Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-04-16

out iRcurring the imPutation of cowardice
and that he could see no other way of escape
than by naming such terms as Mason
friends were not likely to agree to. Masor
appears to have keen aware of his desire Il
avoid conflict, for in his correspondence HI
seems to have apprehended some difficulty il
extracting from hiHs pledge to fight. TIL.
terms proposed did not have the designed ef
fecs of causing them 10 be rejected
On Friday evening, the esh of February
the parties drove ont to Biadensburg, accom-
panied By their friends that they might bs
convenient 10 the ground on the following
morning. Fhe intervening time was spen
in completing their preparations. One man
rememhers tfsea his fathersa blacksmith, wa:
called up at midnight to- repair ore of the
muskets. He suspected the purpose fol-
which the weapon was to be used, and stur
div refused to mend it. His scruples were
finally quieted, and he was ir'duced to ezer'
else his craft upon it by being told :hatt was
to be used in u shooting match that was te
take place the following day.
And so il was; but the worthy blacksmith
little knew the stake that was to be shot
for.
On Saturday morning. the 9th of Febrd.
ary 1918, at eight o'clock, the parties met
The contemplated meeting, it is said. was
generally known at Bladensburg, and many
of the citizens acco npanied or followed them
to the ground to witness the encounter. 1t
was showing violently at the time.
The ground selected for the combat was
not the usual path near the road, but another
and similar path just around the point of the
hill, on the right, about two hundred yards
from the bridge. Mason had on at the time
large overcoat with long skirts. McCarty,
presented himself stripped to his shirt, AMI
with his sleeves rolled up, that he might have
the free use of his arms. All the prelimn-
aries having been arranged, the parties were
placed-McCarty facing up the brook, and
Mason down--aud then at the word, with the
muzzels of their muskets almost in contact,
both fired. Mason fell dead. his life literally
blown out of him. McCarty was severely
wounded, his antagonists ball entering his
left wrist and tearing its way through the
muscles of his arm toward the shoulder. =
That both were not killed seems little less
than a miracle.
Mason's musket is said 10 have caught in
the skirt of his long overcoat, as he was in
the act of raising ii to his shoulder; and to
this accident, as it unsettled his aim, it is tho't
McCarty was Indebted for his life.
Mason never spoke from the time he took
his place upon the ground. He lay nearly
as he fell. On his person were found let
ters to his relatives and friends in regard to
the disposition of his body in case of his
death. Three distinct wounds were discov-
cred in his LETT side besides one in his left
elbow. This circumstance at first gave rise
to a suspicion of foul play on the part of Nc
Carly; but by post murtem examination it
was ascertained that the ball had struck the
elbow bone and then split into three parts
each of which entered the body. These
parts were weighed and found to correspond
nearly with the weight of the ball that had
been agreed upon.
The seconds of General Mason concluded
their account published at the time, by saying
that the affair ''alihough fatally. was honor
ably terminated and that the department. OF
the friends of Mr.. McCarty throughout the
whole business was perfectly correct"
For several days afterward the spot exhib-
tied melancholy evidences of this terrible
conflict. The ground was dark with gore,
and the bushes, for some distance around,
were 5espattered with blood, and hung with
shreds of clothing and fragments OF flesh,
blown from the body OF the slain by the force
of the explosion.
McCarty recovered from the wound in his
arm bat never from the more fatal wound in
ficted upon his mind by this unnatural en-
counter. He had escaped death but he could
not escape the recollection of that fearful
field Ii his after life can be taken as fur
nishing any indication of his feelings, bitter
ly did he repent that he had been induced to
swerye from his original determination not
to engage in this contest. We have been
told that from that hour he was changed, and
that the laws against dueling are provided
with no penalties so terrible as those he suf-
tered to the end of his existence.
COURTING BY DA1LIGH-
81 don't see why people cannot do their
courting by daylight, thereby saving an ex-
pense of lights, fuel, and forenoon nap
s."-A BREAKFAST TABLE REMARK.
Whew! preach that doctrine until your
head is gray, and you are as toolhless as a
newborn babe, and still young folks will
ssset up'' until the stars grow tired of watch
ing, and the roosters begin to crow.
There is a sort of fascination in it, posi-
tive denial to the contrary notwithstanding.
An indescribable, undeniable charm--charm
in being the sole occupant of a front Parlor,
with nothing to moiest or make afraid, the
sofa drawn up before the shining CRATE, and
the lamp regulatedto to steady blaze that will
not eclipse the brightness of the eyes, or
made particularly pleasing by hearing the
last pair of household feet take bee-lne
departure for the upper chambers, and feel
that the ever-swinging parlor door will re-
main closed until one of the parties concern
ed chooses to open it.
Talk OF courting by daylight. Think OF
laming ones arm by quick, hasty withdraw
ais from around a certain waist at the in
cessant ringing of the DOR bell, or seeing
the puff-combs and curls flying in every d.
rectioDs, by the sound of coming footsteps.
Imagine proud lover at the feet of fair la
dy, putting forth an eloquent long avowal,
with extraordinary expressions fitting over
the face; and, at the same moment, a puz
zled little countenance peering through the
open door, wondering what makes Mr.. N
'pray with his eyes wide open!" Or more
disagreeable still, to have mama open the
door without the prelude of a rap, of course
just at the moment you venture to testthe tenn
perature and sweetness of her daughters lips
And then what time in the day could one
| take! Not in the forenoon, certainly, whel
music teachers and fashionable callers are
in vogue; not in the afternoon, when one'i
senses are stupe6ed by the eating of hearty
dinner; not on Sunday, when every body
is expected to go to church; not in church
with pantomimc gestures that set the occu
pants Of neighboring pews into broad grin
but in the veritable season set in old primi
tive daYs-a time and season for courtinp