New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-09-12

appointed sleep
Een thou mayst in the grave find rest, but tin the
Which that house, and heath, and garden, made dear
Thy repentance and remembrance and deep musings are
From the music Of two voices and the light of one sweet
5a THE DUELIsTs DOOM.
Moses Stevens came to Mississippi when but
youth Of eighteen. He then possessed the
mildest manners and strictest puritanic moral
ity, and was particularly noted for that hard
| working practicability Of purpose and pursuit
| go characteristic Of his countrymen in general.
Rapidly, by his industry and economy, he
amassed wealth in lands and negroes, and arose
to influence, till he was run on the Whig ticket
for o seat in the Lower House of the Mississippi
Legislature. And now the shameless stipendia-
ries of slander set to work to blacken the hith-
erto unimpeachable reputation Of the new poli-
| tieian. His name filled the newspapers with
scandal, nodded by the plastic hand of fancy
for the occasion, and supplied the foaming stump
orators with q theme for the most bitter phillip
pics. The temper of Stevens became reused By
the unmerited denunciations heaped upon him;
excited to a like fury with his foes, he repaid
them in kind for all their unmitigated TRADES
of abuse. 1t was supposed that the Yankee
would not fight, and Allen Simons, noted
duelist, was selected by the opposite party as a
proper person to send him challenge, and if he
refused to accept it, as matter of course, he
| was degraded, and the political contest would
be thereby determined They were miserably
! deceived in their man. Stevens accepted the
challenge. His hand was as firm as his aim
| was sure, and he shot his adversary through
| the heart the first frel Other personal rem
counters followed in rapid succession, and in all
of which Stevens displayed the same cool eour-
age, and always came off victorious. He soon
became insolent, overbearing and exceedingly
quarrelsome. Up to the year 1884 he had
killed his half-a- dozen men. @
| In the Autumn of that year he was one day
in a country grocery, about ten miles from
Vicksburg. A mixed company was present, to
whom the desperate was boasting of the number
of victims he had slain, recounting with savage
delight the several circumstances of honor at
tending the death of each, and splicing the whole
with the usual exaggerations supplied by the
vanity of boasters. As he went on thus, reei-
| ting the most enormous cruelties, his quick eye
wandering around the circle of his eager audi
tors for sympathy, and the customary approba-
tion that was wont to salute his ears, he encoun-
tered the fixed gaze of q stranger, which riveted
his attention, and made him almost start from
his seat as it thrilled with momentary dread
The man, or rather youth, for to judge from
the extreme juvenility Of his appearance, he
could not have seen more than nineteen sum-
mers, was stranger whom no one present knew,
or recollected to have ever seen before He was
tall, but slender in shape, almost to defect.
His hand was very small, white as snow, and
Irregular as if cut with chisel. The face was
pale, almost colorless, and sweetly sad. There
was nothing in the appearance Of the stranger
youth to excite alarm. unless it were, perhaps,
that steadfast, piercing gaze of his strange, wild
blue eyes, immovably fixed on the face of Ste
vens, as that ferocious wretch painted, with
words stepped in blood, his revolving story.
II. SyI.
vens shrank from that glance, and cast his eyes
on the floor, but still made an effort to proceed
with his narrative. But he felt that the gaze
of the stranger was upon him, and he began to
burn with shame and indignation at the refec-
ton that he had encountered one look Of a NOR
tai man which had mastered his own spirit as
with mysterious spell. He felt in his heart
that he was a coward! Again he raised his eyes
to the face Of the stranger, and met the same
mysterious gaze, the same calm, unearthly look,
that seemed to be question from Eternity, say
ing: Murderer, where are thy victims ?''
4 He observed now, also, that the hands Of the
youthful intruder ne longer hung motionless By
, his side; but the left was in his coat pocket
and the right thrust into his bosom, graspee
some thing which cleaned through the clasp o
his fingers like silver.
The desperate comprehended at glance hi
peril. He was in the power of an enemy. Mas
II
his fears, he took his resolution quick ss thought
to gain time, and, if possible. obtain the chance
: of an equal combat. This, or instant death
was the only alternative. For he was pro
iessed Judge Of the human character, and knew
, that he had to deal with no common foe, ant
that single violent gesture or movement tt
grasp weapon, would be q signal for a stab a
his heart.
He, therefore, assumed look Of careless goo(
humor, and addressing the stranger in friendly
tone of we'll feigned familiarity, inquired: s'Yo,
have listened to my idle stories with come ap
pearance of curiosity, young man; what do yol
think of my powers as story teller +" ~ r.
: The stranger replied, in a lows soft voice: g
, was not thinking Of your powers as a story
i teller; was wondering at your prowess as al
assassin i.
: al was but joking, l assure you,n said Ste
yens. ZFlE e.
.You lie!" was the calm response
The desperate turned pale as death, but gulr
: ing down his emotion, he proceeded. g How
!, YOU know lie' You are to me total stranger
: I'm positively certain that never saw you be
for in my life.
ssThat matters not, Mr.. Stevens, 1 hay
known you as an assassin since | WAS ten yeaI
: old and l now know you for a dastardl
r coward % q
s. Mho are you !" exclaimed the desperate
: in real surprise as well as CONSERVATION.
81 am the son of man you murdered !"
aYou must be mistaken in me, young man
: what was your fathers name p
ssThat you shall never know, infamous liza
: and poltrpon. till whisper 1t IN your dying ea'
as the sig nal to bind your soul to eternal tol
: tnre. Man of blood, your last hour has GENE |
d The last sentence was repeated in shri
trnmpet- TO ne that made every hearer start.
: denriyed Stevens Of the faculty Of speech. 4
10 sat dumb and trembling like sinner at the bs
of the final judgment
: The stranger youth contemplated him in seor
u for few seconds. and then said in cutting az
Il ait You base wretch! but disdain to kill even
= murderous coward without giving him chanS