Violence and Woodshed
have been indigenous to this city from time immemorial, and feuds are
instantly settled by an appeal to the bowie knife, or ever-ready
revolver. Highway robberies are very frequent, and I was told it was
more than your life was worth to be out after dark, in certain
localities, unless armed and on your guard. The police authorities are,
nevertheless, vigilant, and the magistrates severe, so that many
desperadoes are brought to justice.
The suburbs of New Orleans lie low, and the swampy soil emits a
poisonous miasma. This is, without doubt, the cause of virulent
epidemics that visit the city annually with direful effect. Thousands
fly to the northern states, to escape the contagion; but there are many
who, for want of means, are obliged to risk a continued residence at
such periods, and it is amongst those that the yellow fever, the ague,
or the flux, plays dreadful havoc. It is the custom for the small
store-keepers, as well as the more affluent merchants, to confide their
affairs at such seasons to others, and I have frequently seen
advertisements in the _New Orleans Picayune_, and other papers, offering
a gratuity to persons to undertake the charge in their absence.
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