Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - (Page 39)

dently a very popular local newspaperman. A huge crowd attended his funeral and interment in Greenwood Cemetery on December 27. His cousin, the editor of the Reformed Missionary, a paper about which little seems to be known, published a broadside relating details of Byerly’s eventful life. He was a lieutenant in the 18491851 Narciso Lopez expeditions to Cuba, a member of Company A, 30th Louisiana Volunteers during the Civil War, and had worked as a printer throughout the South. Articles from the Daily Bulletin and the New Orleans Bee reprinted on the broadside recount the events of Byerly’s life and death, extolling his many virtues. The unidentified cousin concludes his broadside’s testimony with these words: “As long as the Mississippi flows into the Gulf, and the Crescent City, ‘the Queen of the South’ stands proudly upon its banks, so long will the memory of DANIEL CORT BYERLY be cherished by a chivalrous and grateful people.” Events leading to this fatal confrontation began with a letter of rebuttal by Warmoth in response to several editorials by Edwin L. Jewell, editor of the Daily Bulletin, regarding that paper’s stance on streetcar ridership equality, a racially-sensitive issue in Reconstruction New Orleans. Jewell called for a return to the “star car” system of segregation, streetcars marked with a star emblem, which were exclusively reserved for African-Americans. In practice, there were never enough of these cars to accommodate demand, and white riders often crowded into them ensuring that AfricanAmerican riders would be unable to board. From 1862 through 1867, attempted enforcement of the “star car” system and its abuses caused animosity throughout Federally-occupied New Orleans. At the order of General Philip H. Sheridan in May 1867, all public transportation was integrated, and the “star car” system was ulti- This 1870 photograph from the Louis C. Hennick Streetcar Collection shows Canal Street as it appeared at the time of the incident. The view looks away from the river at the intersection of Royal Street and St. Charles Avenue intersection with the Henry Clay statue in the foreground. mately abandoned until the end of Reconstruction in 1877. In 1874, mule-drawn streetcars were the mainstay of public transportation, with electric cars on an overhead trolley-wire system some 20 years in the future. The first use of electrified streetcars in New Orleans was on the St. Charles line beginning service on February 1, 1893. The population of New Orleans in 1870 was listed as 191,418 of which 140,962 were noted as white in Jewell’s Crescent City Illustrated, an 1873 promotional guide published by the same Edwin L. Jewell featuring advertisements, biographies of prominent residents, and brief articles on important local businesses and institutions. Ironically, in the volume’s descriptions of the local population and its character, Jewell does not make reference to the remaining 50,456 non-whites comprising the city’s 1870 population count, a telling commentary regarding the editor’s views on these New Orleanians, although common in his time. Fall 2005/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 39 . . . Because I had thought proper to disagree with you, and have expressed opinions which are consistent with those I have entertained for years, you seek to ‘ruin me,’ as you threatened, by violent personal assaults and falsehoods. Henry Clay Warmoth

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Contents Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina and Rita Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans’ Coffee Connection No Man’s Land Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. )

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.