The Gangs of New Orleans [antikvár]

NOUVELLE-=ORLEANS nphe development of the New Orleans of legend A and tradition began during the administration of the French Governor the Marquis de Vaudreull (1743—53), with Its gaudy social functions, widespread governmental corruption, ahd the tolerance with which lapses from the strict moral code were regarded. It continued, though slowly, throughout the domination of Louisiana by Spain, and received a considerable Impetus during the three years, from 1800 to 1803, when the province was neither French flesh nor Spanish fowl, and when a general relaxing of discipline and a throwing off of restraint permitted and encouraged an influx of vagabonds and adventurers from all parts of the world. But, curiously enough, It was under the rule of the United States that New Orleans embarked upon Its golden age of glamour and spectacular wickedness and attained Its full stature as a city of sin and gayety unique on the North American continent. In September 1717, John Law's Company of the West, popularly known as the Mississippi Company, obtained, by royal grant, control of the French province of Louisiana, which comprised all the territory from the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the English settlements In the east to the dominions of Spain in the west. Into this vast