The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-10-10
Amaersats gnteIligettees'
A DUEL AT MIDNIGHT.
A THRILLING SKETCH.

circulating Libraries with plots dark
and dreadful enough to satisfy even
the present craving for sensation.
The place had been noted since its
earliest settlement for the beligerent
character Of its inhabitants, and the
number and the atrocity of the violent
deeds which stained it's streets with
the blood of human hearts.
It is not our present purpose, how
ever, 10 sketch any of these more
celebrated brute battles, but merely
select, for the sake Of its mournful
moral alone, a solitary tragedy which
was briefly chronicled by the press OF
the day, and which then faded from
the recollection of all save one, from
whom the writer received all the story
in all its particularly. She, Of course.
could never forget. To the latest
hour of her existence, the wife Of the
murdered hero wept at the sad remin-
iscence.
In the year, 1927, young lawyer,
John Thomas, emigrated from Wor
cester, in Massachusetts, to the State
Of Mississippi. He was poor, had re-
Gently married beautiful, accom-:
plished woman, who had renounced
wealthy parents for his sake, and
hence was anxious to better his for
tune in as little time as possible. This
consideration determined the legal ad
| yenturer to locate at Vicksburg, ther
considered through the West as the
paradise Of the bar:
In very short time the new lawyer
had ample reasons to congratulate
himself on the choice of his position.
His bland demeanor, studious habits
and, more than all, his eloquence il
debate, won him a patronage, and he
rose, almost at a single bound, to tht
first place in his profession. He was
employed in all the land suits, and il
most of the still more numerous ano
equally lucrative cases of homicide
50 that in the period of two years
after his advent he had cleared the
round sum of 100000. Let no skep
tical disciple of Lord Coke deem this
statement incredible, 8. s. Prentis'
realized, cash in hand, $40, 900 by hi
opening speech in Vicksburg.
During his career thus far young
Thomas was remarkable in one re
spect. He never went armed, and al
though in the fierce and fiery alterca
tii,,ns Of the forum he necessarily
make some enemies, no attack hat
hitherto been ventured on his person
The athleticism of the keen blue eyes
had doubtless warned the desperadoet
that athe Yankee orator." as he wa:
generally termed, could hit as hart
blows in the courtyard as he did IL
the court itself. However this may
be, two years elapsed, years, too, o:
eminent success, before the peaceablt
attorney was even insulted. Alas thi
halcyon period was doomed to change
alike sudden and terrible.
There resided at the time in th
town notorious duelist, by the NAM
of johnson, whose r1atchless proves
| inspired universal fear. He had slail
half dozen foes on the public "6eld
of honor" and as many more in pri
vate and irregular encounters. AL
the members Of the bloody fancy
club" spoke Of Mike johnson feats
with rapturous enthusiasm. But al
pood men. all lovers of the peace, when
the "brave wretch" passed, turned
pale and were silent.
At the May term of the distric
court, 1929, the grand jury, muster
ing extraordinary courage, returned
true bill against johnson for the lnur
der of William Lee, an inoffensiv
youth, whom he had shot down in
drunken frolie, under circumstance
Of peculiar aggravation. Thomas wa
retained by friend of the deceased
to aid in the prosecution, and notwith
standing the advice of his well-wish
ers to the contrary, appeared on TIL
trial of the cause-one Of the mos
exciting ever argued at the bar o:
Vicksburg. On the last evening o
the session, after adjournment, Thorn
as rushed into the presence Of his wife
with looks of such evident agitation
as to fill her soul with overpoweret
grief.
ssMy love, tell me in the name o
Heaven what has happened p sh'
cried; pale as corpse, and shaking
like leaf in the wind.
Nothing" answered the husband
thinking to conceal the most fearful
part of the intelligence. Nothing
only the murderer, Mike johnson
after his acquittal grossly insulted m
in the courtyard, and I knocked hin
down"
"And he has challenged you to fgh
him with pistols p almost shrieke!
the wife, anticipating the rest will
the uuickness of a woman 8 common
sense.
"It is even so, replied the lawyer
mournfully.
"Oh, say that you will not NEE
him Oh, swear that you will no
turn duelist in this Sodom Of th'
South p implored the wife, throwing
her arms around his neck, and sobbinl
like child on his bosom.
"There, do not weep now. Twill no
turn duelist, dear Emma, although J
much fear that the consequences vii
be my ruin"
"God will protect you from tha
bold, bad man."
The next morning it was known il
Vicksburg that "the Yankee orator,
had been challenged and refused t.
fight. Accordingly, he was general
ly denounced as a coward wore
which at that day might be consider
ed as expressing far deeper scorn thai
either robber or assassin. AS n
passed through the streets he was as
tonished to witness the GOODNESS man
ifested by his old acquaintances, ant
even professed friends, while tn
great mass of people seemed to regar'
him with ineffable contempt. Cyan
kee white liver ''boaster, j" "pol
troon," were the sounds most fre
quently rung in his ears, especial!
when near the groceries, and ther
was one on every terrace OF the broker
hills.
The matter grew still worse. Abou
wool oftorwards johnson met hi