The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-05-20
4 Southern VAndotI.tl,a., / !, |.

Southern Vendetta. & S,.ls ats
John, Jr., Atlanta (Gasl Hsrotd, writing
e Tallahassee, Florida, sisss tho foliowy
"Dp you see that ragged 10; hy:s NJ 81, ..s
over the furder fly brushp" asked Mr.
ZabJan, who might be described i al:
naughty postscript to the life of 3 gentle
man, and who was ut tho time when The
question was propounded engaged in the
humble but respectable business Of
washing dishes at the Brown Hotel: Of
the supper table of which; after DAVIS
rambling, sat deliciously picking my
self in orange brandy and building up
my cellular tissue with soaked biscuit
Upon my answering the question. which
really did not need nm answer, but was
thrown ont by the crafty old gabbler MS
q lasso rope with its interrogating loop
at the end, he wound his cup towel re-
hectively around his neck, and sitting
down, remarked: '.Well, sir, If all the
blood that was shed in the quarrel in
which that hole was made was smenred
on these walls, it would redden up this
whole room, I can tell you" The san
culinary seduction which the old fellow
mad artfully put into this statement won
me, and pushing him glass of brandy,
! asked him to tell me all about it. Then
and there, in that misty and half-ruined
hotel, with its wild and riotous memo
ries, the old fellow told ME q story that,
for fierce gallantry and chivalric reck-
lessness, puts fiction to shame The
actors in it, all of them of sunny and
heroic temper, Of large wealth, of blue
blood, and of illustrious lineage, nre
dead, but their descendants vet live in
our State, and stand high among the
highest. The names of the parties con-
corned are changed, for obvious reasons,
| but the facts are in substance and result
just as we heard them.
''in the Seminole war;" said hIr Ia
bran, evidently ambling down a long
worn groove of conversation, Colonel
Graham commanded a crack regiment.
One morning he recei7eda a message from
his wife, announcing thnt she WIS on the
eve of confinement. He at once repaired
to hor bedside. The day after lie left
tho camp battle took place. Shortly
afterward on article appeared in the Au-
gusta Chronicle and Sentinel, rejecting
upon the courage Of Col. Graham, and
intimating that his reason for leaving
camp was not so much fondness for his
wife as for himself. The paper contain
ing this cutting and cruel article came
into the camp before Colonel Graham's y
return, and ut once became II subject of
conversation throughout the camp. Cap
tain Henry, splendid young fellow,
who WAS IN aid upon Colonel Grahnm' s
staff, felt that an insinuation against his
colonel was an insult to himself, and he
at once repaired to Augusta, determined
to protect the honor of his absent friend
with his own life, if necessary. He de-
manded from the editor of the Chronicle
and Sentinel the author of the offensive
article. 1t turned out to be General
Fitzgerald, Of Florida, warm and de-
voted friend of Captain Henry's. Still
feeling that it was his duty, disregarding
! friendship just as he had disreparded
fear in the defence of his colonel, he sent
peremptory challenge to General Fitz-
gerald.
"He received reply, stating TINT
| Gen. Fitzgerald would be pleased to an
swer the demands of Capt. Henry, if he
should be SO fortunate as to survive the
duel he was just about to engage in with
Capt. Williams, who had also made the
article against Col. Graham cause of
complaint. Upon inquiry, it transpired
that Capt. Williams, another aid upon
Graham 3 staff, had preceded Mr.. Henry
in his trip to Augusta, and determined
himself to defend the imputation against
his commander.
capt. Henry had no alternative but
to await the result of the encounter be-
tween Fitzgerald and Williams, the con-
dltlons of which were that they should
tight with Bowie knives. The meeting
came on. The left hands of the com.
batants were clasped together in q firm
and dead-game grasp, and the keen, long
knives, the most terrible weapons before
which man can be brought, were placed
IN their hands. At signal, the knives
were pcrpendicularly along their legs.
At the next words they were raised into
the air, and the terrible fencing began.
1t is briof but terrible struggle. The
knives cut and g,:shed and whizzed
through the flesh of the combatants,
pressed and sparkled against each other;
now buried and now whipped out with
blush moisture on the blades, until
Capt. Williams fell. hacked almost to
pieces. Gen Fitzgerald escaped almost
without injury.
Gle then turned his attention to
Capt. Henry. He chose ms the weapons
for this second combat murderous
weapon, now happily obsolete, but then
known rs ynegers. 1t is n broad-mouthed,
funnel-shaped. smooth-bore gun, that
will carry handful of shot, and will
Init everything in the ncighhorhood of
Its aim. At the meeting, Capt. james,
Hcnry's second, was to give tho word.
AS he called Wheel the two men
turned, but Henry stumbled, and his
gun went off in the air. Gen. Fitz-
gerald took cool aim, fired at tho word,
and Capt. Henry dropped dead. Now