Pre-Storyville Days - part two

  Hattie Hamilton was the first most influential of the madams, possibly due to her relationship with Seneator James Beares, with whose help she built the palace at 21 South Basin Street, known locally as the Twenty-One. On February 7, 1869, a reporter for New Orleans Daily Picayune described the goings on:    "The entrance was through a passageway adorned with a couple of statues representing some obscure divinities of light, and in whose hands were held lighted flambeaux. Beyond this lay the