The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-07
THE COLONEL HAD THE DROP.
And There Was Nothing for the Stranger
49, ~ TO DO but Anolnylze. ~ ~ -

Washington man to q Star writer "He
was in all respects n most admirable
representative of that peculiar type
which only such social conditions rs cx-
sisted before the war could have pro-
duced, and which is SO rapidly passing
away never to return. To me the old
gentleman was quite n study His
dress was faultlcss, though old-fash-
3oned and after n mode of elegance
which was of years gone by, and his
manners were of the true courtly style.
OF such as he few indeed now are left,
fancy, SO mild of manner and yet
subdued suggestion about him of the
true frc-eater.
1.-The colonel invited me to take
drink. 1t was at 4 bar-room near the
capitol. AS well us could perceive dur
ing the short time of my acquaintance
with him he invariably extended like
courtesy to every one he met. Doubt
less he had followed the practice long,
inasmuch as the end of his nose was of
redness such as no mere casual pota-
tions could have incurred lie took
Bourbon whisky, of course. and it is
unnecessary to say that he took it
straight There wasn't tremor in his
long and well-madc though wrinl1led
hand as he held the liquor up between
his eye and the light. With an elabor-
ate compliment and an accompanying
gesture, he drank it off and plunged
anew into story he had been telling
about the war
1--we were in the trench just under
the redoubt,' he was saying and only
six men in my company were lett alive.
Close by where l stood n group of n
Iozap l,rova fal1O1yc bo1 loa,, hl0,,~
fragments by n shell, SO that the ground
was literally bcstrcwn with bits of
flesh, and SO slippery with blood that
'''Humphr
The exclamation came from n tall
aud loosely built man with dark mus
tache. who stood at the other end of the
bar. The colonel turned on his heel
slightly, stared at the person through
his gold-rimmed eyeglasses. dropped
them from his nose again and went on.
LAS l was saying, the ground was
literally piled with dead, by CAD, sir
But just ut that moment the tide of bat
tile turned The Yankees fell back,
and
"'Thats n blamed lie"
again it was the tall man with n
dark mustachc who spoke, drawing out
the words which to n kentucky colonel
have an import of insult the deadliest
conceivable. The dcmeanor of the lat
ter was one of perfect calmness, but
the reprcssed passion which ragged be-
meath his rui1led shirt bosom was be-
trayed by his nose, which suddenly
turned perfectly white. Once moro adj
justing his eyeglasses and gazing
through them for n moment stcadfastly
at the interruptcr he said:
Sir, this is a conversation of gen
temcn, in which you could necessarily
have no part. may go SO far as to
say that in any conversation of gentle
men you would be out of place. Paus-
ing for Il moment to cough slightly, he
added: Furthermore, sir, you will
withdraw that remark which you have
just made, or you will not leave this
room alive
I'm concluding his remarks the
colonel placed his hand on his revolver,
half drawing it from his hip pocket
and in that attitude, while still gazing
intently at the tall man with the dark
mustache, awaited reply. 1t came
very promptly. The tall man apollo
gized profuscly and wanted to shake
hands.
mo, Sir" said the colonel drawing
himself up with his hands behind him.
You are n blackguard, sir and Ken
lucky gentleman does not shake hands
with person of your kind. The best
thing you can do is to get out of here at
once
'When the tall man had Sunk out of
the room the whisky bottle was again
set forth upon the bar. The old ren-
tleman lifted his tumblcr to his lips
and | noticed that there was not the
slightest tremor in the fingers that
held it.
81 don't see how you could do n thing
like that SO well. off-hand, colonel
said. 1T seemed to me that life and
death might be the question of mo-
ment and your nerve astonished me-
My dear boy, he replied, 1.-The mat.
ter was less extraordinary and perhaps
less dangerous than it appeared to YOU.
The minute that the insulting words
were said my entire line of action was
planned out in my mind in flash. TO
begin with, you will remember that
tainted the fellow, saying that he
was not a gentleman. | even repeated
the tannt and paused moment to give
him an opportunity to attack me- If
he had not been IL coward-if he had
been going to fight at all-hc would
have attacked me then. What was my
object in that? Simply to give myself
plea of justifable homicide which
would hold good before jury. When
demanded his apology or his life | had
the drop on him and there was only
one thing that he could do There was
not moment during the disagrcca BILE