The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-23

. JOU RNAL, III u hSOA
dismissals and were forced to leave the
place. One negro. Perry White, declared
that he would kill the general. and one
morning the two met while the general
was out riding. The negro made effort
TO draw his pistol, but before he could do
so General Clay shot him twice, once
through the neck and once through the
heart Every man in the county knew the
threats White had made against General
Clay. and at the trial there was no trouble
in finding a verdict OF acquittal.
CLOSE CALL AT FOXTOwN
81 think il was in 1S49 that General Clay
came near being mobbed to death at Fox
town while making a speech against
slavery. man named Turner was his
opponent in the debate. He denounced the
general roundly and a fight ensued. half
dozen of Turner's friends taking part and
clubbing and knitting the general in a brutal
manner The general did rot have his
pistol with him, but used his knife vigorous
". infiicting wounds on Turner which re-
suited in his death. The general
ried to his home. only a short distance, cut
and badly bruised, where he lay near
deaths door for several days. He would
not let the doctors touch him, but he pulled
throush, marked over with scars which
thrashing machine This fight caused some
of the Northern people TO say that ii would
have been good thing for the cause OF
the negro if General Clay had been killed;
but the general did not think so, and he
read the riot act to some of them, saying
that, while he was against slavery, he was
not ready or willing TO sacrifice his life at
the hands of a cowardly mob for the
cause.
! Another time an attempt was made to
| double-team on General Clay was during
| y
| one of the bitterest contests this state
| has ever known. Wickliffe had made ugly
remarks about Mrs. Clay and the general
challenged him. the challenge being ac-
cepted They fired at ten PAGES, but neither
shot took effect The general demanded
second shot but this was refused by the
! seconds, and the principals left the field
without shedding blood. General Clay al
/ ways contended that he was convinced the
/ pistols were loaded with blanks, as 1t was
| impossible for him to miss his mark. After
| this bloodless duel the men met in debate
and the pro-slavery advocates determined
TO do up the general. The fact is, some
| of them had decided to kill the general.
| 1t was arranged that Sam Brown, then
one of the greatest DULLES and lighters IN
| all Kentucky, and Jake Ashton and ben
! Woods. also well-known fighters. should DO
! the work. They were at the public speak
| ing, and when General Clay began to skin
Wickliffe the bully Brown struck him and
a general fight ensued.f Again the general
| had not his pistols with him. but his trusty
bowie knife was brought into play and ne
used it with telling effect. Brown shot
the general in the breast but the general
| succeeded in splitting his nose open, cut one
ear off and literally sliced his head and
! face into pieces and cut out one eye. While
| the general was using\ his bowie Ashton ana
| Wood maule0 him with chairs and cluDs
making wounds which crippled him. Strange
| to say, Brown got well, and General Clay
| was tried for mayhem, being acquitted. as
| IL was shown that he was the assaulted
| party, and 1t was at the trial that Brown
told Of the conspiracy which had been
| formed to kill the general Henry Clay de-
| Tended the general at this trial.
THE CLAY-MARSHALL FEUD.
Kentucky has had all kinds of feuds.
but am of the opinion that none of these
were ever more bitter and at the same time
waged in a more heightened and honorable
manner than that of the Clay-Marshall
feud. Henry Clay had met Humphrey Mar
shall on the field of HONOR and General
| Clay and Tom Marshall were enemies for
I years. When the old general was running
The True American Tom Marshall, it is
stated, was the ringleader in a mob which
was formed to exterminate the general and
his newspaper plant. There was no secret
! made of this determination on the part of
the men who organized and planned the
raid. The general oiled up his dueling
pistols and in addition bought pair of
small brass cannons, which he loaded
heavily and put in position on his desk in
door. In the office, too, he placed large
key of powder, determining that if his pis-
tolls and cannons failed to do the work of
dispensing any mob which might visit him,
he would touch the keg of powder off and
all go to hell togetheA as he expressed it.
tack General Claw and his Once oD succeed ue
ing in wrecking it. but doing the general
little bodily injury
1T was when General Clay. went to the
Mexican war in command of a company
that he decided that Ii was time to even up
with Tom Marshall, who was also captain
of a company: The general has often told
me that Tom was drunk or under the in
fiuence of whisky about two-thirds of the
time, and ii was while in this condition that
he took delight in viifying General Clay.
who was too brave to hold him to account
while drinking. However, one day while in
j camp, Marshal made insulting remarks to
the general, who promptly told him to dis
mount and take his sword from the scab-
bard. Marshall refused, and rode off, re-
turning later with his brace of pistols
buckled around him. General Clay was pre-
didn't do 1T, turning his horse and riding
back to his tent. 1t is stated that that
drown himself in the Rio Grande.
General Clay had other fights and duels
but L think the man he really wanted to
kill most was too great coward to fight,
and l believe he will go to his grave re-
GREETING that he did not have the chance
to fill his body full of holes When the
general had just passed his twenty-second
pirtnuay ne was eHSdSeu 10 De married
and his rival, young doctor named De-
clarey, of Louisville, wrote letter to the
mother of the generals sweetheart, max
ing ugly and scurrilous charges against
him. The mother showed the letter &c
General Clay and asked for an explanation
| He denounced everything false and went
to Louisville on the hunt for the author
He found him and gave him an unmercifu
Gaming James Rollins, afterwards general
accompanied General Clay and saw that the
job was we'll done When the young doctor
got patched up from the Gaming he had re-
ceived he challenged General Clay and they
met at point in Indiana; but there was
such a mob of Declareys friends assembled
that the seconds refused to permit the due
to take place. Another meeting place was
selected, but the exchange of shots was
again baff1ed for the same reason. The
day after the last meeting General Clay
and the young lady were married and De.
clarey declared that he would him
The general went to Louisville to give De-
| nlarev q chance hut there WAS no fight In