The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-06-19
representing the parish OF Prince
(1oorno WsD-ol

| S"Ioha. hoout lcZf ne pub
hshed in New York q codification of
the laws of South Carolina. In 1888
he was a delegate from Charleston TO
the celebrated Notification Conven.
ton OF 1888 and was one of the most
prominent advocates of the then ac-
cepted doctrine of State sovereignty. L.:
his speech advocating the resembling of
the Ordinance of Modification he de.
c'ared that Henry Clay's bill was "not
onlya victory, but q most glorious
and decided victory. It was the tri-
umph Of principle over New England
ayarloe-the plunderer has been driv-
en- from his prey"
HIS EXTRAORDINARY vEEsArAL1ry.
In 1884 there was published in
Charleston an exhaustive book on ex
ercise and instruction of field artillery
for the use of the South Carolina mill.
tia, by John l.. Wilson, captain of
the Eutaw Heavy Artillery" This
was probably one of the companies in
the muster roll of $4,000 volunteers
which the Notification party had en-
rolled two years before. though the
party had polled by 90. 900 votes.
In March, 1898, he publ,sne,: IN
| Charleston the first edition of 'The
Code of Honor" In 1912 he trans.
lated and published Cupid and
Psyche" an excerpt from the "Gold-
en- Ass" OF Apuleius.
Though IN elegant classical scholar
he took keen interest in public
affairs, for in August, 1885, he headed
number of citizens and assisted in
tarring and fenthering Richard Wood,
| Charleston barber, who for n num-
Der of years had been buying stolen
goods from Negroes under the assumed
name Of w. II. Carroll. Wood was
taken from his shop in the early morn
Ing and carried to one of the wharves.
There he received twenty lashes on his
bare back, "a tub of tar was then
emptied upon his head in such q man
ner as to cause it to extend over his
whole body, aud the miscre cant individ-
ual was decorated with O covering Of
loose cotton, the principal material in
which he had carried on his illicit
traffic, with much advantage to his
purse" 1t is said that Wood, alias
Carroll, from his barber shop had
exported about sixty bales of stolen
cotton annually.
Governor Wilson was crack shot
and had many bitter feuds, which re-
suited in appeals to the Code.
KILLS KEATING LEWIS sIMoNs.
In 1919 he fought duel with Col.
Heating Lewis Simons, at Lowndes
avenue, near Charleston, which re-
suited in the wounding and eventually
in tho death Of Col. Simons. They
were the respective leaders of political
factions, and rumor has it that it was
decided by lot that Simons should
meet Wilson. Col. Simons was prob
ably the most learned lawyer of the
Charleston bar in his day, and his
death caused widespread excitement.
No rooord OF his othor encounters fs
at hand. It is said that .there his
GOODNESS never deserted him, and he
uniformly was victor in such scenes"
Governor Wilson was an enthusi-
astic patron of the turf and was 80
licitor and a leading member of the
South Carolina Jockey Club for many
years. In 1S40 he prepared and pub
lished a very useful synopsis of tho
"Rules of Betting" with other infor-
nation of value to sporting men. He
died in Charleston in 1S49, and was
buried with appropriate military hon
ors. One of his enlogists said of this
erratic, versatile and brilliant man:
ellis nature was above disguise, and
his rcsentments, terrible in their out.
break, were ever under the control of a
gentle and kindly nature"
ADUELLIsT CONDEMNS THE CUSTOM.
1t must not be supposed that the
custom of duelling was univeI sally ap-
proved even at the time of its greatest
vogue in South Carolina. Matthew
Irvine Keith, n distinguished citizen,
who had fought several duels and was
almost hs high an authority as Govern
or Wilson in affaires dhonncur, told
Judge O'Neall some years after the
publication of Wilson's Code:
''Duelling is now deliberate murder.
1t is no longer an affair of chivalry In
which there is no appeal to the god of
battles for victory to the right; but
now the parties prepare to kill each
ether by superior skill in the use of
the instrument Of death. 1 will have
no more to do with it,
PUBLIC OPINION THE HIGHEST LAW.
There was, too, another class of
South Carolinians who, in spite of the
laws of God, the laws of the State and
the obligations due to their families,
fought duels, yielding, rs w. l..
Ynncey expressed it, ''to those laws
which public opinion has framed and
which no one, however exalted his
station, violates with impunity." Many
such, with n chivalry semi -Quixotic,
took part in duels, and like Henry
Laurens, president of tho Continents!
Congress, in many hostile meetings.
| never returned the fire of their an
| tnConists Such was Mr. Yancey's eX-