Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-04-30

hlmSelf ncentlOus, brave, and ferOclOuSly
revengeful-the most famous duelist of the
Southwest. It was generally known that
he had made advances to win the favor of
the lovely Emma and had shared the fate
of all others-a disdainful repulse.
At nine o'clock on Christmas night, 1887,
the people of Lewisbtrg we're startled by a.
loud scream, as of one in mortal terror,
while following that, with scarcely an inter-
val, came successive reports of fire arms
They flew to the shop of the milliner, whence
the sound proceeded, pushed back the un
fastened door and scene Of horror was pre-
sented. There she stood in the centre of
the room, with revolver in each hand,
every barrel discharged, her features pale,
her eyes flashing wildly, but her lips parted
with a fearful smile. And there at her
feet weltering in his warm blood, his bosom
literally riddled with bullets, lay the all
dreaded duelist, Hiram Shore, gasping in
the last agony. He articulated but sin
gle sentence s'Tell my mother that [ am
dead and gone to He'll !!'' and instantly ex-
pired.
''In the name of God, who did this %
exclaimed the appalled, spectators.
Il did it" said the beautiful milliner, II
did it to save my honor p
AS may readily be imagined, the deed
caused an intense sensation Public opin-
ion, however, was divided. The poorer
classes, credited the girls version of the
facts, lauded her in terms of measureless
eulogy. But the friends of the deceased,
and Of his family, gave different and dark
er coloring to the affair, and denounced the
lovely homicide as an attrocious criminal.
Unfortunately for her, the officers Of the
law, especially the Judge and sheriff, were
devoted comrades of the slain, and display
ed their feeling in a revolving partiality.-
The Judge committed her without the pri-
vilege of bail and the sheriff chained her in
the felon's dungeon!
Such is brief abstract of the cireum-
stances developed in the examination of
witnesses. The testimony closed and the
pleading began.
First of all. three advocates spoke in sne= !
jcession for the prosecution but neither
their names nor their arguments are worth
preserving. Orators of the blood and thun-
der genius, they about equally partitioned
their bowling eloquence betwixt the prison.
err and her leather-robed council, as if in
doubt who of the twain was then on trial
AS for the stranger, he seemed to pay not
the slightest attention to the opponents, but
remained motionless, with his forehead bow
ed on his hands like one buried in deep
thought or slumber.
At the proper time, however, he sudden
ly sprang to his feet, crossed the bar, and
took his place almost touching the jury
He then commenced in whisper, but it was
a whisper so mild, so clear, so unutterably
ringing and distinct, as to fill the hall from
door to galleries. At the outset he dealt in
pure logic, separating and combining the
proven facts, till the whole mass of combin-
ed evidence looked transparent as globe of
glass through which the innocence of the
client shone, brilliant as a sunbeam, and the
jurors nodded to each other signs of thoro'
conviction, and the language simple as
child's, had convinced all.
He then changed his position, so as to
sweep the bar with his glance, and began to
tear and rend his legal adversaries. His
sallow face glowed as heated furnace; his
eyes resembled heated Goals, and his voice
became the clangor of a trumpet. I have
never before Or since, listened to such MUIR
derous denunciations. It was like Joye's
Eagle charging flock Of crows; it was like
Jove himself hurling red hot thunderbolts
among the quaking ranks of conspiracy of
inferior gods! And yet in the highest tenn
per Of his fury, he seemed calm; he en-
Iployed no gestures save one-the flash of
long, bony forefner direct in the eyes of his
foes. He painted their venality and un-
manly meanness, coalescing for money to
hunt down poor, friendless woman, till
shout of stifed rage arose from the multi
tude, and even some of the Jury cried
'Shame."
He changed his theme once more. His
voice grew mournful as funeral song, and
his eyes filled with tears, as he traced a vivid
picture of mans's cruelties and woman's
wrongs, with particular illustration in the
case Of his client, till one half the audience
wept like children. But it was in the per-
Grafton that he reached his zenith of terror
and sublimity. His features were livid as
those of corpse; his very hair seemed to
stand on end his nerves shook as with pal
sy; he tossed his hands wildly toward hea-
ven, each finger stretched apart and quiver-
ing like the fame of candle, as he closed
with the last words of the deceased Hiram
lShore-Tell my mother that I am dead and
gone to help His emphasis on the word
hell embodied the acme and ideal of horror;
it was that wall Of immeasureable despair.
No language can depict the effect on us who
heard it. Men groaned, females screamed,
and one poor woman tainted and was borne
away in convulsions.