TWO CELEBRATED DUELLISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 50

TWO CELEBRATED DUELLISTS.

Fiercest of America's fighting Presidents j was General Andrew Jackson, the hero of tbe .battle of New Orleans, "Old Hickory," -whose deeds and bloody etreet encounters are said to number nearly a hundred. In Jackson's early days he fought a duel with a Mr Dickinson. The latter had the first shot, Jackson returned his fire, killing him on the spot. Only then was it seen that Jackson was covered with blood from a wound, almost mortal, from which he never entirely recovered. Dickinson had slandered the lady whom Jackson afterwards married, and " Old Hickory " said that had Dickinson's bullet pierced his heart he would still have had the strength to stand long enough to shoot him. Senator Bsnton, in a letter to a friend, describes in graphic language the terrible fight in 1813 between Jackson, assisted by some of his friends, and the two Bentons. "My brother Jesse and I," writes the senator, "arrived in Nashville on the morning of the affray. The general, with his friends, came to the house where I was stopping, and began the attack by levelling a pistol at me when I had no weapon drawn, and advancing on me at such a rapid pace that I had no time to draw one. Seeing this, toy brother fired on General Jackson when he was within Bft or 10ft of me. Four other pistols were fired in quick succession — one by the General at me, two by me at the General, and one by Colonel Coffee at me. In the course of tbe firing General Jackson wa« brought to the ground, but received no hurt. Daggers were then drawn ; Colonel Coffee and Mr Alexander Donaldson made at me and gave me five slight wounds. Captain Hammond and Mr Stokely Hayß engaged my brother, who, weak from a wound he had lately received in a duel, was 5n no condition to resist two men. They got him down, and while Captain Hammond beat him on the head to make him lie still, Mr Hays tried to stab him, and wounded him in both arms as he lay on his back parrying the thrusts with his naked hands. Bafore he came to the ground he clapped a pistol to the breait of Mr Hays to blow him through, but it missed fire. My own and my brother's pistols carried two balls each, as it was our intention, If driven to arms, to nave no child* play**

1 Oolonel James Bowie, of Louisiana, who invented the famous bowie knife, was of slender frame, but wiry and muscular. When he died, at the age of 46, he had killed about 30 men in duels or fights. Dr Maddox and a Mr Wells fought a duel in 1527 on an island in the Mississippi, opposite Natchetz. They bad exchanged two shots without result when two parties of men were ssen approaching from opposite directions. At the head of one marched Bowie. They were friends of the two duellists come to see fair play, or perhaps " take a hand " themselves. In a few minutes a general fight began, in which six were killed and 15 wounded. Bowie fired his pistols, and then, drawing the terrible knife, made out of a blacksmith's rasp or file by a celebrated cutler of Philadelphia under the colonel's instructions, killed with it the leader on the other side, Major Morris Wright. Not long before this Bowie had fought a duel with a Spanish planter. The colonel, suffering from a wound in his leg, was unable to stand. In order not to disappoint the Spaniard he arranged that they should fight with bowie knives seated opposite to each other on three-legged stools. At the word Bowie, with a quick upward thrust, completely disembowelled his adversary. "This knife," Bowie was fond of saying, " is better than a pistol in the hands of a strong, brave man. It neither bends nor breaks, and never misses fire." When he showed it to his old friend, Colonel David Crockett, Bowie told him : " You can tickle a man a long time in the ribs with this before you make him laugh." Bowie once exposed a cheating gambler on a Mississippi river steamer, and they fought a duel with pistols, each standing on one of the paddleboxes. They fired ; and the gambler, with a bullet in his heart, fell into, the river. — From " Duels of all Nations," in Cornhill Magazine.

Thereupon the gallant gentleman, without saying a word to anyone, buttoned up his coat, and tramped back to the country house, amid a whirlwind of hail, snow, and sleet. He arrived at his friend's residence after midnight, bribed a sleepy domestic, recovered the glove, after a long search, and once more braved the elements, getting to his own home at 5 o'clock in the morning. At daybreak he despatched the glove by his man-servant to the house of the lady who owned it, without a note of any sort. The young woman has not yet discovered the identity of her knight-errant. Schoolboys are not usually tronbled with an excesß of chivalry. It is the aorfc of thing which does not find favour in public schools, and the average youth dreads being condemned as a milk-sop or a " lass-lad." All the more praise is therefore due to the young hero of the following pretty little incident. The occasion was a big match between two well-known schools, and the female who inspired feelings of gallantry in the quixotic schoolboy was a cripple in a Bath chair. This girl wanted to see her attendant, who was in the refreshment tent at the other end of the field, and as it was impossible for her to push herself, she bad to look around for someone who would be kind enough to help her. The schoolboy was the nearest to her, and noticing that she was gazing appealingly at him, he awkwardly asked her what he could do for her. The girl explained, and with a wan smile awaited his answer. It was an awful predicament for the youngster, who naturally ahrank from the publicity which the task he was requested to perform would expose him to. To get to the refreshment tent he would have to run the gauntlet; of hundreds of his schoolmates, all of whom would be bound to notice him and comment upon his appearance in such a novel role. Bat he was gallant to the core, and with only a moment's hesitation seizad

secret service was rewarded by a rise to three guineas.

As might, perhaps, be supposed, this running with the hare and banting with the hounds is most strenuously resented by the workmen. Ssldom as it is discovered who has turned traitor, punishment is sometimes swift and severe when proof does come to light. During a strike at a Continental ironi works only laist summer, a workman who had been" secretly supply information to the employers was nearly killed by unknown assailants on his way home one evening, loßing the sight of an eye and being compelled to keep his bed for weeks. The same night his cottage was partially destroyed by the silent match of an incendiary .„ Fearful of an impending strike, which, if not properly provided against may mean huge loss or even actual ruin, employers frequently resort to the services of the spy to find out which of the men will remain faithful when the gauntlet is cast down. Systematically, but secretly, the chosen mau ••sounds" all his mateß, being careful to range himself on the side which his canvassing soon iuforms him will be in the majority. And what very complete preparations it is possible to make when the services of a clever spy have been secured is well testified to in the following instance: — TimiDg their strike to take place at the start of the busy seaßon, the men at one big factory wero certain of most of their number "coming out." The whole thing had been ably managed, and the secret strike committee imagined the firm to be ignorant of the volcano forming beneath its feet.

'The day was fixed; cverjthing pointed to triumph. Judge, then, of the plotter's* dismay when, a week before their projected hour of victory, every man of them was dismissed, with wages in lieu of notice 1 Their discomfiture being complete, several resorted