The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-11-21
Iron the ny Sunday TimsaI
THE DUEL IN THE DARK.


Without we should ae had Philosopher Poets or hing
-a-sSs--
LFrpm the NY Sunday TimssJ |
THE DUEL IN THE. DARK.
. ATrds Incident in the Annals Of 'vieksburg.
: Every traveller. who has descended the Missis-
sippi within the last twenty-five years must reIne-
berry iGksbTg, 50 singular itssituation for town.
on The shelving declvtY Oh high rolling hills with
its houses scattered in groups on the terraces. /
Every reader Of American newspapers during 3afy
one OF the last twenty-five years must remember /
VicksbuTg, rich has been the fond Of material it
has supplied iOT the circulating Libraries Of . hor-
Tibie murders duels, ARRAYS and executions by all
sorts OF > summary process. The public will not
likely soon forget the banging Of the gamblers and II
steam doctors. hf'ihe, everybody knows that the
place has been noted, since It's earliest settlement
Tor the betlgerent character pfits inhabitants and Il
the number and aroeity Of the violent deeds wloh
may be asserted, with literal TRUTH to have stained
its every street with the blood of human hearts
Ii is not our present purpose, however, to sketch
any Of these more celebrated brute-battIes, that
prove nothing beyond Che wilfol wickedness Of the
respective coInbatants. But we will select for the
sake of its mournful moral alone,a solitary tragedy
which was briefly chronicled BY the press Of the
day and then faded from the recollection Of all,
save one, from whom the writer received the story
in all its particularly She Of course, could never
forget. The wife Of the murdered hero w6pt az
the sad "Reminiscences twenty years after the date Of
the. catastrophe. 49,.
Intheyear 1927, young lawyer (yyloin we shah
cab John Thomas, to avoid narrowing the memory
Of some relative or friend who might chance to
skim over these cohIInus) emigratsd from Wor-
cesteri IN Massachusetts,, to Mississippi. He was
poor had recently married a beautiful accom-
/ piished woman, who had renowned wealthy pa
rents Tor his Sake, and hence was anxious to better
his fortune 10 little time possible. This con
sderdtion determined the legal adVepurero locate
atNieksPpg, then considered through the West
4 4ef he rirrtt1a anfF fsrHa
In a very short .tirse fs new lawyer had a1nple
reasons 10 cong fatuiate himself on the choice Of his
/. position His bland deuieannrs studiqus uabils.
and more than all, hrs elOqueuee in debate, won
bound, todhe first plaoein his profession. lie wa.
Iemployed IN all the land suits, and in Of the
still more numerous and equally lucrative cases
homicide, so that, in the brief space Of two wear.
after his advent, he had cleated the round sum o.
$4,000 Let no skeptical disciple Of Lord Coke
Ideem this statement Incredible s. s. Prentiss
lnoNyof NewOrieans, realized, cash in hand $40 600
by his opening speech IN Vicksburg.
During his career thus far young Thomas was
eInarkable IN one respect, He never went armed,
and although in the fierce and fiery alterations OF
the FORUM, he necessarily made some eiiemies, no
attack had hitherto been veRtured on his person.
The athleucism Of his noble form, and the look Of
lnvneibte determination in his keen blue eyes had
doubtless warned tie desperadoes that the Yam
kee orator" as he was generally termed, could hit
as hard blows IN the courtyard as he did in the
court, itself However this may be, two years
elapsed years too of eminent. success, before the
i peaceabe attorney was even insulted Alas this
Halcyon period was doomed to a change alike sud-
den and terrible.
There resided at that time in town a noto-
rous duellist by the name OF johnson, whose
niatohless prowess inspired uniyeTsalteaE He had
slain half dozen foes, on the public. field of
honor, and az many in private and irregular en-
counters. All members Of the bloody fancy
club spoke OF Mike Johnson's leats with rapturuus
enthusiasm. But all good men, al lovers Of peace,
when the E" brave wretch passed, turned pale and
were silent. .t,
AT the May term Of the District Court, 1929, the
! grand jury, mastering extraordinary courage, re-
turned a true bill against Johnson for the murder
) lot lillian Lee an inoliensve youth, whom he
had shot down ia druhkeh irolic, under eirounl-
{ stances of peculiar aggraVaton. Thomas was re-
| tanned by friend Of the deceased TO aid in the
, prosecution and notwithstanding the earnest adj
vice Of ms well-Nyishers TO the contrary, appeared
on the trial of the eause-one Of the most exciting
ever argued at the bar of Nicksburg. On the last
evening OF the session, after adjournment, Thomas
rushed Into the presence OF his wife, with looks Of
such evident agitation as to fill her soul with
towering alarm,
My love, tell me, in the name Of heaven, what
has happened? " she cried, pale asa corpse and
shaking like aleaf in the wind, e'
g Nothing answered the husband, thinking, to
conceal the most fearful part Of the intelligence
Nothing, only the murderer, Mike Johnson, after
his arquitta grossly insulted inc in The court,
yardsand knocked him down.
And he challenged you to fight him with pts,
tolls 2" almost shreked the wife, anticipating the
: rest, with the quekness Of womahs keen common
sense
q" 1t Is even so, replied the lawyer, mournluIly
, F." Oh say that you will not meet him. Oh
swear that you will not turn duellist in this Sodon
{ of the. South, implored the wife throwing he
!. around his neck, and sobbng like child on hi
y bosom.
2 "There DO not weep now. 1 will not turn duel
= list, dear Emma, although much fear That tn
Is consequences will be my ruin
" " God will protect you from the bold bad man.
= The next morning it was known in Vicksbur
y that the Yankee orator. had been challenged an
> refused TO fight Accordingly he was general
!, denounced as coward--a word which at thai day
- and even now, might be considered as eGpressln
= far deeper scorn than either gObbs' ASSASSIN
J As he passed through the streets he astonishe
!, to witness the GOODNESS manifested by his old az
n quanances, and even protested friends, while Ii
: great mass d the people seemed to regard hiI
with mettable contempt. " Yankee whlte-llyer,
5" boaster,' "poltroon,n were the sounds most fr
- quently rung in his ears, espeeiallyyhen near Il
as groceries, and there was one then every erra
OF OF the broken hills
The matter grew stll worse. About a week a
N. terwards Johnson met his victim m the publ
,e square, presented cooked pistol at his reaffvi
Is one hand, and belabored him Immediately with
a cowhide which he grasped in the other, hes
nd lance al the moment was altogether out of the qu,
ee ton, for the slightest motion would have been
,it signal for immediate death. He thought Of Ernl
lot and her sweet babe, and bore the casiigaton in
Nv lenee.
Alter this, clients deserted bis office, and GEM
men refused to recognize him or return his sal
go in the horoughtare Of business or during his mo
no ing strolls the hills Had his touch been c,
rs tagion, or his breath pestilence he could not hi
been more carefully Stunned.
'u' NAnOther week passed. and the degraded law
was in state Of mind bordering on insanity; ,
all the while he concealed the mental tort
on from his affeetonate wife. One evening, in a m
vas than common bitter and gloomy mood, as he WI
ed through the public square, hewas again ace