The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-07-16

i P"poib "iep hftuS my, hdSnluB eyes, ~
walked with facile grace forward .,
the line and stood up to be killed lik,
a gentleman.
| Pltifully the torture to his false
pride and his Jared nerves was pro
longed by the whim OF accident, a,
sJackson's unusually tall figure seemed
to tower over that of Dickinson.
| When Jackson raised his pisto
slowly-it having been agreed ut the
start that the weapons should be held
downward 1.-The pistol snapped and
caught at half-cock. To readjust /.
took, of course. another awful moment
full of murder. Then came the flash
and the crash.
Dlckinsons white face grew still
more ghastly, shaaowy, ghostly. He
reeled and fell backward with q
smothered shriek.s Jackson's bullet
had struck him below the ribs, taking
downward course.
His friends lifted him tenderly and
leaned him against the lowering
shrub that was glowing with glad life.
jackson sent his surgeon to offer as
sistance 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 slay, and
he was slain."-
Yet Dickinson's aim had been per-
feet. He had meant to hit Jackson in
the heart. He did not, however,, real
ize how exceedingly slender was the
Generals body, like that of Charles
Sumner, who in 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 jackson
wore increased tb @ error in Dickinson's
ocular calculation by just enough to
save his life The ball broke two ribs
and raked the breas thoue; u severe
wound. from which a.ute pain arouse,
and, as 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 IL
glimpse of blood on one of the Generals
shoes.
my God, General you are hit"
Hush," was the naughty answer.
:" believe he has pinked me little,
but prefer that he should die without
the satisfaction of knowing it,"
How this reply exemplities the saw
age 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 gen.
tlemen. but not devotedly. He was
very 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
guage.
Like Grant, even when in his cups,
never word came to his lips that
could cause u blush on the cheek of a
woman. This purity of language in u
coarse-tongued time was the outward
and visible sign in his case, though it
Is not always ola 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 u bond.
In this orphan son of u poor Irish
emigrant, with u scanty, picked-up cd
ucation, and bred chiefly In the rough
college OF the camp, was a radically
line gentleman. He had fine manners,
Coo, CopCCiaiiy ~"dFu WOuucu. Lazy
Hamilton was we'll versed in European
courts, after an hour spent in his com
pany 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-olf and against
the barbarity of his first remark about
the dying Dickinson, that from the
tavern where Jackson rested to have
his wound dressed he sent bottle of
the best wine to his enemy. His own
preparation for the further pain of the
surgical operation was a draught of
buttermilk.
The large majority OF Tennesseeans
condemned this duel to the death, be-
cause it was too real. The fantastic
folly OF fighting for honor and coming
oil with scratch from sword or
smell OF powder was all right and
proper; it gave the stroke of grace, the
accolade OF knighthoud ito gentle
mans character but meeting for
the express and determined purpose of
killing, save where the honor of q wo-
man was the point, reused the DOR
mant sense Of the community to o tenn
porarily intense remerfl brance of that
briefest and most emphatic Command
ment: Thou shalt do no murder"
THE EICHEIBERGER CASE.