, 1881-07-31
EARLY CHICAGO.


CHICAGO, July 3G.-ThGrc are many incidents
connected with the history Of early Chicago
which are now only retained In tho memory Of
tho fast-tleparting pioneers, and which, unless
soon placed upon record. will be lost in oblivion.
It is my purpose at this time call attention to
one OF those incidents,-an affair OF honor
not, however, with any intention Of writing 1t
up, because tho PARTIES beligerent still 1lv-
ing Thy which it will be seen that the affair did
not end traEicaliy}, and they will undoubtedly
give the account in full. SO that 1t may be re-
garded as authentic It would be we'll, too, to
reproduce tho then current illustrations OF the
affair." the original Of which probably did not
survive the great fire, but l think could de-
scribe it SO. as to give an artist the idea with
tulerable clearncSs.
Tho parties referred to are Mat.-Gen. David
Hunter and the Hon. John Wentworth. Who
would suspect these distinguished, venerable, and
now honorable men Of being reformed duelists?
AS stated. will not attempt to write up the in
cident. but merely give the outlines, together
" refresh tho memories of tho gentlemen them~
selves In case they should conclude to give
the. narrative In full In those days our
ageneut of the War Department, and Chicagu
being OH the frontier. was, up to 1857, the head
quarters OF that branch Of 1ae 1as a service M aeea
Of 1900 or 500. In September of that year the
last Indian payment this side Of the Mississippi
made as n 5hep ae
the ssnrrns of Hoosiers from the Wabash with
their great wagons. or prairie schooncrs, as
they were called, and with the general, rush of
emigration thither, Chicago was indeed won
dcrful place. Capt. Hunter was III army officer
stationed at Fort Dearborn. think he RESIGNED
but was afterwards reinstatcd in the army. At
any rate, he was Interested In, as understood,
and, to some extent had responsiollitles con-
corning, Indian AFFAIR." Mr. Wentworth, or
"LoNG" !" JOHN,
as hts friends were pleased to call MIN, was ed
,itur OF the Chicago Denuc1tlt. one OF the two
weekly journals of that dny, the other being the
Democra.tic Dem sure enough, and nothing else.
Wig 4 prf pprsy, q which Dsnic Webstcr ana Heary
new never mentioned the Wing purity or the Whig
journal,-tho -a.ncrica.-or any Individual
Whs except in ter terms q Bot aWavs
spoke Of tho Dcsn0crdt as tho "loco-toco orEan,
and OF the editor US ..Long John, or "Johnny
Hnw" or he OF the Democrat, =, or words to That
affect. Though ! was not full grown at that
lime. vet what there was OF me WIS nu uncom-
promising Wing, and used to lay the attacks Of
heart: nv nnin1osity was aroused. and took
good deal of satisfaction ia seeing Mr.. Went
worth soundly scored. But al those anlnosl-
ties are now forgotten, and, with the rest Of Mr..
Wc,lt,gorth's friends, regard him Us souud to
the core,--an fact, pure gold But to return- In
1888 Or 81 rs near as remem9e IL e,!peraiy appeaifs
upon Capt. Hunters management or cunuecEon
with Indian ntrairs. The Captain being Whis
probably PROMPTED the attac1 omoT w me as
rhtng Of that sort, wus ut stake, he rhercupon
promptly gathered up his shoottng-irons. and
without waiting for the usual preliminary for
muijties OF cu1ling in friend TO make nrranNc-
1ucpts hastcued to tho Office Of the DtHocfdf;
presented his pistols to Long. John; and te tola
der. or how the 'atTatr'' was arranged without
bIoodshcd, never learned. only know tnat
..Lous" John never quallcd, nor dln his cneek
M 011r knees before such |lstant, ana begged
Of him to put up his artillery, or Ut least to tako
out the powder hut ~ 9os e. SO @ Mfi we ach
l,ccaisa be never said that ho did. suspect
TINT he engaged the Captain IN q political dls
cussioa BY aenoanIs e m as ne
taut. and in rushing to the dctense OF nis parry
he forgot his private grievances. nut t's Is ai'
fmnnrtial ACCOUNT, and who SO capable of giving
it rs tho parties themselves?
rcuc!nber seeing Lisle Smith begin asl attack
nes,sa front of the %Eaglo % The Eagle was saioon
kept by
IN sho west side of Dearborn street, near South
Water which saloon WIS the political, soctai'
convivial. literary and financial centre OF IN
cago at that time. This Saloon though Kept ~
oi illinois, also called together tho
Wings for political discnss;Slon, and L hepee
it tho political centre Mhy = was = sS9 tae eG
atYnc hta'se he 0uy solids to be had there
were cloves and grains of coIee..:Water, 700,
was scarce therein: nne.e We nonnrs az e
and as that was the only place in chicago Wnete
there wis such an extensive collecaon OF reau-
inE natter, of course 1t was the lier,.ry centre
There, being lio banks in Chcaso at thnl time 70
speak Of nearly all the small silver coin of the
little community tho copper ws ,l' 10 use &C. o. l"uhu
Sna %Deneyer aS epas Que Presented dollar bl %
neishpering 1n stoner ~ round to the
Eagle tfor all we're nearly "ltnln |. a'oix hi
| thropg} to take drink. 50 Is to Dreak me oin'
Hence the Eagle was likewise ne nnanc,ai ceha r.
rrc phiIo Carpenter kept store away IN tne
suburbs, on South Wntcr street, between "a
Sale una Wells, and it might have been because
| he was 40 remote that phlo never avalted h!n,
self Of this financial convenience | may ao9
! that as the hard times of 3! and ~ continued
in stringency, change became so scarce ta ~, ~.
a. few pieces OF Spanish coin were leit: "a and they
hccnrnt. worn to film from constant oorro"lng
| for pnying postage. Let our rampant gold men
possess their souls in patience t1,l anotn9r ,t
y, onote te0 pnper currency, and gold is leaving
tho country, and they VIII iIIver be ao'Inri Hlaa
tnat ae oone p and Only sorry that it had not been
made free, like that of gold, instead OF oetng re-
stricted US it Is .,a
| chnTnplon Of tho Whig party In the person OF
| Isle Smith and of the De1nocracy tp that OF OF
| Long" John must have reminded scripture M ~
| randers-ff there were any In tho croWd-0r the
| nesting of David and Goliath Mr. Smith, who
was a very small man, pranced around his great So
antagonist without ans signs OF 1eaT: while M nr'
| ! onIy remember that Mr. Smith repeatedly
charged Mr: Wentworth With , -paolishtng
paipable lie about bis trieua, Gapt .at Munfer
s1ress would this winter rip up those Indian af-
That together WITH fssnf ts1 the 1nstpa v
n,sn knowledge, as the lawyers say, about that
| affair of honor - H. H.
When life is drug, and you have lost all hope,