Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1858-04-03

4 49, "S' liiVtOSSu 10 pnclll3l III " lStlef con-
taining positive instructions for their gov.
ernment
He writes them; "You will present the
3 enclosed conimpaication to Mr John Nc
Carty, and tell him ut once that yolf are
l.apthorized by2me TO challenge him, in the
! event ofhis pledging llimselfto fight. If
he viii give the pledge, then / desire that
you will challenge him in my name to fight
aduel with fne. r Agree to any
terms that he may propose, and to any dis
| lance ITO three feet, hispretcnded favorite
distaneeer7or to three inches, should his
impetuous and rash courage prefer. 10
any species of firearms pistols, muskets,
! or rlfles@-a9rce at once.n
| Acting under heseinstructions, NIason's s
seconds called on McGarty, as the bearer
of his challenge NlcCarty again refused
to receive any communication from Mason,
! for the samo reason as before. A violent
personal alteration then took place between
| McCartyand ono of Musous seconds, the
latter insisting strongly that the challenge
! should be received and accepted, and the
| former obstmately declined to receive IT,
! The. quarrel became 50 violent that the
lparticswere nearGghtmg. Atlast 1Iason's
seconds having threatened topost McCarty
as y coward unless he accepted the chal-
lenge, McCarty agreed to fight 1t would
| appear from this, that though NIason's
friendsin general, and even one of his seq
onds, strove TO prevent the duel, it was
forced upon McGarty by the other.
the spirit which animated Mason in
this unfortunate controversy was headlone
! and uncompromising, that which impellod
SlcCarty was apparently mono the less so.
i 1t is said he would consent to no meeting
that afforded any possibility for the escape
ofeither Reckless of his own life he de-
! terminod that ifhc fell his antagonist should
fall with him. He therefore would only
consent to meet Mason en- such terms as
must, in all probability, result in the dos-
truction of both.
I With this objectin view in accepting the
challenge his first proposal is said to have
| been that he and Mason should lean toacth.
er from the capitol. This was declined as
wholly unsanctioned by the Code He
/. next proposed to fight on barrel of pow
der, which was objected to, say the seconds,
| cas- not according with established usages,
as being without example, and as calculated
to establish dangerous precedent" He
next proposed to fight with dirks, in hand
to hand encounter This was also declin-
ed for a like reason. His final proposition
was to fight with nluskets, charged with
i bpck-shot, at ten feet distance. These
terms were hardly less calculated to insure
q fatal result to both than those which had
! been previously objected to; but, desperate
/ as they We're, since they were clearly with
/ IN. Mason's letter of instructions, aud per
/ haps were not considered "as calculated to
establish dangerous precedent they were
/ finally, with some notifications, accepted
The distance, it was agreed, should be
j twelve feet, instead of ten, and a single ball
was substituted for buck shot.
In extenuation of the unusual terms of
combat proposed by McCarty, it is said that
he was exceedingly averse to fighting his
/ cousin, and desired to escape the acceptance
of the challenge, if'hc could possibly do so
without incuming the imputatioa of coward
Elccj and that he could see no other way of
escape than by naming such as Mason's
friends were not likely toagree to- Mason
! appears to have been aware of his desire to
avoid a conflict; for in his correspondence
he seems to have apprehended some diff
4 Guilty in extracting from him a pledge to
4 fight: This pledge, it seems finally pro-
4 posed, did not haSe the designed effect of
4 causing thom to be rejected.
On Friday evening, the Sth of February,
the parties drove out to ,Bladensburg, ac,
companied by thei1 friends thatthey might
be convenient to the ground on the follow
ling morning The Intervening time was
spent completing their preparations. Ono
/ NAV remembers that his father, black,
smith, was callednp,at midnight to repair
1 one OF the imuskets lie suspected the
! purpose for which the weapon was to be
used, aud sturdily aafused to mend it. His
scrupIes, howeyer, were dpally ,quieted, and
he was induced to exercis, his craft dnon
4 it by being told that It was to No used IS :
. shooting match that was to take paee tbe
following day.
i And so it wasj but the worthy black-
smith little knew the stake that was to DO
shot, for.
On Saturday morning the 9th of Febru-
ary, 1918, at eight O'clock, the parties met.
4 The contemplated meeting, it is said was
generally known at Bladensburg, and many
4 of the citizens accompanied or followed
them to the gro1nd TO witness the eneoun-
ter. 1t was SHOWING violently at Che time.
4 Thc ground selected for tho combat was
1 mot the Usual path near thoytaqd, slrt am
i Iotherand similar patSt around tlicspoint Of
Z the hill on tho right about two hundred
yards from the bridge. Mason had oniat