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French Quarter

Oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, also known as the Vieux Carré (French for "Old Square").[1]

Once the entire colony of New Orleans. Built around a central square facing a bend of the Mississippi River.[1]

Much of the French Quarter's distinctive architecture was built under Spanish rule from 1762 – 1802. After the Louisiana Purchase brought New Orleans under American authority in 1803, English-speaking Americans began to move in and build on available land outside the Quarter, to the west of Canal Street. By the outbreak of the Civil War, the Creole aristocracy had become a minority in the French Quarter, and the neighborhood became less fashionable as many Irish and Italian immigrants settled there.[1]

Hostage: In April of 1879,[3] Bret Maverick invited Brother Bart to join him at his hotel in the French Quarter to gain passage on the maiden voyage of Henri Devereaux's luxuious steam packet, the River Princess. The brothers raised a stake by pawning Bart's prized silver saddle at Ziggy's pawn shop. Shortly after meeting Devereaux and his daughter Yvette at Maxime's Restaurant, Yvette was kidnapped by Jody Collins. Bart was able to jump onto the carriage in which Yvette had been taken, while Bret borrowed a horse from a nearby hitching post, and the two gave chase. They followed the carriage to an abandoned wine shop where Collins and his men were using as a hideout. Bret was taken prisoner, along with Yvette, but Bart was allowed to approach Henri Devereaux to get $50,000 in ransom money for the release of Bret and Yvette. On his way to Devereaux's town suite at the Hotel Royale, Bart stopped by Ziggy's pawn shop and bought two pounds of black powder. Once at Devereaux's suite, Inspector Marvin took Bart to police headquaters at the Cabildo to beat the location of Collins' hideout out of him. Devereaux put a stop to the beating, trusting Bart to return to the hideout and secure the safe release of his daughter. Bret and Bart's plan succeeded, but Bart was forced to detonate the black powder in an attempt to escape from the hideout, killing Collins in the explosion.[4]