The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-01-31

Dee0 1QtlIn6Vo WILL uSa, 0oo SoANA~sAS>A
BY declining to marry her on account of
what he termed her notoriously bad
charactsfg Inreply To- this Captain Mutt
wrote a.letter stating that he would de.
feni hH daughter's character with his
life if necessary, and threatening Dukes
with punishment if he did not marry
her. 2
Shortly before II o'clock on the morn
ing of Sunday, December q, 1882, Cap
tain Nut sent his nephew, CLARK Breck-
enridge, his successor as cashier of the
National Bank Of Fayette County, to the
room of Dukes, in the Jennings House
at Uniontown, to tell him that he (Capt.
Nutt} wished to speak to him. The
message had hardly been delivered when
Captain. Mutt, who had followed his
nephew, pushed his way into Dukes's
room and shut the door, leaving aBreck-
enridgs in the corridor without. a
scufae took place, cries of murder" were
heard and Mr.. Breckenridge, a porter
and the son of the proprietor of the hotel
rushed into the room to find the two men
struggling. They were separated, Dukes
being pushed into corner and Captain
Mutt, who was physically the weaker OF
the two, being led to the mantel piece,
against which he leaned, painting from
exhaustion. As the two men stood in
these respective positions, Dukes drew a
revolver and sent a bullet into Captain
Nuts brain. Captain lJutt fell dead.
twas, claimed BY Dukes that at the time
he fred Captain Mutt was:in the act Of
drawing revolver from his pocket.
Dukes surrendered himself and was ad.
mitted to bail lin 1000, His trial
began Marchl0, 1883, and ended March
IA in his scquittal. Judge wilson. who
presided, expressed from the bench, his
Dissatisfaction with the verdict Tho
community WAS indignant at the verdict,
and Dukes.and the members of the jury
were blrnedsin .e6Sgy. Nearly all the
members Of the bar in Fayette County
signed a. petition for the disbarment of
Dukes, and the feeling against him was
so strong that he resigned the seat in the
Legislature to which he had been elected.
On. the evening of June 1S, 1883,
Dukes was on his way to the postofice
in Uniontown, when James Mutt, the son
of the man he had killed, fred two shots
at him from the doorway of an unoccu-
pied store. Dukes ran towards the post
Office with young Mutt following, and
three more shots were fired. On the
steps.of the postofice Dukes fell dead.
One bullet had passed through his heart,
two more had entered his body within an
inch of the heart and fourth bullet had
grazsd his ankle. Young Mutt was i'm.
mediately arrested.
As early as 7 o'clock this morning all
the entrances to the Court House were
besieged by, crowds. The doors opened
at 9 o'clock and crowds of people were
wedged into the narrow passageway and
moved up stairs and soon filled the Court
Room. Promptly at $50 Judge Stowe
ordered the Court opened and the pris-
oner was escorted to his seat in rear of
his counsel. He was carefully dressed,
but his face gave evidence of the mental
strain to which he had been subjected.
He had slept very little last night. At
s.57the jury fled in, and as they seated
themselves the silence that prevailed was
oppressive. After answering to their
names the Judge said: Gentlemen of
the jury, have you decided upon ver-
dicts" They replied, "We have" The
Judge then said: "Prisoner at tie bar,
stand up" Mutt, who was very weak
and much affected, attempted to rise to
his feet, but had to be assisted by one of
the Court officers. Gentlemen, what is
your verdict 2" asked the Court, to which
the foreman replied: "Not guilty on &C.
count of insanity at the time the act was
committed"
The crowd, which had been restrained,
then gave vent to its approval in loud
cheer, which the immense crowd on the
outside took up from those inside. Order
was restored, and the Judge sent Mutt to
iail until to. morrow when, in accordance
with the motion of his counsel, a COM
mittee will examine him as to his present
mental condition. Mutt was taken back
to,his cell. Mrs. Mutt and Miss Lizzie
we're not present.
The jury. we're out ten hours. After
their discharge an effort was made to IN.
terview them, but they positively de-
clinedlto give any information as to how
they stood up to the time of the final
ballot, as they had sworn not to divulge
the secrets of the jury room. tits ascer'
tanned, however, that four ballots were
taken during the night, and that the con-
clusion was not reached until Z o'clock
this morning. When the first ballot was
taken three jurors favored s verdict OF
guilty as indicted. three plain mot
guilty" and the others not guilty because
insane. The verdict meets with approval
on all sides, and a special from Union
town says it was received there with great
rejoicing, Congratulatory dispatches are