Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1856-07-22
DAILY VIRGlNIAN.
A PISTOL. SHOT At THE pUELIsTs
Evidently tho public duel demands some res

! Ia Il, coufnuntcd with the assassin. Indeed. as
after ALL the iinn appeal among men is yet to
brute force, il would seem that he who oontrlves
TO ledge such appeal with least prospect of
! blaudshed merits high honor. II tho European
monarch- Ind accepted the proposal of Russian
Paul and fought out their quarrels at st, Peters
| burg with the small sword, falleyrand.Pitt, Met
! ternich. and Bcrnstorf, onioiniing M seconds,
! Europe would monifesty have been large gain
| ~ ythc arrangement Even now what mn ex
! ceent bargain for humanity II Alexander aud
Napoleon could settle their strife with pistols at
twelve pncer!
There j. another sort Of public duel. less clear
! " prniscworthy, ms less plainly economic i of
! hlood, vet not deserving oi indscriminate hnme.
! Such was Inmilton'- duel with Burr. II nm
no, the part, challenged" sad the great states
man in substance. -.the blow is mined at the
! Federal party" II was in this conviction TINT
! he fought against the dictates of his principles
| OF course, he could do good 10 the party by
! fighting, but whether he would have done IL harm
by declining The duelin those fighting dnys,is not
so elear. Similar wns young Las Cashs's chhl'
lenec TO Sir Hudson Lowe. The latter hnd hnr-
| la,onsly carried out the orders OF n barbnrous
government; had helped disease to make short
work of Napoleon. When he returned to Eng
land tho son of Napoleon's friend and biograph-
| cr challenged him. Truo.the was nearer 90
casion for the onrtel in letter of Sir lludsons;
but its rcn basis the quarrel between th" late
| Emperor of France aud the British government,
| SIR Hudson would not 6ght-Preterrod horte-
whipping from young Bertrand; mud really II
seems difficult to condemn this sensible course,
But who rhall throw the stone at his challenger
Another ease ofa like nature wus the chnl
lenpc sent hy Lafayette ,o the Ecnrl of Carlisle
The Earl, ~ every body knows. IN IN appeal tn
he people of the United States, repeated the
Id English sneers nt tho French, which the
Iarnuis took in hand TO avenge on behalf OF his
ountrymen. Washington d-epproved the chal.
,nge 80 did the Count D'Estang; and the Eng
,shmnn very scnshy refused 10 allow himself
. be called personally to account tor acts per
rmed in the discharge ofn public and d"legn.
ed duty. But no enc has ever thought the
,nrse of Lafayette for tho exhibition his "scn
bility aud generosity
In former DAYS religious disputes were n pro
flo source of duels. In the eleventh century,
So knights, elnd in complete armor fought on
orsebnck to determine the proper form OF pub.
G worship. The grea, founder OF she Compn.
yof Jesus Ignntius Loyola, fought duel with
Moor whom he had vainly attempted to CON
ert by argument. And in England and Scot
md. during the Reformation points OF doctrine
iero not unfrequcntly arbitraied by rival minis
,rs with sword and arquebos We must be
autous about conforming these doughty
iiesir before we have dismanied our forts, aud
old off tho national nrmory.
Bnt for the private duel growing ont OF soma
lncied nilronl lo personal honor, based on no
nore solid ground ihnn the mere ostentnt'oos
roficr Of fife for lie, and naturally tending 10
omicidc-it appears impossible to frame any de
ent excuse. Ireland is tho country, and some
ixty or seventy years ago the period, nj which
! his cnss Of duels have tourished the most lux
! rinntly # was then that Lord -Norbury hogan
fe with "ffly pounds & II pair of hair triggers
hut no lawyer could pretend to emlnenee at the
| ar, or aspire to the bench I'LL he had killed or
! Al. I,.l.. Mt all OH runla
ury on the trial Of duest who had killed his
! nan, "Gentlemen. il is my business 10 lay down
| he law 10 you. Where two per sons night duel
! md one Of them falls, the law says IL Il murder,
md tell you by law it is murder; but, at the
alne time farcr duel | never heard OF in tho
whole course of my life"
! curran was "A noted duelist. His first fight was
With nm officer against whom ho had been profes,
,ionally empoyed,& ,& of whom be had spoken free
Y. The officer fired, and missed, Currnn threw
| lown his pistol, ut was not necessary ior me 10
| ire Mt him" said he coniemptuousy 'ho died
soon after Of the report Of his own pistol
Another antagonist Of his own was n bnrrls'
ter named Egan. n man OF imnens" SIZE ana hnlk
! Cnrran wns small and thin Wh'n the parties
were placed on the ground Egan complained of
the advantage the disparity in their sizas gave 10
Gutrnn II might as well fire nt II razors edge as
nt him. said Egun, 'nnd he may hit me" as ens-
! ily as II turf stack" Curran WAS ready with re-
tort: IL tell you what, Mr.. Egan, | want to take
no advantage of yon let my size be chalked out
upon your body, and will agree all shots outside
Of the mark shall go for nothing.
Sir Jonah harrington, the historian OF these
Irish duels, figured in one or two OF tho most
| ludicrous His first meeting was with known
! fire eater named DAILY, who challenged him by
| mistake. Young Darlington placed the matter
in the hands Of friend, fire-enter likewise,
and avowed that he was wholly unconscious OF
1 Ill A., Nal, lis
! Crosby, would not hear of any explanation; 1t
was his first challenge, and he must fight. So
they went 10 the field. When they arrived
there, Days friend stepped forward and begged
to apologize for having given them so much
troube--his principal, no said, had mistaken
J the man. But Crosby, appealing To the printed
| code of dueling. produced the rule which states
that ..no apology can be received after the par
ties meet, without fire. and insisted on the
| duel proceeding.
The men were placed, greatly against Mr.. Da-
! ly's will and a shot was fired. harrington
wounded DAILY.
Another duel of Barrington's was fought with
n man named MNaliy harrington ball struck
the buckle Of one of NJ 'Nally's braces (called gal
lows in Dublin) aud knocked him over, though
without hurting him. "Alac, my boy" cried
his second, "you're the frs. man ! ever knew
that was saved by the galows" This MNally
is pleasantly sketched by the author of "Curran
and his contemporaries" ''His distress at one
line truly pitiable at being unable to in
duce any body to fight n.--Henry Grady, who
wounded every body with whom he fought, re-
fused that honor 10 MNally, and every ono fol-
lowed the inhuman example. The poor man
could get no to shoot him. and was tho pic
ture of misery, In vain he fumed, fretted, and
atfronted All seemed determined on being
gultless of his blood. Never an Irish gem
tleman SO unfortunate. At length Sir Jonah
d.. Il Nh~sot uhnrstx fah