The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-09-14
THE DUEL.


In 1915 Armistead T. Mason. O,
Loudon county. Va, entered the Senate
~ the United States-young, handsome
gifted. wealthy, with all his family pres
lge about him. He was also quick tc
g and rather overbearing When il
the Senate l believe he was the youpccst
member Of that body. His father had
oeen a United States Senator before him.
md was n nephew of the illustrious Georse
Mason just mentioned. t
The McCartys were related, remotely il
olood n closely by marriage, to the
Masons. the sister of his Armistead T.
Jason having mbrried William McCarty
afterward a member of the House of Rep.
esentatives. In 1910, when Mason had
leen about four years in the Senate, and
when he was not much over 80 years old.
here arose between him and John NJ.
dcCarty. the brother of William. some
difficulty of a political nature, which be.
ZONES more and more embittered by the
influence of injudicial friends. until the
Usual result OF Snch difficulties - in those
lays vas reached.
Mason had q young and devoted wife
WITH one child. a pretty little boy but n
ew months old. Their homo was called
selma, in the county of Loudon. John N.
ncCarty was q brilliant young lawyer of
the same county. and he was soon to be
married to the lovely Lucinda Lee. When
about to start for the .'fioll of honor /"
Mason persuaded his ur suapccting wife to
go on a visit to his mother. who lived at the
old Mason homestead. Raspberry Plain. n
few miles distant. All were in total ipno-
rance of his intentions. He left with his
physician q letter directed to my mother.
asking her, in case of his death, to go to
his wife and comfort her.
Thav fo,-kt n
tell at the first fire, and never spoke again
The old physician and my mother hastened
to his young widow and darling boy. and
had the hard task of telling first the dread
tui news. and transforming a world which
held nothing but beauty and happiness for
them into a dreary desert, scarce better
than the grave. Weeks passed. so over
whelming was her grief, before It became
certain that she would regain her senses.
scarcely less heart-rending wa the sorrow
that bowed down the dead Senator's fond
mother. "
In the meantime McCarty had written to
MISS Lee, relating what he had done, Qiv-
ing her a week for reflection, and asking
her to tell him at the end Of that time
whether she could marry him after what
had happened. She related to me, long
afterward, the agony of that week-how
she knelt in despair at her mothers feet
md asked her to decide. how the old lady
couid only advise her to follow her W
heart; how at Inst she sent O note to her
lover inviting him to call.
Their meeting she did not describe. but
it was said that, sitting at the instrument
as he entered, she sang the words
Come rest in this bosom, my own stricken dear;
Though the herd has flown from thee, thy home Is
still here. ~
/ know not, l ask not. II guile's in that heart
l but know that love thee, whatever thou art ~
After their marriage they settled in Lees
burg, near Selma.
The young widow of Mason at length
asked to go back to Selma. the scene of her
short welded life. Not anticipating what
was to follow, her attendants carried her
into the wide hall. There, raising her
eyes, they fell upon the hat IN coat
hanging Just as he had left them, which
her husband had on when she saw him last,
She covered her face, and with q shrek
begged to be taken to the rear rooms of the
house. There she remained. For twenty
years she did not enter the front part OF
the building. The rooms there, opening
from the dreaded hall, were kept in perfect
order, and guests occupied them Us usual.
But on the day when her boy-the lispine
infant when his father fell-became Q.
years Of nge, she invited all his blood rela.
tions to dinner. / was one of the number
We were all sitting in the library, toward
the rear of the house, when the door was
thrown open and the gray old butler bowed
his announcement. Without any intima
ton of breaking the habit of twenty years
Mrs. Mason promptly arose-a frail. fan
woman of 40-and, taking the arm of he.
son, walked directly into the front hall an
thence to the dining room, rs of old. On
surprise was great, but no word indicatin;
that this was unusual escaped her or an,
of the party. The spell was broken, AM
she stunned the hall no more.
From the date of the duel. ever on he
death-bed, h never mentioned the nam,
of her dead husband. Her boy grew vi
with the knowledge and feeling that an un
speakablc shadow rested on the house, con
corning whic1, however heavily it nigh
press upon their~souls. he must forbear /,
question even his mother. I was the frs
to tell him after he had reached manhoo,
all he wished TO know concerning hi
fathers death.
This son, Stevens Mason, was a true
hearted young man. with but little knowl
edge of the world. With a private tutor.
with servants to antic pate every wish.
with q stricken mother to idolize him, h,
missed till too late certain necessary les
sons in life which these could never Civ,
MIN. lie could not refuse to endorse 1;
note for n friend. and his mother could MOI
refuse to join him in whatever he put hi
name to. For one moment the shadows oil
his pathway seemed to lift, but only to set
tie more heavily about his way. He mar
ried q young lady who seemed worthy oi
him, who was a belle and a beauty. II,
brought her to Selma, where, az the,
fondly hoped, brightness and bappiness
were to reign once more. But his mother
while outwardly fulfilling every obligation
did not receive her as q mother should,
greeting her with but a formal offering OF
the hand instead of the expected embrace
and kiss of welcome rs she crossed til,
threshold. 1t was doubtless because he,
shattered life had made her own affection.
for him too selfish, and she did not wisl.
him to marry any one. Following closcl,
the first shock of disappointment to hei
young heart came a sudden fever, and il
three months from her arrival poor Steven,
laid his bride beside his murdered father.
Their fine estate, with all that pertained
to it, already melting from their hand. va.
soon possessed by strangers. Mrs. Mas~
liz not long survive the loss of Selma,
Although o wife had never loved her hus
band better, yet she not only refused t.
speak his name from the day Of the duel
but requested that her own remains should
not be buried at L~eesburg, and that nj
mark should be placed above her grave
wherever it might be. She lies in the Con
gressional Cemetery at Washington, with