Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-11-14

~young man by his cont collar and
drew him toward him; with his
right hand he raised the whitehandled
penknife to his mouth and opened
the blade with his teeth. Gould rot
his pistol out of his pocket and For.
rest opened the knife blade at the
same time. Gould placed the muzzle
Of the pistol against Forests gown
and fired, and almost simultaneously
Forrest plunged the blade of the PEN
knife into the artillery officers abdo-
men, and with single ripping cut
almost disemboweled him. Forests
wound proved to be Insignificant /;
Gould's need hardly say proved ia
tai.
A PEACEABLE MAN.
But Forrest never acknowled ged
himself to have been placed Sin a bad
fix" but once, which was in the city
of Memphis. Gen. Chalmers and q
merchant In Memphis named J. G..
Davis, had some small disagreement
about money matters. / think that
Chalmers owned some property rent
ed to relatives of Davis, and wrote q
sharp business note to them about
the rent. Davis replied by q very
fierce note which inspired Chalmers
with strong desire to Ego and see
him." On the way to see Davis,
Chalmers met Gen. Forrest and ask
ed the general to 60 there with him.
Forrest went, ignorant of the real
state of affairs. Scarcely had the
two generals arrived at the head of
the stairs leading to Davis business
Office, when the door was suddenly
flung open and Davis knocked Chai-
mcrs from the top of tie stairs to the
bottom. The next instant he present.
ed a heavy revolver at Forests head
explaining, land this is what I've
got for you-two confederate gener-
ais coming to whip one man p
"Hold onl hold on, Mr.. Davis y
cried Forrest, "there is some mistake
here l don't want any fuss with you
don't know what all this is about.
Gen. Chalmers asked me to come
along with him, and I didn't know
there was any trouble between you"
He was glad to get away and began
to inquire what sort of a man that j.
g. Davis was. Folks told him Davis
was one of the most quiet, peacesble
men in town. "Well, he may be
peaoeable," returned Forrest, "but he
put me in the highest place 1 was ev-
er in in my life" Yet he never show
ed any ill will to Davis afterward,
evidently admiring his pluck.
| HIS OLD SLAVES.
About $50 of his old slaves, am
told, came to look at their dead mas
ter az lie lay in the casket at the
church. But i doubt if any one could
have recognized him, for he seemed
only q skeleton in confederate uni
form.
He was fond Of children and had
the power of making them fond OF
him, as most fierce strong men seem
to have. A little child, daughter OF
Gen. Wheeler, sent flowers for his
grave all the way from southern Ala.
bama, "because," she said, "she loved
him."
j / saw and heard these things only
as stranger in strange city may
observe the last of long chain of un.
familiar events, and / cannot dare to
say that the evil overbalances the
good, or that the good outweighed
the evil in the dark character of this
man of iron. / have only spoken OF
the funeral and its attendant GOSSIP
a. they impressed me. The same
night they buried him there came 3
storm. From the room whence
had watched the funeral, / saw thu
northern mists crossing the Mississip'
pi into Arkansas, like an invading ar
my; then came gray rain, and at las
a fierce wind, making wild charges
through it all. Somehow the queer
fancy came to me that the dead con
federate cavalrymen rejoined by theil
desperate leader, were fighting ghost
ly battles with the men who died fol
the union.