Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1856-09-12
Col. Fremont's "Awful" "Ferocity"
One of the XumLuJs :!

mos, gentle and inoffensive men, agaius,
whose spotless character not word was
heard before his Nomination, yet now be
is denounced as all that is vile. Take as
specimen the following from all the
Buchanan papers:
"LooK ON THIS A doorway to the
Senate Chan ber: Senator Footc, little,
old man, bald head and with spec,acles, is
suddenly met by the rnBian Fremont,
knocked down, brought to his knees, has
glasses jammed into his cyes, and the blood
flowing Horrible, ai'nt it - C2epeiand
/ Pidindeaier
Well, that's pretty story, to be sure,
if anybody believes it 1. Yet a Fillmore
paper before US thinks the stcry might be
improved considerably, and piles on the
/ horror as follows:
"Afier the Senate adjourned, Frenroa,
rcoyIaid Foote in the ante chamber, and
attacked him with great violence. There
/ is no doubt Fremont would have brutdNy
mdnyIei Foote if others Senators would
/ not have ipterfered FoOte was no match,
and before he had any notice Fremont had
him ,locn on The floor and mduied HIM
: MamefaHy, and in a short time would have
had him fai&hed if he had been left alone.
This brutal outrage Fremont committed on
Foote for words spoken in debate. After
Fremont was prevented at the first attempt
to get revenge on Foote, 10 carry IN c6.c'
his hc'lish desiya he enthim a challenge 10
fyht a duel The fciiendS If F1o'e rou'd
NOT consent that he AouH fyht duel icHh
such Liachguard."
Well, here's pretty big batch Of sore
accusations, but the question arises, ho~
many Of than are true' A narrative Of
tho incident upon which they are basely
manufactured, as published in the uros,
reliable papers Of the times, discloses the
facts as follows:
''But one incident occurred to mar the
entire harmony of Col Fremonts inter-
course with his brother Senator'S, and that
only served to increase the respect already
entertained for his manly sensibilties. On
the last night of the session, Senator Foote
of Mississippi, who came into the Senate
quite ercited, in the course of some re.
marks on the naval appropriation bill-it
afterwards appeared as If he had not known
precisely what bill he was speaking to
said in substance, or was understood to say,
that the Republic would be dishonored if
portion of the legislation which had been
urged upon the Senate for California were
consumma'ed. Upon hearing these words
Col. Fremont left the Senate Chamber, and
sent a messenger to Senator Foote to say
that he wished to speak to him. As soon
as foote had finished his speech, the mes
sage was delivered to him, and he stepped
out TO Col. Fremont, who then told him
that he had sent for him to say that he had
Just used language in the Senate in refer
ence to himself, which gentleman 10 his
position could not use, aad which was uu-
WORTHY of Senator Foo,e Immediately
struck at him with his fists, Just grazing
his face. On the instant, both parties were
seized by the door keepers, and Senators,
who had noticed Foote's departure from
the Senate and suspected its cause, and thus
a serious issue to the affair was postponed,
and as it happened, prevented. On the
following day, Col. Fremont sent Foote a
note, by the hand of Gov Price, of New
Jersey, demanding retrac,ion Of his Of
fensive imputations. Gov. Price brought
back note from Foo.e, in which be stated
Al .uh,t kn al .,o 30 ta
he had said nothing denunciatory Of the
bill supposed to have been referred to by
him in his remarks Mr.. Fremont's friends
esteemed this equivalent to ,etraction of
the offensive words.
And that ended it.. both the men now
being citizens of California and personally
not on unfriendly terms.
Every discreditable statement relative
to Col. Fremont in the affair, is untrue.
A young, modest, honorable man, grossly
assailed, personally and officially, he with
drew: sent for his wanton asperser, and in
the presence of other gentlemen sought an
explanation. Instead Of that, a violent
Ucp ras aimed at Fremont by his cause.
less assailant! For this repeated and most
outrageous double insult, retraction was
demanded, rchich Foote's friends compelled
him to yire-and that concluded the grand
tragedy! There was no waylaying" or
"mauling'-n0, a biop struck by Fremont
30 glasses ground into eyes-no blood
drawn-no duel-and no challenge to a
duel passed The only insult and only
blow came from Foote What Fremont
might have done had no retraction been
made, is all conjecture.
This "bald old man" Foote is the one
who said he would help chang" Senator
Hale, Of NH, if he could catch him in
Mississippi-wbo drew pistol on Senator
Benton, in Senate-and who was knocked
down in the Chamber by Gen. Cameron for
his insolence A notoriously drunken,
troublesome creature, Of middle age, and
heavier than Col. Fremont, yet the young
Senator brought him to his senses without