West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-02-01

A ne meeIng between John SWartWOut
md Dewitt Clinton has been too often
I described 10 permit extended comment
/ owartwout WAS a Sachem of Tammauv
| and an intimate friend of Burr. The
I duel was most determined one. Five
/ shots were exchanged, and Swartwout
/ was wounded twice. lie was still uusat-
l,hed, and would have popped away till
night If Clinton had not thrown down
Z his pistol in disgust and left the field.
Two years later Richard Riker. Gin.
I toms second, was lamed for life by "A
ball planted in his hip 10y Robert Swart-
wout, the indomitable Sachem's brother.
ON the same spot.
The next affair of note was the Burr
Hamilton duel 1t would be painting
the lily to rewrite this historical tragedy.
for its details are As familiar To most
Americans aS household words There
are some attendant features of il. how
| ever, of remarkable interest. The duel
/ had been set for July IL, 1904. During
the intervening time neither party be-
| trayed any sign of the impending en-
counter They met socially at the
Fourth of July banquet of the Society
of Cincinnati, of which Hamilton was
! President and Burr n member.
Long after one had moldcr,d To dust.
and the other, grown old in exile. had
returned to his native country To die a
/ broken, lonely man, fellow-guest i'm
bis memoirs noted their difference Of
demeanor on that occasion
Hamilton was gay, airy, bright of
feature and attire, n was his wont.
Burr, silent, and alone with his gloomy
thoughts never glancing at his rival un-
TIL Hamilton, urged by those about him,
struck up the only song he knew or was
ever heard TO sing " The Drum"
Then Burr turned his brooding face
upon the singer, and never relaxed his
close scrutiny until the final echo of the
last stave had died away.
After the duel the 1t. Andrews Soci-
ETY. erected a monument on the spot TO
commemorate Hamilton's death and
serve as solemn warning against repcti.
tions of'the tragedy which had led to it.
How far il succeed is best attested by
the following paragraph from the
Columbian, Of 1918: Nowadays the
boats arrive from your island (New
York; in broad daylight, the combat
ants take their stand ON each side Of the
ominous monument. and before the in
habItants can reach the spot the mis-
chief is done" The monument was "a.
ken down to remove such temptations
That anything funny should ever
take its rise from so CHASTITY a tragedy
seems impossible, yet such is actually
the case. In Bur's own "reminiscences
couple of incidents are noted which
show how far the popular burlesque of
the most serious matters can 90.
In 1919, after his return from his long
period OF European exile, Burr received
the following communication, which in
vestigation proved to be a forgery
"AARoN BURR-Sr: Please 10 meet me
with the weapon you chuse on the H. Of
May, where you murdered my father, at
one o'clock with your seconds g MAY.
1919. j. .A.HAMuToN.U
On another occasion, while travelling
in the interior of the state, he once came
| upon " waX-work show" whose chcJ
PTurre was an execrably modelled group
representing himself and Hamilton i'm
the act OF firing, and explained by the
following dOggerel:
80 BURT o Burrl what hast tboi donor
Thou has shooied dead great Hamilton.
You hid behind bunch Of thistle,
Aud shOotcd him dead with great horse pistol u
Previous to the Hamilton affair
occurred one Of the most determined
and diabolical encounters which stain
our annals. The heroes of it were Can.
tain Thompson, Harbor-master Of the
Port OF New York, and William Cole
man, the editor of the MOrnjng Chroaiole.
The quarrel as usual, was poItico-
personal one.
The parties met in the twilight of q
bitter winter evening IN lonely Love
Lane, now University Place. II was 30
one another, and after the first fire thew
moved closer together i'm order to take
definite aim. At the third fire ThOmp-
son cried "Pve got it," and fell face
/ down in the snow.
His hurt was mortal. He was brought
70 his sisters house i'm town. laid ON
I the doorstep and the bell rung The
family came out 90 find him almost at
the last gasp. He refused 10 divulgc
the name of his antagonist saving he
had come to his wound fairly and IN
was not until long after his death that
| Coieman's agency in the affair became
known
In 1916 Major Greene. Of the British,
army, shot Benjamin Price, q grocer,
/ Tor resenting an insult To a lady at "a
/ theater Some years later a Captain
| wilson, on his way from England 10
Canada, bOasted over q dinner table I'm
/ New York that he had been mainly i'm.
/ strumental in bringing about the duel
! in which Price had lost his life. The
/ dead mans brother Stephen heard of
/ this. lie was at the time laid up with
the gout; but he paid such Difference
to the orders Of his physician that he
was soon able TO hobble out. Tie sought
/ Captain Wilson at his hotel at once.
My name is Stephen Price" bo
said. You see that / can scarcely put
one foot before the other. I am af
ficted with the gout. Nv object In
/ coming here is 10 insult you. Shall
have to knock you down. or will Won
/ consider what ] have said sufficient i'm
/ suit, and act accordingly|
/ The Captain acted accordingly and
1 the avenging brother shot him dead on
/ BedlOe's Island TWO days later.
During the Mediterranean cruise Of
/ the Java in 1867, the " Hero of Lake
/ Erie insulted and struck Captain
/ Heath, of the Marine Corps. while
drunk. After the return of the Java to
+ the United States, Heath obtained am
exchange into another vessel. and sent
/ his former commander a cartel. They
met 40 Wcehawken ON October 10. 1915.
Heath missed his aim altogether Perry
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