The age-herald., 1898-09-15
THINGS DONE,
 HEARD AND SEEN

Two gentlemen were telling stories of diff ferent duels last night. and repeated the incident which occurred between "old
 Hickory Jackson and the famous Dickin- | son.
 "Dickinson insulted Jackson" said the l gentleman, land, of course, Jackson chal- lenged him. Dickinson was probably at that time the best pistol shot in the world.
 and, of course he selected revolvers as the
 weapons. Everybody considered Jackson as | good as dead as soon as the news spread l that the duel was imminent. Dickinson | could cut strings in two, drive pins into | posts and all that sort of thing. Dickinson ! took another advantage. Having the right | to name the date he postponed it long | enough for Jackson to have plenty of time l to ponder over it. Finally, the morning l before the duel was to occur arrived, and the principals and their seconds and few intimate friends set out horseback for Kentucky It was a good days ride and along the route Dickinson amused himself by shooting bullets into saplings, putting five in a space the size of a half-dollar. It arranged that Jacksons attention should be called to his enemy's prowess
 with the revolver. Jackson's seconds even thought he was dead man, and it is doubt full if Old Hickory himself had more than a very faint hope of returning to Nashville on horseback It was arranged by his sec onds that he should receive Dickinson's fire and then return it. It was patent to all that he could pull the trigger first. When the two parties arrived at the chosen place they spent the night in two log cabins about one mile apart. The next morning promptly at o'clock all parties concerned were on the field Dickinson even went so far as to point out to his second the button on Jack sons coat that he had selected as a target. l It was right over his heart. The distance was stepped off and the men took their po- sitions. The word fire was given and but | one shot rang out bit of dust arose l from Jackson's coat near the button, but | he did not fall He raised his revolver to | take aim. Dickinson was deathly pale. | My God, did I miss hm? he said as he backed several feet. Come to your placen l yelled Jacksons second, as he placed his hand on his revolver. Dickinson resumed | his position, and Jackson fired very delb-
 
 second mortally wounded.
 "When Jackson and his party returned to | the town it was found that he was slightly wounded. A gust of wind had blown his | coat aside just as Dickinson took aim and | consequently the bullet broke a rib, when | otherwise it would have penetrated his | heart. Jackson never would say that he was wounded. He wanted it to go out that | the best pistol shot in the world had not | even touched him."
 ''The most peculiar duel I ever heard of came very near taking place in Paris" re- marked another gentleman. "It was to l have been between an apothecary clerk and l a fencing master of the regiment of the army. There was some misunderstanding about tickets at the theater one night. The l clerk occupied a seat which the fencing | master thought he was entitled to. The | clerk declined to move, and the army officer slapped him in the face with his glove. l That calls for a duel in France, but the l clerk said nothing. The next day he laugh- ingly told some of his friends about it, and | they told him he must fight He laughed 1 at them and said he had never fired a pis- l tol or handled a. sword. They finally fm- pressed upon him that he must challenge l the officer, who an expert with either 1 weapon. He, however, reserved the right l to choose weapons, and the fencing mas l ter agreed to this when the circums stances | were explained to him. The hour was fixed | and the principals with their seconds ar- | rived The officer had his sword, but the l other party alighted from the carriage | with nothing but two camp stools. In ex- l blaming, the clerks second told the fencing
 amaster that he was an expert with both l pistol and sword and the gentleman he rep- resented knew nothing about either. He l said the plan was for both to sit facing
 each other on the stools. Two small pills would be placed in a hat and held just l above and between them. One was harm
 less and the other contained deadly poison. | At the word fire each were to take pill
 and swallow it. Then they were to sit and
 watch each other to see which had gotten
 the unlucky dose. The fencing master l backed out at once."
 She was a large woman, with a large face,
 furnishing large surface for tears that l came in streams from her eyes. She was seated in the office of Mayor Evans, and l she waved her hands imploringly, and at 1 times her vocal organs choked up and her l troubles came only in sobs.
 | q just can't stand this life any longer," I she said, as she swayed to and fro in an | agitated manner.
 | Mot one morsel of food has he brought l to me in months. The hard part of it is l that he works all the time and he gives his l money to somebody else." And she sobbed | the harder.
 | "Oh MT. Mayor, can't you prevail upon l him not to neglect me. It is so disgraceful; l don't say anything about it. Don't disclose my name. Just talk to him. l know you l can Oh -, Oh-!" and further ut | terances were drowned in sobs.
 l mean man on the outside remarked l that there were excursion rates to Chi l and that ii wasn't very far to the