Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-08-14
Congressional Due.s

Duels nave oeen iouent py members o
Congress from the very commencement o
of our existence as a naticn, but these ar
fairs have been much less frequent than i.
generally supposed to be the case. In fac
all OF the Congressional challenges tha
have been sent from the meeting Of the tirs
Congress in Phlade phia down to the af
fairs between Brooks and Burlingame dc
not exceed twenty-five in number, not hal
SO many Us have been fought by member;
of the British Parliament. These are mos,
remarkable facts. and they show how absurd
ly unjust are the imputations and charges o.
the English press on the state of civiliza.
ton in this county, as exhibited in our
National Legislature. The records will
prove that there has been less of personal
violence, and fewer encounters in our Con-
gress than there have bsen in Parliament,
during the same number Of years, since the
Declaratiy of our IuJepen iencc.
The frs, duel by member 0: Congress
on record was that between Button Gwin-
nett and Jackland Mcintosh in l777. They
were both Of the State of Georgia, though
Gwinnett only was member of Congress.
He was a signer Of the Declaration ofInde-
pendence, and his antagonist was an officer
of the Army. The dispute was o. a person.
al nature. and the duel can hardly be called
q Congressional encounter, as it did not
grow out Of any act of either party connect
ed with politics.
The next affair of honor in which mem
L. ac n, al
1897, end was strictly Congressional, as it
was cccasioned by words spoken in debate
The parties were Thomas Blount. re2resen-
tative from North Carolina, and Judge That
cher, from Massachusetts. The challenger
was Blount, who took offence at a verbal
criticism Of an expression he used, by That
cher, who. on receiving the invitation to
fight, declined giving an answer until he
could write to his wife and obtain consent:
and there the matter dropped Seven years
afterwards in 1904 Senator Jackson of Geor-
gia, was wounded in a duel with Colonel
Watkins; the cause OF the duel was poiIi-
cal, but not a Congressional quarrel. In
the year previous, Jonathan Dayton, Sena-
tor from New-Jersey, sent challenge to
De Witt Clinton, then a s. na'or from New
York, on account of an offensive remark OF
the latter in debate, for which ne made IN
apology ;ha: was read in the Senate
The mex, affair Of honor in which men,
Der of Congress was party was the ceIe-
brated affair of McDutfie, of South Carroll.
na, andCol. ummings, of Georgia, which
came off in the year 1922. the famous af-
fair between Henry Clay and John Ran
dolph occurred iour years alter the last, in
1896. The next year Mr.. Vance, an ex-
member-of Congress from North Carolina.
was killed in duel by Mr.. Carson a mem-
Der from the same State. Ten wears after
wards, in 1887, Mr.. Drom goole, a member
of Congress from Virgins, was mortally
wounded in tusl with Mr. Dagger, of The
same State. In 1888 the still freshly re-
membered meeting took place between
jonathan Cilley, of Maine, ard VIM. J
Graves, of Kentucky, both members oil Con-
gress, in which the former was killed This
trsgical affair created feeling in The pub
lie mind go repugnant TO The duellu that il
was not until Inc year 1851 that another
affair of honor grew out ola Congressional
quarrel, when Mr.. Stan ey, of North Caro-
liza, and Mr.. lnge, Of Alabama, met and
exchanged shots without hning each other
any personal injury, and then explained and
became friends. Two years afterwards Mr.
Inge was the second of Senator Gwin, of
California, who fought with Mr. McCorkle,
a representative OF The same State. Through
members o. Congress, the duel grew ont o.
expressions used by one of the parties at
race-course in California, where the meet
ing took place.
In 1854 the affair between Mr.. CUTTING ofI
this city and Mr.. Breckenridge, the Demo
ratio candidate for the Vice Presidency. oc-
CURED, in ~hich no meeting took place from
the difficulty Of deciding which party had
given the challenge.
The next sffair of the kind that occurred
is the one which ROW engrSsses the public |
attention, and which, taken in all its as |
poets, is certainly the most remarkable and |
the least creditable to one of the parties ofl
ali the affairs of honor in which members of
Congress have been engaged. of which we
have any knowledge.