Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-13
SETTLED BY THE CODE
Resort to It Might Have
Saved Gonzales.
FAMOUS OLD DUELS
"REMINISCENCES OF STATESMEN
AND OTHERS WHO FOUGHT.
Meetings ON the Field Of Honor Of Men
From AL Sections Of the
Country.
FAMOUS OLD DUELS

had assembled Kew evenings aSo, eho' IL
the code of honor SO called, had not been
suffered to lapse into almost nothingness
the recent tragedy at Columbia. 8. c., by
which an accomplished man and good cit
izen-I mean Editor Gonzales, of course
was hurled into eternity before his time,
would not have happened. At least 1t
would not have happened in the way 1t did,
causing a stain, as it has, upon cons1d-
cradle portion of the community. Now,
he continued while I have never been
what one might designate as an out-and-
out stickler for dueling yet have always
insisted that the code had Its good points.
believe II Mr.. T1lman had challenged Ed
itor Gonzales in the oldfashioned way, in
stead of shooting him down on the streets
without notice. tragedy would have been
averted. I know something about duellng,
and in my younger days, l am happy TO
say, have been instrumental in preventing
at least one resort to the code. There are
always friends sincerely anxious to pre-
went two men from meeting in mortal COM
bat, many more than could be found egg
ing angry men to risk their lives in per-
sonal encounters.
Duels Easily Averted.
There's always some kind Of a court Of
arbitration that can be resorted to. Why,
that grim old veteran, Capt. Macmurdo.
spoken OI III V dully 1udChcIdy CAeA
d'oeuvre, old Macmurdo, you know, gentle
men, when Rawdon Crawley, thinking that
he had been dishonored by Lord Steyne,
called upon Mac for his friendly office.
wanted to know if there was no way out
of it, and finally finding that Crawley's sus-
picions were not based on sufficient ground,
prevented fight. Oh, yes, in nine cases
out Of ten duel could be averted, even If
the law allowed 1t.
Some. of course, could not, and this re-
minds me of the Mccarthy Mordecai duel.
still fresh in memory. That duel could not
have been prevented by all the courts of
honor in the universe There was no ne
cessity for these men to show that they
were brave. They had both sought the
bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth
and both obtained It, but there was no
escape from duel when young Mordecai
struck Mccarthy with the idea of humil-
iating him, in the opinion of every man in
Virginia.
Its mistake to call dueling southern
institution. It's no more a southern insti-
Tuition than it is northern, or eastern, or
western The fact Is it originated in the
days Of scripture. when Goliath Of Gath
defied all Israel and challenged-yes, chal-
ienged-anybody to single combat. If that
was not duel, then what was It? There
were some condities about it. Some in
formalities. but it was a duel, all the same,
and David, the royal bard, who was in
the right, was the conqueror in a regular,
out-and-out square fight.
= NOW mere again L nave TO say that While
there are many men, both north and SOUTH
who, while they would lead a forlorn hope
on sea or land, when their duty required 1t,
would under no circumstances face other
men on the dueling ground, and only be-
cause they are opposed to such a resort for
the settlement Of grievances on principle.
There was James K. Polk of Tennessee
81 es was opposed to the code. and actually
submitted to gross insult from Henry A.
Wise of Virginia rather than fight duel
The fact, however, did not prevent Polk
from being elected President Of the United
States. And, as I said before, there are
now men in the north as we'll as in the
south, men in the east as we'll as in the
west, who, II they were not violating laws
on the statute books or conscentiously op-
posed to It, would fight a duel whenever, in
their opinions or those Of their friends, there
was any necessity therefor.
Famous Encounters.
Look at some Of the famous duels In
American history. There is the affair be-
tween Jonathan Cilley OF Maine and Will
lam j. Graves, in which Cilley was shot
dead. He was from such a northern lati-
tude that he would only have had to travel
short distance to find himself among the
blue noses Of Canada. Graves was from
Kentucky. Look at the duel between Dave
Broderick and Judge Terry, which occurred
In California. and in which Broderick fell
the victim He was New York man. An
OlAtA 1duOuS eUCUuHleT OI WOTlQ-WlQo MS
tory was the fight between Lieutenants
Barron and Decatur. Barron was a Vir-
ginian, and though Decatur was born in
MARYLAND. he was Of sturdy New England
stock. The American people are not
through with lamenting that duel yet It
might have been prevented. That duel by
the way did not take place at Bladensburg
as 1t Is generally believed. 1t was fought
on the Marlboro road. The little Maryland
village across the District line was pur-
posely avoided by both principals and sec
onds.
Everyone remembers the late Mr.. Burlin-
game. who once represented Massa cusetts
in Congress. A splendid fellow he was
WE'LL Buringame, after the assault by
Preston Brooks Of South Carolina on Sena-
tor Sumner, made some very caustic re-
marks IN the House Of Representatives on
Brooks. who promptly challenged Burlin-
game. The challenge was accepted and
Niagara Falls chosen as a meeting place.
At the appointed time Burlingame was
distance too far to travel This ended that
episode. Then there was the Porter-Pryor
controversy. Porter, who was from Wis
consin, accepted challenge from Mr..
Pryor and selected bowie knives. Pryor
wouldn't fight with those weapons Dur
ing discussion in the House on the Kan
as-Nebraska bill controversy arose be-
tween MI. Cutting of New York and Mr..
breckenridge. afterward Vice President of
the United States. Cutter CHALLENGED
Breckenridge, but friends. interviewed and
prevented an encounter. Probably few neo-
pie recollect that during the discussion In
the Senate on the Kansas-Nebraska act a
controversy arose between Senators Green
Of Wisconsin and Douglas of IIlinois-the
little giant, as he was called Hostile
notes passed, but friends interviewed and
prevented a duel Douglas was a New
England man. a native. I believe, of Yer
mont. but when he thought he was in the
right was willing to fight anybody
II mention these incidents to show that
In It's palmy days the duel had recorni-
ton IN all sections Of the country OF
statute against the duel. even IL 1 do have
an idea that 1t Is a law that you could
drive horse and wagon through What
believe, is that If these South Carolina
gentlemen. Messrs. Tillman and Gonzales.
had had recourse to duel IN settJa 49,