Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-07-14
SHOOTING AT THE PRIEST.
DENT.
History Repeats ItscIf-Thc Muir
derous Assault Upon President
jackson In 1886.

jackson In 1886.
WASHINGTON, July. 6.-The attempt of
Richard Lawrence to nseassinate President
jackson wos attended by circumstances and
surroundings which bear striking analogy
to those of the recent more startling event 10
this city. Ia that case tho would.be assassin
displayed the greatest coolnoss and resolution.
BY careful inquiry he ascertaiped that the
President would be present at tho Capitol ut
the funeral of n distinguished member of tho
House of Representatives, Warren II. Davis
of South Carolina. lie stationed himself on
tho East portico, where he waited the close
of tho ceremony in tho House of Representa~
tlVes, and for the procession to moye out
through the rotunda; and as tho President, in
company with MIR. Woodbury., the Secretary of
the Treasury, passed within feet Of him,
Lawrence stepped forward and snapped a
pistol him. The percussion cop, then re-
cent invention, exploded with loud noiso,
which arrested tho attention of all present.
The assassin imm ediately dropped tho pistol,
and drew another which ho likewise snapped
without effect In moment he was knocked
down by Lieut.. Gedney, of tho navy, and was
secured. On examination twas ascertanod that
both pistols were in good ordcr and that they
had been carefully loaded with powder and
ball. The Globe, tho official organ, regarded
the future Of tho caps to explode as evidence
of the experimenting caro- of Providence over
tho great defender of the liberties of tho
people. 1t was no fault of Lawrence, at any
rntc, that he failed to execute his murderous
purpose. lie had laid his plans for oncoun-
tcring the President with skill, md displayed
tho desperate courage of .modern Nihilist
in carrying them into execution. Unlike the
wretch Guiteau, who assailed his unsuspeut-
ing victim from behind. Lawrence confronted
tho cngle eye of the old hero, and, according
to tho statement of tho latter. he did not
quail when act upon by the President and
his friends.
According to tho National tatelligcnccr of
that date, Lawrence was lunatic who i'm
agined that President Jackson had killed his
father, although the latter, houso painter by
trado, died in his bed ten or twelve years
prior to this evont. lie also beloved, or pre.
tended to believe. that no was tho lawful heir
to the crown of England. His whole manner
was frank and fearless and these hallucina-
tions may hn vc been only feigned. At any
rate. Gen. jackson and his organ, tho Globe,
though. so, and the General regarded Law
renee as tho agent for executing the blood
thirsty decrees Of his enemies. The follow.
ing remarks of tho Globe arc identical in
in spirit with those quoted in the San from
some of its contemporaries in reference to
the assassination Of Mr.. Garfeld
"Whcthcr Lawrence has caueht, in his
Visits to the Capitol, tho mania which pro-
vailcd during the two Inst sessions of tho
Senate; whether he has become infatuated
with the chimeras which have troubled tho
brains Of the disappointed and ambitious
orators who havo depicted the President ma n
Caesar who ought to have I,rutua. os n
Cromwell. Nero, Tibcri US. we know not.
1t no secret conspiracy has prompted tho
perpetration of the horrid deed, wo think il
not improbable that some deusion of intel.
lect has grown out of his visits to the Capi-
toi, and that hearing despotism, and even bor
riblo mischief threatened to tho Republic and
revolution and all it's train Of calamities i'm :
huteu MS the necessary consequence Of the
Presidents measures, 1t ,nhy be that tho In.
fntuated man fancied bo had reasons to bp,
come his country's avenger.. If he had heard
and believed Mr.. Calhoun'a speech of tho
day before yesterday, Ito would lave found in
it ample Justification for his attofipt OF, ono
who was represented rs tho cause of the most
dreadful calhmites to tho nation, as ono who
madc perfect rottonness and corruption to
peryade the sitala Of tho Governments. inso,
much that it was scarcely worth preserving,
If it wero possible"
In the Senate, on February Q, Mr.. Calhoun
called attention to these remarks of the
Globe, and had them read from tho Secro.
tary's desk. In the course of his remarks ko
said:
Whatever might bo tho character Of tho
paper (thc Globe from which tho paragraph
just road had been taken; however low, how
over degraded it's character might bo, it was
yet known to be the organ Of the Executive
will, and that it was Sustained. pampered by,
and dependent hpotl that bfsu6h Of tho CO.:
vernment, and in commenting on paragraph
like the present, in which the Executive was
personally concerned, it was not m unfair
presumption to conclude that it had had his
sanction--had been authorized by him. 10
pass over the personal insinuations, which, rs
he had observed, wero unworthy Of notice, ho
Mr.. o. would aay q fow words on tho now
poiticgl principle set forth in the paragraph.