USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 33
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The condition of short-sightedness entered into the Pettis-Biddle duel. One account of the circumstances leading to the duel is that Pettis, anticipating a hostile meeting, went before Judge Peter Ferguson and made a sworn statement about the attack upon him in the hotel. He proceeded from Ferguson's office to the printer to have the statement put in type. Ferguson, made aware of what had taken place, issued a writ against Biddle to keep the peace. Biddle met Pettis and told him that if challenged he would accept. This was after the election, between three and four weeks. Pettis challenged at once. Biddle being the challenged principal, made the terms. He set the next day for the duel and made the distance five feet, because of short-sightedness. The meet- ing took place at three o'clock in the afternoon. Old inhabitants, eighty years after the occurrence, pointed out a spot on the Illinois side, almost exactly oppo- site the Pettis-Biddle meeting.
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Benton's intimate relationship with the Pettis-Biddle duel is told in these personal recollections of Edward Dobyns, preserved by the Missouri Historical Society :
"Upon the attack on one of the parties at the City Hotel in July, 1831, Mrs. Benton having heard a difficulty or noise about daybreak suggested to Mr. Benton the probable cause. He at once arose and went over and found her suspicions were true. Mr. Benton spent about five minutes in which a masterly stroke of policy was exhibited, rarely ever seen in connection with an event of such magnitude.' All political historians will remember that the party attacked was a candidate for re-election to a seat in Congress from Missouri, and that the occurrence took place just before the day of election. In that five minutes' interview Mr. Benton said: 'Let there be no definite action taken until this election is over. And then, sir, I leave you to vindicate your honor in such a manner as you may deem most consistent with the principles that govern gentlemen.'
"This suggestion was yielded to with much reluctance on the part of the attacked, and all who are acquainted with the history of that day remember the political result. It was my privilege to have enjoyed the personal acquaintance of all of the parties in the tragical affair, and I honored them all, enjoying their friendship. During the days just preceding the fatal meeting I often met Mr. Benton at his residence, having been requested by him to call every day as he did not often go out amongst the people.
"Upon one occasion when I called, Dr. Lewis F. Linn, the surgeon of one of the parties, was just coming out of the parlor. It was the day before the fatal duel. Mr. Benton said, with evident deep feeling and seriousness, 'There will be no child's play in the meet- ing.' I suppose Doctor Linn had informed him that the distance was only five feet apart. There was not much said. A deep seriousness seemed to pervade the mind of Mr. Benton.
"After the fatal meeting, August 27, 1831, the parties crossed back to the St. Louis side of the river. The immense collection of people that had assembled on the river bank went down to meet them. As the yawl approached the shore Mr. Pettis was leaning on the breast of his surgeon, Doctor Linn, who supported him in his arms. Captain Martin Thomas, his second, was holding a vial from which the wounded man was inhaling to keep up life. It was my privilege to have been the first to meet the party, as they neared the shore, and know of my own knowledge what occurred, and am, therefore prepared to cor- rect the error of a distinguished writer who has said that when Mr. Pettis was brought back from the dueling ground, Judge Peck was among the first to meet him and offer sympathy; that Mr. Pettis said to him, 'Did I vindicate my honor?' 'Yes,' said the judge, 'you have vindicated your honor like a man-a man of bravery, sir.' This is an error. Judge Peck was not present at the landing of the party. When the skiff neared the shore, Mr. Pettis, in his reclining position, in the arms of his surgeon, looked up and caught the eye of Mr. Benton and said, 'Colonel Benton, have I acted the poltroon?' To which Colonel Benton replied, 'No, sir, you have shown yourself to be the bravest of the brave.' These were the words of Mr. Benton, not of Judge Peck.
"Judge Peck came to the room of the dying statesman the night after the fatal meeting and stayed by his bedside until his death, and exhibited great sympathy and showed pro- found interest for him. Just before his death Mr. Pettis gave a deep moan. The judge, seeing that death was rapidly approaching, said: 'Mr. Pettis, you 'have proved yourself to be a great man; now, die like a man.' Mr. Pettis said: 'Yes, sir,' and in a few moments passed away. Considering that Mr. Pettis was a political opponent of the party to which Judge Peck belonged, I have often thought and said that Judge Peck deserved great praise for his sympathy and interest shown to Mr. Pettis.
"Mr. Benton's whole course was calm, collected and dignified, never uttering a harsh word, or giving expression to a feeling of unkindness to any party. He presided at the meeting of the friends of Mr. Pettis, who met to give expression to their regrets, wrote the account of the duel in a calm, dignified and impartial style, which Doctor Linn and I took from his residence down to the St. Louis Beacon, a paper published by Colonel Charles Keemle. This notice was copied into almost all of the papers of the United States."
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One of the earliest accounts of this duel, thought to be, from the description, written by Benton, read : "The pistols were then loaded, and put in the hands of the principals, who were stationed at the distance of five feet apart. The seconds then stood at right angles between the principals. The seconds then cocked their pistols, keeping their eyes on each other and on their principals. They had thrown up for positions, when Pettis had won the choice. Everything being ready, the pistols having been loaded, cocked and primed, and put into the hands of the principals, the words were pronounced, according to the rule of dueling -'Are you ready?' Both answered, 'We are.' The seconds then counted- 'One-two-three.'
"After the word was given both principals fired with outstretched arms. The pistols were twelve or fifteen inches in length and they lapped and struck against each other, as they were discharged. There was scarcely any chance for either to escape instant death. They both fired so simultaneously, that the people on the shore heard only one report, and both men fell at the same time." The seconds in this duel were Captain Thomas and Major Ben O'Fallon.
