The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-07-08
THE CELEBRATED PtRRY,BYNUM DUEL.
IT WAS CAUSED by POLITICS.
The Fatal Encounter Took Place at
IIatt0n's Ford ON the TugalOO
River, Oconce County.


A meeting on the field of honor un-
de the rules Of the code duellO always
- possesses charm, the more especially
If the parties to it ale prominent and
the results tragic. A sort of weird fas-
cination at once attaches to the spot
and holds on to it forever. People
never weary Of talking or reading of
such meetings, and traditions Of them,
warped and discolored by each recital
arc transm tied from father to son gen
Grafton after generation, till one can
rely with certainty upon little more
than the fact of the duel itself.
Impressed with this | wrote Col. w.
II. Perry, OF Greenville, six years ago,
asking Tor a lew facts relating to the
duel, with the purpose of weaving these
and the apparently authentic traditions
| had picked up into an article for this
paper a. prompt reply came, but it
was from his mother, in her own hand
who clear y discerning the object had
In view asked me for her sake aud for
the sake Of her husband, who always
sought to discourage publicity of the
unfortunate affair, to say nothing of
the duel for the newspapers. That set
tied me. [ had the honor Of brief cor
respondence with Mrs. Perry, during
which she sent me some books embody-
ing the writings Of her distinguished
husband which she published after his
death, and these with her letters |
prize very highly But Mrs. Perry has
been gone to her final reward several
years. and feel absolved from nv en-.
Joined silence.
AS a great many people know the
Ferry -Blnum duel grow out Of the
acrimon BUSINESS that characterized all
discussion, public and private, of the
question OF Modification. Party spirit
ran lar higher in South Carolina then
IMAM l. dld even during the rise Of
Illlmanism. The common herd, the
"raD 1lc' OF which we have heard so
much IN recent years, pommeled each
other at pub ic gatherings for opiniou's
sake, aud TO- the same cause gentlemen
settled their diff :rences according To
the code.
At the tine OF the duel, Governor
Perry, although but twenty -sevcn, had
already mado Il reputut ion as a lawyer,
and was making himself felt in the
politics Of the time. He had espoused
the unpopular side in the Notification
controversy, and through his paper at
Greenville he was pouring volleys of the
grape and canister of sound Union doc
trine into the ranks of the Nullifiers.
DE was in thcir way, badly so, and must
he gotten rid Of.
Turner Bynum, of Columbia, where
he had but recently graduated from the
South Carolina College, and who was a
young man OF fine promise, of splendid
courage and Il crack shot withal, was
brought to Greenvil!e and put in edi-
torlal control of the Notification organ,
with the tacit purpose, | am we'll as
sured, OF engaging Perry in u personal
quarrel where he would challenge and
kill him. The scheme worked smooth
ly enough to the GenOument at Hatton's
Ford, on the Tug aloo, when, as Bynum,
shot through the bowels, was being laid
in q bateau to be brought from the
island, one cf his party was heard to
mu,ter, ID the luck %
Governor Perry was all through his
life, strongly opposed to duelling, and
he accepted Bynum's challenge as q
dclibcrat, test Of his courage, failure
to meet which in the face of popular
approval Of the code, would destroy
him.
do not know who Perry's second was
but his surgeon was Dr.. Crook, OF Green
vile. A Capt. Marley, a low country
man residing at Pendletop, himself a
ducllist, was Bynum's second, but do
Andrew Hunter, Of Townville, then a
school boy of II at Pendlcton, frequent
ly saw Bynum at Capt. Warley's, with
cr he had repaired for consultation and
target practice just preceding the final
encounter. Capt. Hunter remembers
Byhum as fine specimen Of physical
manhood, handsome and Of determined
mien. 1t may be said here that at that
time q large number Of low county gen
tlemcn, wealthy and influential in public
affairs, resided at Pcndleton. They
we're, nearly all of them, rampant Null
liers, ard they coddled Bynum as their
champion that was to put out Of the
way the one man who, more than all
others, hindered their cause in the up
country. But after Bynum's death his
friends Of an hour in the bitterness OF
their cEagrin, turned their backs on
his young brother, talented but dissi-
pated, who had come to witness his
brothers triumph. The young man
soon found himself penniless and friend
loss, hearing which Perry, with char
actcristic magnanimity vent to his re-
lief, gave him q liberal supply of money
and sent him home to Columbia. This
young Bynum went down in the butch
cry of the Alamo fouroyears later.
The duel was fought in February or
March,, 1872, on the largo island at
Hatton's Ford, on the Tugaloo River.
=
paired to the neighborhood short
while, tradition says two weeks, but
th,s would seem rather improbable,
before the time set for the meeting
and took up quarters--Perry at the
house now owned by Mrs. w. i. Norris
and Bynum at the place now the prop.
crty OF Mr.. Harrison Price, and half n
mile nearer the river. Pistol practice
ard attempts at adjustment of the diff
Guilty won't on, and it ia said that each
Of the principals became so expert as
to be able to cut q cord at fifteen PAGES,
and the shooting at the duel would
seem to verify this.
On the early morning Of the fatal
day, Perry's second made q final but in
eifectual attempt at adjustment, and
when the young man who bore the
communication returned, and Perry
who was walking about the yard in ap.
parent anxiety, learned the result, he
was seen to 60 to his room and kneel
beside his bed In prayer.
-, He and his friends repaired at once
. inc me Bynum ! par6yw parf were quickly followed
n III