The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1889-08-30
A DEADLY ENCOUNTER.
How Two Bloodthirsty Editors
INDICATED Their Honor.

1t was two o'clock in the morning
Our labor for the night was done, and
after the name of the l~mpalpablet
Of the press, we had assembled at the
Owl. Arthur Wandless was the chosen
spokesman Of the cotcric; and when
ever he was in one of his radiant mood,
we suppressed our inclination to tall
and allowed him to m~onopolize the
conversation. He came from the
South, and had earned the right &c
distinction in the good old days OF
fervid Southern journalism. He told
a story in an inimitablo manner that
can not be reproduced in print. On
the occasion to which | refer, he drift
cd back to his carly experiences and
told us how he had become a fighting
editor. With the hope that his recipe
may be Of some service to the jour
n"alistic profession, the sketch is at
this point turned ~ to HIM.
| never knew why providence in
sisted upon making Il fighting editor
of me; for | am slight Of build, rather
tender-hearted, and not aware that
possess any remarkable physical cour-
age. | never enjoyed fighting at
school; but when | grew to manhood
and became assistant editor of a small
Mississippi weekly paper, discovered
that courage had the edge on brains
and application. The first week or
two after | entered journalism.
! was surprised at the number
Of c~arnivorous Majors and Colonies
who lived in the neighbOrhOOd Of our
Office. The military gentlemen had
been either through or around the war;
and, rs they gathered in our office, APP
p7nprintrd the "nxohunges,' talked
politics, and chowod tobacco. I fr'i for
awhile as il | were surrounded by a
band of rcd-handcd NihiIists. Every
one Of them had taken an incandcs-
Gently brilliant part in the war, and
had furnished the material for a new
cemetery-in-Spain. By degrees,
however, my faith in the cast iron
veraCity of these warriors took flight
when | learned that most of the Col
onels and Majors were s~elf-anointed
with military fame, and had never been
within ten miles Of a battle. My con-
tidence was entirely destroyed when |
heard that Major GallOpaway. the
tiriest t~ire-cater of the lot, had, at the
only battle in which he had partici-
pated, become so eXcited that he mount
ed his horse the wrong way and rode
of backward.
| began to mediate upon the subject
of courage. and | came to the conclu-
sion that the marketable article con
sisted Of pure ''bluff." After | had
been on the paper a month | found a
frst-class Mississippi vendetta on my
hands, and, as the few survivors were
arrested and arraigned in orr cOurt,
it was necessary for me to write an ac-
count Of the trial. Several parties
contidcntially conveyed to me the fact
that this or that person under trial
was dangerous, or that his brother
was a fighting man, or that
grandfather was a regular
tiger; and advised me not to
the details Of the proceedings.
not only neglected to follow this adj
vice, but ever went 50 far as to pub
Iish the threats implied in the COM
municatiOns made to me. ! also de-
nOunc"d the surviving murderers in
plainest terms | could use. As luck
would have it the men | denounced
we're sent to the ~penitentiary; and
vas at once installed in popular es-
eem AS a fighting editor. Several
affairs Of a similar nature came
up, and | treated them with the same
apparent fearlessness, and somehow
a charmed life, and increased my
reputation so much that, in
ess than two months, | was called
Wandless.
was beginning to think that it was ,
he easiest thing in the world to be a {
editor, and | used to compli-
nent myself on my adroitness in ac-
umulating such a reputation.
Well, when | fought my duel with {
i'm Douglass, that fixed my fame for T
yer. 1t was certainly the most re- i
narkable duel ever fought, Midship- {
nan Easy's and Bob Acres to the con-
rary Notwithstanding. Fortunately s
or Douglass, myself, and the fighting s
equation of both, | inherited from a
~ mother a keen sense OF humor, s
'hich had full play in the emergency {
hitch soon arose.
Jim Douglass was an Indiana Hoo T
who came to our town to start a h
aper in opposition to mine. I was S
,formed that he was a very desperate t.
1rt OF a fellow, and | concluded at a
that | would ignore his paper.
20 evidently had not heard much Of t
" desperate nature. for in the second r
sue he began a vigorous attack upon c
lr paper. My chief had gone to the n
oujsville races, for the purpose OF (,