The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-06-15
A DUEL I'm THE DARK.
BY JUDGE ARLINGTON.

NA'J VA ANhSoUls3, MISS, Has al
ways been remarkable, even before the
recent war gave her profound nation
al interest. Many years ago she sup
piled the class of writers who furnish
the substratum fof most of the circula-
ting libraries with plots dark and
dreadful enough to satisfy even the
present craving for sensation. The
place had been noted since it's earliest
settlement Tor the belligerent charac-
ter of its inhabitants and the number
and atrocity of the violent deeds which
stained its streets with the blood of lu-
man hearts.
1t Is not our present purpose, how
ever. to sketch any of these more eele-
brated brute battles, but merely to Sc
lect, for the sake of its mournful moral
alone, solitary tragedy, which was
briefly chrQnicled by the press of the
day, and which then faded from the ~
collection of all, save one from whom
the writer received the stefy in all it's
particularly. She, of course, could
never forget. To the latest hour of her
existence the wife of the murdered he
70 wept at the "Reminiscences.
In the year 1927, young lawyer,
John Thomas, emigrated from Worces-
ter, in Massachusetts, to the State OF
Mississippi. He was poor, had recent
ly married a beautiful, accomplished
woman, who had renowned wealthy
parents for his sake, and hence was
anxious to better his fortune in as lit
tie time as possible. This considera-
ton determined the legal ADVENTURE
to locate at Vicksburg, then consider,
ed through the West as the paradise o.
the bar.
In very short time the new lawye,
had ample reasons to congratulate him
Eself on the choice of his position. Hi
bland demeanor, studious habits, ant
more than all, his eloquence in debate
woe him patronage; and he rose, al
most at a single bound, to- the frs
place i'll his profession. He was EN-
ployed in all the land suits, and il
most of the still more numerous an,
equally lucrative eases of homicide, 81
that in the period of two years afte
his advent he had cleared the roun,
sum of thirty thousand dollars. LIE
no sceptical disciple Of Lord COX
f deem this statement Incredible. S.
Prentiss realised, cash in hand, fort
thousand dollars by his opening speec
l in Yicksburg.
During his career thus far youn
Thomas was remarkable in one respect
He never went armed, and although i
the.ferce and fiery alterations of th
forum he necessarily made some enc
mics, no attack had hitherto been ven
. tured on his person. The athleticisl
of his noble form, and the look Of in
ivincible determination in his keen blu
eyes, had doubtless warned the DIES
peradoes that "the Yankee orator." q
he was generally termed, could hit a
hard blows in the courtyard as he di
in the court itself. However, this ma
be, two years elapsed, years too of EN-
inent success, before the peaceable al
torney was even insulted. Alas! thi
: halcyon period was doomed to chang
alike sudden and terrible.
= ;. There resided at that time in tn
"a town notorious duelist by the nam
: Of Johnson, whose matchless proves
inspired universal fear. He had slai
: half dozen foes on the public "fiel
IS of honor" and as many in private an
! irregular encounters. All the member
:. of "the bloody fancy club" spoke {
. Mike Johnson's 'feats with rapturou
: .enthusiasm. But all good men, a
/ lovers of peace, when the "brav
;, wretch" passed, turned pale, and wer
, silent.
e AT the May term Of the Distrit
e Court, 1929, the grand jury, musterin
extraordinary courage, returned a tru
r bill against johnson for the murder {
0 William Lee, an inoffensive you'll
II whom he had shot down in drunke
y frolic, under circumstances of peculis
aggravation. Thomas was retained b
8 a friend of the deceased to aid in til
+ prosecution, and, notwithstanding til
= earnest advice ofhis well-wishes to til
contrary, appeared on the trial of th
i cause one of the most exciting ever al
S gued at the bar of Vicksburg. On til
!. last evening of the session, after af
|. iournment, Thomas rushed into til
y presence of his wife, with looks of sue
n evident agitation as to fill her soul wit
!, overpowering alarm.
: "My love, tell me, in the name {
r heaven, what has happened 2" she criet
:; pale as Il corpse, and shaking like lea
q in the wind.
b Nothing" answered the husband
9 thinking to conceal the most fearfl
y part of the intelligence. Nothing
!. only the murderer, Mike Johnson, a
n ter his acquittal, grossly insulted N
Il l. Il II