Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-12-14

In recalling 10 memory the duels Of
which ] have been cognizant. 1
naturally ran over the names Of
those 1 had known as boys Of my
own age or 3 or years older to recall 70
mind what had befaIlen them. Few, very
few-not half dozen Of them-seem 10 be
still IN the land Of the liYing-this side Of
the dark riyer-5ut only one OF them all
died in private combat and only two in
war. Some Of their names even have dis
appeared from our streets. where once
they were well-known, and not one Of
them has left "a footprint On the sands Of
time" to tell that ever they have
been. Andersons. CharltOus, Har-
dens, Aackays. Stileses, Wilhamses,
Rices, Bassingers, Youngs, Bur
rOugbses, Hartstenes, BartOTs, hIlens,
Hunters, COpes. HOwaTds, Sweets and
Grants, all BOYS Of promise, well behaved
and Of character enough 70 create hopes
of future creditable TO the city Of their
birth, and all looking TO do credit 10 the
State Of which they were pFOud-al gone
and leaving no higher fame that | know
Of than that not one Of them ever Joined
the HeLlfre Club. Now this may appear
no great eulOgium, but it is so when we
consider the state Of society along our
coast from the Santee 10 the ST. Mary's,
and the number OF youths from
the plantations below-gOOd fel-
lows, all, and some Of them
since respectable members Of society, but
then terribly fast in the pursuit of pleas
uTe, as they called it, and believing in
nothing but dogs, horses and good Madeira
wine or cOgnac brandy. Whisky, Tn
less pure Scotch or Irish, strong with the
odOr of peat, was considered utterly yul-
gar, except in punch, and not highly
thought Of then, while New England rum
was an abOminatiOn. l have often heard /
the fathers Of my generation remark that /
OF all these youth, so numerous for city /
Of the size of Savannah, and so well-be- /
hayed and generally so promising, not one |
had attained TO any great distinction In 4
the world; and this they attributed to the i
fact that there was 10 road TO distinction 1
IN the South but politics, and that /
better suited to the demagOgue than to
the statesman after the election TO Con-
gress by general ticket was abolished.
Here Is subject for philOsOphie cOntem-
plation and for recalling TO mind that at
this time men looked more to the state
for honor than TO partiZanship, when
District Attorney could give up 5000
year, rather than act against said State
of which the Governor could say 10 the
Executive of the United States, ''Recall
your Gen. Gaines. or | will send him to
you under guard" and when boys did not
play in the streets at night, nor
smoke cigarettes openly; when
TO smoke in the streets or
the presence Of ladies was considered a
mark of vulgar breeding, and when in
fantS did not swear save with precau-
tiOns, as the following anecdOte will
show. DON'T think, reader, that there is
no connection between these extremes of
public and private conduct. for it is only
by looking dispassiOnately at great and
little things that we can arrive at a
true perception Of cause and effect. The
story is this:
Two little fellows. thinking it manly to
swear, retired to the woods beyond Far
lawn, where. finding a thicket, they en-
tered, and after looking cautiously around
and drawing a long breath, one said in a
low voice, Il sweari" $50 do l." breathed !
out the other, and then both started for
home at double quick, as if the adversary
himself were after theml l d. not mean
to say that the boys OF that day were any
better than those Of to-day. but IMAM
ners," say the French, "aTe lesser
morals, - and with us ''times have changed !
and we with them" We laugh at the
French duels, condemn their morals but
certainly must admit that their manners
are most pleasant, possibly from the fact
that any want of courtesy exposes the
offender to the risk of his life-a risk
which, though small. generally is too
often fatal, and quite as much to
be regretted from the character of
the victims as those l now relate.
The exact date of the duel / cannot
recOllect, although l heard the whole
story from the survivor himself, nor can
the Oldest inhabitant inform me further
than that it was during the administra-
ton Of Mr.. Jefferson, when politics ran
high. Mr.. Jefferson was elected in 1901,
and his accession TO the Presidency was a
n q Of ha
country. Fifty years ago / sought cor
rect information with regard to the party
principles of those times, and to this day | ,
have not come to any other conclusion
than that names meant different things, ,
as they seem vet to do, at the North and | ,
at the South. With us the Federalist con-
sldered the Union to be one of sovereign
States, meeting in Congress as such, and {
not as provinces OF one consolidated ma
ton, while at the North Federalists re-
garded this doctrine as dangerous to the
permanence of the Union, and sought to !
secure safety in strong government. 6
This view of it was taken by the admins .
tration under John Adams and led to the
passage Of the alien and seditiOn laws. The
practical operation of these alarmed the +
people and caused the almost unanimous
support of the Democratic, then called
the Republican, party, headed by the
author of the Declaration of indie
pendence by the States. But the
doctrines advocated by the Republicans
were regarded by many as not
only tending to weaken the bonds of
union but as partaking Of the licentious
views Of the Jacobins OF France. The in
terest in this matter was very great, and :
the agitation resulting thereirOm led to
collisions of parties, of citizens, and of
individuals. On one occasion one who
lived to good old age, then young man
on the Federal side of the question, in
vited to free discussion by the Repub-
licans, would have been thrown out of a !
third story window but for the strenuous
opposition OF some OF the leaders of the
majority present. On another occasion a
like discussion led to fatal duel, of
which | received an account from the sur I
vivor in substance as follows, viz:
she was tall, fine-lOOking Irishman, !
brave, energetic, a fine, persuasive
speaker and known as a first-rate pistol
shot. He came into crowd listening TO @
a Republican speaker, and replied in such
a manner as TO make a personal attack
the only way of meeting him. We all /
carried canes in those times, but
he happened to have none, so when / at Q
tackled him and no one would lend him a
one, he attempted to retreat, but, opposed
by the crowd, he could not escape till I
had struck him several times. A duel to |
the death, according to the manners of
the day, became unavoidable, and he 1
me. /. of course, accepted. 5
my second was Col. Maxwell. His DO {
not remember. We took our places, and Il
at the word 'Firev both pistols were :
at the same moment. Feeling
that had been too hard on him for eXer- =
cising his right of speech in discussing a I
question of public interest, did not fire
on him, but aimed at a clod far behind
him on one side, and struck it, but at the
same moment received a severe and very
painful blow in my side. For one mo- {
ment l thought myself mortally wounded,
clapped my hand to my side, and the
bullet fell into it. drew myself up, still
pressing both hands, and looked at my an
tagonist. He was standing erect, with
arms folded on his chest, and the butt of
his pistol under his chin. Had this /
been all, the affair would have stopped s
here, but as l caught his eye he, with a ]
hooking air, nodded to me, and said with )
a sneer: You've got it, have you? !
yes, L havev said l, angered beyond all
bounds by the pain in my side, and by his
sneer. eyes, l have, but not so badly
that l cannot give it to you in my turn;
He turned pale at this, but stood his
ground like a brave man as he was.
Neither of us had moved, and when Col.