Oak Alley Plantation: A Hidden Mystery

One of Oak Alley Plantation’s Hidden Stories

 

When you think of the South (U.S.) during the late 1800s what do you imagine? Perhaps you think of antebellum mansions, long dirt roads accompanied by rows of weeping willows or old oak trees. Maybe, you think of that beautiful “Southern Belle” type strolling along a bricked path with her parasol in hand and a mint julep in the other? One thing one might never think of when imagining the “Old South” is the Mafia.  However, I bet you wouldn’t believe that the Mafia was in fact very much residing the South in the late 1800s and even up to the time of Prohibition in the 1920s.

Brief History of Oak Alley

I have always been enamored by the plantation known as “Oak Alley” in Vacherie, Louisiana. As most of my readers know, I am a huge history detective and when I fall in love with a place, I want to know all there is to know about it. I read the history of Oak Alley that is available on so many websites and books, as well as Oak Alley’s very own website. However, I noticed that there was a gap in history of the “Big House” from the late 1800s to the early 1920s.

The plantation, originally named "Bon Sejour" meaning "Pleasant Stay" in French, was built between 1837-1839, by George Swainey for a man by the name of Jacques Telesphore Roman. Roman was the brother to the Governor of Louisiana, Andre Roman. The Architect who designed the home just so happened to be Jacques father-in-law,  Joseph Pilie. The Roman family occupied the home during the mid 1800s, and later John Armstrong purchased it at auction in 1866.

This is where the grey area comes in. Several sites state that other owners occupied Oak Alley following Armstrong’s departure of the property, but there is never any mention how many or by whom. It does state that by the 1920s the home had fallen into disrepair from severe neglect of the premises and that is when Andrew and Josephine Stewart took on Oak Alley’s restoration as a “labor of love,” making it just as grand as it may have been in the days of the Old South.

The history of Oak Alley is vast, and each owner of the home has their own significant and interesting stories to tell of the place. However, I was intrigued by that shady time period between the late 1800s and the 1920s, so I set out to find out if there was a reason the home lay abandoned for so long.

Assassination Among the Oaks

According to several newspaper archives in July of 1895, there was a double murder on the very property of Oak Alley. In fact, the murder was Mafia connected, or so the papers read. According to reports, a man by the name of Stefano Hendo (or Hendlo) and his wife were driving out from their home in Lacena Plantation to visit their daughter and her husband at Oak Alley, where the young couple were residing. It was stated that before leaving his home, Stefano cleaned and loaded his shotgun. According to the authorities, they believe that Stefano knew he was going to be expecting some sort of trouble when he got to Oak Alley. Upon arriving at the property, the couple’s vehicle was fired upon and they were shot to death, riddled with bullets. The newspapers concluded that a rigid investigation would be made, although there is never any further mention in any of the archived newspapers that I could locate.

It’s quite interesting that this double murder isn’t mentioned in any other historical texts or websites regarding Oak Alley’s many interesting tales. It makes one wonder, why was this story covered up? Did Stefano know his killers? Why, if he was coming to visit his daughter, did he feel the need to bring a loaded shotgun? The world may never know the truth. It’s been so many years and without any further evidence or information in regards to who Stefano, his wife, his daughter or son-in-law were, we may never be able to put all the pieces together.

Personally, I thought this story was very interesting. I had never heard of the Mafia being so far south in the U.S. during that time period, and that made it all the more exciting to investigate it. Upon my investigating this subject I found some of the earliest mentions of the Mafia in the United States were of several families in the New Orleans area in the early 1870s, who immigrated from Sicily and other areas.  However, there really is no way to know if Stefano and his wife had any connection to anyone tied to the Mafia in Louisiana during that time, but it does make one wonder, doesn’t it? 

