Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-07-23
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neighbOring poplars. Dickinson re-
coiled few steps in angry amazement
and despair.
Great Godr' Have 1 missed the
scOundrel?' he calculated vndictively.
Probably that cry of quenChless hate
cost him his life. Jackson was the kind
of man who suffers from the temptation
to be magnanimOus. But magnanimty
with Dickinson would have been sui
cidal, Spared, he would have forced an
other fight, perhaps a street affray.
Back to the line, sir!" shouted Gen.
OvertOn, laying his hand on his pistol
Dickinson recovered his courage,
though not his color Pale as paper,
with naughty, flashing eyes, he walked
with facial grace forward to the line and
stood up to be killed like gentleman.
Pitifully the torture to his false pride
and his Jared nerves was prolonged by
the whim of accident, as Jacksons unu-
sually tall figure seemed to lower over
that of Dickinson.
When Jackson raised his pistol slowly
it having been agreed at the start that
the weapons should be held downward
the pistol snapped and caught at half
cock. To readjust it took, of course, an
other awful moment full of murder.
Then came the flash and the crash.
DickinsOn's white face grew still more
CHASTITY, shadOwy. gh0stly. lie reeled
and fell backward with smOthered
shrek. Jackson's bullet had struck him
below the ribs, taking a downward turn.
HIS friends lifted him teuderly and
leaned him against the Towering shrub
that was glowing with glad life. Jack
son sent over his surgeon to offer assist
ance to the other one, but Charles Dick
insOn was beyond their skill. lie lin
gered in frightful agony for hours, and
expired before his wife could reach his
side.
The slayer went forth to slay and he
was slainn
Yet DckinsOn's aim had been perfect.
He had meant to hit Jackson in the heart.
He did not, however, realize how exceed.
ingly slender was the Generals body,
like that of Charles Sumner, who in
youth was playfully nicknamed 1.-THE
iine' by Julia Ward Howe, because he
seemed to be length without breadth and
thickness.
The loose frock coat which Jackson
wore increased the error in Diclinsons s
ocular calculation by just enough to
save his life. The bali broke two ribs
and raked the breastbone; a severe
wound from which acute pain arose and,
as a false healing occurred, pursued
Jackson at intervals to his last hour.
When the surgeon overlook Overton
and Jackson, about hundred yards
away, his professional eye caught
glimpse of blood on one of the Generals
shoes.
Hush" was the naughty answer. 81
believe he has pinked me a little, but |
prefer that he should die without the sat
isfaction of knowing it."
How this reply exemplities the savage
temper of the times Yet Andrew Jack
son was not cruel by nature. On the
contrary, he was, like Henry Clay. ten
der, even to the point that his gray, iron
eyes could easily melt into tears.
The character of Jackson, indeed, in
many respects was far above the aver
age. He gambled like most gentlemen,
but not devotedly. He was fond of horse
racing and not averse to whiskey, though
he rarely drank to excess. He was quick
to quarrel, but he never used vile Ian
J guage.
Like Grant, even while in his cups,
uever word came to his lips that could
cause a blush on the cheek of woman.
This purity of language in a coarse
tOngued time was the outward and vis-
BILE signs in his case, though it is not al
ways, of pure heart. Andrew Jackson,
from earliest boyhood, was thoroughly
chaste. and his ideal of womanhood so
high that he hated to suspect evil in any
of the sex. In all the transactions of his
life his word was better than his bond.
In fine, the orphan son of poor Irish
emigrant, with scanty picked up edu-
cation, and bred chiefly in the rough col
lege of the camp, was a radically fine
gentleman. He had fine manners, too,
especially toward women. Lady Hamil-
ton, we'll versed in European courts, after
an hour spent in his company while
President, referred to him as the finest
hammered man she had ever meta very
liking of courtesy"
To recur in closing to the final scenes
of this famous duel, it is worthy of note
as slight set.Off against the barbarity
of his first remark about the dying Dick
inson, that from the tavern where jack
son rested to have his wound dressed he
sent bottle of the best wine to his enc
my. His own preparation for the fur
ther pain of the surgical operation was
draught of buttermilk.
The large majority of Tennesseans
condemned this duel to the death, be-
cause it was too real. The fantastic
folly of fighting for honor and coming
off with a scratch from a sword or smell
of powder was all right and proper; it
gave the stroke of grace, the accolade of
knighthood to gehtleman's character;
but a meeting for the expressed and de-
termined purpose of killing, save where
the honor of a woman was the point,
reused the dormant sense of the COM
munity to a temporarily intense remem-
brance of that briefest and most emphat-
ic commandment, "Thou shall not muir
der. Henry Austin in the Illustrated
| American.