The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-09-20
r,,,n code in Miss Iszri,


,rruvxS THOMAS G.. REYNOLDS AND
a uo Brown TWENTY Y EARS AGO AN AIM
sn,,,r., narERIAL,ZsD IN pRowN'S ENRE-rAN.
re-, I,outs letter. 9Th, to The Chicago Times,1
Saturdays affair Of honor In Winnebago
county recalls to me- Inory what, until then,
was the last political duel between Nilsson
Yians. In q few months more It would have
been twenty Yeas since the code was ap'
pealed to 10 Missouri to settle personal tron.
BILE growing out OF political difference. Inc
parties directly or indirectly concerned III
fhis former reucontre are, most OF tncuu'
alive, Nearly all OF them since then nav
n,aved promiuent parts in the history OF 'ne
Stale and the West In 1856. Thomas y.
-Revnolds. who is now recognized as que VI
fhe leading LAWYERS Of the State, ana VINO Was
mt the last election prominent canu"tS.e .o1
the United States senatorship, leo tle OeuIo.
cratic party OF St Louis. Inc country we
then lust entering wctupon the nercr ''altr
aan era ia American politics. iue NAUSEA
question ioomcd up sharp ana wen dehheu,
T.rh;,n hevond these were dim bints Of the
.. impending crisis" aud 90 irrepresSible con-
,ict In Missouri the political warfare was
exceedingly bitter. It was Benton and anti
Benton, with the Wing platform as side
Issue. REYNOLDS, as the leader Of the anti
Renton par,y. had been forced by bis party
n accent the nomination for Congress and
MAKE the race against Frank ?. Blair, the
BENTON candidate, in the st. Louis d,strsct.
This was done, not because there was
GHOST Of chance for Reynolds, but because
il was believed he could bring up the rest oil
fbe ticket. and through his personal popu'
larity perhaps secure it. The suppositiop
was well based. Reynolds raised the Demo
cratic vote in the ST. Louis district from 6Uo,
as il had been in 1854, to $500 in 1856, and
secured the election OF the anti-Benton State
ticket which was beaded by Trusten Polk.
swhile Old Bullion himself was bis party's
candidate for Governor.
The fight was all in the st. Louis district.
I,pther NJ. Kennett, Tho was the wing can
didate for Congress. kept out OF tnc way
and Blair and Reynolds, from the nomlna-
lions in May to the election on the hrst Mon
day in August, kept up the canvass IN city
and county. Mckee and Fishback were
then running the Democrat as tree.soii
organ. and 3. GratZ Brown was the editor.
Blair held 10 interest in the paper, anu %.
turally. il espoused his cause. AS the can.
yass progressed toward the end Brown wrote
an editorial, merciessly cauStic and personal,
reflectipg upon Reynolds. The latter replied
in brief but pointed card. Brown promptls
challenged, and Reynolds as promptly &C.
cep,ed. III those days the code was in favor.
Men az near the Mason and Dixon line as
this went out to shoot for ideas, and q lead
en- argument went long way in political
eight.
Walker. high-spirited South CaroIinian,
who had married into wealthy family here,
md was then a resident Of st. Louis. His
other friend was Colonel David d. Mitchell.
once Superintendent Of Indian Affairs, and
well known as an Indian and plain fighter.
But beside these there clustered about
Brown, as the party's champion, Thomas H.
Benton, Frank =. Blair, and all their power
sful coterie.
Reynolds's seconds were Colonel Ferd.
Kepnett, the best pistol shot ia Missouri,
who lived in lordly style at Selma Hall, and
CAPTAIN Thomas B. Hudson, Democratic
politician, who figured famously in the Don't
Dhan expedition to Mexico. AS advisors and
counsellors Reynolds had such men as Colo
mel David II. Armstrong, now invariably re-
ferred to as "tbe old war.horse OF the party"
in Missouri; Colonel William A. Linn, who
was then collector of customs for st. Louis !:
General Isaac II. Sturgeon, one OF the faith.
full Of the present National Administration.
John Howe was then mayor, and Judge
Henry A. Clover the prosecuting attorney.
The expected meeting was limited at, but
there was no interference, and the arrange
ments were all perfected. Forty miles below
St. Louis, on high river bluffs, is Selma Hall,
built of stone, and much after the style Of
The G erman baronial castles which look down
on the Rhine. 1t is one of the favorite land.
marks, and is always pointed out and com.
mented on by the lettering passengers on
passing steamers. 1t was famous place be-
fore the war, and southerner, in southern
STYLE, once wrote Of it =" Here nature and art
had combined to make the spot one of the
loyeliest in the West. Flowers and toun-
fains abounded everywhere. In the August
noon huge forest trees made grateful! shade,
under which deer rested ut ease, cropping
she rich grass at intervals and crouching low
at intervals, as the memory Of the old, wild
days of horn and huntsman came up from
the loWlapds and the river. There were
steeds ever 10 stall for the young bloods who
swore by Kennett and his hounds; books
for the pile students who stole away from
medicine and law to sleep one night with
the hills and the clover; costly wines for
whatsoever would drink, and an open door
and ready latch.string for every Wayfarer
benighted through chance or inclination."
The once powerful Kennetts are scattered
now. Some are dead, others are living
abroad, and the family scarcely is Known save
in the history of Missouri. The castle seems
almost out of place now, for enterpri>iug
men from the East have discovered, almost
under the windows of Selma, ineXbaustble
beds Of white sand, and day and night the
putting of engines is heard keeping company
with the glare of the glass furnaces. But the
picture given above was faithful one when,
on the 23d OF August, the parties left ST.
Louis for this the rendezvous for the duel.
Reynolds passed the night before leaving ST.
Louis ut the residence of Isaac II. Sturgeon,
and he slept so late and so soundly that he
had to be called loudly in the morning
With bis surgeon, DR.. j. Fl. Shore, and bis
friends Kennett and Hudson, Reynolds went
over the river and journeYed leiSurely down
the Illinois side.
There was no haste; everything was done
calmly and deliberately. Reynolds remained
on the Illinois side until Monday evening,
the 25th OF August, and then crossed over 10
Selma and became the guest for the night of
G. w. Cbadbourne, now the president of the
st. Louis Shot.tower Company, but who had
conntry.Seat st that time Just above Ken.
y ne,t's place. Brown and bis friends had
been made the guests Of kennett, Reynolds's
r., second, a. courtesy was construed TO require
AeDnett believed IN the code, and was as full
OF romance as schoolgirl. He bad looked
after.a The mputest details. Ga the moro
ing OF Tuesday, the 26th of August, the men
Were TO meet, and the place of meeting was
sabd.tar midway between Illinois and Nil
souri, Before day break the parties started
for the bar IN cushioned skiffs propelled by
negro rowers.
The tune was just before sunrise, aud as
KeDne,t looked up and down the river over
in the magnificent view of bluff aud wood,
and water, taking 10 the scene with his