The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1908-11-13
Edward w. Carmack.


The code of honor that warrants
the appeasement of wounded pride
in brothers. blood or the avenging
of injury by speeding a soul to the
courts of judgment before its allot-
ted time, Is too prevalent i'm this
country. There was a time when
men CROPPED in darkness without the
light of Christianity or the protec-
ton Of civilized government, that
such a code was held in esteem and
| its yotaries regarded az heroes. In
the ante-bcllum days of the South,
and during the times when knight
hood was in flower ii was counted
the heighth OF chivalry and yalor to
slay in fair combat the offender of
honor or the traducer of reputation.
The fame OF the duelist, or the
knight, was measured by the mum
beI Of victims slain on the field of
battle-hut always in fair combat
and in accordance with the then ac-
cepted code of honor With the pro
gress of an intense civilization, i'm
which government has inveighed
against the practice, more barbar-
Gus and cowardly adjustment of
such affairs has come into vogue
/ the street affray, in which the of
Tended. writhing in throes Of injur-
ed honor, puts the laws Of his coun-
try at defiance, the mandates Of God
at naught and the brotherhood OF
man to shame by taking, in cold
blood, the life of him that inflicted
only wounds to his pride.
An exemplification Of this new
and dastardly code Of honor was en-
acted on the streets Of Nashville
Monday evening, when Duncan b.
Cooper and his son sped the soul Of
former United States Senator Ed
ward W Carmack to the realms of
the Invisible. AS the shadows Of
night we're descending upon that
kissed city, the two, father and
son, met their unsuspecting victim
on the street and hathed their hon
ors by the shedding of his blood To
say that the tragedy IS deplorable
because of the prominence Of the
parties enacting it. would be more
cowardly than sycophantic, and
would credit practice already so
prevalent among that class as to
well nigh stile the strong arm Of
public opinion. There can be but
one just verdict, and that is CON
domination without reserve-a con
demnatiOn that must carry ostra-
cism from the good opinions of men
and bring merited punishment for
the shedding of blood.
The killing was the elimination
of political contests in which the
slayers and their victim were align
ed in opposing factions. Mr.. Car
mack was the defeated in the cam
paigns. one for the United States
Senate to succeed himself, and the
other for the Governorship, occur
ring in quick succession. Writing
under the lash of frustrated ambi
ton, he became editor of The Ten
nessean, an afternoon paper pub
lished at Nashville Though its
columns he directed a series of ed /
itorials, flaming with the fire of his
genius. against the men most prom
inent in accomplishing his defeat. /
Colonel Cooper was one of those |
men. and for questioning his polit- /
ical motives and arraigning his pub /
lie career, the light of one of the
brightest minds in the South was /
extinguished the beat of one Of the I
truest hearts in Dixie was stilled, |
and the purest ambition that ever
prompted a patriot to sacrifice was
ended at the gates of death. Ten
ncssee has lost citizen whom Ten
nesseans not alone deplore The
qualities, virtue and intellectual
proves of Edward ". Carmack are
1 loss to the nation as we'll, and the
value of his vigorous influence in
he sphere of ethics and the moral
field will be felt as the years multi
ply to mum Der him among men no
more. L