Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1870-07-22
fNN"'NNIUH,i
ELRERT EoWII

a. NJ, until o'clock p. M.
Respectfully,
ELBERT FOWLER.
l should have informed Col. Clark
son that L could not fight him duel
for fear he would turn states evidence
and send me to the penitentiary as he
did his friends in the whiskey cases
but from my last note it will be seen
that L decline the challenge for the
best reasons and from the loftiest mo-
tives that can move man to action. If
1 had lost all respect for the laws OF the
State which brand the duelist as felon
and the constitution which makes him
an outlaw, and were as ready to defy
the command of God rs Clarkson is
the laws of God and msn, feigncd
love of decency would have prevented
me from meeting him as an equal,
whose hands are stained with the blood
of the gallant Huddleston, and for
whose murder public sentiment drove
him from the army of the Kanawa
to seek shelter behind "a salt kettle :;
who escaped the penitcntiary by the
base betrayal of his partncrs and their
consignment to n felons doom, whose
evidence is sought to be impcached in
the courts of ourown county and whose
villiany has given him State wide
reputation, who drove the negro with
Il cruel lash and stands charged with
selling him his freedom after Lee had
surrendered; who is an outlaw in his
own state and scoundrcl by profess
/ sion, who is spuned from deccnct so
ciety and branded with ignOminy even
by negroes. | published DR.. Peter j.
Hale, his nephew, rs n forger and
swindlcr, and so he is. | branded
John y. ClaIkson rs an accomplished
scoundrel, ard so Inc is. In my final
! note to him classed him rs savage
beyond the pale of civilization and Us
II consequence destitute of the first
eliments that constitute n gentleman
But he is wanting sufficient astuteness
to discern the full force and effect o
my language and had The effrontery
to send a motto that at IL o'cIuck h,
would post me at the Virginia House
hotol quarter of a milo distant from
my Office and from the Main street two
hundred yards; i'm the outskirts of thu
tho town and the least frcquented D
any hotel In the place, as IL cared 70
the carpings of nm escaped felon.
At the hour named, and that tw'
days after published him ds n scoun
drel, though he knew his code requir
ed him to post on Main street and wa
so advised by his second, Col. II
w. Hughes, fortified by double
barrclled shot gtin and n bottle o
whiskey and hedged in by the hoop
skirts of women and children, tina
were on the porch almost the entir
day, nanked, guarded, protected an
sheltered by columns AID pilastcrs c
the porch That frontedhls private roor
this arch coward proceeded to pin th
child of his fancy, the FREELY of dis
eascd brain, TO the porch, whicl
3 though public hotel, is pfivatoprope
tv. From the time he arrived unit
; the hour he departed he ventured ne
J from his Notifications at the hoto
: TO have posted on Main street, as h
[ code required, might have cost his il
Y and stained the flagstones with q
! n,eanest blood in Virginia. He can
fifteen miles to make me retract a
, article that | rciterate; he sought
meeting and kept himeolfaquarter OF
). mile from me, though notified whe
g To find me; he demanded reparatio
d and was denied an apology; he avoN
ed his intention of shooting me,
found on the streets and was carer
. not To come ON the streets; he ASSERT
that he could not find me to get sh
" and fearing that he was paralized
S walked a quarter of mile to place m
ID self in front of him, ut an easy pisl
h range that he could have Il fair chan
10 shoot, and he had asserted he woul
| walked across the open grounu
a tween the head of Cumberland sure
ar and the Express Office, unattended a
,r for ought he could see unarmed' a
!. Col. Hughes called his attention TO
" presence; fearing he was near-s'sn'
N i passed down the gravel walk i'aa'
is to Thompson's and stood for hVe m
ules within less than forty measured
ces of him, and then advanced to WI
at IN thirty PAGES, lie can not say 'h"t
did not sec me for the field was uh
.tructed, Ills second pointed me out"