The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-07-17
"REMINISCENCES OF TWO REMARK
ABLE JACKSON MEN.
COL. ALEX. IL. McCLUNG. AND SOL
ONION TIFF, ESQ.
BY A JACKSON BOY.


Perhaps, nature never formed tw
characters more dissimlar. Groupe
around each, were strange fancies an
localities. The one was the Thunder
bolt, born amid angry clouds, an
nurCured by the terrific whirlwind
the other, was the Summer cloud
bourn along over mountain precipice
and secluded valleys. The one glorie
in the shock of battle and the viii,
shrek of distorted nature the other
delighted to linger in wild solitudes
and found sympathy and sweet com
munion with everlasting silence. Tn
one, born among the granite rocks O
New England, upon whose summit
the everlasting SHOWS held dominion
the other, nurtured in infancy ant
more mature manhood, in the darl
and bloody ground" where the wilC
war whoop of the savage still seemed
to linger in its mountain fastness
The one, flashing meteor, tina
streamed across the summer sky
leaving behind it terrific darkness
that appalled, mems souls with the
deepest gloom the other, a twinkling
star, that beamed with tender light
across the evening sky, and then was
lost behind wandering cloud.
1t is not this writer's intention to
speak of these two men, only as con
nected with incidents that have left
vivid impressions upon those who
knew them, and that, perhaps, may
lead us to reflect, that we are not the
arblters of our own destiny, but that
we are to some extent, creatures OF
circumstances and may be moulded
into the views and feelings of those
with whom we are brought in contact,
or may repel them altogether. Such
were the characters of these two men,
whose names are Presented to the
TtautE Ill JllGSt "reminiscences.
COL. A. X. McCLUNG.
When quite a young man, Col.
McClung, then a rising young lawyer,
moved from Kentucky, to Mississippi,
and located at Jackson. Perhaps no
man ever came to Mississippi with
brighter hopes for the future. Young,
intelligent and with form like II
Hercules, he seemed endowed with
those gifts that characterized the lion
hearted Richard in his day ever
ready to cope with his adversary in
the arena, when the strength Of mus
Gle and sineW was the test of
or on the forum, when
the god-like intellect held the multi
Jude entranced and the need of
victory was the civic crown of intel
ectual superiority, placed upon the
BROW, by their admiring countrymen.
He came in these days when knights
Grant made the gallant young State
If Mississippi the arena for their con-
ests. There were the Brian BOis du
iilberts, the Hugh de Laceys, Knights
# IVanhoe and Cour de Icons in the
PERSONS of John A. Quitmen, Sargent
J. Prentiss, Henry S. FOote, Alex X.
IcClung and a host of others, each
With untarnished shields and buck
ers, ready to meet in the political
rena any Sir Knight who might feel
he desire of crossing lances with
hem or having a joust of another
rder, when the morning salutation
yas, "Pistols for two, and coffee for
'ur." McClung, young, impetuous,
threw himself into the
olitical contests of his adopted State,
nd his fiery nature soon involved
i'm in difficulties, over which it We're
ell, if the mantle of charity might
: thrown as a veil, and cover up the :
lastly, sickening revelations, which
me unfOlded in those dark days, |
hen the terrible code was the arbiter,
Y which men close their disputes and
ore frequently their eventful lives.
One summer evening, this young
levelier met the lamented Col. Allen {
the "Field of honor" as it was {
EN- called, and when the sun stream '
low I'm the West, like a great ball q
fire, its latest beams seemed TO
ink up, or dry up the blood of this
st victim of the unfortunate politi- b
contests that involved this young d
into the first taking of II
imam life. IL was the first step, but u
len that was taken, a deep gulf II
,med to yawn between him and his 0
low men; and like Cain, he wan u
red forth, with the mark upon his u
DIV; and deep remorse within his II
art. The death of Col. Allen, filed "
! soul with the deepest contrition, e
{ il was in the death of the young q!
chivalrous Meneffee, that the u
assure of his woes seemed to have ="
minated. Born on the same soil and u
youth inhaling the same mountain "a "a
that swept across the blue ~
.ss regions of their native State, -
de forever historic by the noble
lievements of her hardy and adj
lturous sons i'm the early history of ga
,ir country, the recollections of an
ich should have bound their hearts gr
4 happy unison. But these impress sh
rs, if they crossed their minds, were hi
ever banished, and they went forth yo
n the demon Of hate ranking in lao
ir bOsOms, ready 10 imbrue their sq
IDS i'm each others blood, and cast a ~, ~,
ON forever, over the lives Of their ca
nds and relations. of
t was the custom Of the young men ~ =,
boys in those early days Of Jack an
10 GO down 10 the river and hathe. ms
, summer evening, McClung and hi'
lefTee and several other young men NJ
,t dawn fo the river. and as they