The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-13
CASSIUS N. CLAY'S DUELS.
sangunary Record Of the Old Fre-Eatng Kentuckian.

when he brought out this bill [ always
arose and asked if 1 might interrupt
him. He would politely consent, and
[ would then say the handful he had
read was untrue, and had been proven
90
The Pro-Slayery men got tired OF
this, and they decided TO kill me. They
sent for sam Brown, Who was one Of
the most noted DULLES in Kentucky. 1t
is said that he had 40 fights and had
never LOST q battle. Brown came, and
he and Wickliffe, d fellow named Jacob
Ashton and Ben Wood, a police bully,
held a consultation, at which they load
ed pistol which Brown was to use on
me the next day. l knew nothing of
this, and had not my dueling pistol
with me. l interrupted Wickliffe as
usual, and as [ did so Brown struck
me with his umbrella and told me that
my statement was q lie.
Il saw at once that it meant fight, and
when l recognized Brown. L knew it
meant a fight to the death. [ had my
long, sharp bowie knife in the breast OF
my coat. and l jerked this out, but be-
fore l could fight, Browns friends had
grabbed my arms from behind. and
hauled me back about Is feet from Brown.
Brown now pulled his revolver and told
them to get out of the way and let him
kill me. The crowd got back, and /
stood alone. Brown had his pistol pointed
at me, and l started toward him. L could
see him looking along the barrel Of the
revolver He took aim and waited until
he thought | was near enough to give
him u sure shot, and fired l felt the ball
strike me in the breast, and | thought il
had gone through me, and l determined to
Kill him if / could before / died. 1 came
down on his head with q tremendous
blow of the bowie knife but did not split
open the skull. 1 struck him again and
again and stunned him so that he was
not able to fire. With one cut of the
knife 1 sliced his nose right in two. so
that it separated in the middle and game
out as fiat as n pancake. With another
shred, and with a third | put out his
eye The conSpiratorS now seized me-
and [ was struck with hickory sticks and
chairs, some of the blows of which 1 still
feel.
II broke loose from my captors and
again made for Brown, and they, to keep
him out OF my way, picked him uD and
threw him over a stone fence seven feet
high, and this ended the <sht. Though l
was the assaulted party, they afterwards
tried me for mayhem, and at this trial
Brown confessed the conspiracy, and
Henry Clay defended me. Of course l
was not convicted but | felt very friendly
to Brown, and wrote him a note thank
/ ing him for his evidence and telling him
l was willing to be friends with him if he
care dto be so. He refused, however, to
bury the Ratchet, and when l remember
doctors had patched him up pretty we'll,
but he was horrible looking object and
l expected that he would insist upon a
duel with me, or would attack me and
have his revenge. l met him several times
afterWard, however, and he never touched
me- l have no doubt that he stayed in
Lexington intending to kill me, but that
the probability is that he had not the
moral courage to attack me-.
Where did Browns ball strike you,
general?"
1T struck me. just over the heart" re-
piled General Clay, land l would have
been killed but for one thing The scab-
bard of my bowie knife was tipped with
silver, and, in jerking the knife 1 pulled
! this scabbard up so that it was just over
my heart. Browns bullet struck the
/ Scabbard and imbedded itself in the
silver, and we found the ball there. There
was Il red spot just over my heart, and
/ the whole seemed almost providential"
Although General Clay never Travelled
without brace of pistols in his satchel
! ne always carried concealed under his
coat. During a fight at political meet
/ ing once he was stabbed in the lung
/ lie drew his bowie knife and rushed upon
! the man who had been responsible for
/ the outbreak. The crowd got out of his
man who had melted the riot. With
shout of anger he plunger the knife into
the mans abdomen, and then eXclaiming
L die for my country he fell fainting
TO the floor. He was carried home and
for many days hung between life and
/ death. Upon the day that he was able
/ for the first time to leave his bed the man
whom he had stabbed died.
General Clay's political career, his
/ speeches, his election to the Kentucky
4 legislature, his part as minister to Rus
STA, in bringing about the annexation of
nation. The few incidents above mar
rated belong exclusively to himself