Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1870-10-14
Sci Q Q t Q q S tory
SOUTHWESTERN CHIYAI
Il TRUE STORY
Il TRUE STORY.

A few years before the death of Thco
aore Parker, that cminent-th thee philunthroric
preacher Of Boston visited Europe, aud, hav.
ing lcttor Of introduction for that purpose,
he called on Thomas Carlyle. The English
solitaire piled the American with nnumerable
questions relating to our customs and habits
of social existence on this side of the great
waters, but manifested the kccncst curiosity
concerning the people Of the backwoods
Parker drew for the others amusement Il
Bowie, the famous archduelist Of Texas Car.
lyle listened with sparkling eyes to the close
of the narrative, and then burst in exclama-
tions Of involuntary enthusiastically Her
cules T! the man was greater than Caesar OF
Cromwcll=-nay, nearly equal to Odin or Thor
The Texans ought to build him at altar"
The burning sympathser with the heroic
in all its phases, rubbed his hands together,
chuckling in an ccstacy of savage glce, and
made Parker repeat his store of bloody ancc
dotcs. Finally, he put the question -"By
wtat miracle could it happen that the brave
fellow escaped the capital penalty of the law
after such countless violations ?"
10 this interrogatory, as he confessed, he
could return no satisfactory answer; and as
ten thousand readers have perhaps pondercd
the same problem without receiving rational
solution, it may not be unintcrcsting to ex
plain it briefly, especially as clear clucidaticn
can be detailed in few words.
Let it be remembered, then, that although
the great system of common law, that ''per-
fection Of human reason" for the Anglo Sax
on race, prevailed at that time throughout ull
the States of the West and Southwest, Who'll
y as to its definition Of crimes and partially
as to the mode and measure Of punishment
annexed to each, nevertheless, in its practical
application to given cases, it was controlled
by the power of far mighticr law--the ON
nipotcnt law of public opinion because in
most western courts, jurors were absolute
judges of both Inv and the fact, and their in.
tcrpretations often evinced direct antagonism
with the dicta of my Lord Coke and the olas.
sic comments of Blackstone
On tho snhjcc. Of homicide in particular,
public opinion had passed tho bonds Of all
books of jurisprudence, and settled as an i'm.
mutablc statute this extraordinary axiom
ut is justifuble to kill in fair combat evory.
body aud anybody who ought to be killed !"
In Bowe's numerous rccontres he always
kept within the prescribed limits of this ati.
tudinarian rule, aud hence he was always &C.
Quilted by frontier jures, and frequently with
addendn to their verdicts highly compimon.
tary to his character ns chivalrous gontle.
man. In truth, most Of tho desperate engage.
mcnts grew out Of his innate and invinciblc
disposition TO espouse the CAUSE Of the weak
against the mighty. Ono illustration by in.
cident will present this popularity In the
strongest light, and may, besides, reveal a
thorough knowledge Of tho heart and soul OF
the man.
On the evening Of tho 4th of Juno, 1886,
tho steamboat Rob Roy started frotn St Louis
to New Orleans, with full crowd of passen
gers. Immediately after "gctting under good
ieadway,S to adopt a fayorite baokwoods
phrase, one person. attracted universal alton.
tiopl by tho annoying eagerness with which
he endeavored to make up party at cards =
Indeed, his oft.repoatea aud porscvoring