Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-03-21
ADark AFFAIR Of Honor.
From the chicago Tribune.


groes, it has been their highest am
bition not only to show that they
are men and brethren, but that they
are gentlemen also. Their powers
of imitation being well developed,
and gentlemen being very plentiful
in the South as examples, they have
made good progress, and have prov
ed themselves adopts in all those re-
markable qualities which are char
acteristic of the typical Southern
gentleman. In fact, their progress
has been SO rapid that it is an open
question whether they have not out
slipped their white brethren in those
qualities which have heretofore char.
acterized the white Chesterfelds and
D'Orsays, and whether the Black
Knight, who SO often figures in the
romances of the Crusades, has not
reappeared in the South as the glass
of fashion and the rose of courtesy.
Has not white chivalry retrograded
when ex-President Davis and ex-
Senator Foote hurl epithets of all
sorts at each other day after day,
and neither of them get hurt? Pc
ter Blair and Moses Sullivan, of
Augusta, Ga, did not do things this
way. Peter and Moses are negroes,
and likewise. Southern gentlemen.
When, therefore, Moses one day
came between the wind and Peters
dignity, Peter did not inform him,
after the old fashion, that he was
Common nigger," but sent him
word that he was no gentleman
Moses, in turn, did not butt him
with his head nor go round and steal
his chickens, but sent him a high
toned note demanding an apology,
or satisfaction with shOt-guns or
pistols. Peter, however, maintained
his proposition with reference to Mo-
ses' gentlemanly standing, and nam
ed pistols, at Sand-Bar-Ferry, on the
morning of March 8, at which time
he would make good his assertion or
spill his blood in the ferry. When
the memorable morning came, the
negro who was a gentleman and
the negro who was not gentleman,
with two negroes for seconds, both
of whom were gentlemen, we pre-
sumo, met at Sand-Bar-Ferry with
FIRE in their eyes and murder in their
hearts-Peter, because he was a gen.
tleman, and Moses, because he was
not gentleman, according to Pc
ter. The ground was measured off.
Peter was set up like peg at
one extreme and Moses at the other,
and five shooter was placed in the
hands of each. The preliminaries
were short and to the point. Knight,
one of the seconds, gave the COM
mapds; "Peter, is you ready P"-
eyes sah,' replied the gentleman.
"Moses, is you ready ?" "Y Yes, sab"
replied the one who was not a gen
tleman. "Shoot!' said the gentle
manly second. And they did shoot.
AS each man had five charges, and
as the whole ten were fred regard
less OF expense Target or range, the !
two gentleman who were masters of
ceremonies must have had q lively |
time ~ dodging the bullets. When |
there were no more charges to fire |
and the smoke had cleared away,
Peter was dancing q gentlemanly |
jig at one end of the line and Moses |
an ungentlemanly breakdown at the |
other, and the two seconds were
having walk-round, feeling of |
themselves to see if they were shot. |
White chiYalFy would have patched |
up matters after wasting ten charges
Of powder aud ball and gpHe home
gentlemen; but, according 70 the |
code Of black ohiValry, somebody |
must get hit. So the pistols were |
reloaded, and Peter and Moses com.
menced blazing away again, and
the two seconds hoped about more
vigorously than ever to dodge the
missiles, which were flying in every
direction. The battle ragged furious
ly for some minutes, but at last the
GsntAsEaanIV Fs~aF EsT~ , kSwA ~