The newspaper headlines read:

Omaha Daily Bee, July 24^th 1895-

“DEADLY WORK OF THE MAFIA: The Mafia has begun its work in St. James Parish and already two persons, a man and his wife, have been found murdered. Sunday morning Stefano Hendo and his wife, as was their custom, left their home at the Lacena Plantation near Vacherie station to visit their daughter, who resides with her husband on Oak Alley Plantation about four miles distant. Stefano before leaving cleaned his shotgun and loaded it. The reason for his doing this is not known, but the impression now is that he expected trouble. When the couple reached Oak Alley, a lonesome place, they were fired upon and killed by the assassin who was concealed by the roadside. A rigid investigation of the tragedy is being made by authorities.”

So as time has gone on, over 117 years to be exact, this couple who were murdered at Oak Alley have been long since forgotten, left in the archives, awaiting a mystery or history detective to stumble upon it and write about it.  I hope that you enjoyed this article that touches on just one of the hidden stories at Oak Alley that most people have never heard or read about before, but now you know!

Newspaper Archives and Sources:

Omaha Daily Bee,- July 24^th 1895 
St Paul Daily Globe-, July 23, 1895 
Los Angeles Herald- July 24, 1895
Oak Alley Website- (http://www.oakalleyplantation.com)

New Orleans Crime Family- (wikipedia)

New Orleans Crime Boss Index-  http://www.onewal.com/maf-b-no.html

(Copyright 2013)- Dreaming Casually

Never Made It To The Altar- Rose De Fabrizio

A girl’s wedding day is most often considered the biggest day of her life.  Most all girls imagine and plan how it will be on that special occasion, even at the earliest ages, imagining and dreaming of the day when she takes her vows to be someone’s wife. For us girls, we are a princess for that one day, our fairy tale. It is our special day, where all our dreams finally come true. Never in our wildest dreams, or nightmares, would we ever imagine that tragedy would strike on that perfect day.  Sadly, for one New York couple in 1946, their fairy tale didn’t come true.

Angela “Rose” De Fabrizio waited two years to be reunited with her childhood sweetheart, John Mastantuono, a Army Medical corps veteran. The couple had met back in high school and fell in love fast.  When Rose was 19 she and 18 year old John (or Johnny) had decided to marry. Unfortunately for them, Johnny was sent to war, crushing Rose’s dreams of wedding her beloved.

Life Magazine, October 21,1946

Despite the odds, Rose kept optimistic the two years that Johnny was away. Knowing that one day, he would come back to her and they would finally have their happy ending. When he finally returned from the service, Johnny made plans for them to wed in October of 1946.  Rose then quit her job, while Johnny took on the role of a working husband-to-be. With the help of his father, he purchased a home for his bride, furnishing the entire place to her liking. He bought her a ring and even borrowed a new car for the wedding day, in order for them to travel to Atlantic City to honeymoon.

On the day of the wedding, Johnny met Rose before leaving for the Church. They knew the old wives tale that it was bad luck to see each other before the wedding, but that didn’t seem to matter to them, they were so very much in love.  The last thing Rose said to Johnny before leaving to the Church was, “John, I love you with all my heart.”

At the Church, Johnny was in the rear of the building unaware of what tragedy was to come. Rose and her father were just outside the Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, and had just started taking the steps up to the entrance when Rose stepped on her train.  

Just as her father bent down to fix the train that had been caught on her shoe, Rose collapsed to the ground. Her father grabbed her and held her in his arms, thinking she had only fainted. But as soon as he realized she was not breathing, a panic set in. Immediately people rushed to her side to aid her. Dr. Vivona, who was a guest of the wedding, rushed to her side along with a 12-men fire department rescue squad who arrived shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, they attempted to revive her, in vain. She had died immediately upon collapse. Johnny was devastated, along with Rose’s family and friends.

Life Magazine, October 21, 194

The newspapers fabricated a statement allegedly said by Rose's father, claiming he said: “The music started. The organ played ‘Here Comes the Bride.’ Six ushers and six bridesmaids were lined up along the aisle. I gave her my arm, my beautiful little girl. We marched. We had practiced good. We knew what to do, we took four steps, maybe, and she whispered, ‘wait.’  She pointed to the hem of her dress. She had stepped on it. I told her ‘I’ll fix it, don’t you bend down.’ Then it happened. ‘I’m dizzy,’ she said, and she fell. Mia Bambina, and somebody screamed.”

