1855-1856       Corner Canal and St. Charles Streets, New Orleans, Louisiana.

1857                3 & 10 St. Charles, New Orleans, Louisiana.

1855 October 20.  Weekly Confederate.  (Galveston, Texas.)  October 20, 1855, Vol. 1, No. 15, P. 4.

National Daguerrean Gallery!  Cor. Canal and St Charles sts.  Entrance Numb. Three St. Charles Rooms Nos. 20 and 21—up stairs.  New Orleans.  Jas. Andrews.  Feb 23.

Advertisement was recorded on October 20, 1855 & April 19, 1856.

1857 May 1.  New York Daily Tribune.  (New York, New York.)  May 1, 1857, Vol. XVII, No. 5002, P. 5.

[From the N. O. True Delta, April 24.]  A Woman’s Revenge.  Almost A Second Burdell Affair.  St Charles street, in the aristocratic and fashionable neighborhood of Canal, is becoming famous for scenes of startling importance.… (Mrs. Mary Jane Charles) wielded the dagger, James Andrews, the daguerreotypist being the victim.

From the best information we could obtain, we learn that Mrs. Mary Jane Charles lives, and has lived for some time past, in a large and elegant establishment at No. 269 Common street, where she rents furnished rooms.  She is a widow, and has been for some time; is about 30 years of age, beautiful, highly accomplished and fascinating in her manners.  Andrews is a young artist of lofty aspirations and Byronic exterior; and as he, some two years ago, took rooms at the establishment of the fascinating widow, it may, without any stretch of imagination, be supposed that a unity of sentiment soon sprung up between two such congenial spirits.  They loved, but did not get married.  They progressed on the mutual confidence plan for nearly two years, when their honeymoon began to wane, or perhaps became obscured by the overshadowing influence of the comet which is now whisking his ponderous tail over our planet, killing the early blossoms, and destroying not only the fruit crop throughout the Union, but also the sugar crop of our beloved Louisiana.

Andrews abandoned the idea, gave up all thoughts of reaching the round of the artistic ladder, when his admiring countrymen would concede to him the unquestioned right of wearing the unappropriated mantle of a Michel Angelo or a Rubens.  He became practical.  The charming widow was flush of the “sordid lucre,” and, with true Jacksonian energy and will, he laid his plans for a transfer of the deposits, which he soon accomplished, and instead of erecting a villa on the banks of the Lake of Como with the widow’s funds, he established two daguerreotype saloons—one at No. 3 St. Charles street, and the other at No. 10, a few doors from the True Delta establishment. This was not all—the cup of the charming widow’s misery was not yet full—the last drop that overflows the golden goblet, like the last ounce that breaks the camel’s back, was poured in when the unfaithful Andrews deserted her, which he did a short time ago, and married a Miss. Hoffner.

We have now stated the case as it was yesterday morning, and will give the sequel in as few words as possible.

Mrs. Charles, it seems, made up her mind to wreak her vengeance on her faithless swain by assaulting him, and then end life’s troubles by killing herself.  She procured a beautiful pearl handled dagger, we believe at Guion’s , and crossed the street towards the entrance of No. 3 St. Charles street, intending to reach the daguerrean saloon of Andrews and strike him while in the act of transferring the features of some fair one to the metallic plate.  She met him on the sidewalk, and as quick as thought the glistening blade had pierced his neck. As he turned and reeled she inflicted two more wounds on his left arm, and before the by-standers that thronged the sidewalk at the time could interfere, she gave him another stab in the thigh, when the dagger dropped from her hand.  With the utmost coolness she then forced her way through the crowd, no one in  it attempting to interfere with her, and proceeded to a carriage in waiting at the next corner, and was driven rapidly to her home, No. 269 Common street.

At a late hour last night Andrews was still living and Mrs. Charles was at her home, no arrest or legal investigation that we could hear of having taken place.

1857 May 2.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  (Brooklyn, New York.)  May 2, 1857, Vol. 16, No. 102, P. 1.

[From the N. O. True Delta, April 24.]  A Woman’s Revenge.  Almost A Second Burdell Affair.  St Charles street, in the aristocratic and fashionable neighborhood of Canal, is becoming famous for scenes of startling importance.… (Mrs. Mary Jane Charles) wielded the dagger, James Andrews, the daguerreotypist being the victim.

