The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1893-05-12
TIME CALLED.
Continued from FIRST Page

point Of dollars and cents, it was Ii
poor investment. A stranger from
the North or South, had he been here
TO put money in factory or to buy a
home and send his children to school,
would have stepped inside of the
nearest doorway, when fu=ilade
was eXpec ed, and promptly Resolved
to get out Of town and stay out
What a spectacle was presented
Crowds Of men, many OF them lead
ers in church, in society and in large
affairs, faced each other earnestly
and eXpectantly for all hour or two at
the corner OF Madison and Main
They looked ugy and determined
and were drawn up almost in line
Cf battle, and only needed aleader or
some one to ire shot to bring ON a
riot that would have drenched the
streets with blood and draped many
homes in mourning No one took
the aggressive, however favorable
the opportunity, and after few
hours the excitement abated and the
police were left in peaceful pOsAes-
sion Of the ground. Still, there is no
doubt that many men on both sides
were armed 10 the teeth and ready
for bloody work If the sig"al had
been given.
AS everybody knows, this disgrace
full wrang,e dates back directly to the
old Hadden and auti.HadGen NUM-
cipal fight, which has been kept alive
in some form or other from the un.
seemly circus in the bul pen on down
to the present Tnls has estranged
friends and turned them into life
time enemies; it has impaired bust
Dess, inflamed the worst passions OF
men, demOrallzed the community
and made Memphis the laughing
stock of other cities, and place to be
Stunned by strangers. There was a
time-and not many years ago-wheL
men were held personally responsible
for epithets applied to gentlemen
through the pres. 1t is not so many
years since leading editor in this
city was caned on the street by a
prominent lawyer for having, as was
thought, gone beyond the metes and
bounds Of legitimate journal SIN
This cleared the air for a time, but il
has become as foul since as tie
mackerel that stinks by moonlight
and the Police Gazette, interdicted II,
it is by the post-utlice authorities, i,
choice family reading compared tt
the super1iulty Of rot that is some.
times dished out to the readers o.
Memphis papers. This is u terrible
education for young people who's,
characters are at the pliable anC
formative period, and it is absolutel,
Immoral, debauching aud criminal
Now, if any man has a grievance, 8
grudge or streak Of egOtism in hin
too big to conceal or to carry alone
why don't he fight it out and get tn
matter off his mind without boring
patient public to death with his in
sane cOnceits and affected impOr
tance. 1t is not far to the woods o
Arkansas, and an Occas Onal tigh
over there, especially if fought il
earnest aud 90 kill, as Brizzolari anC
George Phelan fought, would BE- in
tinitely better for the moral an,
social atmosphere than the billings
gate so often dumped at the doors O
decent people. The man who is ear
nestly seeking a fight, whether t
indicate his honor or to resent
real or fancied insult, will not send
brass band in advance, We hav
noticed that such men, If they ar
persistent about it, nearly always sc
accommodated. 1t altogether depend
upon aman's sincerity. We do NJ
think well Of dueling, but when ths
manner of settling differences pre-
vailed among gentlemen, it mad
them particular as-to what they sal
about each other, ana there was bu
little offensive and no vulgar person
nj journalism of those days. Pc
sonal affairs were not dragged throug
the columns of the press, nor sole
linen hung out on the front fence
Memphis Public Ledger.