Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-08-30
expired before his wife could reach

! us blUo.
TThe slayer went forth to slay
and he was slain.'
Yet Dickinson's aim had been
perfect. He had meant to hi
Jackson 10 the heart. He did not
however, realize how exceedingly
slender was the generals body
like that OF Charles Sumner, who
10 youth was playfully nicknamed
"The line" by Julia Ward Howe
because he seemed to be length
without breadth and thickness.
The loose frock coat which Jack
son wore increased the error 10
d nsOn's ocular calculation by
JUS enough to save Inf. The ball
broke two ribs and raked the
breastbone; severe wound from
which acute pain arose aud, as a
false healing occurred, pursued
Jackson at intervals to his last
hour.
Wien the surgeon overlook
Overton and Jackson, sboqt a hun.
dred yards away, his professional
eye caught glimpse of blood on
one of the generals shoes.
"My God, general, you are hit!'
"Hush," was the naughty ans
wer. 81 believe he has pinked me
little but l prefer that he should
die without the satisfaction oil
knowing it,"
How this reply exempliaes the
savage temper of the time! Yet
Andrew Jackson was not cruel by
nature. Ga 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, IN
deed, in many respects was far
above the average. He gambIed
like most gentlemen, but not de.
votedly. He was very fond of
horse racing aud not averse 10
whiskey, though he rarely drank
to excess. He was quick to quar-.
rel, but he never used vile lam
guage.
Never a word came to his lips
that could cause a blush on the
cheek of a woman. This purity of
language in coarse tongued time
was tue outward aud visible signs
iD bis case, though it is not always
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.
Iu all the transactions of his life
his word was better than a bond
In fine, this orphan son OF a poor
Irish emigrant, with a scanty,
picked up education, and bred
chiefly 10 the rough college of the
camp, was a radically fine gentle
man. He had 6ne manners, too,
peclally toward women. Lady
Hamilton, well versed in European
courts: after an hour spent in his
company while President, referred
to him as the finest hammered man
she had ever met-a very liking OF
courtesy
To recnr IN closing to the 6nal
scenes of this famous duel, it is
worthy of note, as slight set of
against the barbarity Of his first
remark about the dying Dickinson
that trom the tavern where Jack
sou rested TO have his wound
dressed be sent bottle of tn {
best wine to his enemy. His owl
preparation for the further pain o.
the surgical operation was a
draught of butter.milk.
The large majority of Tennes
scans condemned this duel to death
because it was too real. Tue fan
tastic folly of fighting for honol
and coming off with scratch from
a sword or a smell of powder was
all right anu proper; IL gave the
stroke of grace, the accolade o
knighthoOd to a gentlemaD'I
character; bat q meeting for the
express and determined purpose o
Killing, save where the honor OF
woman vas the point, ro1sed tn,
dormant sense of the community
to a temporarily intense remem
berance of that brietest and most
emphatic commandment. "I'hOI
shall do no murder"
A clergyman holding forth In
Texas town, recently commence