Marie Delphine's Murders

Marie Delphine LaLaurie tortured innocent slaves due to her family’s murders during the slave uprising of 1811. After her family’s deaths all three of her husband’s mysteriously died or disappeared. Her first husband, Don Ramon De Lopez y Angullo was a high ranking Spanish officer and died on March 26, 1804 mysteriously during a falling out with the king of Spain. Her second husband Jean Blanque was a prominent banker, merchant, lawyer, legislator, and well-known slave trader. They were married for two years before he died unexpectedly reasons as to why are unknown (A Portrait of Cruelty). Delphine’s third and final husband was Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie, he was 10 years younger than her and was reportedly the only dentist

Her parents were very rich and well known, earning their loving through banking, sugar cane, cotton, pirating and slave trade (New Orleans socialite). When Delphine was a young women her parents were murdered in the 1811 slave uprising and a few years later her uncle was killed by another slave uprising. When Delphine was twenty years old she married her first husband who died four years later, with him she had one daughter. She married her second husband and he died eight years later, they had four children together. With her third and final husband she moved to 1140 Royal Street where the tortures

A twelve year old slave girl named Lia was brushing Madame LaLaurie’s hair when she pulled a tangle. This infuriated LaLaurie and she chased the girl to the roof and the girl fell off the roof to her death backing away from LaLaurie. Authorities later found the girl’s body at the bottom of a well in the back yard of LaLaurie mansion. Neighbors also reported that they had seen Delphine beating her daughters when they would not service her at the snap of her finger. An old slave, whose duty was to cook, was chained to the stove. She caught the house on fire in a suicide attempt because she “was going to go upstairs” (American