The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-07-05
FAMOUS VIRGINIA DUE1s.
Tho Time when Man Was Considered .
Coward If He Would Not Fight.
Richmond VA) Correspondence Philadelphis

what is known as posting,
and Bladensburg, beyond the
border, has been made famous as the duel
ing. stound of tie politicians of an
earlier day ard generation. Peasants
and Richie and Joha 4! Daniel
and Roger Pryor. later on all editors and
all politicians, were also decade or so
back all duelists. In those days the Rich
niohd ptess was the moulder and fashioner
of political sentiment, and the wo1dy war
fare of wing and demo Cratic 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 1iTtd blush the mild and milk
soppy performance Ut the nowadays Vir-
ginia politicians. The code" stood in
high repute then, and the man who would
not fight was regarded as unfit for the So
ciety Of ladies and gentlemen.
AFAMoUs DUEL.
One of the most famous, of the ante
bellum duels was the fatal ons between
Richie of the Richmond Enquirer, and
John Hampden Peasants, of the Richmond
Wht0. Richie was democrat, and ran a
red hot denaoetatis paper. Hampden
Peasants was an uncotrpyomising whig.
A personal attack in the columhs Of one
paper responded to by q no less personal
snsyWef in the other, resulted in challenge
the little isIet III tile Jamos river at Rich
mond. Here, in sight Of the eitys streets,
the two editors met and fo9ght. They
had each gone to the fray armed with duel:
ing pistols and swords. The conditions of
the light, % 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
sftct Pleasauts fell dead in his tracks. A
no less a5tsbte duel was one which oc.
cured many years before the Richie Pleas
ants affair between Mason Gha NcCarty
Mason was member Of that historic viz.
Eihta family Of that name to which belonged
James Mason; the senator, and John Y.
Mason, the min istet ct the confederate
government to Flance. vino nes captured
by the union government from an English
ahip during tho rebellion in company with
Mr.. s1iAeI. Mason and McCarty were
brothers in-la The feud between them
was political one. they fought on the
dividing line of Louden and Pdn6e William
counties. The weapons used were Old
fashioned muskets, loaded with slugs.
Mason's ball knocked the hammer off Nc
Carty's gun. McCarty's ball went crashing
through Mason's Brain.
THE w1sEs AS DUElIsTs.
The Wises, of Virginia, have always been
great duellists. Henry A. Wise, the distin-
guished war Governor, fought duel just
before the breaking out of the war with
Philip St. George Cooke. Their difference
grew out of canvass for seat in Congress
to wAieh both aspired. It is said that
when they teaahed the field of honor
Cooke undertook to jockey Wise's courage
by saying: II call heaven to Witness that
am guiltless of this mans blood!" Wise re.
piled: "You had better attend to your OWL
blood, id you, and put his bullet into
Cookies thigh: Governor Wise's son, o.
Jennings Wise, afterwards killed in the
rebellion, fought a duel about 1860 with
Sherrard Clemens, who at one time repre-
sented the Wheeling district in congress-
When the difficulty between Clemens and
Jennings Wise first arose, Clemens an
nouhSkd his purpose of not fighting. He
was engaged at tbs time to young lady,
whom he afterwards married: She heard
Of his intention to refuse CON-
bat with Wise, and sent him word that un-
less he fought he should never marry her.
He did fight and Wises shot famed him fol
life.
A CHANGE IN ftBtdo SENTIMENT.
Since the war the resort to the code has
not been SO popular or so fashionable ae
it once was. Peoples ideas on that subject
have of late gears undergone great change
and to refuse an invitation to fight, as was
done some months ago by Mr.. Button, a
distinguished Lynchburg editor, is opt to
be more Commended and applauded by
the Virginia people thar an acceptance
and meeting. Politics are tie breeders
and begetters of duels. Now ana then
there has been an encounter on the field
for the sake Of woman's smile, but these
have beea few and far between. Since the
question of the payment Of the State debt
Of Virginia has arisen to aeitate the
minds of statesmen, challenges have foated
around like falling leavss in autumn. The
laws of the State impose disqualifGet
to vote or hold Office upon all who arc
fighting 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 tbs state
have been concerned. Since the birth OF
the readjuster party in 1877 there have been
Some ten or twelve so-called duels in Vir-
ginia, resulting from politics, but they have
nearly all lacked the favor of business"
which characterized the meetings Of the
anti-bellum politicians.
DANGEROUS WOUND.
Before the growth of readjustment, when
William E. Cameron, the present readjust-
er candidate for governor, Was editor of the
Petersburg Inder-Appeal, and thought 9
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
promoted to the post Of judge of the United
States district court of the eastern district.
In the duel which ensued Cameron was dan
gerously wounded. and carries his ad~
versary's bullet in his body to this day.
His political disabilities have since been
removed by the legislature, and nowhere
among his present republican supporters
for the governorship has hea warmer back
or than In Judge Robert W. Hughes.