The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-07-09
puELs IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
The Last Encounters at Famous Sand
 Bar Ferry.


 Bar Ferry.
 For many years before the war, and
 for a few years succeedinf, this code duello was one of the strongest and most destructive features of Southern life-of South Carolina life particularly
 By this code man who considered him
 self insulted or aggrieved by another
 might challenge the latter to mortal 1 combat on the field of honor. The field of honor it emphatically was.
 Not with the light rapiers or pop guns, as it were, as in France and Ger many, but with the direct, deadly pis- tol, army or navy repeater, the cambat- ants standing so many paces apart, as might be arranged by their seconds and using, acording to the code, just such pistols, or in rare cases other weapons, as might be chosen by the challenged man. The seconds decided the positions and the giving of the word by tossup, Each oombatant took with him to the field a second, sur geon, one, to two perhaps three, friends as witnesses, and generally one or more male negro servants. The se- conds with excessive civility, punctili- ous courtesy and knightly grace load ed the pistols, placed them in the hands of the combatants and enforced rigid compliance with all the rules of the code duello
 During the first sixty years of the last century when duelling was so in force in South Carolina, says the Charleston News and Courier, there was a rigid law, In words, against it. l rigid in words, but absolutely a dead letter as regards enforcement Pub lie opinion upheld duelling enthusias- tically and drowned down the law. The penalties under this law were very se- were, but never enforced. The penalties under the present law are also very severe. Their severity and prompt en- Iforcement, coupled with the gradual lcrystallization of public opinion against the custom, have caused duelling to become almost extinct Not absolutely extinct, however. In the south we still now and then hear of a duel in which the combatants are guided and govern ed by the rigid rules of the old cods duello.
 It is now almost forty years since a duel has taken place at Sand Bar Fer ". The last three duels that came off there, if we remember alright, occurred in one and the self--same year-1S70 One of these was between a very pro- |minent and popular young man of Augusta, named Tilly-and on account |of his chivalry, generosity and elegant personal habits he was called by his friends Count Tilly"-and another, equally pominent and popular, named Radcliffe. The trouble was about a wo- man, and, sad to say, not a good wo- man. Count lilly was killed outright
 Cornelius Redd, man well known in Augusta during the war period and said to be a desperate fellow, became en- gagged in a dispute with another des- perate party by the name of Copeland of Washington, D. c. The trouble was about gaming debt, and the two de- cided to fight it out according to the code.
 They selected seconds and a surgeon, land with some fifty interested specta- tors repaired to the Sand Bar Ferry duelling grounds at about o'clock one afternoon. The weapons for the settle ment of the difficulty were navy re- Ipeaters.
 A prominent Augusta man acted as Redd's second, while Mayor Hope of Richmond, Va, did likewise for Cope land They lined up and opened fire. Four shots were exchanged and Cope land fell at the last shot. He lived only a very few minutes after the shooting. Redd was not touched by the bullets; and few years afterward he was shot and killed by a policeman while resist ing arrest He was a small man. but terribly game.
 This duel was one of the most coolly, pitilessly, bloodily systematic ever ar- ranged to take place at Sand Bar Fer ny.
 The third duel was a ludicrous one, gotten up very cunningly by some fun loving gentlemen of Augusta and Hamburg; and yet it seems to have been real duel. It was between two negro men-Mose Sullivan and Peter Blair. There had been some difficulty between Nose and Pete about case in the court, and, being deftly influenced, they decided that only duel could clear up matters.
 They went to the ferry, and Pete proved the unlucky one. He received the bullet from Moses revolver in his knee and you must remeber that when you get it in the knee you face is very apt to be square to the front, Pete was good grit. Nose was most to gritty. Pete recovered from the wound. Nose Sulivan-we weep as we recall it. was atferward killed in Hamburg in brawl We know Nose well, and loved him well He was a person of lofty instincts. We often met Nose after the duel, and be- fore his unmecoming death, and used to say to him: "One day Nose, we shall write history of Sand Bar Ferry, and then we shall hand you down to honor and fame" And gMose would reply: T know it, Marse Jeems, and know you will do me jestice.
 The novelist's small but valuable son had just been brought to judgment for telling fib. His sobs having died