chapter 5
I think that Henry Ponce went into men's haberdashery or some other kind of legitimate business. At any rate he could not use me, and I never saw him again. We all missed Henry Ponce because he was a kind and generous man, and many a time I have seen him stop on the street to slip a little change to any old raggedy underdog. That was something to do in those days in the South.
Of course I still had my job on the coal wagon when Henry Ponce closed down. I could go home early nd get some rest at night. Many nights, however, after eating supper and washing up I would put on the tailor-made long pants I had saved up for a long time. Then Isaac Smooth and I would make the round of the honky-tonks watching the people and laughing at the drunks. The bouncers left them alone if they fell asleep propped against the wall, but if they collapsed or started raising hell they were thrown out pronto. We would dig that jive and watch the whores, who would often get into quarrels over the same pimp and fight like mad dogs.
Isaac Smooth, or Ike as we called him, and I had been in the Waifs' Home together and we had both played in the band. He was a very handsome child, and a lot of the whores would try to make him. Like me he was afraid of those bad, strong women. Our mothers had warned us about them, and we did not think too much about sex. We wanted to learn all we could about life, but mostly we were interested in music. We were always looking for a new piano player with something new on the ball like a rhythm that was all his own. These fellows with real talent often came from the levee camps. They'd sit on a piano stool and beat out some of the damnedest blues you ever heard in your life. And when Ike and I discovered one we were the two happiest kids in New Orleans.
The most popular tonk was at the corner of Gravier and Franklin, and there I saw a fight between two whores that will never leave my memory, The fight was over a pimp, and the two whores were Mary Jack the Bear and a girl I'll call Deborah. Mary Jack was the toughest woman in all the tonks. Pretty Deborah was just a plain good-looking girl right out of high school. Where she came from, I don't know, but she sure was attractive. She fell in love with Mary Jack's pimp who put her on the street. Deborah did not mind this, for she was as deeply in love with the pimp as Mary Jack. Deborah had never heard about her rival, and she did not know that they were both sharing the same pimp. Mary Jack did not know either – not until that drizzling New Year's night when the celebrating was just about over.
They were both half tipsy when they met in the tonk where the pimp was drinking with Deborah. Mary Jack commenced signifying with some nasty remarks.
"Some old bitch in this bar is going with my man. She gives him all the money she makes and he brings it right straight to me."
Deborah wouldn't say a word after these remarks. Mary Jack increased the dose which did not take effect. Then she walked up to Deborah, turned her around, looked her in the eyes and said:
"Look here, you bitch, I'm talking to you."
Deborah was a very mild young girl. "I beg your pardon," she answered. "What were you saying?"
"You heard me. You know just what I'm saying. If you don't leave my man alone I'm going to cut you to ribbons. He only wants you for what you can give him. Don't let those pretty looks fool you. I'll mess them up plenty."
"He told me he was through with you," Deborah said tamely. "I guess it is your hustling money he gives me."
Everybody who was watching was tense and quiet. As quick as a flash Mary Jack threw her drink direct into Deborah's face, who threw hers back just as quick. They grabbed each other and started struggling and waltzing and tussling around the floor until they were separated. When Mary Jack adjusted her clothes and reached the door she stopped.
"Bitch," she said. "I'll wait for you outside."
"O.K., bitch," the timid little Deborah said.
The corner was crowded with people waiting to see just what was going to happen. A half hour later Deborah came out. As soon as she hit the sidewalk Mary Jack whipped out a bylow, a big knife with a large blade. She leapt upon Deborah and started cutting up and down her face. Deborah pulled the same kind of knife and went to work on Mary Jack the Bear. The crowd was terrified and did not dare to go near them. Every blow was aimed for the face, and every time one would slash the other, the crowd could go "Huh, my gawd!" They were both streaming with blood when they fell to the sidewalk exhausted, half an hour later.
The ambulance finally came and brought them both to the Charity Hospital. Mary Jack the Bear died later, but Deborah is still living. But her face is marked up so badly that it looks like a score board. The quarter has never forgotten that fight, one of the bloodiest anyone had ever seen.
Another bad woman who used to hang around the tonks in those days wore a full wig to hide her hair which was shorter than a man's. She met her Waterloo when she jumped an easy-going newcomer whom she tried to bully. They soon got into a hair-pulling fight, and her wig was pulled off and thrown to the floor. The roars of laughter that greeted this were more than she could take. She never bothered the newcomer afterwards. Several years later I learned that she had joined the church and left all the rough life behind her.
Other characters who had me spellbound in the third ward during those years were Black Benny, Cocaine Buddy, Nicodemus, Slippers, Red Cornelius, Aaron Harris and George Bo'hog. They were as tough as they come.
Nicodemus was a good gambler and one of the best dancers the honky-tonks had ever seen. He was a homely, liver-lipped sort of guy with a peculiar jazzy way of dancing and mugging that would send the gang in the tonk at Gravier and Franklin absolutely wild. When he got tired of playing cotch in the room at the back of the tonk he would come out on the dance floor and tell us to strike up a tune. And he would grab the sharpest chick standing by and would go into his two-step routine, swinging all around the place. The court house, parish prison, police station and the morgue were located across the street from the tonk. After mid night judges, lawyers and cops would make a beeline over to see Nicodemus dance. They always threw him a lot of money. Then he would go into the back room and gamble again.
Nicodemus had an awful temper and he would fight at the drop of a hat. He was jet black, a good man with the big knife called the chib, and most of the hustlers were afraid of him – except Black Benny.
Benny was really a different character from any of the would-be bad men I knew. He was a good bass drum beater in the brass bands, and he was very good at the trap drums also. Trap drums was the expression used in the early days for both the traps and the bass drums when the drummer in the tail gate bands played snare and bass at the same time. Benny was great, one of the best drummers we had in New Orleans.
Benny was the musician's friend. Whenever one of us was in hard luck Benny would help him out, and he was always ready to come to the aid of the underdog. Once when he was driving his coal wagon – he worked for Andrews as I did – he saw some big fellows sapping up a group of little kids. He jumped off his wagon at once and really made a stew of the bullies. Another time he had a fight with some firemen. He would have cleaned them up if one of them had not sneaked up behind him with a wagon shaft and knocked him cold. That was the only way Benny could be subdued.
When I was in my teens Benny was about twenty-six, a handsome fellow with smooth black skin, a strong body and a warm heart. He would not bother anyone, but God help the guy who tried to put anything over on him. One night he went into the back room of the honky-tonk to do a little gambling. In some way or other he and Nicodemus got into an argument over a bet. Nicodemus did not have his big knife, and Black Benny did not have anything on him either. In the heat of the argument Nicodemus jumped up from the table and rushed out to run home for his pistol. Everybody was telling Black Benny to cut out before Nicodemus came back.