What company makes Lucky Dogs, are they available to the public, and can I have them shipped to my home?
Margaret Haughery
Hey Blake,
We just spent a fast weekend in New Orleans. A trip to New Orleans is not a trip without a Lucky Dog. What company makes them? Are they available to the public? Can I have them shipped to my home?
Chuck
Dear Chuck,
Lykes is the brand of hot dogs used by Lucky Dogs Inc. But these particular weenies are not available to the public. You can't have the hot dogs shipped to your house, but the company does cater events. Only in New Orleans can you buy a Lucky Dog from one of the unique carts, but the weenies are available from kiosks at Harrah's Casino in New Orleans, the airport at New Orleans and the BWI airport in Maryland. And in Hattiesburg, Miss., you can dine at an establishment called Lucky Dogs and More.
Hey Blake,
I recently attended a seminar where I was told that Margaret Haughery, so beloved for her remarkable acts of philanthropy, was buried in an unmarked vault in St. Louis No. 2. Could this possibly be true, and if so, is anyone attempting to rectify this sin of omission? Can anyone tell us exactly where this "mother of orphans" might be found and what is being done to commemorate her remarkable life?
Adam M. Stevenson
Dear Adam,
I don't know who conducted the seminar you attended, but it seems that you have been misinformed.
Margaret, as she was known, died on Feb. 9, 1882, at age 69. But she did not die in obscurity. Her death was reported in all of the newspapers, and her funeral was attended by the archbishop, the governor and the mayor. Her pallbearers included former governors and mayors, and the line of mourners stretched for a block outside the church doors. She was buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 in the same grave as Sister Frances Regis Barret, a Sister of Charity with whom Margaret had worked in her early days when she began helping the poor of the city. Every city office and business establishment closed for the day to pay her the respect she deserved.
Almost immediately, the idea arose of erecting a monument in her honor. The statue was unveiled on July 9, 1884, at the corner of Camp and Prytania streets in a little park called Margaret Place. For many years, we believed that it was the first statue erected to a woman in the United States, but we know now that it was the second. The first was erected in Dustin Island, N.H., to Mrs. Hanna Dustin. The story is that Mrs. Dustin had been captured by the Indians in 1697, but managed to kill nine of her captors and escape.
But "Our Margaret" will always be first in the hearts of the people of New Orleans.
And just in case there are still people who don't know about her, I will be glad to tell the story of this remarkable woman who began life in America as a penniless immigrant from Ireland. Born Margaret Gaffney in Ireland about 1814, she was left an orphan who never had an education. In 1835, she married Charles Haughery and moved to New Orleans with him. After he and her infant son died, she began her work in charity.
At first, she worked in an orphans' asylum; in the yellow fever epidemic of the 1850s, she went from house to house attending the sick and taking care of orphan children. When Margaret established a dairy, she drove around the city making deliveries herself from the milk cart. She then made a success of a bankrupt bakery. It became Margaret's Bakery and later the Klotz Cracker Factory. During the Civil War, Margaret defied Gen. Benjamin Butler, head of the Northern forces that occupied New Orleans, to take bread across the lines for orphans.
Almost everything she made was spent on orphans. Margaret, despite her lack of a formal education, became an astute businesswoman who established a home for the elderly and four orphanages. She was especially helpful to the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. At her death, she left a sizable fortune -- all to charity.
