The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-13


duelist, minister to Russia during the
first administration Of Abraham Lin
coin, a relic of days that are past
whose recent troubles with the child
wife that left him alone in his fortified
castle, White Hail, in Madison county,
Kentucky, has again attracted public
attention to his interesting personality,
has a cold-blooded way OF alluding to
the numerous bloody ARRAYS in which
he has been a principal An old friend
of his told me ttl;t he met the battle
SCARED warrior not long ago, after a
long separation. He congratulated
General Clay on his robust health.
YES" the sage of White Hall replied,
L have not been confined to bed for
over 80 years, except once, which was
f1cm a Slight indisposition occasiOned
by a rencounter with q man named
Turner of Foxtown." General Clay kill
ed Turner with a bowie-knife in the
"rencounter,'' and the slight "indisposi-
ton" was caused by 16 knife wounds,
bis antagonist having repeatedly
driven his bowie to the hilt in Clay's
breast and side Turner died in an
hour, confidently believing that his foe
had preceded him to the unknown be-
You'd.
General Clay is not communicative,
and the privilege of listening to him re-
late his experiences on the field of
honor is one accorded very few persons,
and it is something long TO be renlem-
barred
MY first duel" said General Clay,
not long ago, occurred when l was %
Years old-1early 60 years ago-and ter
minated without either party firing a
shot. l was engaged to be married,
and rival sutton, who had been disap-
pointed, wrote a letter to my sweet
hearts mother The man was DOCTOR
and his name was Declarey. [ went to
Louisville to find him, and took my
friend, James S. Rollins, who became
General Rollins during the war, with
me. As soon as | went there | went to
cooper shop and got good tough
hickory cane, about as thick as your
finger
well, sir, saw Dr. Declarey on the
street. [ went up to him and asked
MIN if his name was Declarey. He
replied that it was, and then I told him
that l 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 punish
ment he deserved. So L quietly turned
our promenade off into a side street.
In the meantime my friend walked
along the other side of the street and
watched me. When we reached a side
street, I said: DR.. Declarey, am Cas-
sius n. Clay, about whom you have
taken the trouble to write in this letter,
and l would like to know if you can
give me any explanation of your ac-
ton He said nothing, so l raised my
cane and began to strike him. He cried
out, and a crowd soon collected, but
Rollins, by spreading out his arms and
running in again and again, pretended
to separate US, actually kept the crowd
back until l was able to give him a
good Gaming. A few hours later l got
a challenge from him. We fixed a
place in Indiana, just over the river,
and the next day l was there on time.
A great mob of Declarey's friends were
on the ground. and General Rollins re-
fused to allow the fight to go on. We
thereupon chose another place, but De-
clarey's mob followed us there. The
next day was to be my wedding day,
and I had to be on hand. Declarey
wanted Inc to come after 1 was mar
ried, but I had decided objections to
breaking up my honeymoon in that
way. He afterward said he intended
to cowhide me the next time he saw
him chance. | went into the dining
room of his hotel and leaned against a
pillar to wait for him. AS stood there
I heard some one behind me rise. ]
turned and saw Declarey. He was as
pale as death, and I 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 Declarey
committed suicide the next morning by
cutting his arteries.
Curious, isn't it?" unused the general
that a man will have the bravery tc
commit suicide and still not have
enough physical courage to fight?
have had a number of such instances
in my life. It was so with Tom Mar
shall, who was so famous as an orator
in Kentucky There had been for years
a feud between the Clays and the Mar
shalls. Henry Clay, you know, had 6
duel with HumphreW Marshall, anC
Tom Marshall and myself were enemies
for years. My first trouble with hin
was at the time I was editor of the
True American. and Marshall headed
the mob which was raised to kill ms
and demolish the paper. Well, tbs
mob attacked me, but / was not killed
Soon after this I went to the Next
can war as captain of another company
! of the same regiment and l decided tC
settle my trouble with him before we
cot through the war. He was drunk
about half the time, and I believed he
often cultivated drunkenness in order
10 say mean things and not be expect
ed to account for them. l expected tC
have a duel with him, and I got {
stone and sharpened my sword unit
/ it shone like silver, and had an edge
( like a razor. 1 gave him one or two
/ chances to challenge me, but he die
not do so. and at last one day, wher
we were pitching camp, Marshall rode
into my quarters. He may have beer
drunk, and he may have mistaken my
company for his.
AT any rate, he came up to me and
made some insulting remark. 1 rose
and said: Tom Marshall, we may as
| good a time as any Get down from
your horse, and we will fight it out
He replied: Not now. Some other
TINE.
Il here drew my sword, and said:
! The time for men who wear swords is
now. You chose your own time to moi
me at Lexington, and you are a cow
/ ard if you refrain on account of your
/ surroundings
Marshall hereupon rode over to his
tent. In q few moments he came back
with his pistol. l saw him, and went
! into my tent and got mine. ] came out
with one in each hand. They were
/ cooked, and 1 said, I am ready for
you
He was a coward, and he was afraid
! to fire. He turned his horse and rode
back to his tent. That same evening he