Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-13

w member Of Congress, in response to a
STAR reporters question. because am liable
to need a weapon any time. II you were per-
mitted to look under the coat tails Of the entire
national legislature you would find revolvers in
two out OF three hip pockets- ASenator or Rep
resentative merely by reason Of his conspicu-
| BUSINESS. is always in greater personal danger
than the citizen in private life. For one thing
he Is an object Of pursuit by cranks, q per-
| centage OF whom are murderously inclined. II
you could get together q list OF the deadly
ARRAYS in which Congressman have been en-
gagged through no fault Of theirs you would
perceive that such precaution is worth tax
ing"
In the old days, fifty years ago, nearly every
Congressman, as q matter of course, carried a
pistol The arm most valued for this pocket
use was made by gunsmith named DerripRer
| OF Philadelphia. 1t had a short barrel and car
ried huge ball The same man was considered
the most reliable manufacturer OF duelinR pis-
| tolls in this country. A dueling pistol nova
! Gays Is g. very different weapon from the old
| style. The latter was a small gun in reality,
projecting 30 large bullet that recovery from
| wound made with it that approached any
vital part was almost out of the question.
] Hence the extraordinary fatality which at
tended the duels of half century ago. A
perusal OF their history shows that the first
shot which hit usually ended the conflict, the
unfortunate combatant not surviving the fray.
PART OF HIS OUTFIT.
In those times and later nearly every southern
or western Congressman regarded q set Of
dueling pistols as a part Of his necessary outfit
1t is observable too, that the duels fought we're
particularly ferce-rities, which in skillful
| hands reduce murder to an exact science being
| often chosen as the weapons, and conditions
1 being ORA tn ma 20 he do of
| one or both Of the combatants For example,
| there was the desperate encounter with muskets
! in 1919 between United States Senator Armis-
tead I. Mason of Virginia and Col John NJ.
| McCarty. An election dispute was the quarrel
and Mason sent McCarty a challenge The
latter accepted, offering as his terms to leap
! with Mason from the dome of the Capitol, to
| fight on barrel of powder with pistols, or to
| engage hand-to-hand with dirk knives. These
propositions were declined. and the men finally
met each other with shotguns, the muzzles
| nearly touching Mason was killed and McCarty
| was dangerously wounded.
SOLEMN COMPACT.
There seems to have been q murderous
element in the duels of those days. which be-
came much diluted in later years And yet,
mortal bitterness within the lines of the code
never reached q more extreme point than at
the time OF the pre-secession attacks upon
Charles Sumner and his followers by Toombs
ana Otner SlaVenOlulnS SENATORS. summer was
| the leader OF the antl-slavery movement, and
abuse and threats against him and those he led
were carried to such point that formal COM
| pact in writing, which has only just come It
| light, was signed by Senators Simon Cameron,
| Ben Wade and Zach Chandler, by which the
! signers bound themselves to resent repeti-
| ton of such conduct by challenge to fight"
\ and engaged themselves .'to carry the quarrel
| into coffn,'' if it should be necessary. For
| tunately. the truculent statesmen from the
south, when they found that they would in
| evitably be called to account for what they
| said and did by northern Senators equally de-
termined with themselves, dropped their
braggadocio to some extent and quoted down.
But it is known that for months Cameron,
| Chandler and Wade kept loaded derringers in
| their desks in the Senate chamber, ready for
| fight in case of need.
1t was in 1856 that Representative Preston s.
Brooks of South Carolina, in revenge for com
ments uttered by Sumner upon Brooks uncle,
| Senator Butler of the same state, assaulted Mr..
Sumner 50 cruelty in the Senate chamber.
Many southern Senators had the insolence to
uphold the action OF Brooks, and in the House
| the dispute over a resolution censuring him
was carried to such point of vehemence that
] many challenges by southern members were
| either passed or threatened; but the men from
the north said that. though they would not en-
| gage in duels, they carried pistols and would
Use them without hesitation il attacked.
! THE RASDoLPH-cLAy DUEL.
One Of the most famous congressional duels
was between John Randolph and Henry Clay
which took place on the Virginia shore of the
! Potomac near Washington, at 4 pm Saturday
April 8, 1926. Randolph was one Of the best
shots in Virginia, but he was not used to hair
| trigger, and the result WAS that his pistol ex-
ploded while the muzzle was held downward.
At the second word Clay fred with no effect
and Randolph shot off his weapon in the air,
| upon which Mr.. Clay advanced and said: II
| trust in God, my dear sir. that you are un-
! touched. After what has occurred would not
| harm you for thousand worlds" Randolph
| never liked Clay, esteeming his native state
| Kentucky, to be only sort Of dependency of
Virginia's anyway, and discountenancing the
] comparative freedom Of manners in the blue
grass region, where feudal ideas were less
| prevalent and every storekeeper did not con-
slider it necessary to approach the landowner
| hat in hand.
! I've notion Of posting" man for cowardice
| is SAID to have owed its origin to RandOlph's
| action in refusing in 1907 to fight a duel with
Gen. James Wilkinson, U. s. A. He declined
| to accept the challenge on the ground that he
! would not descend" to Wilkinson's ''level,"
| upon which the latter posted printed denuncia-
tons OF Randolph on the street corners and at
the taverns. The custom was taken up, and