Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-21

!
! and gave way to a motion 10 adjourn.
HOUSE.-After our report Closed
Several District bills were acted upon as
shown by the report elsewhere, under the
head of The District in Congress"
The Bennet.M May Duel.
| TWO ACCOUNTS OF IT-wHAT DIR. PHELPS
TOLD MR.. GEORGE WILKES.
The New York Times of Friday published
the story OF the duel Bennett fought, told by
an eyewitness" DIR. Phelps. The Times says:
There were five persons present al the Ben
nett May duel-two principals, two seconds.
and surgeon, who acted for both parties.
The latter, in familiar conversation in Feb
wary vi; last, on the evening previous to Mr..
| "eciIal OF what took place at that rencOn're.
Both parties brought their own pistols
Those of Mr. Bennett were hair triggers. new.
+ The finest fashion, most delicately bal
| lnced, and with all the latest Improvements
| hose of Mr. May were not new. Indeed they
Aere very old, and appeared to have seen
much service. They were less elegant. and
| eSS nicely finished than Mr. Benefits and as
turned out, very hard upon the trigger; the
| one that Mr.. Bennett got was so, at least
The party took their places, and the word
| vas given 10 fire. The direction was to fire at
the word fire, and not after the word three.
s. Almost st instantly upon. the word Mr.. May
Bennett, who pulled at his trigger, and evi-
IDENTITY with the best will in the world did not
succeed in getting his weapon off. He was
allied by the hardness or rather the stiffness,
| of the lock
1t was an exciting moment. No one who
looked at his eye, as it bore straight across the
angry wound which his opponent had inflicted
upon his face a few days before (while his
arms were entangled in his coatD could doubt
for moment what he then meant to do: but
the ineffective pistol exhausted the ''one, two
thee" by its reluctance and dropped harm
esSly by his side.
His second al once interposed and claimed
that as Mr. Bennett had suffered his risk and
disadvantage through no fault of his own, he
was entitled to return shot at Mr.. May.
Inc claim being according to rule, was, of
mpty-handed, before Mr.. Benefits pistol
| The fatal disk of the avenging weapon COW
cred him as the mercieSs word was given, but
| the lace OF Mr.. Bennett changed as he saw his
| opponent at his mercy, and before the signal
words were counted out he had forgiven him
| and fired in the air.
This terminated the proceedings, and as the
| parry left The ground, Mr.. Bennett, who, dur
ing the whole affair, had acted on his iudg-
ment; said to the surgeon, We'll, Doctor, do
you think did right -
II should have been sorry to have killed
any man who was at my mercy" was the an
Swer OF the doctor; but" glincing at the
scar he wears TO this day, and will carry to
his grave-he added, but with such pistol
hand as yours, | should have been terribly
tempted To wing him.
:" At any rate said Mr.. Wilkes, his con
duct was generous, and his opponents should
nave been glad to take any responsibility of
prosecution Qf that is what governed them)
to save him from being DETAINED and branded
as a coward. The gift of life was worth Ger
tanly as much as that
A DIFFERENT STATEMENT ALTOGETHER.
ne Baltimore Sun, Saturday morning, print
1T may be well to state that but four persons
were witnesses OF the occurrence, being the
principals and their seconds. DR.. ChaS. Thigh
man, of Baltimore, surgeon to Mr. Nav. and
MI. BENEFITS surgeon, DIR. PhelpS-who is re-
ferred TO lp the Times statement as an /" eve
witness were within reach but neither of
N hn
weapons used were regular dueling pistols,
the property at one time of Mai. VIM Gimor,
uncle OF Ma. Harry Gilmor, of Baltimore A
private letter now in the possession of friends
OF MT May in Baltimore, written at the time
OF The occurrence to an interested party in
New York, the substance OF which was posted
in the Union club New York, of which the
principals to the duel We're members, gives
the true story of the meeting and its results
for the first time, says:
i, have been extremely worried heretofore
that could not give you an actual statement
of the circumstances attending the late duel.
but all the parties were bound in honor to saw
nothing further than that one shot was fired
and that then the aggrieved party stated he
ever, shows that there has been diShonor-
able breach of faith on the part of Mr.. Ben
nett, and now make you detailed safe
ment of the affair"
DR.. Frederick May took his position about
ten PAGES to the windward of his principal,
and he was placed twelve PAGES from Mr.. Ben
nes D1 Frederick Hd May gave the word
slipped little and he said Not ready The
question was repeated. Mr.: May not getting
his pistol in his grasp well, again said mot
ready" AS to Mr.. Benefits reply it could not
be heard whether he said ready or mot
ready the wind blowing SO high. The third
time the question was asked both principals
were understood to say ready" and DIR. Fred
May proceeded to give the word, "Fire-one
two, three Both principals raised their pis
t9s. Mr. May was as cool and as calm as any
excited and nervous, his body Swaying to and
fro. Between 'One" and two" a cap was
heard to snap: Believing it to be Mr.. Ben
called out stop" He walked up to Mr. Ben
nett and asked: fDid your pistol free
Mr. c,i Bennett IT. said No, | did not shoot
DR.. Fredk. May then said: my principals
PP pistol has = s1apptd Do you claim shot"
hesitation, You can have it, and turning to
his principal, Mr.. May, stand up as you are"
MIR. Frederick May did SO, as calm and as cool
his pistol to an angle of about IS degrees and
fired; He then took one or two steps towards
Mr. Mays second and said he was entirely sat
isied before Or. May had asked him. 1t was
fully satisfied. DIR. Fredk. May then asked
Mr.. Robbins if he was satisfied, and he gave
the the same anne answer as his principal. The princ
me code under which the meeting had taken
place. Mr. Robbins then went up to MIR. MAYS
second and said: "Dr. May, there are none
others here l would be glad if you would
agree Inc to say there was one shot and the
aggrieyed party stated he was satisfied" DR.
May in reply said ''Of course will agree to
the request, with the understanding that none
OF us make further statement
Your letter shows that there has been a yio
latiOn of the agreement proposed by Mr. Rob.
bins, and that that violation is the act of Mr..
kobtlns'S principal In regard to the agree
ment to give Mr.. Bennett a shot after Mr..
Mays pistol missed fire, subsequent advice on
such matter goes to show that it has never
Deen heard OF that the opponent of the party
whose pistol missed fire, claimed shot, if he
dld not fire al, or so close to, the time of the
plstoIs swapping, that it was presumed he
could not hold his fire: but on the contrary,
gentlemen in that position have always low
cred their pistols, and demanded that the pis-
tolls OF both should be looked to and prmed.
And one gentleman pretty well acquainted
with these things, remarked that it was the
duty OF Mr.. Mays second to say "stop," and
either draw the loads or shoot off the pistols
and reload them for the parties, as miss fire
Is not a shot in this country, and 1t being pre-
sumed that only gentlemen are engaged i'm
such affairs, he had never heard of single
case where it had been claimed that miss
fire gave the other party right to an unre
turned shot. But DR.. Frederick May was com.
paratlVely unfamiliar with such things. and
the contingency of a miss fire had not occurred
to r.,l.z