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Marie Delphine Macarty or MacCarthy (March 19, 1787 – December 7, 1849), more commonly known as Madame Blanque or, after her third marriage, as Madame LaLaurie, was a New Orleans socialite and serial killer who was believed to have tortured and murdered slaves in her household. Born during the Spanish colonial period, LaLaurie married three times in Louisiana and was twice widowed. She maintained her position in New Orleans society until April 10, 1834, when rescuers responded to a fire at her Royal Street mansion. They discovered bound slaves in her attic who showed evidence of cruel, violent abuse over a long period. LaLaurie's house was subsequently sacked by an outraged mob of New Orleans citizens. She escaped to France with her family. The mansion traditionally held to be LaLaurie's is a landmark in the French Quarter, in part because of its history and for its architectural significance. However, her house was burned by the mob, and the "LaLaurie Mansion" at 1140 Royal Street was in fact rebuilt after her departure from New Orleans. Early life and family history Marie Delphine Macarty was born in New Orleans, Spanish Louisiana, on March 19, 1787, as one of five children. Her father was Louis Barthélemy de McCarty (originally Chevalier de MacCarthy), whose father Barthelemy (de) MacCarthy moved the family to New Orleans from Ireland around 1730, during the French colonial period. (The Irish surname MacCarthy was shortened to Macarty or de Macarty.) Her mother was Marie Jeanne L'Érable, also known as "the widow Le Comte", as her marriage to Louis B. Macarty was her second. Both of Delphine's parents were prominent in the city's European Creole community. Her uncle by marriage, Esteban Rodríguez Miró, was governor of the Spanish American provinces of Louisiana and Florida during 1785–1791, and her cousin, Augustin de Macarty, was mayor of New Orleans from 1815 to 1820. Delphine was only four years of age when the Haitian Revolution erupted in 1791, something that made slaveholders in the Southern United States and the Caribbean very afraid of resistance and rebellion among slaves; Delphine's uncle had been killed in 1771 by his slaves, and the revolution had inspired the local Mina Conspiracy in 1791, the Pointe Coupée Conspiracy in 1794, and the 1811 German Coast uprising, all of which caused many slaveholders to abuse slaves even more harshly out of fear of insurrection. First marriage On June 11, 1800, at age 13, Delphine married Don Ramón de Lopez y Angulo, a Caballero de la Real de Carlos, a high-ranking Spanish royal officer, at the Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Luisiana, as it was spelled in Spanish, had become a Spanish colony in the 1760s after France was defeated in the Seven Years' War. In 1804, after the American acquisition of what was then again a French territory, Don Ramón had been appointed to the position of consul general for Spain in the Territory of Orleans and was called to appear at the royal court in Madrid. While en route with Delphine, who was then pregnant, Don Ramón suddenly died in Havana. A few days after his death, Delphine gave birth to his daughter Marie-Borja/Borgia Delphine Lopez y Angulo de la Candelaria, nicknamed "Borquita". The widowed Delphine and her child returned to New Orleans. Second marriage and death of husband In June 1808, aged around 21, Delphine married Jean Blanque, a prominent banker, merchant, lawyer and legislator. At the time of the marriage, Blanque purchased a house at 409 Royal Street for the family, which became known later as the Villa Blanque. Delphine had four children by Blanque, named Marie Louise Pauline, Louise Marie Laure, Marie Louise Jeanne and Jean Pierre Paulin Blanque. The elder Jean Blanque died in 1816. Third marriage On June 25, 1825, Delphine married her third husband, physician Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie, who was fifteen years her junior. In 1831, she bought property at 1140 Royal Street, which she managed in her own name with little involvement of her husband. In 1832, she had a two-story mansion built there, complete with attached slave quarters. She lived at the residence with her third husband and two of her daughters, and maintained a central position in New Orleans society. The marriage soon showed signs of strain, however; on November 16, 1832, Delphine petitioned the First Judicial District Court for a separation from bed and board of her husband, in which Delphine claimed that LaLaurie had "treated her in such a manner as to render their living together unsupportable", claims which her son and two of her daughters by Jean Blanque confirmed. The separation does not seem to have been permanent, as Dr. LaLaurie was present at the Royal Street house April 10, 1834, the day of the fire. Torture and murder of slaves and 1834 LaLaurie mansion fire Accounts of Delphine's treatment of her slaves between 1831 and 1834 vary. Harriet Martineau (writing in 1838), recounting tales told to her by New Orleans residents during her 1836 visit, claimed that slaves of LaLaurie were observed to be "singularly haggard and wretched" when compared to other enslaved individuals; however, at least in public appearances, LaLaurie was seen to be generally "polite" to black people, and solicitous of the health of those enslaved. Funeral registers between 1830 and 1834 document the deaths of twelve slaves at the Royal Street mansion, although the causes of said deaths are not mentioned; infectious diseases could easily have been the cause. These deaths included a woman named Bonne (ca. 1803–February 7, 1833), a cook and laundress, and her four children, Juliette (c. 1820–February 21, 1833, died age 13), Florence (c. 1821–February 16, 1831, d. age 10), Jules (c. 1827–May 29, 1833, d. age six) and the youngest, Leontine (c. 1829–August 26, 1831, d. age four), respectively. Bonne had previously been enslaved by a refugee from Saint Domingue, and was described during her sale as "a chronic runaway"; with an influx of white and free Saint Dominguen refugees of color and those whom they had enslaved, the fear of slaves from Saint Domingue still lingered in Louisiana. Court records of the time show that LaLaurie freed two slaves (Jean Louis in 1819 and Devince in 1832). Martineau wrote that public rumors about her mistreatment of slaves at the Royal Street residence were sufficiently widespread, so much so that a local lawyer was dispatched to the property to remind LaLaurie of the laws for the upkeep of slaves. During this visit, the lawyer found no evidence to suggest wrongdoing or mistreatment of slaves by LaLaurie. Martineau also recounted other tales of LaLaurie's cruelty that were whispered amongst New Orleans' residents around 1836, saying that (subsequent to the visit of the lawyer) one of LaLaurie's neighbors saw an eight-year-old slave girl fall to her death from the roof of the mansion while trying to avoid punishment from a whip-wielding LaLaurie. The girl's body was subsequently.... Discover the Marie Mccarthy popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Marie Mccarthy books.