The Washington critic., 1886-04-01
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Ntlt uloCuSSlhB JOuu III. ODcTly
chances Of confirmation in one of the
cloakrooms of the House when
Representative Farquhar approached.
Speaking of Oberly," said he, "did
you ever know that he was the princi.
pal In duel and that | was his sec.
ondY OF course you do not, but It is
really an interesting story. IL hap.
pcned in 1859, long before any of his
present circle of Illinois friends had
met him. Oberly was at that time one
of the proprictors of daily paper in
Memphis, Tenn, whittier lie had emf.
grated few years before from Ohio.
The National Typographical Union
was holding It's annual session in Nash.
vile. | was present as q member of
one of the Chicago unions, for In those
days / was earning an honest liveli.
hood as typcsetter, with no thought
of representing Buffalo constituency
| in the halls of Congress. Oberly was
there, as q delegate from Memphis.
| One evening a party of us visited a
beer garden in the outskirts of the
| city, where q number of young women
were employed as barmaids and wait.
resses. Seated near us were several
| young Nashville bloods, one of whom
| grew very jealous of Oberly's polite
| galantries TO the pretty girl at our
table. AT the first convenient oppor.
tuDity the young man, whose name
| proved to be Ellsworth, addressed an
insulting remark to Obcrly, which the
latter did not distinctly hear. | did,
however, and called Obcrly's attention
to IL. Ellsworth, who had been rearel
| In thn hnlinf that Nnrthn,, ,,,,o
| destitute of both pluck and courage, at
iribu,ed Oberly's silence to cowarice.
| He was promptly convinced of his
error, however, when, upon repeating
the remark, Oberly promptly knock ed
| him down. In an instant everything
was In confusion. The printers out.
numbered their opponents five to one,
and the latter therefore withdrew, after
| notifying us that we should hear from
them within few hours. AS soon rs
we returned to the hotel hunted up
Ellsworth and cndcavored to effect
peaceful settlement of the affair. |
found Ellsworth boiling over with rage.
at stake, and nothing but blood could
wipe out the disgrace. The more
argued the more bclligerent he became.
| AZ iust, NHch my puticuCc WIS cNuuiS'
ted, i withdrew, after telling him that
would see Oberly through, no matter
what the consequences might be. !
told Oberly ne must either fight or get
out of town that night. He said he
had no intention of being driven out of
Nashville either by one man or any
number of men; that he was ready to
meet Ellsworth at any time and place
and in any way he desired. The next
morning, when one of Ellsworth $
| friends waited upon Oberly with n chal-
lenge, he referred him to ME. Colt's 5
revolvers were selected as the weapons
and secluded spot near the Hermitage
was fixed upon for the place of meet.
ing. When we arrived on the ground
we found that Ellsworth. his second
and the surgeon had already preceded
us. To our surprise we found the op.
posing party in n very pacific frame of
mind. They saw that we meant bust
ness, and that was what they did not
mean. Oberly insisted that the duel
should take place. Ellsworth, who
was really most arrant coward, at last
broke down completely, and an en-
counter that at the outset promised to
end in the most sanguinary manner was
brought to close by most abjcct
apology on the part of Ellsworth,
greatly to my comfort and delight"
Nv
Said venerable citizen of Philadcl-
phia to II Press reporter: "Young
Charles Stewart Parnell's career has Il
special interest for us Philadelphians
who knew his grandfather, Commodore
Stewart. The old Commodore was a
well.known and popular figure in the
old society of this city. His grandson
has apparently inherited the most
striking qualities of the old sailor. The
Commodore was, in his day, strong
advocate of Irish liberty, and there are
several letters from him in possession
of gentlemen here in which he gives
his opinion on the subject strong cx-
preston. But he, like the Irish leader
of to-day, was far seeing. patient and
level headed. His wife, Boston
woman I think. was very beautiful and
highly educated"
Nv
AT the desperate battle of Seven
Pines, May, 81, 1862, one of Lees brave
and badly wounded soldiers had to part
with his rifle. lie fell on the field OF
honor and gallant foe found the rifle
and very naturally thought that the
owner was dead. Mention has already
been made, says the Richmond State
of how the boy in blue wrote to Major
Baird of Portsmouth, asking informa
ton of the owner or his surviving
friends. The name of the owner of the
rifle and his company and regiment
were carved on the rifle. 1t so hap
pencd that the owner was not dead, bu
is an exceedingly live and respected
citizen of Richmond. Correspondence
ensued and the rifle has been returned
and can now be seen in the window
of our esteemed old merchant ant
resident, Mr.. e. b. Spence. The
aforetime death dealing instrumen
is now gaudily decled with the
colors of the blue and gray. 1t bears
a card with the following inscription
D "The Blue and the Gray. Returned by
Micheal DAILY, late sergeant Company
Il, Sixty ninth Regiment, Irish Brigade
' N. Y. S. Volunteers. to j. II. Jobson
late of the old Portsmouth Rifles, Com
pany G., Ninth Virginia Infantry
Mr.. Jobson was in 1851 resident o
Portsmouth. He Is now one of tn,
, foremen at the works of j. j. Montague
IL Co. Comrade Jobson has made
fitting response to Comrade DAILY TO
4 his handsome act. Long be the minC
with such fragrant memories filled
The boy in blue and the boy in gra,
are friends, and will always be, n,
, matter what politicians and dema
Il.