St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-04-10
FATE OF DUELISTs.
o. s. Prentiss-Thos. Benton and Daniel
O'COnneU.
San Francisco Call. !

Poe's Craven; ''the midnight dark and
dreary' of its coming was to him the fatal
anniversary of the duel, when the shadow in
variably deepened on his brooding heart"
While few Americans or Englishmen ths
can not be said SO truthfully of others, unless
1t be so said of Irishmen), who have sur
vived fatal duels during the past century and
half , are strangers to either grief or re-
morse, that there have lived and dled many
like the gentle, humane, chivalrous, ana al
fectiOnate Johnston whose peace OF nina had
been forever afterward shattered or destroyed.
The brilliant S. S. Prentiss Of Mississippi
Ga New Englander by birth and education
VINO fought a number of duels in difference
to public opinion, admitted great remorse.
His moral and religious training and scru-
ples were antagonistic to the custom, yet he
once went upon the field after he had beco me
possessed of wife and children. Probably no
gentleman Of as much natural wit and sun
shine walked as much in the VALLEY and,
shadow of death" He once wrote to friend
concerning one of his meetings that he did
nothing but read the Bible and weep and
prav.' ''The possibility of leaving my own
family unprotected" said Prentiss, "or Of
killing fellow being haunted me so that [
/ could not sleep, and tottered round in the
daytime like wornout old man."
Undoubtedly Mr.. Graves, who killed Mr..
Ciley. suffered much from remorse. Just
before he died he said it required higher
order of courage to decline than to accept
challenge, and he declared that, if ever he
became involved in another difficulty, his
moral obligations, and not fear of public
opinion should guide him in all his actions
in the premises.
As vigorously and as humanely as OCon-
nell deprecated duelling, and as reluctantly
as he met D'Esterre, whom he killed, he
never got rid of his remorse Of conscience
from the day of that fatal meeting in the
county Of Kildare. That dying groan Of
D'Esterre made wound in OConnelPs
heart which no physician could heal. He
once declared in the house OF commons that,
having blood upon his hands, he had regis
tered a vow in heaven. And it has also been
written of O'Connell that he never attended
church after the killing of D'Esterre without
first wrapping up in a handkerchief ''the
guilty hand" declaring that he could not APP
proach his Redeemer with the hand exposed
which had taken the life of fellow man.
Senator Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri,
(athough it has often been stated that the
duel was forced) deeply regretted his meet
ing with Lucas, in which the latter vas kill
ed, and some time previous to his death Col.
Benton destroyed all the papers he had in his
possession or that he could obtain concern
ing the affair. Col. John McCarty, who kill
ed Gen. Armistead T. Mason, suffered great
remorse up to the time of his death over the
remembrance OF the unnatural encounter.
Mason and McCarty we're Virginians, and
cousins, and quarrelled over politics, which
ran high at the time-1S19.
Capt. Gillespie, who, as second of Lieut.
Mckenzie in the duel of the latter with Will
liam Darlington in Ireland in 1777 assas-
snated Harrington during an alteration,
and who became afterward an eminent
general officer in the British army, suffered
good deal from what the jury seemed to
think was ''justifable homicide" 1t has
been said of Gillespie that lie always seemed
to court death during his many engagements
with England's enemies, and that he at last
received a fatal bullet while leading his com
mand into the thickest of fight. Theodore
Newhog, of Westphalia, the remarkable
young Jesuit who, in 1876, gained the throne
of Corsica, never Overcame the grief he ex-
perienced after killing fellowstudent in a
duel id 1929, and died in England in 1856,
of rcmorse and disappointment.
James PAUL, who killed Sir Francis Bur-
dette in 1907, became frantic with insomnia
dllGIWdIuS, anu COlnlllIlUCu SulCluC III lCOC.
Capt. Best, who killed Lord Camelford in
1904, although he did everything in his pow
er almost to effect reconciliation, never re-
covered from the shock he felt at seeing his
antagonist fall MORALLY wounded and left for
dead on the field. ''No moment of my life
has been an entirely happy one" he once
said, "since / killed that man. | often see
poor Camelford standing up before me-"
Best died from delirum tremens at the age
of As. Mr.. Thornhill, who killed Sir Chol-
meley Dering in 1711, suffered great distress
of mind in consequence.
One of the most painful events in the an
mails of ducling was the meeting of Gin Ire
land, in 1861 Of Messrs Alcock aad Col
clough They had been the warmest of
friends; and soon after Alcocka trial for
murder, and his acquittal, he became de-
mented and died in an asylum for the in
sane. His sister, who was engaged to be
married to Colclough, also became hopeless
" insane.
NJ Mira, who killed the young French poet
Doyalle, experienced great rcmOrse; he lost
all his fortune in various ways, disease killed
his horses, his chateau was destroyed by
lightning, his dogs became mad, and he at
last died from the effects of excessive grief.
There is a story told of an Italian who had
killed his brother-in-aw in a duel, who re-
paired to the scene of tragic action a day or
two afterward and killed himself with the
same sword he had used in the fatal encoun-
ter with his relative.
Capt Maillard who killed st. Signol fhe
two having quarrced at the Porte st. Martin
during the successful presentation of one of
SignoPs plays, once told friend that he
never went to bed without thinking of the
poor fellow he had killed. ''This excessive
grief will soon kill me, " he declared, a short
time before his death.
Lieut.. Miller, who killed Lieut.. Rattray
(bOth of the same regiment, the 4th native
infantry, British army) in India, died in six
weeks afterward from remorse. The two
officers had quarreled and agreed to fight:
and Miller, who was dead shot, intended
only to slightly wound and not kill his anita
gonist, as Rattray was engaged to be married
to Miller's sister.
Tom Porter, who foolishly fought with and
killed his friend Sir Henry Bellasser, in
London, in1677, felt great sorrow during the
rest of his life. He never forgave himself,
he many times declared, for hurrying after
andstopping his friend scarriage and dragging
Bellasser out to fight. His self exile in France
continued for many years, and at last he
returned to England broken hearted man.
Henry Phillips, who slew his former friend
Benjamin Woodbridge, one night IN l12S, on
Boston common, and escaped, died from
great grief in France in less than a year af-
terward.
Maj. Egerton, an officer of the British ar
my during the reign of George Ill, although
he was averse to a continuanceNo of the duel
with Col. Gray after the firing Of the first
shot, never got rid of the sorrow he felt over
the instantaneous death of his antagonist.
A gentleman who knew Egerton well once
wrote of him: ''Never through all the after
years did tho M a inr cnaSn To crriarn oyer the