According to Rose's sister, Gloria Napolitano, the newspaper's statements were entirely false, and that her father never said those things quoted in the papers.  Gloria's son-in-law Bob Manning emailed me adding that Rose's father never spoke to Life Magazine either, and that the photos in the magazine were sold against the families wishes by the photographer. "The family attempted to sue the magazine until a lawyer suggested that he would be making money off of his daughters death", which is not what he wanted. Regrettably, her father dropped the suit. 

The autopsy failed to disclose the actual cause of death, it took time before the press released that she had died of heart failure. One newspaper quoted Dr. Alexander Vivona who claimed that Rose had a rheumatic heart, while the deputy medical examiner of Nassau County, Dr. Allan Jaques said, “I found a general congestion, the upper respiratory passages. Before a cause of death can be ascribed it will be necessary to obtain a report of bacteriological and toxicological studies of the viscera.”

On October 10, 1946, Rose was buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery following her funeral at St. Joachim’s Church. Rose’s father could not bear to return to Our Lady of Good Counsel after the terrible memory of his daughter dying in his arms. 

New York Daily News

Rose was buried in her wedding gown and veil, along with the crushed bouquet of flowers she had fell upon during her collapse on her wedding day outside the Church. Heartbroken Johnny, bestowed his last and final gift to the love of his life, by ordering that a heart of orchids and 300 red roses be placed upon her white coffin.  Rose’s family stayed in front of her coffin alongside Johnny, grief stricken and weak during the service.  

Hundreds of people attended the funeral earlier in the day, while many stood outside the Church in the rain. The motorcade of 35 automobiles, along with the hearse followed to the cemetery where nearly twice as many people came to see Rose interred into her final resting place. A large wreath of white carnations that were given by the ushers and the bridesmaids, lay atop the white coffin as a final act of respect to a lost friend. 

Loss was not something new to Johnny, as he had just lost his parents and sister within that past year. On March 21, 1945, Johnny’s mother, Maria had died. The next day death took his grief-stricken sister, Antoinette. Finally, his father, Lewis, died April 20, 1946. Losing Rose left him completely alone and crushed. When asked what he was going to do with the house and furnishings he had bought his bride, his remarks were “I guess I’ll sell the furniture, I could never sleep in this room.” It was obvious that Johnny’s heart was broken, his spirit crushed and his hope for a better future was non-existent.  Rose was buried near Johnny’s parents’ and sister’s grave, a chilling reminder to him that he was now in fact, alone.

Such a sad and terrible tragedy, one of which that should have ended like a happy ending in a fairy tale, but one that proved to end like a Shakespearean drama. Let us never forget Rose Fabrizio and the love she shared with Johnny Mastantuono. Let us never take love for granted, for we never know what tomorrow brings. Love like there is no tomorrow…because for some of us, there won’t be one.

 TO VISIT ROSE'S VIRTUAL GRAVE CLICK HERE

TO READ MORE ABOUT ROSE'S STORY AS WELL AS OTHER MYSTERIOUS AND BIZARRE TALES, PURCHASE YOUR COPY TODAY OF:"Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered." Available on Amazon! 

(Original Copyright- 11/13/2012) J’aime Rubio  
Also published in the book, "Stories of the Forgotten: Infamous, Famous & Unremembered," by J'aime Rubio, 2016.

Some sources:

Life Magazine, October 21, 1946

The Deseret News, October 7, 1946

Kentucky New Era, October 9, 1946

The Miami News, October 11, 1946
Information provided by the families of Angela Rose De Fabrizio and Johnny Mastantuono

THANK YOU TO LOU MASTANTUONO (John's son) FOR CONTACTING ME AND SENDING ME THE PHOTO OF ROSE'S GRAVE.

THANK YOU TO BOB MANNING and GLORIA NAPOLITANO FOR SHARING ADDED DETAILS AND CLEARING UP MISINFORMATION ABOUT ROSE'S STORY.