Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-20

pute arose, the dc GOV EkNOR PULLMAN. cision of which rested with a bystander named Christian. During the quarrel no one knows just how it happencd-Till- man is said to have killed Christian. He left the state to avoid the consequences and remained away two or three years Pickcns, ono of his ncighbors, meanwhile having been elected governor, Tillman re- turned, stood trial, was convicted and sen- fenced to q term of imprisonment in the Edgeticld jail. A little later he was par doned, and the beginning of the war found him ill the ranks, among the most gallant of fighters Being talented as we'll as brave, he was elected first to the legisla- ture and then to congress.
 Edgctield was also the home of Preston $. Brooks who is best remembered as the assailant of Charles Sumner on the floor of the senate in 1856. During tho debate on the admission of Kansas Sumner had delivered speech full of vigor and sar- casm in reply to the arguments of Senator 4. r. Butler of South Carolina, reScntine which Brooks, who was q relative of But Ter, gave the Massachusetts senator a sc were caning Brooks was known among his own people to be d genial and anything but q quarrclsome man, yet even while a youth he hurried home from college to challenge the famous Louis T. Wigfall, afterward senator from Texas and q gener- al in the Confederate army. Both were wounded ill the duel that followed.
 A quarrel had occurred between Wigfall and an Edgefield citizen named Bird an uncle of Brooks and father of Capers Bird marshal of Florida, who died two or three years ago at Monticello. Bird attempting to post him in tho usual way on the door of the postoffice, his antagonist shot him dead. Wigfall afterward went to Tex as, where the bowie knife and pistol play ed conspicuous part in his career.
 Edgefield has always been place ot feuds, and until of late years it would be a rare month that did not witness one ol more shooting scrapeS on tho public ol courthouse square. Occasionally they oc- cured in the court itself, and more than one lawyers office today bear the bullet marks of a fight to the death. How are things up in Edgefleld today?" inquired a citizen on meeting the present Senator M. c. Butler in Charleston. Dull, sir; inex- pressibly dull. They only kill man q week now," was the reply.
 Edgefield was tho homo of General NJ. w. Gary, one of the idols of the state, who near the close of tho war took three oaths never to surrender, never to be taken a prisoner and never to take the oath of al legiancc. He broke his sword at Appo-
 
 lines. He died about 10 years ago.
 In his beautiful homo on the outskirts of tho town resides his sister the widow of General N. G. Evans, familiarly remcm- bcred by old officers of the army as Shanks.
 With their mother reside several sons, who arc the brothers of John Gary Evans, the author of the South Carolina dispen- sary law and candidate for next governor. All of them arc in active political life and arc exercising great influence in tho affairs of the Palmetto Stf.tc at the present. time. John Gary Evans moved to Aiken, where he is prominent at the bar. In fact, the county is full of bright, brainy, brave men, who have always proved worthy of their ancestors, and there is little doubt that when Tillman found his own homo con- pany among the first to respond to his call for troops in the recent emergency he felt a sense of relief
 Edgefeld, it should be remembered is part of Old Ninety-six, one of the four great districts into which the state was divided anterior to the Revolution, the name being derived from the fact that it was within 96 miles of tho frontier fort. Prince George, which was on the Keowee river in the present Pickens district Sub sequently it was subdivided into what is now known as Edgefeld, Abbeville, New berry and Laurens counties. During the Revolution, by reason of the stirring events that occurred there, it was memorable as "the fighting district" of South Carolina. Calhoun, McDuffie, Pettigrew, Langdon, Cheves, Pickens, the Buffers, Hagoods, Hammonds and others are among its sons who have since acquired national fame.
 F. G. DE FoNTAINE.