Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-11-13
FAMOUS DUEL.
anderoy, in wesIeyan Advocate..


GiIderoy, in Wesleyan Advocate.
Long ago, in the days of our mill
tary glory, when S. s. Prentiss was
the pride Of Mississippi, and A. X.
McClung was in the height of his
fame as a daelist, the "code of hon
or" SO called, held high place in
the estimation of a large class of our
citizens. This was then the popu-
lar way of settling disputes and
avenging insults. 1t looks like a
shame that sensible men in a Chris
tan country should adopt or approve
this mode of settlement, and call ii
by the high-sounding title, "cOde OF
honor" when, in fact, it is a code OF
shame and disgrace. But so it was.
About this time there lived in
Winston coudty, Miss, two young
men about as unlike as two young
men could well be. One of them,
William Smith, was tall, broad
shouldered, red-headed, rather fine
looking young man, who was as
proud as Lucifer, and always car
ried about with him double charge
of dignity. Bill, as the boys called
him, though such familiarity always
hurt him, was always on the look
out for an insult. His feelings stuck
out so far that it was impossible to
get near him without running
against some of them. Indeed, he
could not endure anything that got
i'm the way of his pride. The only
way to get along with him pleas
antly was to flatter him all the time,
but this made the flatterer feel like
a contemplate hypocrite, which he
was.
The other young man, James
Jones, called Jim for short, was
low, chunky, heavy-set fellow, and
rather hard featured, but he had in
him a warm, true heart, and was
the friend of everybody, and every
body liked him. lie was born
wag, and loved joke and enjoyed
a laugh, even at his own expense,
which is rare gift in professional
iOkers. Jim was part Irish and had
inherited the streak of wit and fun
characteristic of that race. At times
Jim carried his love of fun too far
and hurt the feelings of people,
especially of those who were a little
sensitive anyhow. But nobody was
more ready to make amends for the
wrong done than was Jim Jones.
The fact is, there was such vim Of
humor in all he did that it was i'm
possible to get mad at him, and
harder still to stay mad. Jim
iOked into his troubles and then
jOked out of them.
In the autumn of 1910, Bill Smith
and Jim Jones met at a party given
by the Widow FOy. Bill was elab-
orately dressed in a new suit of
cloth, his coat cut in the style then
in vogue, which was in "claw-
hammer" tail. His pride was man
ifest, and his immense dignity never
seemed so prominent before. Jim
Jones was mOdeStly attired in new
suit of hOmespun jeans, made out
and out from the raw material by
the def fingers of his mother and
sisters. 1t was generally known
that Bill Smith, like a terrapin,
carried everything he had on his
back, while Jim Jones was laying
up something for rainy day. Jim
was brim-full of fun and was max
ing things lively at the party. I'm
luckily for him, he concluded to
work a practical joke on Bill Smith.
He knew how sensitive Bill was,
but trusted to luck to pacify him.
Just before the dance was to COM
mence, he slipped around and
pinned a large bandnna banker
chief to Bill Smiths cOat-tail. Bill
danced up and down the room two
or three times before he discovered
that he was the cause of so much
merriment. When he discovered
the snowy appendage dangling at
his heels, the fountains of his wrath
broke loose, and he vowed ven
geance upon the man who had made
such a spectacle of him in company.
Jim, poor fellow, begged pardon
and then tried to laugh Bill into a
good humor, but it only made mat
tiers worse.
The next day Bill Smith chal-
lenged Jim Jones to a settlement
according to "the code" Jim
promptly accepted the challenge,
named the day two weeks off, fixed
the place in a large old field, and
chose to fight with short swords on
horseback, the contestants to ap-
sides of the field at full gallOp and
to commence fighting as soon as
they met.
Jim Jones thought it was a terri
BILE thing to be killed or to kill a
man over bit of innocent Irish
fun, while Bill Smith thought him
self justitiable in exposing his own
life or in taking the life of Jones in
an effort to sustain his wounded
dignity. This, however, is a foolish
notion to which some minds cling
with death-like tenacity. Human
life is too sacred a thing to be wan
tOnly exposed to danger or taken,
unless for good cause. But so it
was-they were to fight. The terms
and conditions of the deadly en-
counter had all been arranged ac-
cording to a "cOde" that could have
originated no where else than in
hell, or, next to it, in a depraved
human heart.
Bill Smith owned the finest horse
in Winston c0unty-a large, spirit
ed, dappled gray. During the in
tervaI between the challenge and
the fatal meeting, he put himself
and his fine horse through regular
course OF training in short sword
exercise. He spent from two to
four hours a day i'm the saddle, cut
ting and clearing the air with his
sword and in warding OF imaginary
blows and making thrusts at an inn
aginary foe. In his own mind he
was IA great hero, but To cool-headed
people he looked like fool, which
he was. All this time Jim Jones
was at home at work, keeping his
own counsel and receiving the adj
vice of his friends with smile OF
indifference. When anyone told
him las plenty of people were ready
to dol of the preparations being
made by his antagonist, and of his.