The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-24
A REAL KENTUCKY DUEL.
AN OFFICE BOYS MISTAKE CAUSED
SERIOUS Trouble

From the 81. Louis Republic.
Col. Bedford Ashley like every true Ken
tucky gentleman. loved fast horses and
pretty women. At the age of 10 Col. Ashley
WAS prosecuting attorney in his native
town. stood at the head Of his profession in
popular estimation. enjoyed a comfortable
income and only needed wife to comp lete
his happiness.
Miss Nellie Hawthorne. ouly daughter Of
Judge Hawthorne, was the belle of the
village, and among her score of admirers it
was plain she preferred Col. Ashley. who
had been devoted to her since her return
from school.
Judge Hawthorne and Col. Ashley were
warm personal friends. They agreed on
politics, attended the races together and
backed the same horses, the Judge always
| placing implicit confidence in the coonePs
judgment The judge loved his pretty
| daughter very dearly and be WAS well
| pleased when his dearest friend, Col. Ash
! ley, asked and obtained his consent TO seek
| the hand and heart of Nellie. But ] can
not give her up for a long time yet, " said
the judge, land if you win her love, Ash
| ley, you must be content to wait awhile be-
fore you ask for her hand"
Col Ashley pressed his suit at the court
of cupid and won it. Pretty Nellie Haw-
thorne blushingly acknowledged that she
loved him very dearly and would become
his wife when her father gave his consent.
The colonel had promised to wait awhile
for the wedding, but in few weeks the
waiting seemed very long and he deter
mined to see the judge and If possible in
duce him to name the day.
A portion of Col. Ashley's savings be had
invested in race horses, and he owned a
small string of very fine flyers. He bad
purchased most of his horses from Col.
Newton Harris, veteran breeder of
thoroughbreds, who kept sale stable In
town, his farm being several miles IN the
country One day Col. Harris brought in
from his farm a very promising young tlly,
| and he determined t. offer her first 70 his
friend Ashley, who wanted TO purchase two
or three more fast ones Meeting Ashley
on the street Col. Harris told him about the
FLY. go down TO the stable any time and
tell the boys you want to see the bay filly,
Nellie. You will buy her as soon as you
have seen her good points,"
| Col. Ashley promised to call at the stable
at the first opportunity.
The same evening the colonel called TO see
Miss Hawthorne. and the happy lovers
agreed that next day the judge should be
asked to name an early day for the wed
ding.
On his way down town the following
morning Col Ashley stopped at the stable
to Look at the bay fllv. When he arrived
a. his office he found he must prepare a
brief in an important case at once, but be-
| fore he went TO work he wrote two notes
and gave them TO his office boy TO deliver.
| As these two notes proved the beginning of
the correspondence which resulted in a duel,
they are here copied verbatim. The first
| was to Judge Hawthorne, and read as fol-
lows:
MY DEAR SRI eau wait no longer. Nellie
| has consented to be my wife. know how dear
she is to you and how hard it W i'll be for you to
| give her up, but [ hall call on you this after
| noon, present my case and plead with you to
| sustain the decision of the lower court and
| name an early day for our marriage. Remem-
Der our future happiness depends on your al
| swer AS ever, your friend,
BEDFORD ASHLEY,
The other uote was to Col. Newton Harris.
ard read as follows:
MY DEAR SRI called this morning to look
at your favorite tlly. Nelly, and must say she
was q disappointment. Her legs are a trfe
heavy, she is narrow chested and her neck is
too short. With all these defects aud ths
doubtful pedigree of her sire il would be folly 20
expect much of the flly, do not care TO add
her to my string. Thanking you Tor your offer
am your friend, BEDFORD ASHLEY.
Two hours after sending these notes Col.
Ashley was in his Office busy preparing a
brief. The door opened suddenly and Judge
Hawthorue's secretary entered with q let
|
patton was on Col. Ashley's face as he
opened the letter, but as he glanced at its
contents his countenance underwent a great
change. The letter was from Judge Haw-
| thorne and read:
SiR-I shall not ask or accept any sxpla-
nation of the outrageous insult contained 10
your letter Of this date. demand that you at
once make full apology, both TO my daughter
and myself.
For q moment Col Ashley was speechless
with establishment. aHd then be quickly ar
rived at the conclusion that his audacity in
asking for the hand of Miss Hawthorne was
regarded by Der father as an insult. Col
Ashley was a gentleman, a Kentucky gen.
tleman, the social equal of Judge Haw-
thorue and no man must 80 much as init
mate that he would insult lady.
Judge Hawthornes secretary soon re.
turned with the following letter from Col
Ashley:
Sir; In reply to your Communication of this
date in which you state that / have insulted
your daughter and yourself. | have the homer
to inform you that friend of mine. empow-
cred to act for me, will call Oh you within an
hour. Respectfully, BEDFORD ASHLEY
Within the hour Col. Ashley's friend
waited on Judge Hawthorne with a chal-
lenge to mortal combat. The judge, in his
note to Ashley, had stated that he would
not accept any attempt at an exclamation.
so there was nothing left for him TO do but
to choose bis weapons and name the time
aud place of meeting. He soon found a
friend willing TO act for him, and the two
seconds, without further consultation with
their principals, proceeded to arrange all
preliminaries for the meeting. Sunrise the
following morning was the time agreed
upon, and the place was an opening in q
beautiful grove only five miles from town.
All parties could take carriages in town
at daylight and reach the ground in time.
| Every effort was made to keep the affair
quiet, 50 there would be no Interruption
but in some way it leaked out, aud before
midnight half the men in town knew that
Judge Hawthorne and Col. Ashley would
fight duel at sunrise, and no one knew the
exact cause OF it. Among Others no heard
of the affair was Col Ashley's ofics boy, and
| when he learned that the duel had been
brought about by letter he was very
much alarmed. He delivered Col. Ashley 3
note TO Judge Hawthorne, but had been
unable to fluid Col Harris. The conviction
that be was in some way responsible for
the coming duel grew on the boy until he
was unable 10 sleep that night. He tried to
find Col. Ashley. but the colonel was in the
hands of his friends and could not be SEEN
At day bresk Of the morning of the duel
Col. Harris vas aroused from slumber bv a
loud knocking a. tbs door. He went to the
door and found Col. Ashley's office boy.
The lad was pale with fear and trembling
in every limb.
Please. sir, the sunners gous to hght q
duelw
"A duel4 Col Ashley gone 70 dght a