St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-03-01
OLD.STYLE DUEL.
General Davis Describes IN Encounter 0o
Once Had With = Judge.

Once Had with . Judge.
In his racy book, ''Recollections OF
Mississippi" General Reuben Davis
gives the following account Of personal
encounter he once had with judge who
had fined him for contempt:
my patience gave way, and I felt my.
self in perfect blaze Of sudden fury.
had in my. pocket very fine knife
with a long, thin blade. AS sprang to
my feet l drew out this knife, opened it.
and threw 1t point foremost into the bar,
looking steadily at the judge all tho
while. My object was to induce tho
Judge to order me to Jail, ard then to
attack him on the bench. The knife
:ibratcd, and tho weight OF the handle
broke the blade near the handle. Gem
eral 5. j. Gholson and several others
ran upon the bench beside the judge,
ordered the sheriff to adjourn court, and
carried the Judge out Of the courtroom.
while number Of persons seized me.
Judge Howry being withdrawn.
prudent mon among my personal friends
condemned my action, and appealed to
me to let the matter stop. agreed to
this. Intending To pass straight to my
hotel, l saw Judge Howry come
forward toward the place where
I was standing. awaited
his approach, and when close to me-
asked him if he had intended by his fine
to insult me. He said. ''No." then
said had been guilty Of no ofTense to
Justify such an indignity, and requested
some explanation. He replied. ~ do
not, sir, explain my official conduct to
any man." In a moment had slapped
him in tho face with my open hand. by
some accident claw-hammer had been
left on the floor nearby: he seized this
and struck at me violently, while I got
from my pocket the broken knife and
opened it. The blow of his hammer fell
upon my head. cutting through my hat
and several files of papers to the bone.
! made another strike at his iugular
with the corner of my knife-blade. This
blow fell upon his jaw. and ! seized him
with my left hand by the collar and
pushed my head into his lace. lie struck
again with the hammer. breaking and
depressing the outer blade of my skull
bone but not until had inflicted three
more cuts upon his jaw. AS we were pull
cd apart he gave me the third blow. l
went to my room and sent the Judge .
message not to leave his room unarm
ed as l would attack him upon sight.
The court met again that evening. I
had put on a fur cap. with the back part
before. to conceal my wounds. and tho
Judge wore his overcoat, with the collar
well drawn up, to hide the tokens Of
combat on his person. ! did not meet
Judge lIowry for seven years after this
affair. had gone to Pontotoc TO attend
the Federal court. and was sitting in a
room with Roger Barton and Chancellor
Chalmers when Chalmers was sent for
from below lie soon returned and said
to me: Il suppose. Davis, you care moth
ing now about that affair between you
and Judge I!owry?' promptly replied
that thought nothing of it: that liowry
was gentleman, and that our difficulty
was casual and without malice. Chal.
mers then said that Howry was below,
and would be glad to come up to Bar
tons room. He did SO, and J met him at
the door. and we greeted each other in
the most cordial manner. Until his
death no two men could be more sin-
cercly friendly than We continued to be.
l shall always believe that he went
down to his grave without finding out
what led to our quarrel that day. and I
am perfectly certain that l shall go
down to mine in equal ignorance, unless
he comes back to tell me"