The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-30

OF man who often suffers from the tenn.
tatlon TO be magnanimOus. But magma
hlmlty with a Dickinson would have beer
suicidal. Spared, he would have forced
ahother hight, perhaps a street ARRAY.
Back to the line, sirr' should Cen
OYerton, laying his hand on his pistol.
DICKINSON recovered his courage. though
not his color. Pale as paper. with haugh-
" hashing eyes, he walked with facile
grace forward 10 the line and stood I'D
TO be killed like a gentleman.
fltlfully the torture to his false pride and
MS Jared nerves was prolonged bv the
whim of accident, as Jackson's unusually
Dickinson.
When jackson raised his pistol slowly
II having been agreed at the start that
| the weapons should be held downward
the pistol snapped and caught at half
COCK. TO readjust II took, of course, an
other awful moment fun of murder Then
came the flash and the crash.
DickinsOn's white face grew still more
ghastly' shadowy, ghostly He reeled
and fell backward with a smothered Shrek
Jackson's bullet had struck him below the
ribs, taking a downward course
His friends lifted him tenderly and
leaned him against the Towering shrub
that was glowing with glad life. Jackson
sent over his surgeon to offer assistance
TO the other one but Charles Dickinson
was beyond their skill He fingered in
frightful agony for hours. and expired
before his wife could reach his side.
The slayer went forth TO Stay and he
was slain"
Yet Dickinson'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 Summer, who in youth was
nj Folxr
Ward Howe, because he seemed to be
length without breath and thickness.
The loose frock coat which Jackson
wore increased the error in Dickinson's
ocular calculation by just enough to save
life The ball broke two ribs and raked
the breastbone a severe wound from
which acute pain arose and, as a false
healing occurred, pursued Jackson at in
tefvals TO his last hour.
When the surgeon overlook Overton and
Jackson, about hundred yards away. mis-
professional eye caught a glimpse of blood
on one of the generals shoes.
MY God. general, you are hitv'
Hush" was the naughty answer. II
believe he has pinked me a little but l
prefer that he should die without the sat
isfaction of knowing it."
How this reply exempliies the savage
temper of the times! Yet Andrew Jackson
was not cruel by nature. On the contrary,
he was. like Henry Clay, tender, 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 average.
He gambled like most gentlemen, but not
deyotedly. He was very fond of horse rae
ing and not averse TO whisky, though he
rarely drank to excess. lie was quick to
quarrel, but he never used vile language.
Like Grant, even when in his cups never
a word came TO his lips that could cause a
blush on the cheek Of a woman. This pur-
ity of language in a cOarsed tongued time
was the outward and visible signs in his
case, though ii is not always, of a pure
heart. Andrew Jackson. from his earliest
boyhood, was thoroughly chaste, and his
ideal of womanhood was so high that he
hated to suspect evil in any of the sex.
In all the transaction of his life his word
was better than bond.
In fine, this orphan son of a poor Irish
emigrant, with a scanty, picked-up educa-
ton, and bred chiefly in the rough college
of the camp, was a radically fine gentle
man. He had fine manners, too, especial
~ toward women. Lady Hamilton, well
versed in European courts after an hour
spent in his company while President, re-
ferred to him as the finest hammered man
she had ever meta very king of cour-
tesy."
To recur in closing to the final scenes of
this famous duel, ii is worthy of note, as
slight set off against the barbarity of his
first remark about the dying Dickinson,
that from the tavern where Jackson rest
ed to have his wound dressed he sent a
bottle of the best wine to his enemy. His
own preparation for the further pain of the
surgical operation was a draught Of but
termilk.
The large majority of Tennesseans con-
demned this duel to the death, because it
was too real. The fantastic folly Of fight
ing for honor and coming off with a scratch
from a sword or a smell Of powder was
all right and proper; it gave the stroke of
grace, the accolade of knighthood to a
gentlemans character; but meeting for
the express and determined purpose Of
killing, save where the honor of a
woman was the point, reused the dor
mant sense of the community TO tenn
porarily intense remembrance of that
briefest and most emphatic commandment,
Thou shalt do no murder"