The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-01
IN THE DAYS OF DUELS.
A Reporter Complies a Chapter Of
Georgia History.
Men We're Anxious for an Excuse to
FiEht on the Field of Honor The Law
Was Powerless TO Deal with the
Custom Some Arnusing Incidents.

There Is a tall. slender man in town who
is just up from the south on a visit. He
talked the other evening about some of
his experience in Georgia in the old days.
Running his fingers through his long. lank
whiskers, and smiling in a genial manner,
he told the following story. Il don't sup
pose there is town in Texas or any
where else in these United States that is
as tough now as the town of Americas,
Ga, was when was there in 1856. I was
born and schooled in Connecticut. and it
was strange experience to be flung into
a place like that. One of the first sights
that was treated to was a bowie knife
fight in the parlor of a hotel where l was
stopping Two men set upon an
other and they did slash him unmerci-
fully. | never saw a creature bleed
as he did, but although he was stabbed
in dozen places they stitched him up
and he was around again in three weeks
had no desire to get mixed up in affairs
of that kind, but il was impossible to live
entirely at peace in a town of such a sort
Some northern men who had been down
there before me had been killed off-hand
but they had talked too much. | simply
attended to the shop that 1 had started,
and did not preach abolition, so ! was not
troubled to anything like the extent that
some people were Still it was necessary
now and then to assert yourself, and
smartly, too, or those fellows would ride
right over yOu.'
did you ever fight a duel2"
The tall man looked at the questioner
out of the corner of his eyes and flushed
family. After pause he said: THAT
is a leading question. l may say that
have seen duels. Not many men could
keep out of them whether they wished to
or not. Laws against them2 Why of
course there were; but what is law
against public opinion} A law that doesn't
reflect the popular will is never enforced.
Your saloons are all open in New York on
Sunday, aren't they2"
The inquisitive one was forced to admit
that he had heard so.
NO LAW COULD COPE WITH IT.
"Well, it was the same with dueling.
Why, there wasn't policeman or sheriff
or district attorney or Judge or jury that
would have dared to interfere with it.
Besides, they all fought duels themselves.
Public sentiment has entirely changed
since those days, a result of education,
suppose YOU may say Men were very
punctilious in those times, and it was one
of the bad things about the system that
they saw offenses in the merest trifles or
in breaches of etiquette that to-day would
only call for verbal reprOOf To illus
trate from my own eXDeTience-but
please remember that l was young when
it happened had invited a young lady to
90 to a ball On the evening of the affair
| was delayed, through no fault of my own,
and was about an hour late in reaching her
house. There l learned that she had given
me up and had gone with her brother.
The code of honor obliged me to resent
the slight, for, as she had promised to 90
with me, she was not at liberty to go with
any one else, even if l had never got
around so / sent a challenge to her
brother. Next day heard a ring at the
bell and found him at the door / said !:
This is not proper proceeding, sir. My
friend is acting for me, and you ought to
see him He explained that he had al
ready sent me an apology in writing, and
supposed that had received it. He was
going out of town, he said, and he merely
wanted to assure me that he had no inten-
ton of offending. The apology arrived,
so we were as good friends as ever after
that.
Another time I was calling on the
family of DR. r., and we happened to
talk about the weight of metals l said
that platinum was the heaviest. The
doctor said that lead was. ] said, play
fully: III bet you SO that platinum is
heavier than lead Said the doctor
I'm no gambler and loafer, to take bet. >
That surprised me- for we had always
been good friends. l suppose he was a
little nettled at having somebody else
know more about anything than he did
l answered that l did not like to hear him
talk like that and that his language was
offensive. He turned away, saying, If
the coat fits wear it Then l lost myself
In those days and in that town
it had become a habit for me to go
armed, for no man was safe otherwise,
and l carried couple of light, ivory
handled pistols in my pocket. / drew
them out, when the Doctors brother
rushed up and held my arm. For God 5
sake, gentlemen said he, remember
where YOU are. My wife is in the next
room about to be confined asked his
pardon formy haste, and also asked him
to represent me in arranging a meeting
with the doctor. He consented and went
home and wrote a challenge. Well, sir,
for twelve hours | was in hell. I had
never actually fought, but this time
fully expected to, and, while knew there
was a chance that | might be killed, /
really expected TO kill the doctor. You
see. was a crack shot | had so fully
expected to have trouble that had spent
a good deal of time in pistol practice, and
| could wheel and hit dime at a dozen
PAGES nine times in ten. | was religious,
also, and during that twelve hours / was
debating with myself as to what my ever
lasting torture was going to be if ! killed
this man, or if was killed in trying to
kill him At length my second arrived
and said that his brother was sorry what
he had said, and wished to withdraw the
remark That warmed me up again,
and l declared that | could not accept
his apology unless it was either put
in writing or made as publicly as the in
suit The result was that the doctor
asked the same people to call at his
house as were there on the night of the
trouble and in their presence he retracted
his observation and we shook hands.
am told that my picture still hangs in his
house but the old friendship was, of
course, broken, and we were merely
courteous to each other afterward The
whole affair was so quiet, all the same,
that don't think the doctors sister-in-
law, VINO was in the next room, ever
knew anything about it.
But. as / said, they were too punctil-
ious about trifies and they carried for
mality and etiquette to point where it
became merely silly. For instance, you
went to a ball with a young woman and
you asked her for a certain waltz She
declined, but directly afterward offered to
waltz with a stranger. You had right
to challenge that stranger, unless he had
first asked your consent. That was be-
cause she had shown her preference for
him after accepting your company, and
tho Onlv yUav Won cOuld Dllnigb her