Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1850-09-27
ADuel without Seconds.
n Ddg~erreotype from the State House of arkansas
BY A MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATURE.

Inc Legislature OF Arkansas held session short
" after the organization of the State Government
Every thing, of course, was in condition of hal
chaotlc transition The loaves and fshes'' of ofc
had not yet been fully divided, and monopoly wa
knocking noiselessly at the door of the sspubli
CRIB" clamorous to be admitted. Intense was tn
fury OF partisans within the House. and as fierce tn
excitement raging in the community without TIL
members mostly went to their places armed to thei
teeth, and besides the choice weapons worn in thei
bosoms or protruding from their pockets, each KEEP
an ample supply of revolving pistols in the writin,
desk before him. There were munitions of wa
enough in the hall to have answered the purpose O
small army.
Every evening after adjournment there was :
| general firing off and reloadng, in order to hav,
their . tools" OF death in prime condition for the
tied from sleep at the hour of midnght by the roa
OF incessant explosions heard at different points il
the CITY Many Legislators during the day would
be out practising to learn the difficult art Of cutting
tape string at ten PAGES, of driving the centre
OF silver quarter at twelve. They used as thei.
pistol gallery little grove of pine trees immediate
ly to the south side of the Arkansas river and not
more than fifty yards from the State House, where
every report was fearfully audible; and admonished
certain Independent members of the doom they might
speedily expect provided their votes were not cast
IN favor of the banks! The Deringerpstol and
Bowie-knife governed. Power presided in gun-pow.
der, and popularity lowered round the point of max
ed daggers.
exercise the wisdom of the Western sages was the
institution of the Real Estate Bank It's establish
ment was strongly and steadily, but Intellectually
opposed by slender minority. All the wealthiest
men in the State, all the leading legislators took
shares of its capital stock and John Wilson, Speak
er OF the Lower House, elected President As
this person of the chief actors in the TRACE
dy soon to be recorded brief designation of his ap-
pearance and character becomes necessary.
Every public man in the backwoods has a soubri-
Of cOr nrno1 or o1o11
cuarity, by the whimsical humors of his constitu-
ents Speaker Wilson was called sHorse Ears"
from his possessing accident never before heard
OF in the natural history of the species. When ex
cited by any violent emotion his ears worked up
and down fexibly, like those of horse A man of
ordinary looks, nothing in his features or counter
ance denoted the desperate, save strange wild
tWlnklng expression of infantile grey eyes, always
In motion with cold keen glances as if watching
out for some secret enemy He had fought half a
dozen duels with uniform success, and had been en-
gagged IN several more off hand affrays, in none of
which had he received even the honor of a scar
Hence, as may be well supposed his proves inspired
almost universal fear, and few were the shots to be
found in Arkansas. who would voluntarily seek a
quarrel with q old Horse Ears" AS to the rest he
was the owner of large cotton farm, rich and in
tuential, honest liberal and courteous in his man.
1ers; exceedingly amiable in his domestic relations
beloved by his family and adored by his slaves
such are often the inconsistencies of human nature
which seems utterly incapable of producing unalov-
I'd types of either good or evil-angels or devils.
During the session, previously specified there was
member OF the Lower House, by the name of Abel
anthony in no way remarkable except for his oppo-
ltlon to the banks and his sly, quiet w.t. addicted
practical jokes In the parlance of frontier tech
les, he belonged to the category of ''peaceable
len having never in all his life before, had rem
ontre He was even deemed coward for he had
cen known to pocket open insults without so much
showing sign of resentment.
One day the bill to provide for the more effectual
'warding of wolf slayers, denominated, in short,
the wolf scalp bill, came up for discussion. This
ad been a standing reform measure from the ear
est settlement of Arkansas, and will probably con-
nue. to be so long the Ozark mountains shall |,
EAR their black bristng crestS in the wastern di-
sion of the State, or the Mississippi swamps shall
'cupy so large area in the east ACCORDINGLY.
henever the wolf scalp bill is taken up, tremend-
is debate ensues. The contest then is no longer
etween the ms and outs of power. Wings and
emocrats alike overleap the iron lines of party
and bring general massacre of chance
edley. 1t is a batte-war to the knife, and the
nfe to the hande-every member against every
ther the object being, as to who shall urge the
lOst annihilating statutes against their common
'es the wolves because that is the great pivot ques-
on on which hinges the popularity of each and ALL
The present occasion was the arousing, as
lere had happened lately, laughable but most
nnoyng instance in fraud of the previous territori-
law 1t seems that cunning Yankee, fresh from
ne land growing wooden nutmegs" had conceived
notable scheme of rearing wolves of his own so
hat by butchering hairy whelp at his option and
aking its ears to Justice of the Peace. he could
btain certificate of " wof-scalp,' emitting him to
dollars out of the county treasury 1t said that
his enterprising genius had already in his pens a
lumber of fine looking breeders, and expressed san
uine hopes of realizing handsome fortune
Numerous were the provisions advocated to pre-
ent such scandalous evasions in future. Among
TIERS Brown C. Roberts of Marion, moved that
ach certificate of genuine wof-scalp be based on
less than four afdavits and be signed by at least
our justices and one judge of the circuit court"
Abel Anthony moved to amend by adding and
y the President of the Real Estate Bank
This was intended by the mover merely as a jest,
0 throw ridicule on the complicated machinery of
Ioberts bill, and accordingly it excited general
mile. But very different the effect on Mr..
speaker Wilson, President of the Real Estate Bank
lie fit to interpret the amendment as the dead
lest insult
glanced towards the honorable Chairman, ex-
Getting to see him enjoying the joke; but the mo-
1ent beheld his counenance, was absolutely hor-
flied at its savage expression. His face was of
shy paleness; and there, on those thin white lips
if in mockery of malice, sat that GRIM snake like,
Trithing smile, which merely moved the curled
Mouth, spreading further affecting any other
significant smile of murder, so peculiar
o almost the whole class ofdesperadoes when about
o do deed of death. There was, however
rief space for speculation to physiognomic signs;
or hardly had the offensive words left Anthony's
Ups, when Wilson sprung to his feet and imperious-
Y ordered the other to sit down.
Anthony manifested no token of either surprise or
larm, and replied mildly that he was entitled to
he floor.
sit down /" Wilson repeated and this time in
hout like thunder
q am entitled to the floor and will not resign it,
aid Anthony, apparently without anger, but giving
ack a look of calm immovable resolution.
Speaker Wilson then left the chair, drew his
OWE knife descended the stems of the nafform and