St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-10-12

NIty cO:rSe- ! was therefore left Il
charge Of tho paper. paid no atten
ton to the first onslaught made b.
Douglass. and he. observing my silence
had in tho next issue . paragraph I,
the effect that it was easy to under
stand why his attack had not bee.
met. as our paper was In charge OF ,
brainless pro tenn. Twas bantered 8,
much about this that found it neces
sary to reply. l did 50 in the lurid
pictorial fashion Of Mississippi jour
nalism. Well. Douglass came back a
me. and the discussion went through
the usual newspaper stages. One bitter
personality brought on another, but
while Douglass called me all sorts O.
pet names. | contented myself with
maliciously poking fun at him. Final
~. however. his abuse became 30 vio
lent that l allowed my anger to get the
ot tier OF my Judgment Ihad learned o.
q chapter in his life, the scene Of
which was laid in Texas Douglass had
started . paper there, but had been
suspected Of combining e-stealine
with Journalism. and was compelled tc
leave unceremOni0usly. as the comb.
nation was not popular in Texas. ]
revived this Renaissance and clothed
it with ''coat Of many colors" to sui,
the requirements of my readers. l de.
scribed his wild fight over the Lone
Star plains in such a way that ex-
pected nothing less than gore. After
the publication several OF Douglass
II iends came to me and advised me to
write a retraction. as he was very
much enraged over the article and was
having dreadful time trying to re-
strain his imrulsivc nature. Irefused
tc do SO. and a few days after received
a challenge from him.
At first thought l would treat II
with contempt, but on second thought
l decided to accept it. for had &C
quired such an exacting reputation that
If ignored the challenge he could
brand me rs a coward. Now did not
have the remotest idea OF lighting the
duel; but day or two passed and there
was no change in the situation. re-
ceived no intimations Of weakening on
the part OF Douglass. On the contrary,
several of his friends continued to
speak with me about his savage dispo-
sition. and. as an Offset, I sent some OF
my friends to Douglass to cxpatiate
upon my crimson deeds.
In the meantime the day for the
duel had been set My perplexity was
increasing. for. as have said before.
l did not want to fight and / did not
intend to fight; and yet / could not think
OF a respectable way out of it.
cursed Douglass for fool in getting us
in such a dilemma; and he doomed up
in my fancy as q demon from the head
aters of Bitter creek.
But how was l to get out Of it and
retain even few rags Of my boosted
feroc;ty? l was becoming very sick
OF my reputation. and heartily wished
that had devoted myself to a milder
form of literature than Mississippi
journalism.
1t was the day before the duel. and
all sorts OF fancies filled my mind.
That dreadful HO0sicr was Just as i'm
plac:blc as ever. and / vowed that /
had never seen such q relentless man.
At last l made up my mind to throw
the requirements Of the code to the
winds and have a personal interview
with my adversary. looked for him
all day, AMI Of course made inquiries
Of several persons as to where he was.
In tn. meantime my friends had made
me ont to Douglass as devil incar-
nate. The inquiries had been MAX
ing about him werc promptly miscon-
strued. and it was everywhere report
ed that l was looking after Douglass,
and very soon observed that the
town marshal and his deputies were
looking after me. The whole town
was aroused. and was the cynosure
o: all eyes. could see the heads of
women craned out of the windows As /
passed; the men contemplated me with
undisgu:sed admiration. and the chill
dren stared ut mo in speeches. hor-
ror. l did not find Douglass until
eight o'clock that night We met In .
saloon. He had evidently heard that
| was looking for him, and he did
not propose to be taken at disadvan-
tage. for he gave a wild yell when
came in, bounded back like q rubber
ball and drew q pistol. told him
that ! was disarmed. and the bar-keep-
er begged me not to raise disturbance
there. Ireplied with a dignity did
not feel that there we're other ways to
settle difficulty than in . bar-room
tight.
IL don't believe you" said Doug
ass. with great excitement, '.you
have a pistol and you want to assas-
,inate me-"
'You can search me-" said L
This was done by the bar-keeper.
md no weapon was found on me. l |
hen told Douglass / would like to see
lin privately for few minutes. and
70 retired to the back room Of the
aloon. remained there about half
n hour, and when I came out I had
hanged my mind. ! had decided to
ight
As l was about to leave Douglass. in
determined way. said: Then you
efuse to retract?"
Il do" replied. with equal firm
ess
VERY well. Then We will have to