The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1869-04-15
jackson, Johnson and Brown.

"Gath" Geo. Alfred Townsend)
has been interviewed by some East
Iennesscans in Washington, and
writes thus to the Chicago Tribune of
Andrew jackson, Parson Brownlow,
and Andrew Johnson, from ,nforma.
ton acquired of neighbors on this oc.
easlon.
Il was not surprised to hear sever
III OF these Icnnesseeans say that they
had often seen jackson staggering in
The streets of Nashville on a roaring
bender. Tho chastity of both An.
drews was impeached by the same
critics. Tho fine talent of Old Hick-
Dry to mako money in his store at
Glover Bottom was compared to
Andrew Johnson's 'tolabul fair"
thrift; for Johnson is now we'll ahead
OF the world. And to this fact his
progress IN political place is largely
due Thepoverty-strickcn Congress-
men Is he who is sure, sooner or later,
to be cntrapped by some land-grant
railroad, or other speculation, and
made to eat lgnominious bread.
Andrew jackson, in the opinion OF
these "loyal" East Tenncsseeans, was
a man dlsinclined to fight duels, and
he invariably taught with the cold.
ht1oded determination to kill rival
or maintain the prestige of his PROV
cSs.
Here spoke up John Brownlow,
tho parsons fighting son:
Gath" he said, any father would
never have figured in any brawl but
tor the condition of society in Ten
nessee' He was an editor and q
preacher. They said:
THE preacher won't fight, and
therefore we will disgrace the editor"
They meant to make my father un-
popular by subiecting HIM to insult
nc saw the game and took up their
challenges this made HIM the fight
ing preacher.
The general conversation, after this
interruption, proceeded to tell how
frequently jackson put up with insult
when 1t was not expedient to fight
For instance, John Williams, second
III command at the battle of the
Horseshoe, rode into Knoxville one
afternoon. He was a raging Federal
ist. He espied jackson sitting ut the
window OF the Lamar House, (still
standing), reading a paper.
Andrew Jackson" he cried, "you
are Il coward and id scoun-
drel."
Williams was dead shot, and his
pistols were cooked in their holsters.
Jackson rose and slipped up stairs
This piece ofevasion being reported
about town and country, jackson lost
character, and his friends began to
fall away. At this time the duelist,
Charles Dickinson, turned up, having
COME all the way from Maryland to
Insult Jackson. SO Overton, Jack
sons friend, told him he must fight
or retire from public life. Then oc-
Cured the remarkable duel SO fully
described by Mr.. Parton, in which
both parties were cold .bloodedly re
solvedto kill. Jackson was forty five
years old; Dickinson thirty years.
they rode 10 the Kentucky line,
practising on the way, and all the
talk between Jackson and Overton
was as to how Dickinson could be
killed most expediently.
In the duel Jackson wore a long
wrapper. He bent his spine sidewise
with his head straight up, and receiv-
cd the first shot on the LETT or concave
SIDE. 1t was aimed at the heart and
missed by few inches, striking the
shoulder instead. Overton had dis
turbed him by crying in wild shrek,
"Fare!" Scotch for fire., } SO that Dick
lnson was startled.
"Iave l missed the id scoun.
drcl?'
Back to the Incl" shouted Over
ton, with cooked pistol.
Jackson steadled his pistol and took
alm-Dickinson standing bolt upright
before him and, after long and
painful interval, he brought his an
lagonist down MORALLY wounded
Old jackson walked off the field with
his boot full of blood, too proud to lot
Dickinson see that he had been struck
ny him. Then hefainted.
lllere the last Tennesseeans called
out: 'He was murderer He killed
dickinson, taking all the chances, dis.
Saising his anatomy, playing pos
sum, and he's in help
A great unanimous chorus went
up among the East Tennesseeans of:
"les! Old Jackson's in hell, sure!'')