The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-05-05
HOYT & CO., Proprietors.
A D73El AN THE DARK.
BY JUDGE ARLINGTON.


war gave her profound national interest
MANY wears ago she supplied the class of wri-
ters who furnish the substratum for most of the
circulating libraries with plots dark and dread
full enough to satisfy even the present craving
for sensation. The place had been noted
since its earliest settlement for the belhgerent
character of its inhabitants and the number
and atrocity of the violent deeds which stained
its streets with the blood of human hearts.
- tits not our present purpose, however, TO
sketch any OF these more celebrated brute bat
tiles. but merely to select, for the sake OF its
rnournfnl moral alone, solitary tragedy, which
was briefly chronicled by the press OF the day,
and which then faded from the recollection OF
all, save one from who the writer received the
story in all its particularly. She, of course,
could never forget. To the latest hour OF her
existence the wife of the murdered hero wept
at the renliniscence.
In the year 1927, young lawyer, John
Thomas, emigrated from Worcester, in Massa-
chusetts, to the State of Mississippi. He was
poor, had recently married a beautiful, accom-
piished woman, who had renounced wealthy
parents for his sake, and hence was anxious to
better his fortune in as little time as possible.
This consideration determined the legal adven-
turer to locate at Vicksburg, then considered
through the West as the paradise of the bar.
q In 9. very short time the new lawyer had
ample reasons to congratulate himself on the
choice Of his position. His bland demeanor,
studious habits, and more than all, his e!o-
duence in debate, won him patronage and ne
rose, almost at single bound, to the first place
in his profession. He was employed In all the
land suits, and in most of the still more nu-
merous and equally lucrative cases of homi-
eide. so that in the period of two years after
! his advent he had cleared the round sum OF
thirty thousand dollars. Let no sceptical dis
sciple of Lord Coke deem this statement incred-
ible. S. S. Prentiss realized, cash In hand,
forty thousand dollars by his opening speech In
Yicksburg.
During his career thus far young Thomas
was remarkable in one respect. he never went
armed. and although in the fierce and fiery al
,tercations of the forum he necessarily made
some enemies, no attack had hitherto been ven
tured on his person. The athleticism of his
noble form, and the look Of invincible deter
mination in his keen blue eyes, had doubtless
warned the desperadoes that "the Yankee ora
tori as he was generally termed, could hit as
hard blows in the courtyard as he did IN the
court itself. However this may be, two years
elapsed, years too of eminent success, before
the peaceable attorney was even lnsulted
Alas! this halcyon period was doomed to
change alike sudden and terrible.
There resided ut that time in the town no
torious duelist by the name of johnson, whose
matchless prowess inspired universal fear. lie
had slain half dozen foes on the public "ield
of honor" and as many in private and irregu-
lar encounters. All the members of "the
bloody fancy club spoke Of Mike Johnson's
feats with rlpturous enthusiasm. But all good
men, all lovers of peace, when the brave
wretch" passed, turned pale, and were silent.
At the May term of the District Court, 1929
the grand jury, mastering extraordinary cour-
age, returned 8 true bill against johnson fol-
the murder OF William Lee, an inoftenslve
Youth. whom he had shot down in drunken
Tolic, under circumstances of peculiar aggra-
yation. Thomas was retained by q friend Of
the deceased to aid in the prosecution, and
Notwithstanding the earnest advice of his well.
vishers to the contrary, appeared on the trial
of the cause, one of the most exciting ever ar
eued at the bar of yicksburg. On the last
evening of the session, after adjournment
: Thomas rushed into the presence Of his wife
with looks Of such evident agitation as to fill
!. her soul with overpowering alarm.
."My love, tell me, in the name of heaven
what has happened? ?" she cried, pale as corpse
and shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"Nothing," answered the husband, thinking
to conceal the most fearful part of the intelli'
johnson, after his acquittal grossly insulted
me in the courtyard, and knocked him down. ,
aAnd he challenged you to fight him with
pistols ' almost shrieked the wife, anticipating
Che rest, with the quickness of woman's keen
commonsense.
at is even so," replied the lawyer, mourn
fully.
sob say that you will not meet him. Oh
SWear that you will not turn duellist In this
: Sodom of the South p implored the wife
throwing her arms around his neck, and Sob
bing. Like q child on his bosom.
seThere, do not weep now. l will not turn
dnellist, dear Emma, although much feal
that the consequences will be my ruin"
God will protect you from the bold, oao
man"
The next morning it was known in Vicks
burg that 'tthe Yankee orator" had been chal
lenged and refused to fight. Accordingly, he
was generally denounced as q coward-a woro
which at that day might be considered as ex.
pressing far deeper scorn than either robber OF
assassin. AS he passed through the streets, he
was astonished to witness the coldness mani
tested by his old acquaintance, and even pro-
fessed friends, while the great mass of the peo-
ME seemed to regard him with inefable con
fem,pt. "Yankee white-liver," ''boaster," "pol
troon." were the sounds most frequently rung
in his ears, especially when near the groceries
and there was one then on every terrace OF the
broken hills.
The matter grew worse. About week after
wards, johnson met his victim in the public
square, presented cooked pistol at his hear
with one hand, and belabored him unmercltul
ly with a cowhide which he grasped In the
other. Resistance at the moment was altogeth.
er out of the question, for the slightest motion
would have been the signal for immediate
babe, babe and bore the castigation in silence.
After this, clients deserted his Office, gentle
MEN refused to recognise him or return his sa-
lutte in the thoroughfares of business, or during
his morning strolls over the hills. Had his
touch been contagion, or his breath pestilence
ha could NOT have been more carefully Stunned