The Monmouth inquirer., 1890-04-10
PHELAN WANTS TO FIGHT
He Requests Satisfaction Of
Editor John w. Fleming.
A CoNGREssMAN's CHALLENGE.

Newspaper Controversy Which Stirred
Up Bad Blood in Tennessee-The Editor
His wouid-be Opponent in His Paper
NASHVILLE, Tenn, April 9.-Col John M
| Fleming, editor of The Knoxville Daily Sen
| tiuel. has received challenge from James
Phelan, owner of The Memphis Daily Ava
lanche, and representative in congress from
the Tenth district of Tennessee. Editor
Fleming has refused to accept the challenge,
and exactly what further steps, if any, Con-
gresham Phelan may take are net known.
Editor Fleming instead of sending his ac-
acknowledgement of the receipt of the commu-
nication by wire, by which agency it was
transmitted to him, published it in The Sen
tinel, and it is the principal theme of con-
versation. Mr.. Phelan's challenge came by
telegraph from Washington last Sunday,
and was as follows:
The Challenge.
WASHINGTON, April 6.
To John NJ. Fleming, Knoxville Tenn:
When wrote you from Aiken had not seen
yoxr letter to The Memphis Commercial. You
ere liar, coward and a scouAdrel. will await
your message here and come to Knoxville to az
range premnaries. JAMES PHEIAN. q
Editor Fleming's Reply.
| Editor Fleming wrote his reply, which ap-
peared in The Sentinel last evening. He asks
Congressman Phelan to consider in what a
grotesque position he has placed himself,
and then says:
''You hold seat in congress from dis
| trict of Tennessee You have assumed to
become teacher of the children Of the state,
as historian in the public schools You
ought to know, and are presumed to know,
the constitutional and legal penalties against
giving and sending or accepting challenge
to fight duel You ought to know that in
almost every possible aspect of the business
| 1t is felony, punishable by imprisonment
in the penitentiary.
sfYour telegram to me, if it means any
thing more than mad raving, is challenge
by construction and in contemplation. The
interpretation most charita BILE to you is that
the message you would await from me would
be agreement on my part to join you in ar
rangement in the 'preliminaries otherwise
why should you have contemplated coming
to Knoxville to arrange preliminariesT
Not Worthy of Being Challenged.
Assuring Congressman Phelan that there
is no evasion desired in the matter, Editor
Fleming says in the course of his reply: II
would insist that you had better explain
yourself You begin with coarse denuncia-
tions, which, if true, and you are stopped
from denying them, would exclude me from
recognition by gentleman, and therefore
not worthy, by your own charges, of being
challenged Furthermore, my observation
has usually been that the denunciation fol-
lows the refusal to accept challenge. In
asnluch as 1 had proven you guilty of what
in retaliation you charge upon me, am in
clined to think the authorities in the duello
would tell you it was your duty to have de-
manded the satisfaction usual among gentle
men, merely call your attention to those
points to show how ridiculous you have made
| yourself even as pretended duelist.
His Opinion of the Duel.
'sBut / take no advantage of even this
In times past the men who have especially
commanded my admiration were those who
had the courage to treat with contempt the
demand of the duelist, while recognizing
and insisting upon the right Of self defense.
I would have been surprised recently to
find that you had lived with SO little learn
ing as not to have known that the barbar-
GUS role In which you have seen fit to dis
spectability among even that weaker class
that once thought it 'chivalrous' to make
even bloodless exhibition of meek courage
on the SO called field of honor.
A Spoiled Boy.
"Ihave treated your warlihe message as se-
riously as its ludicrous character permitted.
Indeed, 1 am pretty well persuaded that
you have been spoiled boy fattered into a
delusive assumption Of some sort of personal
superiority, a misfortune which oftentimes
follows too little spanking and too much
petting. 1t requires sometimes rude back
set or two to take the starch out of self-con-
ceit. We have no preliminaries to arrange,
Mr. Phelan. JOHN M. FLEMING"
The Congressman's Story.
Congressman Phelan is one of the young
est members of the house, and a popular
gentleman. Editor Fleming is about twenty
years the senior of Congressman Phelan, and
has long been engaged in journalism. He
is we'll known, and was at one time state
superintendent of public instruction. The
congressman's side of the story is as follows:
About three years ago NJ. Phelan pub
lished, through Houghton, Miflin & Co., a
school history of Tennessee, having before
that published history of the state in the
commonwealth" series For this work Mr..
Phelan expended years of labor and several
thousand dollars in the collection of data.
While the first work was In press Phelan
received letter from Fleming asking for
advanced sheets of the book, in which he
professed to feel great interest, and compli-
menting Phelan on the work. Mr.. Phelan
replied, stating that he had no advance
sheets When the book appeared Fleming
raviewad IL savapely in his raper and not
content with criticising the book, personally
attacked its author. The newspaper quarrel
which ensued caused the issuance of the
challenge.
Divulged by Dying Man.
WnKEsBARRE, Pa, April 9.-John Greg
ory. a miner living q few miles from here,