The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-04


the proprietor. the doors and windows had
been well padded and covered so that no
noise from within could reach beyond
them. The apartment was lighted with
wax candles. Those assembled were John
Mccullough. Harry Montague, J. s. Polk,
Charles Gaylor all of whom had achieved
fame upon the stage; Dan Bryant and
Nelson Seymour the most famous negro
mlnstrels of their day. Commodore Dick
inson of the New York Yacht Cub, George
Brown Of the chop house which bore his
name, gentleman named Cooper, and, of
course Sothern, Lee and myself. None
other than these was present"
Think of how few of that jovial party
are ieft to-day. Florence, Mccullough,
Montague, Sothern, Lee, Seymour, Bryant.
Brown and Cooper are all dead the only
survivors Of that occasion are possibly
Polk, Gaylor Dickinson, and they may
have passed away.
The oysters had been disposed Of, con-
tinued Florence, "and the soup had just
been placed on the table when Charley
Gayior arose and, in very impressive tones,
spoke about as follows: Gentlemen, think
this is a most suspicious occasion to bring
about peace between two men who, while
strangers, were once devoted friends. l dc
not think that runCOr could exist in any
heart at a gathering OF this kind To be
sure ID may i'll become me to act the part
of a peacemaker, for, while it is true that
l have shed human blood that my
right hand has been red with the gore of
another it must also be borne in mind that
| was triumphantly acquitted of the Of
Tense and that a jury of my peers said
that ! had acted only in self-defense.'
You can readily imagine that this took
the breath out of my friend Lee, who had
been seated upon my left. He whispered
to me. What has he done? Did he kill any
l. ,fr4N
a finger on my lips as l whispered back,
'sh-h-h. II was nothing; only his mother.
l heard him mutteT, My GOdP as he
shrunk in his chair, and then he leaned
toward me and whispered, of whom is he
speaking? AS 1 didn't know myself I
couldn't well tell him, but I warded him
off by saying, You viii learn 1t all in a
moment His words might apply to any two
men about the board, because every fellow
here has killed his man.
Just then Gaylor threw light upon the
subject by saying, as he pointed with one
hand toward that clever negro minstrel,
Dan Bryant, and the other toward that
equally famous delienator of cork humor,
Nelse Seymour of course, gentlemen, 1t
is hardly necessary for me to say that
refer 10 Americas most famous poet VIII
liam Cullen Bryant, and that equally dis
tinguished gentleman, NJ. Seymour the
son of the talented Ex-Governor Of the
state of New York, Horatio Seymour, and
l now request that these two gentlemen
shake hands across the table and let the
bloody feud which has existed between
them end here
II hau scarcely time to give an affirma-
tive reply to Lees whispered inquiry, Is
that really William Cullen Bryant?' when
there ensued the most remarkable scene
which / ever witnessed in my life. ! can
not, even after many years have elapsed
think of it without the tears of laughter
coming to my eyes. Seymour was man
over six feet in hight and with legs the
length of which were absurdly out of pro-
portion to the rest of his body. He APP
peared to be split up almost to his neck.
One of his most famous feats upon the
minstrel stage was to suddenly throw one
of his feet about a mans neck and draw
the other fellow toward him. On this occa-
sion, Bryant, in obedience to Gaylor's sum-
| mons, had reached forth his right hand
when Seymour suddenly threw that dread
full right leg of his across the table
caught his friend and fellow-mnstrel by
the back of the neck, drew him toward
him and hit him squarely between the
eyes. In another instant both men were
on top of the table amid the soup dishes
and were snarling and biting and tearing
| at one another like pair of bulldogs
! Cooper and Dickinson, who were not in
!
| got under the table, while / could only
| hold Lee in his chair by main force. In
| the midst of the contest the table upset
aud the poor Englishman was almost
| drowned in soup. While Bryant and Sey.
mour were making a mockery of strug-
| Cling beneath the debris, Seymour, by wet
| ting the fingers of one hand, secured q
! quantity of backing from one of his shoes
and with this gave himself the semblanct
| OF a black eye. When some appearance
| of order had been obtained a truce was
| patched up between the combatants, and
| after Seymour's blackened eye had beer
| bandaged, they were induced to shake
| hands, whereupon the other members OF
| the company, who were in the secret, eX.
claimed, admiringly, Once a gentleman
| always a gentleman and declared that &
| true American gentleman can always bt
| told by his willingness to settle a little
difference amicably.'
Lee whispered TO me in tremulous in
| dignation, This is most shameful? t
| which l replied. 4 don't sec how you SAY
| that There was no one killed. ThereupoI
he amended his remark by saying, a
| least it was most fortunate. l am dreadful
| ly sorry it occurred
THE table was got In shape again, an(
| things moved along smoothly and pleas
| antly for some time, until Polk and Soth
crn became engaged in apparently a very
| angry and excited dispute about tn,
merits of the North and South, in In,
midst of which Mr. Sothern suddenly aros,
TO his feet, and drawing a revolver, free
it directly over Polk's head. Immediately
a scene of the widest excitement ensued
In less than twenty seconds twenty shot!
| from revolvers had been fired across tn,
table, Polk, Gaylor, Mccullough, Monta
| que, Seymour, Bryant and Sothern wer,
! not only firing blank cartridges from re
voVvers. but were brandlshing huge knive.
over one another's heads. Dickinson. Coop
er and Brown had by this time discovered
the affair was a joke and simply added t
| the tumult. The terror of the Euglshmar
was almost pitiabe. He begged to be al
| lowed to 60 but his friends were so thor
| oughly in love with him that they would
not let him depart. There was upon the ia
| bic at this particular juncture Fargo disl
| of asparagus covered with drawn butter
| and most of the combatants, who wer,
| crawling across the table TO carve one an
| others hearts out, managed to get thei
| hands into this mess, and, while thus be
| smeared, they would take turns in iump
! ing around to where I was holding Lee il
| place, and, bringing their palms down upol
| his shOulderS would Of him To I,