The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-11-11
COLONEL GIRARDEAU.

eral years ago an OLD gentleman hauleu
Clay Benton Girardeau, who hailed
from Missouri AS is well known, it
was considered ungentlemanly in the
early DAYS in Arizona, New Mexico and
Texas to ask a man his real name. We
accepted the names that were given.
Albitumen was a town before the
railroad got there, before the United
States acquired the territory. What l
am about to relate happened in the new
town, the one built around the railroad
station.
was on my way from San Francisco
to Washington in the early eighties, and
owing to a snow blockade in the noun
tains to the east of Albitumen l was
detained in that town for several days.
On the morning of my arrival l met
man whom l knew, and was introduced
by him to nearly every human beng In
the place who was at all introducable.
Among others | was introduced to Col
onel Clay Benton Girardeau, lawyer
Of the place, "Old Clay" he was called
behind his back; Kernel or KERNEL
Clay" or Kernel Geradoo" to his face.
He was both politician and lawyer, and
got his living by either or both, but was
more given to talking in barrooms than
to talking for his clients in courts.
Unlike most men who went west in
those days, Colonel Girardeau carried
no pistol-said that he did not believe in
carrying one, that he had too little
money to fight highwayman for, and
as to fighting others, there was always
the code duello for that.
If you have ever been to Albitumen
you doubtless remember the Star of the
West saloon, near the station, where
one can get drink, food or a game at
any hour of the day or night.
Everything is open," said the colonel
to us in describing the place; ''every-
thing is done in view of all, and no one
thinks the less of a man for taking a
cocktail before breakfast any more than
he does for taking breakfast, nor does
one lose caste by playing at faro or any
game of chance. Money is earned to be
spent in a jolly, generous fashion, and
the way a gentleman wants to spend his
money is the way gentleman ought to
spend it. / was born, gentlemen, in st.
Louis fifty-eight years ago. 1t was a
town then. Now it's like Philadelphia
unfit, gentlemen, for a man of spirit to
I
live in.
when St. Louis began to put on d
silk hat on Sunday l left the place, the
/ home of my birth, and went to Kansas.
/ Then Kansas began to improve, as the
preachers say, and | quit. I've been
/ coming west since then, and now I've
| been in Albitumen two years, and It's
what this saloon is, gentlemen. It's the
| Star of the West. You can drink and
gamble every day III t.I2 month and IL
one says d word. Yes, gentlemen, thls
town is the healthiest, happiest town In
the world. 1t has only one blot. They
don't believe in the code duello. They
believe in the shoot on sight principle
It's wrong, gentlemen-wrong. The
duel permits of a gentleman making his
will or declining an invitation to dinner
or paying his bill"
After luncheon 1 met the colone
again. Somehow 1 spoke about the code
duello.
by the way" said the colonel, 60.
have an affair on hand tomorrow"
WHAT said l, greatly astonished.
Yes" he answered. ''Some fellows
insuIted me last night, and this morn
ing I sent a challenge to all three an(
we fight tomorrow at daybreak. DR.. x
will be our surgeon. Won't you attend
as a witness or as an assistants:
LAS an outsider" l replied, Still
greatly surprised, but not as an as
sistant or as a witness. l am due II
Washington on the 18th"
1.-THE habit of this country" continue
the colonel, sis the barbarous one o
shooting on sight, or telling your adver
sarv to 90 heel himself and then begll
shooting when you see each other.
tell everybody that 1 believe in the cod
dueIlo, and in that only for revengini
wrongs and insults. l must now go t
nv Office to arrange some papers. II
do not see you again before then, be
the railroad station, where your Pull
man is, little before daybreak, wher
nv second and 1 will pick you up AM
take you to the ground. But wait; lie
us have another drink before we part. "
must tell here what did not know
till subsequently,. For some time tn
colonel had been a source of muc
laughter to the frequenters of the sa
looms on account of his innocent pecu
liarities, and especially on account Q
his strong aversion to shooting on sigh
and equally strong predictions /
favor of dueling. Five of the railroa
hands were in the Star of the West tn
night before l arrived, laughing abou
cold Clay" when one proposed tina
they get up a duel with him. One coul
appear to take his side and could the
! act as his second; another could be
little apart and be witness, and coul
) DO called upon as their second, and thre
could insult the colonel. If the colon'
took the insult and did not funk, as the
thought he would, then the seconds coul
fix up the pistols, extracting the bulle
and replacing them with painted pap'
+ wads.
They were much surprised when tt
, colonel not only took mp the insults, bl
r challenged all three to fight him slmu
taneously. The meeting was arrange
for. and the seconds went away to pr
pare the cartridges, and, as we ha'
y seen, the colonel gave up the afternoC
, TO arranging his papers and writing lie
tiers.
DR.. X, of the town, Girardeau and
were the only ones not in this miserab
practical joke.
/, Next morning about daybreak the
: picked me up and took me to the groun
about a mile from the station. The sc
J. onds had brought the four pistols und
q their overcoats. 1t was quite chilly.
: When we reached the place they p
down the pistols and began measuri1
off the distance-thirty-tiv PAGES,
= think, they made it; long ones to
4 While they were so occupied the colon
; went up TO where the pistols were al
= began examining them, not closely
K seemed more to be fOndling them. VIII
:, struck me as strange at the time W
= that his adversaries and the secon
D watched him closely.
Suddenly the colonel stood up, and
a loud and stately voice said, lookil
f toward his opponents:
5 "Gentlemen, it seems to me marked
e Mafair toward two of you that you sta1
r fronting me in a row, as my second tel
IS me has been arranged. Now, when
shoot, l of course must choose one
i I 1r;11a1 ON ha Gv