Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-10-27
THE STAIN OF HUMAN BLOOD.

| THE STAIN OF HUMAN BLOOD.
Observations of tho Horrors That A.
tend a Slayer of His Fellow Man.
This thing Of taking the life Of hu-
man being except in self-defense, dur
ing excitement or on the field Of bat
tie, Is a terrible thing and unless a
man be hardened into brutality and Is
utterly devoid Of sconscience 1t VIII
haunt him to his dying day.
Three times during my career I have
deliberately made up my mind to kill.
but determined to make my antago-
nists first the assailants and to give
them a fair showing, and thus put my
own life In jeopardy. But when the
necessity for any such encounter had
passed the feeling Of relief was inde-
scribable.
| Thousands upon thousands Of use
full and brilliant lives have been
blighted and rendered miserable by the
taking of human life; and even when
| Tie was JuolillCo III tAS SAoAAs
of both man and by the laws Of the
land, the curse of Cain followed the
slayer his entire days.
My father think, was with the
Hon. VIM. L. Yancey, the great Sc
cession leader when he killed DR.. Earle
Of Greenville. They were boys togeth-
er, were warm friends, and I have Of
tel heard my father speak Of the cir
cumstances. Yancey killed Earle as
the latter was advancing upon him
with an appraised walking cane, and
when the fatal shot was fired. Just
before the beginning of the late war
between the states my father and Mr..
Yancey met in Montgomery, Ala. Mr.
Yancey in discussing the tragedy,
stated that he had no intention Of
shooting DR.. Earle, but the encounter
took place in the piazza Of the postof-
flee, an old wooden building opposite
the Mansion House in Greenville, and
which piazza had no railing, being
several feet from the ground. DR..
Earle attacked Mr.. Yancey because he
had slapped the face Of his little son,
Elias, there being no very kind feeling
between the two men. DR.. Earle rails
ed his cane and advanced on Mr.. Yam
cey, who drew his pistol, presented 1t
and retreated backward. Mr.. Yancey
stated that he had no intention Of
shooting the doctor, but wanted to in
timidate him. In. stepping backward
he felt that he had reached the extreme
end of the piazza, and in order to pre-
vent falling off, had inadvertently
pressed the trigger. But this great
southern statesman told my father he
would freely give fame, fortune and all
he possessed and again start life a
poor, ignorant and obscure man, could
he, by so doing, only wipe that blood
from his hands; that often, in the midst
of his most brilliant orations, would he
see the figure Of DR.. Earle, as he ap-
peared with that uprising cane and
when the tragedy was enacted, rise
before him. 1t haunted him day and
night, and while he was justified in the
killing and the sentence imposed by
the law was light, his life was unend-
ing remorse and self-reproach. Years
turned to visit his mother-in-law, Mrs.
Earle, in Greenville, and Elias had
grown to manhood, the young man,
who had innocently caused the death
| nF Pafh hoforQ fha ora re-
with shotgun In hand and asked to see
Col. Yancey. Yancey, from behind the
closed door, told Elias to 60 away and
he would return to Alabama and not
visit Greenville again; that he had
more Of the Earle blood then upon his
hands than he could ever wash away
and did not want any more. This visit
would probably have resulted fatally
had not the old lady, who like all OF
the Earles, was as brave as lion,
seized a shotgun and told Elias that
he must go away and not further mo-
lest her guest, and that If he attempt
ed any violence toward Yancey he must
first fire through her. The next day
MI. dHCey ltll lOT AldUdIIld 1llo uio
not return again, I think, to South
Carolina until as a delegate to the
Charleston convention.
If the killing of human being can
be made justifiable it was that Of By
mum by Perry. Bynum was noted
duellist, and had been employed to pro-
woke Perry into fight and take his
life. The two men represented extreme
factions in South Carolina politics, and
which were as bitter as in the days Of
Tillmanism and Conservatism. Bynum
was an expert with the pistol. and had
killed, so am told, more than one
man. On the other hand, Perry had
but little If any practice with that
weapon, being a man Of peace, but un-
doubted courage. But Perry's steady
nerve and cool head proved superior
to the skill Of his antagonist, who was
killed at the first fire, and his grave is
still pointed out at the old historic
Rock church, near Clemson college.
But even the knowledge that this duel
had been forced on him, and that his
enemy was given an equal, If not bet
ter, showing for his life, could never
wipe the red stain from the tender