From the best information we could obtain, we learn that Mrs. Mary Jane Charles lives, and has lived for some time past, in a large and elegant establishment at No. 269 Common street, where she rents furnished rooms.  She is a widow, and has been for some time; is about 30 years of age, beautiful, highly accomplished and fascinating in her manners.  Andrews is a young artist of lofty aspirations and Byronic exterior; and as he, some two years ago, took rooms at the establishment of the fascinating widow, it may, without any stretch of imagination, be supposed that a unity of sentiment soon sprung up between two such congenial spirits.  They loved, but did not get married.  They progressed on the mutual confidence plan for nearly two years, when their honeymoon began to wane, or perhaps became obscured by the overshadowing influence of the comet which is now whisking his ponderous tail over our planet, killing the early blossoms, and destroying not only the fruit crop throughout the Union, but also the sugar crop of our beloved Louisiana.

Andrews abandoned the idea, gave up all thoughts of reaching the round of the artistic ladder, when his admiring countrymen would concede to him the unquestioned right of wearing the unappropriated mantle of a Michel Angelo or a Rubens.  He became practical.  The charming widow was flush of the “sordid lucre,” and, with true Jacksonian energy and will, he laid his plans for a transfer of the deposits, which he soon accomplished, and instead of erecting a villa on the banks of the Lake of Como with the widow’s funds, he established two daguerreotype saloons—one at No. 3 St. Charles street, and the other at No. 10, a few doors from the True Delta establishment. This was not all—the cup of the charming widow’s misery was not yet full—the last drop that overflows the golden goblet, like the last ounce that breaks the camel’s back, was poured in when the unfaithful Andrews deserted her, which he did a short time ago, and married a Miss. Hoffner.

We have now stated the case as it was yesterday morning, and will give the sequel in as few words as possible.

Mrs. Charles, it seems, made up her mind to wreak her vengeance on her faithless swain by assaulting him, and then end life’s troubles by killing herself.  She procured a beautiful pearl handled dagger, we believe at Guion’s , and crossed the street towards the entrance of No. 3 St. Charles street, intending to reach the daguerrean saloon of Andrews and strike him while in the act of transferring the features of some fair one to the metallic plate.  She met him on the sidewalk, and as quick as thought the glistening blade had pierced his neck. As he turned and reeled she inflicted two more wounds on his left arm, and before the by-standers that thronged the sidewalk at the time could interfere, she gave him another stab in the thigh, when the dagger dropped from her hand.  With the utmost coolness she then forced her way through the crowd, no one in  it attempting to interfere with her, and proceeded to a carriage in waiting at the next corner, and was driven rapidly to her home, No. 269 Common street.

At a late hour last night Andrews was still living and Mrs. Charles was at her home, no arrest or legal investigation that we could hear of having taken place.

1857 May 4.  Boston Daily Evening Transcript.  (Boston, Massachusetts.)  May 4, 1857, Vol. XXVIII, No. 8286, NP.

—James Andrews, a daguerreotypist, was stabbed at New Orleans on the 24^th ult. By Mrs. Mary Ann Charles, whom he had deserted, and married another woman.  She struck him on the sidewalk, first in the neck with a dagger, then twice in the arm, then in the thigh.  The spectators, did not arrest her.

1857 May 12.  Bangor Daily Journal.  (Bangor, Maine.)  May 12, 1857, Vol. 3, No. 219, P. 2.

  A Woman’s Revenge.—James Andrews, a daguerreotypist of New Orleans, lived with Mrs. Mary Ann Charles two years without being married, then stole her money and married another woman.  On the 24 ult., Mrs. Charles procured a beautiful pearl handled dagger, and crossed the street, intending to reach the daguerrean saloon of Andrews and strike him while in the act of transferring the features of some fair one to the metallic plate.  She met him on the sidewalk, and quick as thought the glistening blade had pierced his neck.  As he turned and reeled, she inflicted two more wounds on his left arm, and before the bystanders that thronged the sidewalk, at the time, could interfere, she gave him another stab in the thigh, when the dagger dropped from her hand.  With the utmost coolness she then forced her way through the crowd, no one attempting to interfere with her, and proceeded to a carriage in waiting at the next corner, and was driven rapidly to her home.