The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-07-19
[From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

[Frolnth Cincinnati Enquirer
The first duel in the United States was
fought in Pulitanic New England. Ed
ward Doty and Edward Lester, both
servants Of Stephen Hopkins at Ply
mouth Mass, had quarrel and settled
it with swords, like gentlemen. OF
course their conduct was heinous Of
Tense in the eyes Of the colony, and, al
though there was no law on the statute
book for the punishment of the offense.
the colony soon improvised one. The
duelists were ordered to be tied togeth-
er, hands and feet, for twenty-four
hours, without food or drink. During
the Revolutionary war Castle Garden,
low Fort independence, in Boston har-
Dor, was celebrated as a dueling
ground. Early in the war with Tripoli
our officers fought many duels. and the
practice was only stopped by the string
ent orders of Commodore Preble. In
1919, however, American and British Of
ficers SO often fought at Gibraltar that
our vessels were forbidden that port.
There have been many famous duels
in the United States, but prominently
that Of Burr and Hamilton leads the list.
The prominence of the parties, the tri-
Vitality of the cause, the fatal result, and
public sympathy for Hamilton's widow
and orphans, all conspired to make it the
sensation of the early days of the first
century of the republic. The duel was
fought at Weehawken, n. j., July II,
1904. Hamilton had been appointed
Minister to France, and Burr was Vice
President of the United States. The
immediate cause of the difficulty was the
publication of pamphlet by a DR..
Cooper, in which occurred: "Col. Ham
ilton and DR.. Kent say that they con-
slider Col. Burr dangerous man, and
one unfit to be trusted with the reins of
Government. In another place: "Gen
Hamilton has expressed of Col. Burr
opinions still more despicable." This
last passage irritated Burr and he de-
handed immediate retraction. Hamil-
ton considered the passage as at best
very indefinite and declined. A long
correspondence ensued, resulting in
Hamilton's death.
The duel between Henry Clay and
John Randolph was fortunate in the end
ing, In that the warm heart OF the one
and the hasty aim of the other robbed
the affair of what otherwise might have
been a never-to-be erased blot on the
memory of the great orators of the
South. The duel was fought in 1926 on
the Virginia shore of the Potomac. Both
participants were friends, alienated for
the time being by the political questions
OF the day. Randolp h had denounced
the union of Adams and Clay as a union
OF the Puritan and the blackleg. Clay
challenged at once. The etrangest part
OF this duel is that the parties at the last
moment entertained no hostile feeling
for each other. Randolph, when told of
Clay's wife and sleeping child, said
shall do nothing on the morrow to
disturb the sleep of the child or the re-
pose OF the mother = and, after the duel,
on the ground 81 would not have
seen Mr.. Clay fall mortally or even
doubtfully wounded for all the land that
is watered by the King of Floods and
his tributary streams And Clay,
when the duel was ended, said: 81
trust IN God, my dear sir, you are I'M
touched; after what has occurred /
would not have harmed you for thou
sand worlds. Henry Clay had before,
in 1903, fought Humphrey Marshall
when they were both in the Kentucky
Legislature.
The duel of Decatur and Barron
transpired March %, 1920, at Bladens-
burg, and is one of the most famous in
American history. Commodore Deca-
tur, OF the United States navy, and
James Barron, a Post Captain in the
navy, were the parties. They fought
with pistols at eight PAGES. Both fell.
There really was no cause for this duel.
Barron had not approved of Decatur's
affair III the Chesapeake, and some per-
son had fomented trouble in alleging
that Decatur was preventing the re-em-
ployment of Barron in the service. De
cat1r was one of the Quickest men of
the day, and was duelist by profess
sion. He had fought three before this
fatal encounter, and during the war of
1872 he proposed to Sir Thomas Hardy
duel OF ship to ship, but the English
Admiral declined this novel mode of
fighting A5sih
Dewitt Clinton, in 1902, fought John
Smartwood, an insignificant politician,
about some petty difference and Ne
vile Soule, son Of Pierre Soule, United
States Minister at Madrid, in 1853
fought the Duke D'Alba for an insulting
remark made about his mother at ball
given by Marquis de Turgot, French
Ambassador at the same place. The
Duke said that Mrs. Soule ''looked like
Margaret of Burgundy" Young Soule
was present, and, knowing that Mar
garet of Burgundy, while very beauti-
full, was a very hcentious woman, he
took the remark to mean more than was
probably intended. The gentlemen
fought with swords for thirty minutes,
and then seconds interfered. The next
day Pierre. Soule, the United States Min
lister, took the affair up and demanded
satisfaction of Mons. Turgot, at whose
house the ball was given. They met,
IL L.