Bruce Olson suggested to me that I post something here about my recent research into Ella Speed and Delia. I'll put Delia in another thread. Here's something on Ella. The information is mostly from newspaper accounts and court records.

On the morning of September 3, 1894, Ella Speed, a 28-year-old "octoroon" prostitute, was shot by her jealous white (Itialian/German) lover, Louis "Bull" Martin, in her second-floor room of a sporting house operated by Miss Pauline Jones at 137 Customhouse Street, in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She quickly collapsed and died in the hallway just outside her room.

Louis was a short, stocky bartender and local tough. He had met Ella about four months earlier when she was at Miss Lou Prout's establishment at 40 S. Basin Street. The building there had been built in 1866 by Kate Townsend and is widely regarded as the first of Basin Street's lavish bordello mansions. Louis became obsessed with Ella and they formed a "special relationship." When he discovered that Ella had other such relationships, he was enraged, and his regular threats alarmed Miss Lou to the extent that she asked Ella to leave. Ella had been on Customhouse Street only 3-4 weeks before her death.

Louis called on Ella at about 5 pm Sunday evening, September 2, 1894. At about 9 pm they took a hack to the West End, a resort area on Lake Pontchartrain. They returned to Ella's place at about 2 am, showing signs of having drunk substantially in the interim. After sharing a few rounds of drinks with Miss Pauline, Louis ordered three dozen oysters and three bottles of white wine and they retired to Ella's room with another inmate to consume these. Afterward, Louis went to bed but Ella stayed up until around 6 am. At about 9 am, Ella woke Louis up complaining of a headache and asking for a whiskey cocktail. Louis ordered these and they were received and drunk, but Ella complained that her's was too weak, so Louis got a second round, with instructions to make them strong. At about 9:30 am, Miss Pauline was awakened by Ella's screams, "Help! Miss Pauline! Louis shot me!" Miss Pauline rushed out, saw Ella standing in her doorway with her chemise "on fire" at the left breast, and ran toward her, but Louis leveled a pistol at her saying, "Look out, there, Miss Pauline!" so Miss Pauline ran downstairs where a deputy sheriff was guarding the furniture, which had been seized for slow payment. As the deputy went up the stairs, Louis came down and left the premises. By the time an ambulance got there, Ella was dead.

A massive manhunt was mounted, but Louis evaded it. At about 6:30 am the next morning, September 4, he turned himself in at the home of the acting Chief of Police, Captain John Journee. He was held without bond until his trial in early May, 1895. The New Orleans Daily Item, in an editoriald about this crime, dedicated itself to bringing the killer to justice at the end of a rope. They pointed out that it had been many years since a white person had been executed for killing a black.

At his trial for murder, the prosecution sought the death penalty. However, Louis described the shooting as an accident. Ella had been despondent over the news that he was about to move to Chicago. She needed his money to pay the room and board of one of her children. She somehow got his pistol. He was afraid that she would harm herself and tried to take it away. In the struggle, it went off.

A witness who saw Louis on the street as he fled the scene of the shooting testified that tears were streaming down his face.

The jury was 9-3 in favor of conviction. They compromised on manslaughter. Judge John H. Ferguson presided. He was the carpetbagger from Massachusetts who had made the original ruling that "separate but equal" facilities are constitutional, a ruling that was eventually upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Plessy vs. Ferguson. Ferguson gave Louis the maximum sentence the law allowed, 20 years hard labor in the state penitentiary. Louis was back at his old job as a bartender at D. Trauth's Saloon, Dryades Market, in 1901.

According to newspaper accounts, Ella had two children, perhaps boys aged approximately 4 and 7, at least one of whom was boarded out. Her maiden name was given as "Cherwiss" (as far as I can tell, no one ever had this name) and she is said to have been married to Willie Speed. She was "petite," "plump" (about 150 lb.), and "bright" in skin color. Her 7-year-old son was Monteville, or Mandeville, Speed.

Louis continued to be in occasional trouble with the law, gambling, stealing, serving liquor to minors, etc.

I would like to find living relatives of Ella and Louis, but so far I have not succeeded.