Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-24
A STRANGE DUEL.
Magruder's Fight with a Doctor in a
Restaurant.
III CALIFORNIA;.


During the autumn of 1852, in Los An
/ geles, Cal, Col. (snce a distinguished
I General in the Confederate army, and now
/ deceased) j. Bankhead Magruder,
! Third Artillery, United States army,
/ who was visiting that city from San
/ Diego, commenced an evening at Harry
/ MOnrOe's restaurant, in company with
three or four other congenal fellows, by
ordering a champagne dinner of an elabO-
rate character. 1t was not long after the
/ initial movement of the real old Duff Cor
don sherry from right to left that an ex-
hilaratiOn set in which was rapidly and
radiantly heightened to a hilarious pitch,
the reader may rest assured; so that,
after the 'feasJ of reason and flow OF
SOUP had got completely under way,
the nocturnal way -iarer might have mis-
Interpreted the medley of vociferation for
sounds ofrevelry second only to those at
tributed to the beauty and chiyalry OF
Belgium's capital upon a mOmentOus oc-
caslOn by the author of 'Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage" In other words, an uproar-
Ious controversy had quickly followed the
gastr0nOmic discussion, during which Ma
gruder declared, with his characteristic
suavity, that Andrew jackson was ''the
greatest man who ever trOd in shoe
leather" Col. John o. Wheeler tossed
of goblet of Krug ITO tue greatest of
American statesmen, Henry Clay"
while Thompson Burrill quaffed pacidy
away to the memory of daniel Webster,
the greatest man the world ever pro-
| duced"
A certain disciple Of Esculapius who
was present then arose, as Ostentatiously
as it was possible for him to rise under
the circumstances, and said: oily father,
/ who was Sheriff Of Cayuga county New
/ York;, was the greatest Of all Ameri-
/ cansw To which Magruder replied, We
! hemently: doctor, you're damned
| fOOl!" The doctor at once challenged
/ Magruder TO fight, which cartel of de-
! tance was at once accepted, the combat
/ TO take place on the spot, and over the
/ dining table, from end to end, distance
/ twelve feet; weapOnS-derrnger pistols.
/ Maj. Horace Bell, in his exciting book en-
4 titled "Reminiscences Of a Ranger" pre-
sents his readers with the following de-
scription Of the duel: Wilson Jones, the
Doctors second. got the word, and the
/ principals, without shaking hands, took
! their respective stations, the majestic
form OF Magruder to vering above that Of
| the diminutive doctor, who paled and
| shuddered when brought face to face with
the grim-Visaged son OF Mars.
All was suspense. The word was to be:
Ready! fire! One, two, threel At the
word ready" to the dismay of all, the
doctor blazed away. When the smoke
! cleared somewhat, to the horror of the
tagOnist stood as stiff and defiant as an
| avenging demon. The doctor quailed.
/ Magruder glared sayagely on him for a
| full minute. The spectators, spell
! bound, looked on with horrible i0rebOding.
| Magruder took two "side steps to the
right" which brought him clear of the
/ end of the table. He then advanced the
/ fright foot to the 'front.'" with his glaring
! eyeballs bent iercelJ on the now terrified
I doctor. He then brought the left foot up
to the level of the right heel and lcYeled
his derringer at the CHASTITY face Of the
| trembling doctor. Then he advanced the
right foot as before, and in this
way, with firm and unrelenting tread, he
slowly advanced on the now thoroughly
frightened doctor, who made movement
toward the door. The spectators inter-
posed, and cut off the possibility of retreat
in that direction. The doctor tried to flank
/ the Colonel by diminishing around the
| table. Magruder faced to the left, as
though moving on a pivot, and kept the
dlrelul derringer aimed directly at the
/ doctors pallid cOuntenanCe. In the eX-
/ cItement the doctor ran under the table,
/ crawled through, grasped the knees OF the
/ irate hero, and unfortunately embracing
them said: "COl. MdgTudeT, for the love
of God spare me for my familyW The
! Colonel gave him kick and said: ''-
/ you! Pll spare you for the hangman."
| And, so saying, he handed the weapon TO
/ his second, and the festivities were ad-
/ jOurned.