Richard "Rabbit" Brown

A New Orleans songster who lived in the city's roughest section and composed songs about several of its most notorious murders, Richard Rabbit Brown was born in 1880, probably in rural Louisiana. It's not known when he turned up in New Orleans, but after arriving he migrated to the portion of Jane's Alley (later home to Louis Armstrong) known as the Battlefield (even the police force often refused to enter to stop disputes). Two of his most popular songs were "The Downfall of the Lion" (concerning the shotgun murder of the police chief on Basin Street) and "Gyp the Blood" (abo...