Beccard, Father Améé, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Bishop Francis Xavier Leray, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1881 December 28

Arriving at Bay St. Louis was, for him, like entering a terrestrial paradise and leaving a prison. He has been able to confess and frequent the Sacrament, and he has had more food in one week than he had in a month at Biloxi. The indignities of Father Peter Chevalier reached a supreme peak last Sunday, when after some angry words between them Chevalier punched him in the stomach and knocked him down. Chevalier had pretended that Beccard had gone into a grocery to drink, but he had actually gone on an errand for Father Abram S. Ryan . Chevalier must have been drinking too much from a little demijohn of whiskey which he takes to bed. He was compelled to save his life by hitting Chevalier over the head with a stick, and he left to save the remainder of the health which has been ruined by three years of avarice on the part of the "boss" and his servant. Father Henry Leduc is a true colleague and a gentleman: he doesn't place a pistol at the throat of someone who contradicts him. Chevalier should be taught a lesson and, therefore, he repeats what he said in his letter to Father Gustave A. Rouxel . He protests against all further payments to Chevalier. Beccard did not earn $3 per month for all his services as sacristan, servant at Mass, work in the yard, repairing fences and cutting wood, and errand boy. He begs Leray to not make any payments for two and a half months, at which time he will have recovered enough to bring the matter before a tribunal. He is now where he should be; he had left before only because of Leduc's trip to France. :: VI-3-c A.L.S. French 4pp. 4to.