers into the LYNCHBURG VIRGINIAN ledger.
Dipping his pen into the inkwell with black ink, he began balancing the red ink numbers written earlier that day.
Leaning back in his chair, stretching his cramped muscles, Buttons mind wandered back to the rebuttal letter concerning an article he wrote about Bonaparte ideals, he received from the lawyer, Jubal Early.
Early was a well respected citizen of Lynchburg, having served the Confederate cause as a General, and Button could not fathom how to address his letter with any semblance of gentlemanly honor.
A knock on his office door intruded on his thoughts.
Looking up, one of his sub-editors stood in the doorway, Sherman, holding a pamphlet in his hand.
"Come on in, John", Button spoke with a friendly hand gesture," What have you there"?

 

[ECS]

John William Sherman, known for his taciturn self absorbed attitude, entered Button's office full of exuberance.
"Have you written a new drama for that acting group that you're involved", inquired Button with a smile.
"No, Sir", Sherman replied, " It's an adventure treasure story".
Glancing at the title page of the pamphlet, noting the mention of authentic statements of events in Bedford county, Button asked, " Is this about those lurid stories about the Bedford county cannibals back in the '20's"?
"My cousin Ward found an old journal from his Uncle Morriss that mentioned cannibals", answered Sherman, " But that served only as an inspiration for us. There are no cannibals in our Beale Papers, Sir.
"Us", Button questioned?
"Ward of course, who acted as agent for copyright, his Hutter cousin, friend Max Guggenheimer, and myself, Sir.
"MAX!", exclaimed Button, "Is this another one of that jokesters pranks? And what are these ciphers all about. I see that one was solved using the Declaration of Independence, but what of the two others?

 

[ECS]

"We all worked together to create the Declaration of Independence solved cipher, that took several days," explained Sherman, "Then other documents were considered, George Mason was one, but Max and Ferdinand worked out the other two using a copy of Vattel's LAW OF NATIONS that was given to Ferdinand's brother, Edward, by Judah Benjamin in Danville after the fall of Richmond".
"And", questions Button?
"It was used as a code book during the Cause", Sherman continued, "but the unsolved ciphers are for an after hour parlor entertainment among gentlemen, an amusement for cigars and brandy".
"I see", Button replied, as his thoughts were returned to Early's rebuttal letter.

 

[ECS]

After reading the solved DOI cipher 2, Button glanced up and remarked, " The treasure list is very similar that of that Kentucky man, Robert O Willis, who I wrote about in '79. The gold ,silver, and jewelry worth $65,000 found hidden in a cave".
"Yes, Sir, we did use that story in ours", Sherman replied," Many of those who would purchase our Beale Papers in Lynchburg would remember reading that article and would connect it to our treasure story".
"I see", mused Button.