Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-11-24
DUELLEDTo DEATH. =

they prevail. besaase. the dael is the, sen.
satioual fact amony their local customs,
70 shgss whers they e not prevail. beeay
of tie wpalsr and dAn.atis charsssef J,
such . cniton !. and 10 = II. becadss d sluel
supposcs peculiar personsR courage, aud i.
sensational in the bighest degree. Il re-
quires RESOLUTION AMI animal 9laek ,ostand
up b. be shoe at; but !; by no messx fol-
lows tina; man <ho fights duel rnsses-
ses any ualsual amount of personal cour-
ss,ssss aads after all. fghtisg a-dael il nsi
so risky as most people think. Either
those who fight are wretchcd shots, or else
their nerves are By no means steady for
the friug is notably uncertain. and few
are fatally hit. \ shot in the leg Is far
more common than shot IN the lead
Among those who lool; upon thc duel aS
one Of the reasonable possibilities Of their
lives, practicing with the pistol Is rc.u-
lar study, and i reduced II systems. -
Taking aim in the usua! manner. By 4
deliberate sighting Of an object, Is not the
mode accepted. The whole thing i ma le
mechanical method, looking to the hab-
it q BRINGING thr weapon to a Certain line
AMI level by long practice. ami pulling the
trigger with little regard t. the .'si rhts F"
som" men fire after bringing the arm aud
plstr! down to level with the antagonist:
others by raising the arm and pistol; ami
som" by resting the elbow on the hip. and
irins without sight, rclyiu. upon long
practice to lit the object The author
once knew a gentleman who could cut =
;winc line At ten PAGES, wi;hout sighting.
AMI hy firing from the hip" The Oh
ject "f tiriu- from a downward arm Is
mainly To rro,ec, the body. Ia Henry
y. Mise's duel with Cotton, he iircI from
ra'>,! weapon: Co,ton's arm was broken
b. the shot. but it saved his life.
Regular ducli>;s always use the "hair-
trigger II is just possible that Bsodcr-
lex lost his lifa i'll HI duel with .ulg,
Terry, in California, from this cause and
carclcssnc>s. II" had glove ON hi,
hand, ani before hc could rais. his wca-
pon, it exploded. This icf, Terry an un-
disturbed >hnt. and his terrible accuracy
and cnolncss were shown by his remark
when he fred and Broderick dropped-
Il struck him little too much to the
lett :. His shot, il his opinion, though
fatal, was not cxactly tristic.
Ducll;ns in this country prevails as
custom only in the Southern States, and is
manifcstly, though slowly. dying out
There were men. however, formerly who
were known as profcsscd duclists--,hat.is.
you were constantly in danger Of being
challenged 10y them. for good cause or for
none at all: and to 90 out with them was
simply to arrange your mortal afairs and
speak TO the sexton. for they were dead
h":>-thcy could put doom balls in
thc same hole cc,s>iycly. Such mcn
wore naughty and insolcnt. ofcoursc and
nf course. wnrc treated with distinguished
OF this c'a,S was one Ghol-
son OF Mississippi, and Of one Of whose
du"l> We nov propose To speak.
1t was somewhere about 1910 that an
''unploa$antn :" OF political origin. oc-
Cured between Gholson and n gentleman
wh" had never fought du,l, named Pr. n
tiss. GhoiSon had filled half dozen
graves with his victims. He was Dem
"crat, and frcntiss was Whig. A very
large and respectable audience attended
the fight. and betting was livcly-Ghol-
sol having great odds in the pools. =
Some bets were made that both would fall.
As Fren;iSs had a high reputation for cool
ness; anl exhibited the utmost calmnc>s
and self-rosses>ion. especially in strip
ping" for the work in hand !; while Ghol-
nj L. 4
the FIRST fire prenti>s fell, shot through
;he hams, while Gholson lcaped tLree fee:
into the air AMI came down dead. shot
through the heart FrcntiSs possessed
the great quality. aimed by all ducls;s
that is, he fred quicker than Gholson-
say about the twenty millionth part Of .
half second ahead
The recent death of Mrs. Anna Cora
Mowatt Ritchie recalls the facts OF duel
which her husband almost fought. but
which finally added, and which not only
created great sensation in Virginia mt
that tinlc. but became interviewer with
subsequent events which tc-minatei in a
bloody encounter and the death or on. of
the principals in the affair at the hand of
Ritchie's brother The facts never got
more than 4 casual notice in the papers.
and are here detailed fer the frs; time. =
To understand the whole case il is neces-
sary 10 say that Thomas Ritchie-or Faith
er Ri,ehic, as he was generally called
was the editor Of the Richmond Enquirer.
and welded abont the whole power of the
Democratic party of Virginia. John
liampdeu PleaSants was the editor Of the
Richmond Wing and the representative
editor and writer of his party i'm that
State. lie was the son of Governor
Pleasan;s. and a bold, chivalrous. ami
man who held 10 s.the
code of homer" Ritchie was no, . 6ght-
ing man.
For years hot antagonism progressed
between these two editors: enyeudern,r
an intense bitterness a. last. as might have
been expected. About the year. 1871.
something unusually hcas,d arose in these
papers; and in an editorial Pleasants said
saeuiissiveiy. the s'llowing:
I'VE have been engaged in controversy
with the editor Of the Enquirer for twenty
years. and it shames our manhood 10 know
that We have never used any weapon sharp
or than pen"
According to 1.-The code" this sarcasm
was deadly insult. which nothing but
pistols, ten PAGES. aud blood, could wipe
out
Ritehie had two scns-William +. tie