The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-01-10
Personal Difficulties in Congress.

between members Of Congress were not
OF unfrequent occurrence, and often there
were tisticuifs on the floors of the House
and Senate. An "Old Stager," in Har-
per's for January, recounts some of the
most noted difficulties of this nature:
The last fatal Congressional duel was
that in which poor Cilley lost his life.
The quarrel was IA political one, and
Cilley was a sacrifice TO the rancor of
party strife. There was no personal
animosity on the part of the antagonists.
They fought with rifles, at forty PAGES.
Cilley was an expert shot with the rifle,
while Graves was wholly unused to the
weapon. A side wind was blowing fresh
as the parties took their ground, and the
fatal shot was n chance one altogether.
Cilley was brave man, but he could
not control his nerves. On the first fire
his ball struck the ground not more than
forty feet off, Graves was perfectly
cool and collected, and at the third shot
Cilley fell, MORALLY wounded. Henry
A. Wise accompanied Graves to the
field, and Gen. Jones, of Iowa, was the
second of Cilley. They were much cen
sured for allowing more than one shot,
the difficulty being technical one only;
but the fact is, they went on the ground
tied up by an agreement made by the
great leaders of the two political parties,
from which they did not feel themselves
at liberty to deviate. Their fatal mis-
take consisted in accepting the condi-
tions by which the combat was to be
governed. Cilley died on the field, but
his fate was preferable to that of Graves,
who fingered a few years n melancholy
wreck, wasting away the remainder of
his life in remorse and misery.
Personal collisions occasionally took
place on the floor of the House, but such
quarrels We're generally adjusted on the
spot. John Bell afterward Secretary of
War under Gen. Harrison, struck Hop
kins l.. Turney in the face rs n retort for
an insulting remark. Bynum, of North
Carolina, had personal encounter with
Rice Garland, of Louisiana. Garland
was II large and very powerful man, while
Bynum was of diminutive stature, but as
active and wiry as Scotch terrier. They
clinched, and there was rare struggling
and tumbling about among the desks
and chairs, but they were separated
before any injury was inflicted.
When Wise and Stanley came to blows
there was the greatest excitement III the
House, and for n few moments general
fight seemed imminent. The scene pre-
scented some ludicrous features, notwith
standing the disgraceful and painful
character of the affair. The Clerk of
the House, st. Clair Clark, seized the
Speakers mace, and in loud voice
commanded the peace. Gov. Gilmer
jumped on desk, and leaping over the
heads of intervening members, threw
himself upon the combatants. Gen
Dawson, of Louisiana, drew bowie
knife from a sheath at the back of his
neck, and plunged into the midst of the
row. Gen. VIM. o. Butler seized Arnold,o
Tennessee, by the throat, and half
strangled him, apparently on general
principles, and without any previous
misunderstanding. At this critical mo-
ment Dixon Lewis, of Mississippi
man of enormous size and corresponding
strength, awoke to the eXigency of the
occasion. His seat was at the outer
edge of the semi-circlc, near the central
door of the hall. He was writing at his
desk when the afiray commenced, and SO
absorbed was he in what he was about
that the first stage of the atfray did not
attract his attention, noise, hustle and
confusion being no uncommon things III
the House. Hearing n vOciferous ex-
clamation, he rose to his feet, and seeing
Butler and Arnold in n desperate strug
gle, he called out, whats this?" and
making his way through the throng by
the momentum of his great weight, he
grasped the combatants, one III each
hand, holding them apart as easily as a
mother might separate two contending
children He inquired, "What the
devil is this all about" The effect was
electrical, and quiet was soon restored.
In the second session of the Twenty
eighth Congress an affray occurred be-
tween ex-Speaker White and George
Rathbun, member from the Cayuga Dis
trict, New York They were both active,
muscular men, full of spirit, and blows
were being rapidly exchanged, when a
pistol was fired at the door-keeper out
side the hall by an insane man, who was
trying to force his way into the House.
There was immense excitement i'll the
House and throughout the Capitol, the
rumor hying about that n member had
been shot, and in the confusion of the
moment the impression obtained that
Rathbun or White had fired the pistol
The quarrel was not prosecuted after
ward.
Forty, and even thirty years ago, per-
sonal alterations often took place i'll
Congress, between Northern and South
ern members, having their origin in sec
tional disagreements. There was al
WAYS class of men in the House from
the South who sought to make reputa-
ton with their constituents by pitting
themselves against Northern members,
whose principles and education made
duelling repugnant to their feelings. 1t
was cheap method of gaining distinc-
ton, wholly unworthy of men of true
chivalry. Occasionally these men ran
against high-spirited Northern men
of firmness and bravery, prompt to repel
an affront, and prepared to meet an am
tagonist in any way. In cases of that
kind the fire-eaters were often signally
discomftted 1t was during the Admin
istraton of Mr.. Monroe that a collision
occurred in the Senate between Gen
Samuel Smith, of Maryland, and Mr..
Lloyd, of Massachusetts, the result of
which gave much satisfaction Mt the