Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-11-20
Mi5tellanruas &eading.
DUELlST VS.. ASSASSIN.
Old System Not SO Cowardly as That
Now In Vogue.

Now In vogue.
Charlotte Observer
Discussing the Cooper Carmack af-
fair, the Richmond News Leader hits
the nail squarely and hard. Under
the old code duello," it observes, "suct
a tragedy would have been impossible
Friends would have had opportunity to
interpose and bring about a peaceful
settlement If the parties had insist
ed on hostility and fight the combat
would have been in seclusion and un-
der such conditions as to give both
men an equal chance and would not
have occurred before the Mortified eyes
of a woman. Our legislatures have
made fair and equal fighting a felony
and our juries make assassination and
unfair homicide a safe and pleasant
pastime. Perhaps we have reformed
100 much"
If grievances, real or imagined, are
to be avenged without fear Of the law
by all means let us have the duel back
again. The duel as an institution had
IN it much that was judicial. Develop
which had for it's basis the belief that
the Almighty when solemnly invoked
will not permit the triumph Of the
wrong and that, besides. there is in
conscious right an inherently superior
1uality insuring it's triumph where
terms are measurably equal, the duel
during the Middle Ages held place
among the recognized religio-civi "or-
1eals." OF these it was by far the
most reasonable, and 1t survived all the
others, persisting, in modified forms
even unto this day. For long time
however, it has stood quite outside the
judicial system. Wherever duelling
customs survived into the modern ere
they were winked at by law to a great
er or less extent. but never given ex.
7ress sanction. 1t was universally felt
that armed encounter as a means of
grievances could not be rec.
onciled with real civilization, and yet
there fingered a strong feeling that
COR certain intimately personal griev-
ances no other means Of adjustment
could be deemed altogether manly or
adequate. Out of these conflicting
sentiments arose the code duello, ex-
tra-legal but essentially judicial In
spirit no less than in historical origin
It was true "unwritten law" as distin-
yuished from the anarchy and assassi.
nation in one-every man killing his
enemy at will-to which this title has
'ately been wrested among southern
americans.
Under the code duello, whose gen.
aral acceptance was furthered by the
of the pistol, putting all
men so nearly on an equality that as a
rule only women need fight by cham
7ion. the causes Of dispute were care
fully weighed by third parties and it
vas required that justice between the
disputants be sought to the utmost
possible disregard Of their respective
personalities. It2was particularly re-
1uired that every honorable effort be
made to avert an actual encounter
Zach disputant must name as his Sec
0nd or seconds men Of unquestioned
honor and standing, and these seconds
alone could declare when an encounter
had become inevitable. These seconds
very often mutual friends-might
find the dispute the result simply Of
or mistake, requiring
only a little explanation; they might
agree that one disputant was In the
wrong and should frankly apologize,
cease the conduct complained Of, or
make other due amends; they might
divide the blame and call for mutual
of regrets; they might.
'astly, refer the whole matter to arbi-
tration. 1t is unquestionable that un-
der this plan Of procedure scarcely one
IN ten challenges eventuated in an en-
counter and even an encounter
most frequently did not go to
a deadly conclusion for either princi-
oal-the two, hurt or unhurt, often
shaking hands in heightened regard
toward each other at the close. The
choice of weapons lay with the per-
son challenged. Where fatalities took
place between Americans under this
system it was almost invariably be-
case one or both harbored such surely
grounded and mortal resentment to-
ward the other that In any event moth
perhaps, the certainty Of
hanging, which exists in the south
now not more but much less than 1t
lid then-could have prevented a fatal
termination. The code duello, Of course,
was liable to be abused. Its worst
product was the bully, but with the
pistol in use he could not escape en-
dangering his own life, and, for this
reason and for the further reason that
public opinion would not tolerate him
he was very rarely occasional pro-
duct. Many lives were saved where
me was sacrificed. Not the least vir-
tue Of the duel was that it placed
premium upon courage. Not the least
vice of the licensed assassination which
claims to be it's successor is that pre-
MUM is placed upon cowardice. They
were brave men who, bred where the
duel held place, fought the civil war;
they held honor dearer, not merely
than other mems lives but than their
own as well.
The merits Of the set duel as COM
pared with the sudden onfall upon an
intended victim-an intended victim
who may or may not be given any
chance for his life--are illustrated by
.he career Of the very man who was
slain in Nashville last Monday. Fff-
teen years ago Mr.. Carmack had an
acutely personal controversy with Col.
w. A. Collier Of Memphis, and was
to fight duel across the
line. AS previously noted
In these columns while reviewing Mr..
Carmacks life, that duel never took
place. Through the management of
by roundabout means
what would have been done by sim
ole negotiation and at an earlier stage
II the incident had occurred during
the davs of the regular code duello-