Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-09-27
The Dark Secret.

In his repOrtOrial travels afew days ago
a Times representative stumbled upon
an ''oldest inhabitant," who, only after
earnest solicitation, it must be said, re-
counted the details of famous duel
fought here in September, 1858, nearly
twenty years ago, the spot chosen for
the slaughter being almost precisely
the one selected by United States Sena-
tor James H. Lane, when he sent the
bullet crashing through his brain, which
put such q sudden end to his Senatorial
career. The fact of the duel has here
tofore been known as the :" dark secret"
and so far as is known has not hereto
fore been divulged, as the parties con-
cerned were sworn never to reveal it
until some future time, when conceal
ment would be no longer a necessity.
The necessity for concealment no longer
exists, and the full facts relative to one
of the most remarkable, bloody and de-
termined duels ever fought upon the
blood-stained- soil of historic Kansas,
are for the first time made public. As
is well known, the period prior to the
reception of Kansas into the Union of
States was time of trouble and tribu-
lation; time which tried mems souls;
when the Bowie knife and the ready re-
volver were the sole arbiters of quar-
rels; when the value of a mans life was
measured solely by his ability to pro-
tect it, and when law and order were
among the things to be, and not of the
things which were. The strife for su-
premacy among the Free-State men
and the border ruifians was bitter to the
last degree; war to the knife, and the
knife to the hilt, struggle bloody with
out precedent, and essentially aggres-
sive. Among the Free-State men who
was conspicuous for his advocacy of
equal rights was youthful Massachu-
sets lawyer named Williams, talented
young limb of the law, brave, resolute
and daring, who would face battery
if duty demanded it, and who never
counted upon results when principle
was at stake.
He was q marked man at the time,
and the opposition was determined that
he should be put out of the way. En-
rolled in the border ruffian ranks was
lusty Southern named Jackson, Ten
nesseean, a firm believer in the " CODE"
crack shot and utterly fearless, cold
blooded and cool, man of fine pres
ence, and who hated Yankee as he
hated Satan. He was the one Sc
lected to put Williams out of the way;
to pick quarrel with the victim and
then let the bullet finish the work.
Meeting one afternoon on Delaware
street, the two became engaged in con-
versation, and bandying words, hot
dispute arose, ending by Jackson spit
ting in Williams face. This was au
insult too gross to be brooked, and
nothing but the interference of friends
prevented a tragedy then and there.
The result was challenge, the parties
to meet upon tho Government reserve
next morning at daylight to fight it
out. Pistols were chosen, and after
two shots the parties to close with
knives. Jackson, being the challenged
party, had the selection of the weap-
ons, and being an expert with both the
revolver and knife, clio = them TO be
used in the duel. Williams. while COM
paratively good shot with the revolv-
er, could not approach his antagonist
in the use of that weapon, while with
the knife he was wholly unacquainted.
However, he could not back out, and
knowing inevitable death to be the re-
suit, he proceeded to the spot chosen,
determined to sell his life as dearly as
possible. In the gray daylight of the
autumn morning the two men, accom-
panied by two seconds and a surgeon,
met upon the reserve a short distance
northwest of the head of Broadway, and
prepared for the bloody work before
them. Both were cool and collected,
the first because of the anticipation of
an easy victory, the other firm in the
belief he was in the right and resolved
to make his mark, even if he could not
kill his adversary. Ten PAGES was the
distance. Both men grasped their re-
yolvers and waited the word; the sec
onds looked anXiOusly on, as spec
tators would at public eXecu-
ton where victim was to be
sacrificed; the word was given.
Both fired simultaneously, and when
the smoke cleared away neither had
fallen, although by the nervous twitch-
ing of the muscles of Williams face it
could be seen that he had been hit, but
Jackson was uniniured; at the second
fire Jackson's bullet whistled over
Williams head, while the ball of the
latter imbedded itself in the tieshy part
of his adversary's thigh; the knives
were then drawn and the two closed in
mortal strife. Maddened by his wound
jackson fought with the desperation of
despair; Williams, cooler, his Northern
blood asserting itself, stood, like
fierce lion at bay, defending himself
against onslaughts of the tiger. In an
ungarded moment Jackson was thrown
from his guard, and at that instant the
keen blade of his antagonist pierced his
left side, infiicting, however, a not
mortal wound, the blood streaming
forth in torrents.
But Williams, from the effect of the
bullet wound and loss of blood, was
becoming exhausted, and being a
novice with the knife, he could not
stand up against so trained and prac-
ticed an adversary as jackson; and the
end soon came. jackson, although
weak from the loss of blood, pressed
fiercely on, and succeeded by a quick
movement in parrying side thrust by
Williams, dashed forward, his bright
blade glittering and flashing for a
moment in the air, and then being
buried deep in the throat of his enemy,
the point protruding from the back OF
Williams neck. The latter stood erect
out mOneHJ, MS hnlle urOpplnS lIOih
his nerveless hand, his eyes glazed in
the semi-consciousness proceeding dis
solution, and then he fell dead without
a groan.
Jackson was seized at once by his
friends and hurried across the river,
where, after a sufficient time to recover
from his wounds, he turned his steps
homeward and never again set his foot
upon Kansas soil. He entered the
rebel army and died at the head of his
regiment at Gettysburg. The seconds
and surgeons returned to the city and
said nothing about the affair. The
body of Williams was hurriedly and
privately inferred, and while the dis
appearance of both Jackson and Will
Jams for time excited comment and
caused the institution of a thorough
saarch nv H. air friends the mattar WAS