The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-09
DrELING IN AMERICA.
-7rcH OF THE FAMOUS FIGHTING
cpOUNDS AT BLADENSBURG.


FIRST Duel at Bladensburg-The
nbsll-Gardenier Meeting-Some
- DueIs - Edward Hopkins
,rsson and McCarthy-Barron and
7acsrur-Randall and Fox-Cilley
ID Graves - stanley and Wise
Johnson and Jones.
From the NeV York Star.
,Iissrably falling to decay, deserted vii
% trulv is Bladensburg, with little to
9,,.riate its name aside from the unsav ry
f,.norv of its dueling ground Founded
/ Inf the middle of the last century, the
-, was named after Gov. Bladen of
,ro~vland. and soon became the chief to-
,,,., mart of the state, owing to the facility
/ tr saipment given by the eastern branch
II -ba Potomac Indeed, Bladensburg's
i ;nnortance was sufficient to give it place
i on the map at an early date-when scores
If towns now superior TO it, in the same
ns.ghborhood, were scarcely even dreamed
OF.
The visitor to Washington who takes in
Rlsdeasburg as one of the inevitable
.siohtsn of historic interest scarcely can be
rrayalIed upon to believe that the sluggish,
taif-dried stream at the end of the town
once fl ated merchantmen down through
ne Poramac into the chesapeake Bay aud
ont into the Atlantic. He listens to the old
traditions of that battle in the village on an
Auoust day in 1914, when he British Gen.
PoS, and ADM! al Cockburn routed the
Americans under Winder and Barney, and
proceeded on their march Of devastation to
fue capital. He wanders through oil man
s;ons, long since gone to decay, but bearing
enough in their ruined sp!endor to tell of
the elegance in which slaveholdilg Mary
land lived. In front of these mansions,
massive in their ruins, are fields of weeds
and stubbie, which were once beautiful
lawns and parterres of flowers, and up which
drove the c0acles-and-f 1urs Of the Fairfax
and LIE families of Virginia, coming to
visit the CalverUs and the Lloyds. A spa
spring OF chaly beats water flows uselesSly
away at one end of the only street in the
village, aud the picture of gloom is COM
pleted with two or three taverns, rendez-
vous for negroes, while deep in tho shadow
beyond is
THE DUELING GROUND.
About one mile westerly from the vii
lage, and just outside the line separating
District of Columbia from Maryland. Is
the world-tamous Bladelsburg dueling
ground 1t is a strip of low ground, shut
in by hills on three sides, like a natural
ampuitneater, with the fourth side open to-
ward the rOat. Civilization may COM
place tlv gaze at this PARKWAY nook and
aud fleet that the world would have to
reuard iusteai Of advance could the duel
ever again revive. 1t was the medieval
wager Of battle" without the merit of its
attendant SUP erstitioA; it made tie trick of
~ x-arHinr of i1rv die.
gulsed murder under the name of chivalry;
1t was frauI and delusion, with human
vanity al ne making the lie real.
Confess" said q priest to dying
Neopolltan nobleman who had fought four
teen duels to prove that Dante was a
greater poet tha1 Ariosto; 'confesS that
AriosJo was the greater poet"
Father answered the dying man, ito
tell you tne truth, have never read either
Dante or ArioSto.n
NOTED DUELS.
The first duel at Bladensburg was In the
year 1903, between the don. George w.
Campbell and H. B. GARDENER both mem
bers of the House of Representatives
Campbell was i'll the House from 1903 to
1909, representing Kentucky. He was after
ward senator from tine same state, S Ic
ceeding to the secretaryship of the treasury
and fiIally becoming minister to Russia.
GARDENER was from New York. Their
quarrel arose from words spoken IN debate.
After several attempted meetings in which
friends interfered, they met at Bladensburg
on cold, frosty morning in February.
GARDENER fell, after several fires, severely
wounded, but he was able to resume his
seat in a few weeks. Concerning the
event. an extract from the National Intel
iqeRce7' of that date, signed by the respect
i've parties. stated that everything was
conducted on the ground with the utmost
propriety."
THE FIRST DEATH.
The first death occurring on the Bladens-
burg ''tieid of honorn was that of Edward
Hopkins, an ensign in the navy. He was
killed in 1914 by brother officer. Both tie
cause of the dispute as well as the name Of
his slayer are in much doubt at this date.
II is estimated that since that lime there
have been fifty hostile meetings on the
spot. Some have resulted amicably; some
have occasioned bloodless shots or wounds,
slight enough to satisfy injured honor,
willie in others at le 4st one of the dueliSts
has Welded up his life. | will recount some
OF these fatal duels.
THE MASON AND MCCARTHY DUEL.
Few men have ever crowded into thirty
three years of life more worldly honors
than Armstead Thomson Mason; no
nobler sacrifice to the demon of vanity was
ever offered on the "held' at Badensburg z.
Rising from the posi- ion of colonel to that
of brigadier-general in the second war
with G. eat Britain, he proved brave d
valiant soldier. Entering the Virginia
legisture in 1915, his talents soon made him
a marked man, and his step to the United
States Senate was easy. The great pOpu-
larity of Mason Was considered by the
Federalis5 party as their only hope in the
campaign for the choice of member Of the
House Of representatives. According t.
his party's reques. he resigned his seat in
the Senate to run for lesser office. FIgur-
ing largely in that campaign was his
cousin, John Mason McCar by. Between
the two families there existed most deadly
feud. The hurried utterances of an ex-
cited campaign were not calculated to allay
1t. CrImination and recrimination fol-
lowed, and g, AIDED on by interested friends,
Mason challenged Mccarthy.
Jack Mccarthy, as he was Familiarity
called, was a dead shot, and, knowing his
superiority, be it said to his credit that he
sought to avoid the meeting. He was a
noble enemy, for when he saw that the
meeting was unavoidable, ne determined
that both lives should be sacrlti ell, in order
that the family enmity should cad, and, be-
ing the challenged party, ne proposed In
serious ear estue5s that each man sh )uld sit
on a KEY Of powder and be blown up. This,