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

I Ia = -
olSer. who msrried Mrs. Mowst., and
Thomas. Jr.. the younger-whe killed
. Peasanisrin a: fight. about four years -ef-
. terwards.l The mortal offence vas taken
. up BY William aud challenge sent to
i PEASANTS beiag promptly accepted and
sllf tfrn1x sasilsd, everything was lovely,
= +botxsen thc, two gentleman, Perhaps it
would be ss well here TO speculation what
the result of the duel ;would have been,
!. provided il had been fought, SO as to de-
eide: bow we 'wouh have bet on the issue,
lif VIC, had bet upon It ut all. The terms
was-sho.-g guns loaded sith twelve buck
shat laid uneocked At, tie. ecwbatant's
i fctysmnxz!e eGtHara tie parties te stand
back TO back. and at the word wheel, TO
seize their weapons, and fre-distancc,
twelve PAGES This was sure death 10
somebody. Who would it have been p
We put the interesting problem and solu-
ton. thus Rtchie was unused to the
weapon selected Peasants was short Of
stature. che Of the very best shots in vir-
Ginia, and perfectly familiar with the wea-
pom to be used so much 50, that with
Goublc-barrellcd gun. he was sure of
'front.' AMI rear partridge. on a fair ..ris-
ing Hence it would have taken Ritche
longer TO s:oop; longer to get his gun in
position and he would have been slower
- fire. and uncertain in aim Ergo,
! f!casants would have killed Richie stone
dead before R;tchie could have fred at
all 3; and on this We are ready to bet. two
to one. But happily or unhappily Per
haps-luckily for Anna Cora Nowatt. at
al cvcuts-thc duel never was fought.
! The sore between nlcasants and the
! E.;chi,s was far from being healed hv the
settlement Of the af:rir with William. On
the contrary, duel once admitted, and
the sons thus coming into The area of cos-
troversy, blood was sure to flnw sooner or
later. An affair between Hugh Plcasarts
aui John Tyler. Jr son of President
Tyler. ard which had is origin in the
| Enquirer, only fed the eager fame
! About rnur or five years after the difficult
I tv with William, John IT. plcaSants be-
came involved in difficulty with Thomas
/ Ritchic, .ir, which eliminated IN = bloody
and fatal fight. In IN in;emrcratc arti-
I Gle. Peasants was grossly iHsuitcd bv the
Younger Ritchic. who called him an abo-
/ lition.st and a coward with 4 surcr at his
course in The afair with his brother, VIII
, liam. Such an outrage could have but
one rcsu,;-b'ood. For several DAYS an
encounter in the street was imminent. for
Peasants w0uid not admit the duel to
wipe out such an insult A street fight
was his settled purpose but friends came
forward, and tight in form was agreed
upon- The encounter took place in Man
chester, across the James River from
Richmond. At six o'clock. on a calm.
soft. sweet and sammy morning, the conf
batants, seconds, surgeons and few
friends Of each were assembled in u seclu- |
t!cd spot, for one or two to be murdered /
Peasants was placed sixty PAGES distant
from R:chie. armed with = sworl-cane. |
two duclliug-pistolS. 4 revolver in hi-
pocket and a bowic-knife kiteLie was
armed with several ,lucliing pistols in n |
belt. and short, strong. sharp Roman |
sword. II" also held light cane. using
it as rest for his pistol when hiring.
FlcaSsnts ma lc no use Of hi. bowie nor
his revolver in the fight. He had also /
drawn the ball from one of his duel!inr
pistols the night before, as he declared af-
terwar1s The ccmhatarts were placcd
in poSi:ion-thc terms being that Pleas
ants should advance upon Richie and
make the aSsault-and some negotiations 7
were in progress: hut Washington Green
how was there, as Ritchies friend, and
no peaceablc settlement could of course be
made. The sigma, was givcn-Plcasants
aivanced-Ritchie commenced and con- !
tinued firing until his seven pistols were
emptied. Pleasants fired but once while
, advancing. was wheeled nearly around by
one shot which struck him-su>hed on
under the murderous fire until he came
face To face with Ritchie-fired his still
loaded duelling pistol directly a, Richie |
made lungc with his sword-cane. which
was parrici-and then fell on the ground
with fve pistol wounds. one fatal in the
groin H. died within three days. Young
Ritchie took to violent drinking and died
IN about two years, leaving his property.
of some twenty-five thousand dollars. 20
PlcaSants' daughter. who refused TO ac-
cert it, \ pistol ball had killed one ; but
remorse and whskey were no less fatal
to the other. Both were estimablc. ami
able and generous men, and had been cor
dial friends.
General Dromroole, once Speaker of
the House of Congress, was a North Car
olina militia general and one Dusser, an
esteemed and wealthy merchant OF Peters
burg. WAS promgoolc's dearest friend -
Dugger was Wing and the General
Democrat OF course they failed In hsr-
mcnise politically; aud both being essen
tally tight (the papers say they had ia
ken too much wine. but it was whisky. !
on one occasion, and getting into noisy
political wrangie. Dusger gave Droni-
goole blow. The next morning. being
cooled of and sobered, a mutual friendly
explanation and apology occurred. Both
knew that the whole thing arose from their
being tipsy, and there was no offence ia-
tended, felt. nor harbcred: but the mi
+ litia officers Of his North Carolina COM
mand got wind Of tie affair: their hon
or O. repaired that the blow should be re-
Quilted by cold lead Drcngoole yielded.
went out with his friend Dagger in the
most honorable manner. and shot him,
niortally. aud in a style highly credisable
to his skill. Dagger was buried within a
week, and Bromgocle became total alb
s,insncc nssn bus remorse ate out his
peace and life in ahoa. two ycars-aceord-
ing 20 nay present impression.
! james Bowie. the inventor, or discov-
erer of the terrible weapon which has i'm.
mortalized his name, xas as utterly fear