The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-12-19
CASSIUS NJ CLAWS DUELS
True Accounts of All of Them
Given BY Himself.
A SET-TO WITH KNIVES
In One Contest He Was Wounded Sixteen
Times, While His Opponent Died.
His Trouble With Tom Marshall,
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

administration of Abraham Lincoln, a relic
of days that are past-whose recent
troubles with the wife that left him alone
in his fortified castle, White Hail. in Mad
ison county, KY, has again attracted pub
lie attention to his interesting personality,
has cold-blooded way of alluding to the
numerous bloody ARRAYS in which he has
been principal. An old friend of his
told me that he met the battle-scarred
warrior not long ago, after a long separ-
alton. He congratulated Gen. Clay on his
health.
YES" the sage of White Hall replied, at
have not been confined to bed for over
thirty years except once, which was from
slight indisposition occasioned by an en-
counter with a man named Turner of Fox
town"
Gen. Clay killed Turner with a bowie
knife in the "rencounter,' and the "slight
indisposition" was caused by sixteen knife
wounds, his antagonist having repeatedly
driven his bowie to the hilt in Clay's breast
and side Turner died in an hour, conf
IDENTIFY believing that his foe had preceded
him to the unknown beyond.
Gen. Clay is not communicative and the
privilege of listening to him relate his ex-
periences on the field of honor Is one &C
corded very few persons, and 1t is some
thing long to be remembered.
MY first duel" said Gen. Clay not long
ago, occurred when 1 was 20 years old
nearly sixty-five years ago-and terminated
without either party firing a shot. I was
engaged to be married and rival sutton,
who had been disappointed, wrote a letter
to my sweetheart'S mother The man
was doctor and his name was Declarey.
l went to Louisville to find him, and took
my friend James S. Rollins. who became
Gen. Rollins during the war, with me. AS
soon as | went there 1 went to a cooper
shop and got good tough hickory cane
about as thick your finger.
"Well, sir, l saw DIR. Declarey on the
street. I went up to him and asked him If
his name was Declarey He replied that
1t was, and then 1 told him that 1 would
like to have a talk with him. This was
on one of the main streets of Louisville,
and although I intended to cane him. did
not intend to do it where a crowd would
rush in and prevent my giving him the
punishment he deserved So 1 quietly
turned our promenade off into side street
In the meantime my friend walked along
the other side of the street and watched
me. When we reached a side street 1
said: "Dr. Declarey, l am Cassius NJ
Clay, about whom you have taken the
trouble to write in this letter. and 1 would
like to know if you can give me any ex-
PLANTATION of your action. He said Moth
ing, so 1 raised my cane and began to
strike him. He cried out and crowd
out his arms and running in again and
again, pretending to separate us, actually
kept the crowd back until / was able to
give him a good Gaming. A few hours later
l got challenge from him. We fixed
place in Indiana, just over the river, and
the next day 1 was there time. A
great mob of Declareys friends were on
the ground and Gen. Rollins refused to
allow the fight to go on. We therefore
chose another place, but Declarey's mob
followed us there. The next day was to
be my wedding day, and l had to be on
hand. Declarey wanted me to come after
1 was married, but I had decided objec-
lions to breaking up my honeymoon in
that way. He afterward said he intended
to cowhide me the next time he saw me,
and l went to Louisville to give him
chance. 1 went into the dining room of his
hotel and leaned against a pillar to wait
for him. AS I stood there 1 heard some
one behind me RISE 1 turned and saw
Declarey. He was as pale as death, and
1 saw the coward in his eye. He walked
out of the room and did not return. A
man who acted like that could not, in those
days, be respected in Kentucky, and De-
clarey committed suicide the next morn
ing by cutting arteries.
Curious, isn't it, unused the general,
"that a man will have the bravery to COM
init suicide and still not have enough phys
ical courage to fight? I have had a num-
Der of such instances in my life. 1t was
so with Tom Marshall, who was so famous
as an orator in Kentucky. There had
been for years feud between the Clays.
and the Marshalls. Henry Clay, you
know had a duel with Humphrey Mar
SHALL and Tom Marshall and myself were
enemies for years. My first trouble with
him was at the time I was editor of the
True American, and Marshall headed the
mob which was raised to kill me and de-
molish the paper. Well the mob attacked
me, but / was not killed.
"Soon after this l went to the Mexican
war as captain of another company of
the same regiment, and L decided to settle
my trouble with him before we got through
the war. He was drung about half the
time, and 1 believe he often cultivated
drunkenness in order to say mean things
and not be called to account for them
j expected to have a duel with him, and 1
got stone and sharpened my sword until
1t shone like silver and had an edge like
o razor | gave him one or two chances
to challenge me, but he did not do so, and
at last one day, when we were pitching
camp, Marshall rode into my quarters. He
may have been drunk and he may have
mistaken my company for his.
"At any rate, he came up to me and
made some insulting remark. l rose and
said: Tom Marshall, we may well
settle our feud, and now is as good time
as any. Get down from your horse and
we will fight it out
time
1T here drew my sword and said: The
time for men who wear swords is now.
You chose your own time to mob me at
Lexington, and you are a coward If you
refrain on account of your surroundings
Marshall hereupon rode over to his
tent. In a few moments he came back
with his pistol. 1 saw him and went into
my tent and got mine. I came out with
one in each hand. They were cooked, and
1 said 4 am ready for you.'
s.He was a coward and he was afraid to
fire. He turned his horse and rode back
to his tent. That same evening he tried to
drown himself in the Rio Grande river,
but the men saw him and prevented him.
He was afraid to fight, but he was not
afraid to commit suicide. Had we fought
with swords l would have carved him up
like pancake"
The story of Gen. Clay's canvass for
congress against Wickliffe gives one an in
sight not only into the fighting character Of
this flre-eater, but also affords a peep into
that phase of southern life that is now,
happily, extinct. He once told the story
In these words:
During the campaign Wicklffe intro
duced my wife's name into one of his