The handsome woman featured in this post is my mother’s grandmother, Mathilde Demazilliere Coustaut. In many ways her life was uneventful: she was born in 1870, married in 1890, and died just sixteen short years later in 1906. Because she died young, the portrait of her – every bit the Victorian lady with her plumed hat perched atop her head – is really the only memento we have, other than the few documents noting the vital events and sacramental lives of her, her husband, and her eight children.

It was sad enough that she died at only 36 years of age, so imagine my surprise and sadness when I discovered that Mathilde actually lived just a decade longer than her father, who met his unfortunate demise at only 26 years of age. The tragic end of Antoine-Jacques “Charles” Demazilliere is a violent story, one that left his only surviving child – the serene and kindly-faced wife and mother pictured above – an orphan at only three years old.

The Demazillieres were a distinguished Creole family of old Trémé. They were descended from Francois Dusuau de la Croix Demazilliere, a military officer and planter, and Marie Bienvenu, a négresse libre, who formed a family in the 1780s. “Charles,” as Antoine-Jacques was called, became a Metropolitan Police Officer during the Reconstruction Era.

The scene was Fernandez’s Dance Hall on the corner of Trémé and Conti. The major city papers referred to it as a place where a large number of that ‘questionable class’ of the colored population could be found. The date was July 13, 1873 and it was just after midnight. At this hour, the majority of the men in attendance were in rather an advanced stage of intoxication.

Charles, who was off-duty at the time, stepped on the foot of an elderly man named Hortére. The man cursed Charles and was told he would be slapped in the face if he did it again. The cursing continued and Charles slapped the man as he said he would. Young Gustave McCarthy, a relative of the old man, came to his defense but was no match for Demazilliere.  Next, Nelson Severin, the bartender intervened to defend both the elderly man and young McCarthy. As Demazilliere and Severin argued, two policemen, stationed at the hall for the purpose of maintaining order, separated the two, who then promised to meet at a later hour to settle the issue.

The ball ended and people disbursed. Around the hour of 5 a.m., Demazilliere (still inebriated) headed home and went to bed. At the same time, Nelson Severin (also inebriated) headed in the direction of Charles’ house for a confrontation. As he approached Franklin and Bienville streets, Severin walked up to a policeman (Officer Aubert) on the beat and asked if he could borrow his pistol since he wanted to “kill some son of a b-tch” that morning.

Not having been successful in receiving the weapon, Severin walked a little further to Pete Vincent’s Coffeehouse. There he encountered a second officer (Officer Dumouille) whose gun he wished to borrow also. When asked why he needed the gun, Severin responded that he “still had some manhood in him, and needed to show a certain person that he was no coward.”

Not being able to obtain a gun from either officer, Severin continued to the cottage where Demazilliere was residing. He received no response upon knocking on the door, so he began kicking against it with all his force. Being unsuccessful, he went to the window, forced it opened, and climbed inside. He proceeded to wake Demazilliere up by yanking him out of bed.

Upon awakening, Demazilliere told Severin to get out since no man under the law has a right to break into another man’s home. Severin refused, drew a knife (which was handed to him by McCarthy earlier) and a fight ensued. Demazilliere, in an act of desperation, snatched a heavy pitcher from the washstand and delivered a tremendous blow on the intruder’s head, shattering the crockery into a hundred pieces. Bleeding from his nose, hand, and head; Severin walked quickly out to the corner of St. Louis and Roman as neighbors now peeped through their windows at the scene that was unfolding. Suddenly, he retraced his steps, turned back, and stood in front of Demazilliere’s house once again leaning against a tree. Looking from his window, Demazilliere hollered for him to leave, but Severin refused.

Emerging from the door of his cottage with a six-shooter in his hands, Demazilliere fired twice but missed his target. A hand-to-hand fight began and in less than five minutes, the fatal encounter was ended. One man, the victor, walked hurriedly off bearing in his hand a long-bladed dirk knife covered in blood, while the other, staggered to his house, threw himself across the bed and died in less than three minutes. Seventeen stab wounds had been inflicted upon Demazilliere’s body. 

Antoine Bastille and Julien Laneuville arrived with a coffin for the purpose of washing the body and taking the remains to the home of his mother, Josephine Riano Demazilliere at 414 St. Claude Avenue, where the services were held that afternoon. The Metropolitan Police force was invited to attend the services.

The murderer, Nelson Severin, and accessory, Gustave McCarthy, were tried in the First District Court, where they pleaded not guilty. The jury ultimately ruled the murder a justifiable homicide and found them not guilty.

While awaiting trial for the Demazilliere case, Severin himself was shot during a row with John Vigers in January 1875. Severin’s violent nature apparently did not hurt his social standing however, because in February 1882, he along with Gustave McCarthy and Officer Dumouille (whose gun he had asked to borrow) all served on the arrangements committee for a “Grand Vocal and Instrumental Concert” in Globe Hall. He died on 9 September 1892, almost two decades after the murder of Antoine-Jacques “Charles” Demazilliere.

Charles’ only surviving child, Mathilde, was left to be reared by her grandmother, Josephine Riano Demazilliere (1814-1892). Together they lived at 414 St. Claude Avenue in a block filled with Dessalles and Demazilliere relatives. The aged matriarch, who was twice-widowed and lost her son violently, lived long enough to witness the marriage of her granddaughter. On 18 December 1890, Mathilde Demazilliere married Sylvestre Coustaut at Saint Louis Cathedral. They went on to have eight children (Whitney, Martina, Bertha, Viola, Lillian, Naomi, Emile, and Alfred) before she died on 8 March 1906 at thirty-six years of age.

This story made the headlines of all major New Orleans newspapers. Eventually, interest ceased, and Nelson Severin was just another name added to the long list of  murderers who went no further than  Parish Prison and then was released. 

Sources: A special thank you to Tania Coustaut Miles for the photo of our great-grandmother, Mathilde Demazilliere Coustaut; New Orleans Public Library, City Archives, First District Court, State of Louisiana vs. Nelson Severin & Gustave McCarthy.” 13 July 1873 page 1; The New Orleans Times, “Human Butchery”, 16 July 1873 page 1, The Picayune 14 July 1873, p.1; L’Abeille (The Bee), 15 July 1873 page 1. Ancestry.com 1870 & 1880 censuses, birth, marriage, death indexes.

Lolita Villavasso Cherrie

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