Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-07-10
The Rhott' Cooley Duet.

" For several days past the commu-
nifty has been much e1citcd by an ap.
pretended duel between Col. r. b.
Rhett. Jr., editor ofsthe Picayune, and
Judge VIM. II. Cooley, the leading
counsel in the case of Hawkins vs.. the
Picayune. The facts of the controversy
will be hereafter elected. We presume
It will suffice for the present to state
that on last Friday Col. r. B. Rhett
sent a peremptory challenge IT, Judge
Cooley, which was accepted by him
the meeting, however, to be post
poned until Tuesday on account of
Cooley's engagement to argue the rule
for q new trial before Judge Hawkins,
which came up yesterday. During the
course of the argument Judge Cooley,
in opposing the motion for = continu-
ance, remarked that If the case went
over till Wednesday he might not be
alive to argue it, and so it has sadly
turned out to-day. The parties left on
the Mobile tram at eight o'clock,
arriving at Montgomery station at ten
A: NJ, where the party dlsembarked.
Montgomery station, where the duel
occurred, is q wild, sandy looking
place, some four or five miles this side
of Bay st. Louis, where the road passes
through wood of tsll pines, behind
which is an open field. Near by, on the
line OF the railroad, is a small cottage
occupied by q family, but with this
exception there are no residents nearer
than three-quarters of mile. This
difficulty is one of the sad results of
the iniquitous Hawkins trial against
the Picayune, Of which Col. Rhett is
editor. In his speech for the prosecu-
tion Judge Cooley made reflections
upon that paper which called forth an
editorial in its next issue pronouncing
them false. Judge Cooley then ad-
dressed communication to the editor
calling for explanations, which not be-
ing accorded, he followed. it up by a
published card assailing Col. Rhett.
A challenge promptly followed, and
the result is now before our readers.
Judge VIM. H. Cooley was born in
Point Coupee, and was the son OF
Judge Thos. Thos. j. Cooley, his
mother being Ledoux, also of the
parish of Pointe Coupee. He was
educated and graduated in the Acad
emy department. of Transylvania Uni
versity, of Kentucky, in 1847, in the
same year and in the same institution
where Gov. Voorhees,. graduated in
law. He was subsequently appointed
Parish Judge of Pointe Coupee by
Michael Hahn. The first appearance
of Judge Cooley prominently before
the New Orleans public was as repre-
sentative from Pointe Coupee in the
Reconstruction Convention which sat
at the Mechanics Institute, in which
he took leaking part. When the re-
construction election took place, Judge
Cooley, having select New Orleans
as his residence, was nominated by the
Democracy as their candidate for the
judgeship of the Fifth District Court
Of the city, to which position he was
elected, and which he maintained until
the recent election, when he declined
submitting his name before the Con-
vention. At the time of his death
Judge Cooley was about AZ years old.
Judge Cooley was Q wjdower, having
married Miss Plantinrugne, who died
about four years ago: His only child
is now about ten or twelve years old.
His father, Judge Thoass ). Cooley,
and his two brothers, are we'll known
to the legal maternity, and officers of
the courts. he was a man of extra
ordinary natural abilities, and what
he knew either of law or; language,
came to him as byslntuitioD.4 His mind
while it wa, easily: warpedsby passion
or prejudice, was exceedingly analytic,
and in. ceses; where neither personal
feeling nor party animositiessinterfered
to cloud his judgment, his decisions
were almost critically correct. With
an excusable fund of humor,s q keen
sense of the ridiculous, and being an
being an adept in the use of satire. he
was at once a warm friend or bitter
enemy This is not the first duel in
which he has been concerned. Some
years before the war he met DR.. Kauf-
man, one of his parishionels upon the
field of honor, and after an exchange
Of shots, sn amicable adjustment of the
difficulty was made, and thereafter the
parties became warm personal friends.
He had supreme contempt for shams,
and was fond of launching the arrows
of wit and sarcasm against all manner
of hypocrisy. He had a religion and a
code of morals peculiarly his own, and
with all his eccentricities was o man OF
liberal ideas and warm impulses. ,.r,
The koly was brought to the city on
the evening train, and left at the, hos.
pital. The funeral takes |place to.
morrow morning at 10 O'Clock from the
corner of Seventh and st. Charles
streets.