The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1896-01-17
ARKANSAS DIAMONDS.
Worthless Bits of Quarts and the
Duel They { aused.

In nc book on modern dueling have I
been able to find even suggestion Of
one of the best stories on this subject
that l ever heard. Accountable for this
are two facts-the incident had ) oc-
currence many years ago and the scene
OF it was in a place that, even in this
day of railroads, is not overly accessi-
bic.
was waiting for stage in one of the
back settlements in one Of the noun
tain counties of Arkansas one day last
| summer, when one of the old settlers Of
the community addressed me:
81 see in a Leetle Rock paper thuther
day." he said, "that there's bin some
di'mands found over in Africy."
'There's nothing new in that" 1 re-
piled. 'But the field has been broad
ened, in speculation at least, until the
excitement has grown tremendously"
'Wall, l don't keer none," the old fell
low remarked. 81 amt goin'-I only
had an idee tibet it might be oil a hoax
like a di'mand find we oncet he'd was
hoax"
'Did you think there were diamonds
in this part of the mountainsT" l In
qIired.
"Think! We knowed it fer awhile,
but after a scientific Teller come here,
and after dooel of some size we learned
diffrunt.''
The old man climbed to the top of a
barrel in the one store of the town in
which the conversation was taking
| L L. II
half a dozen of the loungers who were
more interested in me than they
were in the old mans talk, craned their
necks and almost in chorus exclaimed:
"Tell erbout tibet dooel."
Then one of them said: eyer allus
talkin' about it, but it amt often We say
much more'n it jest happened"
The old man appeared to be lattered.
He looked at me with the air of one who
| had an undisputed position in the COM
munity and was proud of it. ! took up
the cause of the native mountaineer
boys who were lounging about the
; place.
go ahead with the story" l said.
"We'll have drop from the proprietor
to wet your whistle properly and then
we'll listen"
"I never talk about tibet dooel," the
old man said. "These young tcllers hev
| all heered their daddies talk about it,
anyhow"
There was long silence. In the
meantime the lank, slip-shod back
woodsman who was running the store
had brought out bottle of white liquor,
better known as moonshine whisky,
with rusty tin cup, out of which every
one took a drink. One hears much talk
of bad whisky sold over bars in large
cities, but one never knows what liquid
fire and birthstone are until he has had
swallow of the whisky that is to be
had at the backwood's stills Of the
mountain districts of this country.
Revenue officials have cleared out many
an Illicit distillery, but they exist even
now in some parts OF the south in a
thriving way.
'Them things looked like diamonds,
anyway" the old man remarked, as he
thoughtful1y smacl0ed his lips and
passed the cup to the next one. "Tbet
was in the '4O's, reckon, and the few
of us as was here didn't know much
about the country. Our folks had come
to the uplands after the sinking of the
land over at New Madrid 80 years be-
fore, and here they stuck, just as l hev
stuck seence tibet time. There was no
newspapers and no railroads Onct an
awhile there was a steamboat and
thet's the only way we ever got much
word from the outside world. The
Pearsoll boys was the liveliest. fellers
in the settlement, and onct a year one of
them would go to Moo Orleans and sell
some of the hides that we got together.
When he was down there he'd get idees
Of things tibet we didn't know nothin'
about. One of the boys would go one
time and one another, and each time
thet they went there was big time
around, I'll tell you. Onct, jest after
Ollie Pearsoll he'd come back from Moo
a man who had paid fortune for a
shirt stud. That was the fust time
most of us had ever heerd about
di'monds. OF Pearsoll described the
things keerfully an told us tibet they
was found only in few parts of the
world. When he he'd got done there
wasn't a Teller in the crowd that wasn't
as worked up as eff he'd heerd a ghost
story. While Ollie Pearsoll was stand
ing at one side kinder restin' after his
talk-reely playin' the hero-another
of our fellers, Bill Sims by name,
slipped around to him and took him
to one side. heerd afterward thet he
took a leetle stone outen his pocket an
asked Ollie eff it looked like emmy of
them diamonds he'd been tellin' about.
l seen Ollie put his hand to his mouth
and tell Bill to be quiet, and then they
strolled off together.
81 didn't think no more of it until
the next evenin', when Ollie come to me
oil excitement and sed: See here, Tom,
I'm in trouble
"sWhat's up?' asked, SEEM tibet it
was somethin big.
"'You remember what said about the
di'mond last night?' he went on.
Well, Bill Sims has whole lot Of them
out in the new timber, an he won't tell
me where
".Mebbe he wants them hisself"
said, thinlin' it all a joke
"sIn course he does Ollie exclaimed,
g., oIo;,,1s ~, ,,;0hfc Fer havin' told