Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-08-18
Southwestern Chivalry.
a True story.
BY JUDGE HARRINGTON.


A few years before the death of
Theodore Parker, that eminent
heo-philanttropic preacher of Bos.
ton visited Europe, and, having q
letter of introduction for that
purpose, he called on Thomas
Carlyle. The English solitaire
piled the American with innumer
able questions relating to our Gus.
toms and habits of social exis.
tence on this side. of the great
water, but manifested the keen.
est curiosity concerning the peo-
pie of the backwoods. Parker
drew for the others amusement a
vivid sketch of the achievements
of James Bowie, the famous arch.
duellist of Texas. Carlyle lis.
tened with sparkling eyes to the
close of the narrative, and then
burst into exclamations of invol-
untary enthusiastically Her.
cules! the man was greater than
Caesar or CromWell-nav, nearly
equal to Odin or Thor. The Tex
ans ought to build him al altar"
The burning sympathiser with
the heroic in all its phases, rub
bed his hands together, chuckling
in an ecstacy of savage glee, and
made Parker repeat his store of
bloody anecdotes, Finally,he put
the question-"By what miracle
could it happen that the brave
fellow escaped the capital penalty
of the law after such countless
violations?"
To this interrogatory, as he con-
fessed, he could return no salts
factory answer; and as ten thou
sand readers have perhaps pom
dered the same problem without
conceiving a rational solution, it
may not be uninteresting to ex-
plain it briefly, especially as a
clear elucidation can be detailed
in a few words.
Let it be remembered, then,
that although the great system
of common law, that perfection
of human reason" for the Anglo
Saxon race, prevailed at that time
throughout all the states of the
west and southwest, wholly as to
its definition of crimes and par
TALLY as to the mode and measure
of punishment annexed to each,
nevertheless, in its practical ap-
plication to given cases, it was
controlled by the power of far
mighter law-the omnipotent law
of public opinion; because in
most western courts, jurors were
absolute judges of both the law
and the fact, and their interpre-
tations often evinced direct antag-
onism with the dicta of my Lord
Coke and the classic comments Of
Blackstone.
On the subject of homicide in
particular, public opinion had
passed the bonds of all books of
jurisprudence, and settled as an
immutable statute this extraordi-
nary axiom--"Itis justifabletokill
in fair combat everybody and any
body who ought to be killed"
In Bowie's numerous rencon-
tres he always kept within the
prescribed limits of this latitudi-
marian rule, and hence be was
always acquitted by frontier ju-
ries, and frequently with Gddenda
to their verdicts highly compli-
mentary to his character as chiv-
alrous gentleman. In truth,
most of the desperate engagements
grew out of his innate and invln-
cible disposition to espouse the
cause of the weak against the
mighty. One illustration by in
cident will present this peculiarl-
ty in the strongest light, and may,
besides, reveal a thorough knowl-
edge of the heart and soul Of the
man.
On the evening of the 4th of
June, 1885, the steamboat Rob
Roy started from St. Louis to
New Orleans with a full crowd of
passengers. Immediately alter
''getting under good headway," to
adopt afavorite backwoods phrase,
one person attracted universal at
tention by the annoying eagerness
with which be endeavored to
make up a party at cards. In
deed, his oft-repeated and persever-
ing efforts to that end soon be-
came insulting and uncomfortable; /;
and yet his appearance was such
as to deter the bravest on board
from administering the chastise-
ment which he SO richly deserved.
He was a huge mass of mighty
bone aud muscles, with swarthy
fnnfIirns hnarinn the imnrnss of