The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-09

was BOARDED by the British ship Leopard.
The tinge OF c0wardice naturally c1lored
ms lfe and reflected ali his acts He went
abroad, broken man, and being in England
/ when the war broke out. was necessarily de-
tanned du ing its continuance. On his re-
turn - applied for active service and a saip.
| Ills Application met with resistance: he was
de pissed by his fellow officers, ana his al
sence from the country during her boar of
! need vas severely commented UPON. q ls,ip
became busy, and il vas reported TO Barron
that Decatur was the forem ST of
his prosecutors. Then there BE-
| gan Log correspondence between
J the two. Mutual friends wIdenei the
breach, and at last Barron, stun to mad
ness at the impItatiOn of cowardice every
where thrust upon him, challenged De-
ca ur.
| No man of his time was more skilled in
the Sc Of a weapon than Decatur; no man
more of an adsDt in ddeling. Il had been
70 III II pastine from hs school DAYS I'D.
He unhestatlngly accepted Barro s chaI-
| Ienge, and with fastidi Us uiceaess prepare
his worldly affairs. He wrote his Hil, XII Sc
ms sleeping wife good by, and rode out ON
the raw, chilly morning Of March %, 1929,
to seek his death Mt tue accursed spot of
| Bladensburg. Great perSOnages were they
| who stood in that narrow gully at this meet
ing. The American navy Vas well repre-
sented Great decorum prevailed in the
choice Of corners and the measure of dis
lance. TIE two pri lcipals haug ty, digni-
he'd, sef-p assessed ever, observed in silence
the arrangement made for the DEAN of one,
and the question must have suggested Itself
Which!
All being ia readiness, the principals were
| placed back to back tn ir orders were to
tn n at the word Present" aad not to fire
before the word 'Oae." after the word
Three" Eight PAGES distant from each
other, they swung around at the word
"Present," each saw the face of the other,
the rlsi e sun and the lrren landscape; one
for the last time; but which!
Al the cry One" each took deadly aim !;
to miss fire meant DEATH
"rw0!3
Botn pistols were discharged siultane )usly
| and both men fell. Both men were wounded
in the hip; the ball which strdck Decatur
| glanced upward, severlng the blood vessels
| IN the abb Dmen. His time had come. Bot ]
men were hustled from the field, Barron
away from the city and chance prosecution.
| Decatur back to his elegant home. de
fingered far into the night and died in great
agony. The affair created intense excite
ment all over the country. "A cursed
shamew said the few opposed to murder dis
guised under the name of the duel. "Unfor-
Uunate in its resutsl" exclaimed the many
|
lis wounds for many months and finally
died in 1851, having gained nothing in life
thai chung to his name with the oenacity
of his reputation as tine slayer of Decatur.
RANDALL-FOX.
A sad death at Bladensburg in 1921 was
that of young Fox, a treasury clerk. He
had dared openly to vindicate the reputati n
of lady w1om Randall had vilified For
his temerity Randall challenged and killed
him. Obloquy and disgrace followed Ran
d III to his dying day. lie had every adj
vantage of his youthful oppone t. he was
clearly in the wrong and took life in tri-
umphant wantonness, where he should have
made an abject apology.
THE CILLEY AND GRAVES DUEL.
Bladensburg historians persist IN locating
the Cilley-Graves duel at BIadensburg.
They are in error on that point. 1t was
fought on Feb. "a, 1888, in a ravine, miles
| away, beside tlat turnpike over VIII ca
| Booth rode on that fatal Good Friday night
after he killed PresldeAt Lincoln. Both
men were members of CO IgresS. Ia the pre-
Ii ninarieS of the duel the j ,urnalist, j.
| Watson Web }, cut a prominent ii cure. The
weapons were rifles, and the range was
eighty yards. At the third fire CilleY fell,
nortaly wounded, and died upon tle same
| night A cry of horr r wentup all over the
land after the Cilley-Graves duel, and Dopu-
lar indignation had the effect of compelli g
congress, at length, to pass an act rainst
dueling. 1t made dueling a crime, and i'm
posed Imprisonment for ten years as a pun
| ishmelt for any one convicted of sending,
carrying or accepting a challenge.
THE sTANLEY-wIsE DUEL.
Bva series of legal interfe .ehces hostile
meeting between Henry A. Wise, then a
Uni ed States Representative from Vir-
GINA, and George w. Stanley, a congress-
ma fir IN North Carolina, was prevented.
| The dueling act. passed but shor5 time be-
| fore. had no terror for the belligerents
! They had both bee to the great race in
which the famous Eclipse ran, and, out of
Difference 10 the occasion, congress had al
burned. In coming from the track Stan
| leyS horse splattered mud upol WISE who
Indignantly made Il cut with his riding
viii at Stanley. A challenge followed, the
parties were arrested, and o of tue causes
celebres Of the Dis riot of Columbia is the
| lengthy argument of the most distinguished
Jurlsts of the county for and against the
immunity from arrest of congress nen. The
case was decided neg ltively, implying tlat
| l duelng act psr5ained to congressman, as
well as oJlers, and the would-be dualIsts
were placed under heavy bonds t. keep the
| peace.
THE JOHNSON AND JONES DUEL.
The las fatal encounter on the Bladans
burg field was that bet veen Da liel John
sou, a physician, and Thomas f. Jones, a
| lawer, both fro North Carolina, in Feb
ruary, 1876 The origin of the feud between
the two was of a social and family nature.
Johnson fell az the first fire, pierced through
the head with a ball. He fell almost in the
same spot il watch Mason fell 50 many
years before A war; mt was issued for
Jones, who managed To escape from the
jurisdiction, and no further PAINS were taken
for his apprehension.
Me- have called each other liars and
blackguaris on tue floors OF congress and
elsewhere, and the repaired to some lonely
ravine and one has shot down the other.
Yet impartial history after the lapse OF
years. nas never decidei which was the liar
or blac6guard Neither hls the duel. They
show the stranger the strip of ground at
Hob ken upon which Aaron Burr killed
| Alexander Hamilton. And they point TO
the plat Bl ldenburg from which so many
dis ingushed men have taken rapid transit
to eternity. They apply to such places the
generic term. 1.-The Field of Honor" A bet
ter name would be the "Ditch of Iu-
fanny"
HIS VISION CAME TRUE.