Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1853-01-05
GLARKsBURG WEDNESDAY, JANUARY sth, 1853.

sketch any of these celebrated brute bat
ties, that prove nothing beyond the viii
full wickedness of the respective eomba-
tants But we will select for the sake of
its mournful moral alone. solitary ira
gedy, 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 lis particulars. She of course, could
never forget. The wife of the murdered
hero wept at the sad "reminiscences twenty
years after the date of the catastrophe.
In the year 1897. young lawyer,
whom we shall call John Thomas. to
avoid narrowing the memory of some re-
lative or friend who might chance to skim
over these columns emigrated from
Worcester; in Massachusetts,, TO the State
of Mississippi. He was poor. had re-
Gently married a beautiful. accomplished
woman. who had renounced wealthy pa
rents for his sake, and hence was anxious
to better his fortune in as little time as
possible. This consideration determined
the legal adyenturer TO locate at Vicks-
burg. then considered through the west as
the paradise of the bar.
In very short time the new lawyer
had ample reason to congratulate himself
on the choice of his position. His bland
demeanor, studious habits. and more than
all, his eloquence in debate. won him
patronage, and he rose, almost at single
bound to the first place in his profession.
He was employed in all the land suits.
and in most of the still more numerouse
and equally lucrative cases of homicide,
so that in the brief period of two years
after his advent. he had cleared the round
sum of thirty thousand dollars. Let no
skeptical disciple of Lord Coke deem this
| statement incredible. s. IS. PrentiSS. now
of New Orleans, realized. cash in hand.
forty thousand dollars by his opening
speech in Vicksburg.
During his career thus far, young
Thomas was remarkable in one respect,
! he never went armed, and, although. in
! the fierce and fiery alterations of the TO-
rum, he necessarily made some enemies.
no attack had hitherto been ventured up
on his person. The athletecism of his
noble form, and the look of invincible de-
termination in his keen blue eyes, had
( doubtless warned the desperadoes that
! the - ankee orator" as nc Was generally
! termed. could hit rs hard blows in the
court yard as he did in the court Itself
However, this may be, TWO years elapsed
! years LOO, CT eminent success before the
| peacable attorney was even insulied.-
Alas this Halycon period was doomed
to a change alike sudden and terrible.
| There resided as that time in the town
notorious due!ist by the name OF John
son. whose matchless powers inspired
universal fear He had slain half do
zen foes OH the "public field of honor, u
aud as many in private encounters. AL
the members OF the ''bloody fancy club, .
spoke of Mike Johnson's feats with rap.
turous enthusiasm. But all good men
when the brave wretch" passed. turn
ed pale and were silent.
| AT ;he May term of the District Court
1929, the Grand Jury, mastering extra
ordinary courage, returned = true bill
against johnson ior the murder of WIN
! Lee. an inofenSIve youth. whom he had
shot down III drunken froi!c, under cir
cumscanceg OF peculiar aggraY aliOn.-
Thomas was retained by friend OF the
deceased to aid in the prosecution, and,
notwithstanding the earnest advice oil his
! well wishers 10 the contrary, appeared ON
the trial of the cauSe-oHe OF the most
exciting ever argued at she bar OF Vlcks-
burg. 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 ill her soul
with overpowring alarm.
''biy love, tell me in the name OF
heaven, what has happened" she cried.
as pale as Il corpse, and shaking like u
leaf in the wind.
Nothing" answered the husband,
thinking to conceal the most fearful part
of the Intelligence. - Nothing. onl the
murderer. Nike johnson. after his acYul.-
tai, grossly insulCed me in the cours yard,
and knocked him down"
And he challenged you to 6ght him
with pistols p almost shrIeked the wife,
anticipating the rest, with the quickness
OF woman's keen common sense.
Z" Il is even so,'' replied the young
lawyer mournfully.
"Oh! say thpt you will not meet him.
Oh, swear that you will not turn dreiist
in this Sodom of the South. - implored the
wife, throwing her arms around his neck,
and sobbing ike child on his bosom.
There. do not weep now. l will not
turn duelist, dear Emma, although l
much fear that the consequences will be
my ruin"
!" God will protect you from the bold
man"
The next morning it Was known tie
Yankee orator had been challenged and
refused to fight. Accordingly, he Was
generally denounced as coward-a
word. which at that day. and even now,
might be considered as expressing far
deeper scorn than either robber or as
SaSSi0 A = he ma SS.d IN rr,,,,.h rl,.. ctraatS