The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-02-21

during a speech at the bar, by an oppos-
ing counsel, whose character he was
scraping off. He turned without saving
a word and, planting his fist in the fel-
lows forehead, knocked him down.
Perfectly unruff1ed he turned to the
judge and said: Having thus sum-
mariIy disposed of the gentleman will
proceed to treat his argument in like
manner" Colonel Cumming was offered
the command of the army by Mr.. Polk
when the war with Mexico began, but
declined it because of his advanced age.
There Is one figure that stands out
refreshingly cool and unique during these
troublous times. This was John NJ.
Dooly, the man who announced that he
would not fight under any circumstances.
He was proba bly, the most brilliant man
produced in that era, prolific of giants.
He was the peer of Crawford on any
field, and his superior in the legal forum.
His abilities were trauscendent, and his
failure to make a n9tional reputation
arose, doubtless, from no other cause
than his refusal to fight on any and all
occasions. A non. .cOmbatant could not
hold his head up in those turbulent
times. DOoly had the most delicious
humor, and sharp tongue withal. He
was continually getting into trouble
because of his satirical sayings. He was
perfectly fearless of speech. Judge
Gresham once threatened TO chastise him.
Dooly replied: You can do it if you
like. You will get no credit for it,
however. Anybody can do it, and a
great many have done it." He was once
Knocked down by a gentleman that he
had introduced as the inferior judge of
an inferior court of the inferior county
of Lincoln" He called Justify on the
spectators for help, and, when rescued
from his antagonist, rubbed his
head and remarked, dryly: We'll,
that is the forty-second fight l
have been engaged in, and if
ever got the best of a single one / do
not now remember it." Before Dooly's
peace prOclivities were fully known he
was challenged To mortal combat by a
Mr.. Tate, who came to the field with
Mr.. w. H. Crawford as his second
Dooly accepted the challenge. Tate had
lost one leg and wore a wooden one.
When he and his friend reached the
field they found Dooly alone, sitting on
a stump.
sWhere is your friend ?" asked Craw-
ford, in some surprise. "He is in the
woods 81 r"
"And will be present in a moment, sir,
[ suppose ?' said Crawford. eyes, as
soon as he can find s bee-gum."
"May I inquire what he wants with a
bee gum ?'' "Why, [ want to put my
leg in it. Do you suppose | can afford
to risk my leg of flesh against Tate's leg
of wood? If I hit his leg, he will get
another tomorrow and peg away as
usual If he hits mine, it may kill me,
or compel me to stump it like him for
the balance of my lie. No, sir; / must
have a gum. Then I will be just as
much wood as he is, and we viii be or
e~ua! terms"
II understand you, Colonel DoOly; you
do not intend TO fight" "Why, really,
Colonel Crawford, I thought everybody
knew that"
every well, sir; but remember,
Colonel, your name in no enviable light
will fill the columns OF a newspaper to-
81 assure you, my dear sir,
l had rather fill every column in every
in Georgia than one coffin"
This precedent served for a duel in
Georgia only a few years since. A
passed between Colonel Farrow
and Mr.. NJ. A. Nevin. The latter was
a one-legIe Ied man, and the former OBJ
jected to meeting him on that account
not taking, however, the same practical
view of the matter that DoOly did. He
in accordance with a provision
of the ccde. Mr.. Nevin, therefore, Of
fered to allow Col. Farrow to inclose one
of his legs in a bee-gum. The matter
was finally adjusted by a meeting
between Col. Farrow and Maj. Tom
O Connor, the second of Mr.. Nevin !;
shots were exchanged but no danger was
done.
IF DOoly had remembered how John
Farrago, a Pennsylvania militia captain,
once declined a duel, he might have
amended his answer to profit. Farrago
was once challenged and replied in these
words:
SIR have two objections to this duel
business. The one is lest / should hurt
you; the other is lest you should hurt
me. / do not see what good il would do
me to shoot you. / could make no use
of you when dead for any culinary pur-
pose as / would rabbit or a turkey. ]
could not eat you. Why, then, need
Iessly shoot you down A buffalo would
make better meat than you. For,
though your flesh may be delicate and
tender, it wants that frmness and
that takes and retains
salt. 1t might make good barbecue, it
is true, being of the nature of a raccoon
or opossum but l do not like barbecued
meat.
Besides, it would seem a strange thing
for me to shoot at anything that stands
still to be shot at, as / aDq accustomed to
shoot at things flying or running or jump
ing. Were you on a tree, now, like a
squirrel, trying to hide yourself in the
branches, and 1 could spy you through
boughs and leaves, your
hinder parts alone being visible, think
/ should enjoy taking a shot at you.
But as it is, there is no skill or judg-
mint in either discovering you or bring
ing you down.
AS to myself, I do not like TO stand in
the way OF anything harmful. / am
afraid you might hit me. / shall conse-
quently stay at distance. If you want
to try your pistols take some object, such
as tree or door, about my dimensions.
If you hit that send me word, and | will
publicly acknowledge that if / had been
in the same place you might also have
hit me. Yours truly, JOHN FARRAGo
Cor. Philadelphia Weekly Times.
she would never give the particulars oi
that nights work, and it must remain forever
a secret. The imagination can fill out pic
ture Of horror from the scant material given
The still quiet hunt for each other; the senses
all strained to catch the slightest sound OF
sight the dry cFackle of a twig; the sudden
burst Of flame; the repeated gun-shots, and
then the unsheathing OF knives, and deadly
rencontre, breast to breast. These seem tC
belong to fiction rather than to history.
THUS sighs the Burlington Hawkeye
d" One by one all the comforts of this life
are taken s'gay from the toiling millions
II used to Be a great consolation for us tc
think in our poverty that none OF our
rich neighbors could ever get to heaven.
Now. alas! we are assured that there IS