The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1850-07-23
James Bowie, the Napoleon of Duelists.

James Bowie, the Napoleon of Duelists
-Four years ago, when Theodore Par
ker, the eminent theo-p o-phlanthropic
preacher, Of Boston, visited Europe, hav
ing letter Of introduction to that pur,
pose, he called on Thomas Carlyle. The
English solitaire piled the American
with innumerable questions relating tc
our customs and habits of social exist
ence on this side of the great water, but
manifested the keenest curiosity concern.
ing the people Of the backwoods. Par.
ket drew for the others amusement a WV
i'd sketch Of the achievements of Bowie
the famous arch.duelist of Texas. Car
!le listened with sparkling ewes till the
close Of the narrative, and then burst
into exclam ations of involuntary cnthu>
sasm
By Hercules the man was greater
than Caesar or Cromwell-nay, nearly
equal TO Odin or Thor. The Texans
ought to build him an altar"
The burning sympathiser with the he
roic in all its phases, rubbed his hands
together, chuckling in an ecstacy of say
age glee, and made Parker repeat his
story of bloody anecdotes Finally, he
put the question:
" But by what miracle could it hap
pen that the brave fellow escaped the
capital penalty of the law, afier such
countless violations2'
To this interrogatory Parker could re-
turn no satisfactory answer; and as tea
thousand readers have perhaps pondered
the same problem without receiving a
rational solution it may not be uninter>
estng to explain it briefly, especially as
a clear elucidation can be detailed in a
few words.
Let il be remembered, then, that al
though the great system ofcommon law,
that "perfection Of human reason " for
the Anglo Saxon race, peryails through
out all the states of the West, wholly as
TO its definition of crimes, and partially
as TO the mode and measure of punish>
ment annexed to each, nevertheless in
its practical application to given cases il
is controlled by the power of far might
ler law-the omnipotent law of public
opinion because in most Western courts
luries are absolute judges of both the
law and the fact, and their interpreta,
tlons often evince direct antagonism with
the dicta ofmy Lord Coke and the class.
ic comments of Blackstone.
On the subject of homicide in partic-
ular, public opinion has passed the
bounds of all books of jurisprudence,
and settled as an immutable statute thi.
extraordinary axiom
at is justi6able to kill, in fair com,
bat, every body and any body who ough
to be killed p
In Bowie's numerous rencontres hf
always kept within the prescribed limit.
of this latitudinarian rule, and hence he
was always acquitted by frontier juries
and frequently with addenda 10 their yer
diets highly complimentary to his char.
acter as a chivalrous gentleman. II
truth, most of his desperate engagement.
grew out OF his innate and invincible dis
position TO espouse the cause of the weak
against the mighty. One illustration b,
incident will present this peculiarly il
the strongest light, and may, besides, re
veal thorough knowledge of the hear
and soul of the man.
On the evening of the 4th of June
1875, the steamboat Rob Roy" start
ed from St. Louis to New Orleans will
a full crowd of passengers. Immediate
ly after "getting under good headway,
to adopt favorite backwoods phrase
one person attracted universal attention
by the annoying eagerness with whicl
he endeavored to make up a party o
cards. Indeed, his ofi-repeated and per
seyering efforts to that end soon became
insulting and unendurahle; and yet hi
appearance was such as 10 deter tn
bravest on board from administering tn
chastisement he so richly deserved III
was a huge mass of mighty bone an,
muscles, with swarthy features, bearin
the impress Of many scar piercin
black eyes, that seemed TO possess tn
power of blasting The beholder-cold
(gleaming eyes, such as haunt the mem