The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-14
NOTED PISTOL FIGHTS.
The Battle in San Francisco Years
Aw0


From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
The literature of dueling is having quite
a renaissance in the publications of the
day. One can hardly pick up paper or
a magazine that does not contain some
account of a noted duel of the past, while
the records of the libraries show that this
class of reading is always in demand.
Now that dueling in real life is a thing
of the past, it is but natural that inter
est should attach to the history of such
bloody encounters, but, after all, there is
a sameness about this kind of literature
which often makes it monotonous.
Il would a good deal rather read about
an old-fashioned street fight any day."
said a former San Francisco mining man
the other day, as he sat in his Office in the
merchants exchange; and we had lot
of them, too, at one time in San Fran
CISCO" he continued. Il don't mean com
monplace affairs, such as rows between
toughs and hoodlums, but real bang-up
fights between Wh9t might be called our
best citizens Why, at one time we had
an affair of that kind happening on an
average once week, and sometimes
oftener. 1t was along in the early seven
ties that we had a series of such en-
counters, and they kept the people and
the newspaper reporters hopping about,
l can tell you. The way San Francisco
got to going about with its hand on its
Broderick-Terry duel that form of salts
faction among gentlemen fell under ban.
There were few challenges and few
meetings, but scarcely any of these are
now remembered. Then came the first
Comstock mining excitement, and that
carried away from San Francisco large
part of the fighting population; instead of
wrangling and quarreling, people went
to hunting gold and silver.
Il am afraid that Charles De Young,
who founded the San Francisco Chroni-
aIa wa direptlV Indirectly reSDOnSi-
bile for much of the turbulence of the
next few years. He introduced a new
kind of journalism in San Francisco. and
the people were not used to 1t. He start
ed a red-hot sensational paper, attack
ing everybody right and left, and especial
ly did he make things interesting for all
classes of public men, including judges
and lawyers of the highest standing.
There was a great deal of crooked work
in the courts of those days, and DE
Young set out to expose 1t. There had
been Jury bribing, and even the bench
was under strong suspicion of faint. One
of the first rows that De Young got into
was with Judge McKinstry, of the SUI
perior court, a big, powerful man, ana
noted for his physical courage, though
For several weeks De Young had been
hammering away at .McKinstry's court,
intimating in almost unmstakable terms
that the judge had been guilty Of corrupt
practices when finally some of the lat
ter's friends warned the editor that he
had better call a halt or there might be
Young, by his methods. had piled up as
promising lot of enemies as ever fall to
the share of a rising young journalist,
and public sentiment therefore ran high
in McKinstry's favor.
Like many another newspaper reform
er. De Young carried his fight on Judge
McKinstry little too far He one morn
ing printed a base insinuation against a
female member of McKinstrys family,
and then everybody knew the battle was
on People were out of their houses
bright and early that morning, and so,
1t may be said. was Judge McKinstry. Ut
was in the air that there was to be a
fight and the whole public was on the
qui vive. The judge learned that the
editor did not come down town till late
in the morning. so he went TO his court,