Dolphins LaLaurie

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Delphine LaLaurie (born Marie Delphine Macarty or de Macarty ; * c. 1775 in Nueva Orleans , Louisiana ; † uncertain: December 7, 1842 in Paris ) was a New Orleans society lady and serial killer , best known for torture and killing dozen of slaves in their home at 1140 Royal Street.

history

Marie Delphine Macarty was born at the end of the 18th century as one of five children of Irish- born Louis Barthelemy de McCarty and his wife Marie-Jeanne (née L'Érable) in Nueva Orleans in what is now the US state of Louisiana (at that time part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain ) born.

Contemporary image of the house at 1140 Royal Street

On June 11, 1800 Delphine married the Spanish officer Don Ramón de Lopez y Angulo in the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Four years later, Don Ramón was appointed Consul General for the Orleans Territory . Delphine gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Borja Delphine.

Just eight years later, Delphine married a second time, this time the banker , lawyer and businessman Jean Blanque. The couple lived at 409 Royal Street and had four daughters - Marie Louise Pauline, Louise Marie Laure, Marie Louise Jeanne, and Jeanne Pierre Pauline. In 1816 Jean died of unknown reasons.

In 1825 she married the doctor Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie. The couple purchased land six years later to build a two-story mansion at 1140 Royal Street. Delphine, who lived there with her husband and two daughters, had become a notable person in New Orleans society, despite her sadistic inclination, which manifested itself in the mistreatment of their black slaves , was not entirely unknown.

Even if such acts were not consistently pursued at the time, Delphine LaLaurie first came into conflict with the law in 1833 when she chased a twelve-year-old slave girl over the roof of her house, whereupon she jumped off the roof and died as a result of the fall. LaLaurie was fined and the slaves were confiscated. Still, LaLaurie managed to buy them back through middlemen and relatives.

Exposure of the abuse

On the night of April 10, 1834, during a party, a fire broke out in the kitchen of the villa, which was probably started by a slave who was chained there. An attending judge asked LaLaurie to give him the key to the mansion's attic after rumors had spread that slaves were still there. When LaLaurie refused, the door to the attic was broken open. Seven slaves were found there, some with severe injuries. All had been badly mistreated and tortured with instruments lying around .

In the April 11, 1834 edition of the newspaper "New Orleans Bee" it is described that firefighters discovered the mutilated slaves during the fire in a condition which, according to the quote, "cannot be described with words".

Wording in the original: "Language is powerless and inadequate to give a proper conception of the horror which a scene like this must have inspired. We shall not attempt it, but leave it rather to the reader's imagination to picture what it was."

The next day, the same newspaper reported on an angry mob who went to the LaLaurie house with the intent of vigilante justice and caused major property damage there. Official authorities stepped in to calm the angry crowd. Delphine LaLaurie was not mentioned in the article with any syllable.

Delphine most likely spent the last years of her life in Paris, where she apparently died in 1842.

Legends

The house at 1140 Royal Street, September 2009

Because the events became very well known, many stories and legends developed around LaLaurie. There are also numerous rumors surrounding the circumstances of her death. It is alleged, for example, that she was killed by a boar while hunting or fell from the roof of a Parisian house and broke her neck in the process.

The torture of LaLaurie is also sometimes exaggerated. This affects both the abuse itself and the number of victims.

The house of LaLaurie is considered in certain circles as a haunted house, in which the ghosts of the abused and killed slaves are said to hang around.

In April 2007, actor Nicolas Cage bought the LaLaurie house.

LaLaurie is one of the protagonists of the third season of the television series American Horror Story , in which she is played by Kathy Bates .

reception

literature

  • Victoria C. Love / L. Shannon. Mad Madame LaLaurie. Charleston, The History Press 2011.

Podcast

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Delphine LaLaurie; The Socialite Slave-killer , headstuff.org, accessed November 21, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c Madame LaLaurie , whatsthatstory.com, accessed on November 21, 2018 (English)
  3. ↑ history.com ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.history.com
  4. ^ Text of the newspaper article by the New Orleans Bee
  5. ↑ Report on history.com
  6. ↑ Nicholas Cage buys the LaLaurie house
personal data
SURNAME LaLaurie, dolphins
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McCarthy, Marie Delphine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION presumably deranged and sadistic woman in New Orleans
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: around 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Louisiana
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: December 7, 1842
Place of death uncertain: Paris