Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-08-04
The LAST ENCOUNTER.
Which Took Place on a Spot Noted for
Its DuelS

Which Took Place on Spot Noted for
Its Duels
A short distance from the pretty
little southern city of Augusta, nest
ling like bright picture hid among
the lofty, somber pines of Georgia, is
a once-famed dueling ground.
There many differences of opinion
have been contested and settled by
pistol and rapier in the days of our
grandfathers.
This little point of land is what is
known as Sand-Bar Ferry; the con-
Meeting link between Georgia and
South Carolina, much traversed by
the people of Beech island and vi
cinity.
It is the object of this sketch to tell
briefly the particulars of the last
tragic encounter that took place on
the old dueling ground at the ferry.
What the provocations were that
led to this meeting / do not know, but
the facts were given me by an eye-wit-
ness Of the event, and were chronicled
and much commented on at the time.
At the earliest break of dawn, be-
fore the flowers of the cotton field
trees had unfolded their petals to the
first rays of light, there arrived at the
ferry an elderly man of dignified
mien, accompanied by slip of a
youth, young in the experience Of the
world, with the hot blood of the south
coursing through his veins, and the
impetuousity of his years and training
making him victim of circumstances
and surroundings
The two had barely alighted on the
smooth, white sands, washed up from
the bar, when a second carriage ar
rived
Its occupants also alighted, and
preparations were at once made for
the bloody encounter.
A youth, whose summers had bare
ly brought him to manhood, whose
young life had not been counted or
dankened by sin or sorrow, with the
rich, warm blood of life still coarsing
freely through his heart; the blood
that possibly in few moments would
berstaining the sparkling sands of the
ferry, red as the wild peoples in the
neglected fence corners, facing an an
tagonist old in the way of worldly life,
whose heart knew the bitter and sweet
of 40 reckless years, whose reputation
was known on two continents, and
whose meeting with this lad on du-
cling ground was not his initial num-
Der.
With the hopelessness of despair at
his heart and a silent prayer on his
lips the last step was taken, then once,
twice, the report of the youths pistol
rang out sharply on the morning air,
missing aim and leaving him at the
mercy of his antagonist who still adj
vanced without firing and an awful
calmness on his face
One eagle eye was fixed piercingly
on the heart of the boy, and the other
closed in unerring aim Would he
never fire and end this terrible sus-
pense? Onward, onward, until the
muzzle of the pistol touched the shirt
frills above the lads family beating
heart
Then with a loud and terrific
"BooH uttered in a laundering voice,
he lowered his weapon, and turning
on his heel entered the carriage wait
ing in the skirt of the wood
It needed no death wound to pros
trate the younger man fatter than he
had fallen.
With nerves drawn to a swapping
tension they had given way, and the
youth lay, with never scratch, I'M
conscious as the dead.
1t was the last and most tragic af-
fair that had ever taken place on the
old dueling ground at Sand-Bar Fer
ry.-Caroline G. Pike, in Philadel-
phia Press.
Fine Frescnes PAsfoTed