River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1883-07-05
FAMOUS VIRGINIA DUELs.
The Time when Man Was Considered a
Coward if He Would Not Fight.
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The Time When Man Was Considered a
Coward If He Would Not Fight.
Richmond (Va) Correspondence Philadelphia
Times
The recent bloodless encounters on the
field Of honor" in Virginia recall other and
more fatal meetings in former dsys, when
an insult could only De wiped out by the
blood of the insulter. and when a mans
rank. if emitting him to notice at all, de-
manded in a way that admitted of no refus-
al what is known to the believers in the
code" as satisfaction. A declination OF
challenge then was followed by
what is known as posting"
and Bladensburg, beyond the
border, has been made famous as the duel
ing ground of tle politicians of an
earlier day and generation, Peasants
and Ritehie and John NJ. Daniel
and Roger PRYOR. later, on eli editors and
eli politicians, were also q decade or so
back ell duelists. In those days the Rich
mond press was the moulder and fashioner
of political sentiment, and the wordy war
fare of whig and democratic editors culmin-
ated not infrequently In fierce summons
to the field of homer" The stories which
are told of the anti bellum duels put to
the most vivid blush the mild and milk
soppy performance of the nowadays Yir-
ginia politicians. The code" stood in
high rephte then, and the man who would
not fight was regarded as unfit for the So
eiety of ladies and gentlemen,
A FAMOUS DUEL.
One Of the r,os. famous OF the ante
bellum duels was the fatal one between
Richie of the Richmond Enquirer, and
John Hampden Peasants, of the Richmond
Wing Richie was democrat, and ran u
red-hot democratic paper Hampden
Pleesatt5 Was an uncompromising Whig.
4 personal attack in the columns of one
paper responded to by no less personal
answer in the other, resulted in challenge
and meeting. The scene was Belle Isle,
the little islet in the James river at Rich
mond. Here, in sight of the city's streets,
the two editors met and fought. They
had each gone to the fray armed with duel
ing pistols and swords. The conditions Of
the fight, as agreed upon by their seconds,
were that after the first fire with the pistols,
if neither should be hurt, they should have
recourse to their swords. The swords re-
NAMED In their scabbards. for at the first
shot Peasants fell dead in his tracks. A
no less notable duel was one which oo-
curted many years before the Richie Pleas
ants affair between Mason and McCarty.
Mason was q member of that historic Vir-
ginia family Of that name to which belonged
James Mason. the senator, and John Y.
Mason, the min lister of the confederate
government to F4anee, who was captured
by the union government from an English
shib dnrihg tie ,fabellioh in ,Sompspy with
Mir. Slidell Mason and AcCadg wete
brothers in. law. The feud between them
was a political one. they fought on the
dividing line of Louden and Prince William
counties. The weapons used were old
fashioned muskets, loaded with slugs.
Mason's ball knocked the hammer off Me-
Catty's gtin. WaGsrtE's ball went crashing
trough Masons Brain.
THE wIsEs AS DUELIsTs.
The Wises, of Virginia, have always been
greet duellists. Henry A. Wise, the distin-
guished war Governor, fought duel just
before the breaking out of tho war with
Philip st. George Cooke. Their difference
grew ont of canvass fet ssat il 9ougtees
10 which both aspired. 1t is said that
when they reached the field of honor"
Cooke undertook to jockey Wise's courage
by saying: 81 call heaven to witness that
am guiltlese Of this mans blood" Wise re-
Piled @You had better attend to your own
bi5od, id you, and put his bullet into
Jennings Wise, afterwards killed in the
rebellion, fought a duel about 1860 with
Sherrard Clemens, who at one time repre-
ssnted the Wheeling district in congress.
When the difficulty between Clemens AID
Jennings Wise first arose, Clemens an
nounced his purpose of not fighting. He
was engaged at the time to a young lady,
whom he afterwards married. She heard
Of his intention to refuse a COM
bat with Wise, and sent him word that un
less he fought he should never marty her.
He did fight and Wise's shot famed him for
life. ..3,.
a CHANGE IN PUBLIC sENTtAtENP.
Since the war the resort to the code. mas
not been so popular or so fashionable as
it once was. Peoples ideas on that subject
have of late years undergone great change
and to refuse an invitation to fight, as was
done some months ago by Mr.. Button, q
distinguished 1ynchburg editor, is apt to
bs thdte commended ard applaaded by
the Virginia people than an acceptable
and meeting. Politics are the breeders
and begetters of duels. Now and then
there has been an encounter on the field
| for the sake of woulat,'s smile, but these
have beea few and far between. Since the
question of the payment of the State debt
| ef Yirgipia has arisen to agltate the
tiislda OF statesmen, challenges have doeted
around like falling leays9 "a Etttutt1: This
laws of the State impose disqualification
to vote or hold Office upon all who are
concerned, directly or indirectly, with
| fighting a duel. But this does not seem to
diminish the readiness of the average poll
tician to rush headlong into the fray. In
these recent encounters, most OF which
have been as harmless as ridiculous, some
Of the most prominent men Of the state
have been concerned. Since the birth OF
the teadiustef party In 1877 there, have been
/ sorfie tel ct twslve sd called dt1els in Viz
GINA, resulting from politics, bit they have
nearly ell lacked the flavor of business
| which characterized the meetings OF the
| anti bellum politicians.
A DANGEROUS WOUND.
Before the growth of readjustment, when
| William E. Cameron, the present readjust-
or candidate for governor, Was editor OF the
Petersburg Iyader- Appeal, and thought a
native Virginia republican the lowest OF
Gods creation, an article in his paper
brought him in collision with one OF the
most distinguished republicans In the state,
| Robert w. Hughes, who has since been
pr6moted to- the post of judge of the United
States district court of the eastern district.
| In the duel which ehsued Cameron was dan =
perously wounded, and carries h'o ad-
ye+sary;s bullet In his body to this day.
| His boliticel disabilities have since been
removed by the Legislature. and nowhere
among his present republican supporters
for the eo4efnorsbip has hea warmer back
er than In Judge Robert W. Hughes.