The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-04-21
THE WHITE ROSE OF MEMPHIS. .


Z MANY Of the thrilling scenes are describe
a having transpired. This excellent wor
has been running a serial story IN IN
Ripley Advertiser for the last nine month
and has greatly increased the circulation Z
that paper, proving a real bonanza to tn
publisher. The work will be published i
book form by -. Appleton & Co, at An earl
day, and, as we think, viii meet with yer
rapid sale The successful career of Colone
Faikner a. i lawyer, tnancier, soldier al
railroad president has established his repu
taton a. a man of a high order of In
tellect, and will cause his book to b
largely sought for by the reading put
lie We know OF no man better qualified {
write All interesting romance than the au
thor Of the White Rose, because we know
that his life has been crowded thick witt
thrilling incidents OF romantic character
Thirty years ago lac wrote . little book en-
titled the Life OF McCannoH, which wa
I published by a company in this city, who
/ trusted to the honor Of the author TO pay
| them out OF the proceeds of the sale. III,
/ sold 300 of his books in one day, netting
/ 81 ,250, after paying cost Of printing. Col
/ talknCr Is All eloquent orator, and the
! brilliant canvass he made in 1876 as the
/ Tilden elector is well remembered by all
! Mississippians. He made the canvass at
/ his own expense, at a cost of near 81 600
/ declining to receive any Of it back when
/ his party proposed to reimburse him. he
/ is one Of those pubic-spirited men who are
of iacalculable advantage to the commune
/ ty in which they live. He founded the
| St0newall college, built the first narrow
guage railroad in the United States, and has
done a. much as any man in Mississippi
| for the encouragement of the agricultural
/ interests Of the country. As a lieutenant
in the Mexican war and as a colonel in the
| Confederate army he distinguished himself
and won the appreciation Of his superior
officers. He commanded the Second Mis-
sissippI regiment at the first battle of Man
assds, and it was on that bloody field that
General Beaurcgard pointed 70 Colonel
Falkner who was charging Ricketts, bat
terry at the head OF his gallant regiment,
and asked General Johnston who the officer
was who wore the black plume. On being
informed who it was, he addressed a new
battalion that had just arrived, and as he
pointed TO Colonel Eaikner, he said: "Men,
follow yonder knight Of the black plume,
and history will not forget you" This
occurred late in the evening on that MEM
orable day, when the left flank of our army
was being pressed back by fresh division of
Federal reserves. Ricketts, battery was pour
ing grape and canister at short range into
the Confederate ranks, moving them down
like wheat, and fate seemed on the eye of
deciding the day against the South. The
battle field was thIcklY strewn with the dead
and wounded. General Bee was killed, and
Colonel Falkuer was the only field officer of
the brigade who was not killed or disabled.
General Johnston, who had been engaged
at another part Of the field, now came gal
louing up to the spot to where his presence
was 50 much needed The general instantly
comprehended the critical situation, and
said to Colonel Falkner: THAT battery
must be sllenced Immediately at all hazards,
and Colonel Falkner, | shall depend on you
to do it." If / do not succeed, general"
the Colonel replied ''yOu will please have
my dead body sent home TO Mrs. Falkner."
Within three minutes atterward Colonel
Falkner was quietly seated on one of the
captured guns, experimenting the collection
of the gallant dead and wounded of his
command, eighty-two Of whom had been
shot down while making the charge. 1t
was while Colonel Ialkner was making that
gallant charge that General Beauregard
gave him the complimentary title of the
aKnight of the Black Plume" Colonel
Falkner has encountered and triumphed
over many dangers and difficulties, outside
of his military career, that would have dis
couraged and crushed the heart Of any but
a courageous hero. With all of the facts
connected with the Hindman feud, which
resulted in the death of Robert H. Hind
man and Mr.. Morris, we are perfectly IA
miiar, as one of the editors of the appeal
had the good fortune to effect Il final recon
Citation between Colonel Falkner and Gen
eral Thomas c. Hindman. Immediately
after Colonel Falkner was acquitted for
killing Mr.. Morris, whose life he had been
compelled to sacrifice in order to save his
own, General L. {. Hindman, the brother
of the deceased renewed the difficulty, a
street fight eusued, in which Colonel Falk-
ner, while acting purely on the defensive,
was forced to take his life, who became IN
yolged as the friend of General Hlndman.
As soon Is Colonel Falkner was tried and
acquitted for killing Mr. Morris, General
Tom Hindman attempted to shoot him across
the table at a hotel, but aeeidently dropped
his pistol on the floor, when it fired, sending
Il bullet through the ceiling just above
Fakner's head. Falkner instantly pre-
scented a revolver at Hindman, and instead
of shooting him down, as many man would
have done, he merely required Hindman to
let his pistol remain where 1t was, telling
him that he did not want to shed any more
blood, and he was determined not to do it
when he could avoid it without giving up
his own life. BY the interference of friends
the difficulty was for the time stopped, but
soon after was renewed and when Colonel
Falkner became convinced that another
fight was unavoidable, he consented to go
with Hindman to Arkansas, opposite Alen.-
phis and settle the matter finally. They
had drawn up and signed a written agree
ment to the effect that at . O'Clock ON the
morning of the first day of April, 1881.
they were to meet al point IN the state OF
Arkansas. four hundred yards from the bank
Of the Mississippi river and Immediately
opposite the foot of J Jefferson street, in Mem
phis, Tennessee, each to be armed with two
revolvers and no other kind Of weapons.
No seconds or surgeons were to be present,
and no friends of either party except one
witness, who had been selected and who
was known to be friend to both parties.
The name of that friend had been agreed
on and inserted in the written agreement.
The party who had been selected as the
witness was, by the agreement, only re-
quired to take his stand at a safe distance
and witness the combat, without any at
tempt to interfere. The agreement bound
the parties to take their places fifty yards
apart, and when the word was given they
had the right to advance and fire as often
as they wished. Now, as luck would have
it. the party who had been agreed upon as
the witness happened to be a man more
inclined to prevent the shedding of blood
than he was to encourage hOstllltIes. Con
sequently, when the parties came to Mem
phis, on the day previous TO that on which
the combat was to be fought, he went to
work to prevent the meeting, which he sue
eeeded in doing. One of the editors of the
Appeal was the man they had agreed on,
and it has ever been q source of gratihea-
ton to him to know that he did not only
prevent the fight, but that he succeeded in
making two bosom friends out of two deadly
enemies We have often heard General
Hindman since that time speak OF Colonel
Falkner in the highest terms of praise. de
said that through all those troubles, Colonel
Falkner's conduct was that of brave, hon
orable man, who only fought in self-defense.
Women of Many Husbands.