Dodging a Dueling Statute.
One of the laws enacted by Missouri to discourage the practice of dueling made it an indictable offense to send a challenge. This prompted some ingenious methods to get around the statute. Ira P. Nash was a town boomer, a doctor, a surveyor, a fruit raiser, a farmer and a shrewd litigant whose court experi- ences prompted at least one change in the law practice of Missouri. One of the cases which Nash won in 1840 had much to do with the change in the statutes permitting a plaintiff to be sworn in behalf of the defendant and a defendant to be sworn in behalf of the plaintiff. About 1831 Nash considered that he had sufficient provocation to challenge Gilpin S. Tuttle to fight a duel. He set about the sending of a challenge in a way that he thought would evade the law. He wrote :
"Sir : I have always been fond of the chase and of gunning. I have experienced great satisfaction in the chase, in the countries of West Florida, and New Mexico, and in the states of Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, and Tennessee,-in the extreme eastern part of the latter I took my first chase when a boy. Now, sir, the object of this communication is to let you know that there is not any- thing that could be more grateful to my feelings than to take a short hunt with you, in some place not exposed to Indian depredations, and as my first chase was in the east of Tennessee, I propose to take this, perhaps my last chase in the extreme west of that state, say in the Mississippi bottom opposite New Madrid. I propose the hunting camp to be located somewhere near the Mississippi river (nigh where the eye of Leonard flashed on Major Berry) and then and there the preliminary arrangements for the hunt will be made by * * * say our camp keepers-and they will no doubt give you liberty to execute your threat of 12th of June last on me-and if you stick close to the chase, I insure that we will have something of better color, if not so strong scented as that with which you plastered my letter 10th of last June.
"Yours, &c.,
"I. P. NASH."
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"To Capt. Gilpin S. Tuttle,
"Nashville, Mo.
"P. S. Sir-I most seriously invite you to this hunt-you may object to the season, but 'tis the best time to save meat and skins, and the climate is more mild at New Madrid than here. I have frequently observed that men by being campmates (each doing his duty) would become great friends and agreeable associates. Therefore this measure is absolutely necessary. Three days after this is delivered I shall call at Nashville for an answer for this invitation, believing most confidently that you will perfectly understand this prelude at the first glance. There is an embargo (and something worse) on those who execute certain instruments of writing in Missouri which criminal words I have and will avoid. But there is no law (that I know of) which prohibits hunting parties.
"Yours,
"I. P. NASH."
The letter didn't work as Nash expected. The grand jury of the Boone cir- cuit court found an indictment and Nash was fined $100 for sending a challenge.
A family duel was that between Felix Scott and his son-in-law, both resi- dents of St. Charles county. Scott was a lawyer who served as justice of the peace in Dog Prairie many years. He was a member of the legislature several terms, a man of affairs and a great fighter. The son-in-law for some grievance, challenged. Scott chose double-barreled shotguns. Scott provided under the terms what might be called a penalty handicap against himself. He stipulated that he should not shoot until after his son-in-law had one fire. The terms were carried out. The younger man fired and missed. Then Scott laid down his gun and gave the challenger a sound whipping with fists.
Rev. Dr. Eliot's Protest.
The growing sentiment in St. Louis against dueling found ways of mani- festing itself. In November, 1836, William Greenleaf Eliot, who created Wash- ington University, came to St. Louis to live-a young man, a Unitarian minister just ordained. One of his first letters to friends "back east" contained this : "We had a duel here yesterday between two young fools, lawyers. Neither hurt and will probably fight again. If I can do it incog, I mean to give them a basting in the way of the ridiculous."
St. Louis newspaper reports of duels were, as a rule, quite brief. In 1837 the Missouri Republican disposed of one of these affairs in this manner:
"Ducl-A meeting took place yesterday a little before sundown on Bloody Island between Mr. William C. Skinner and Mr. William S. Meservey, of this city, in which the latter, on the first fire, received a flesh wound just below the knee. His antagonist escaped unhurt."
Three years later occurred a meeting in which the editor of the Republican was a principal. Adam Black Chambers was "called out" by Thomas B. Hud- son, a young Tennesseean. Soon after beginning the practice of law in St. Louis, Hudson entered politics. He became a member of the city council, the city counselor, a member of the legislature, and ran for Congress as an anti- Benton candidate. In 1840 there was held a Democratic Van Buren rally at Creve Cœur lake, in St. Louis county. Hudson was one of the speakers. A dis- turbance of serious character interrupted the meeting. Some correspondent
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wrote an account of the trouble for a St. Louis paper and signed the communi- cation "Veritas." In the course of the description of the row Hudson was given credit for "bold and fearless conduct." The Missouri Republican was supporting the Whig candidate for President, William Henry Harrison. It published a communication upon the Creve Cœur meeting, intimating that Hud- son was "Veritas," and that he had described himself as a hero. The Repub- lican went further, editorially endorsing the communication and saying: "We have the word of several gentlemen, and some of them Loco-focos, saying that a more disgraceful, unbecoming proceeding has not transpired during the can- vass than this was. We particularly invite the attention of the author of 'Ver- itas,' reported to be the 'bold and fearless Mr. Hudson,' to this communication."
The attention was given quickly. Hudson challenged Mr. Chambers. The editor of the Republican accepted. The duel was fought with rifles at forty paces. It took place on Bloody Island in the early morning.
Hudson was accompanied by Charles Bent and John H. Watson. Chambers' friends were Martin Thomas and W. Gordon. Three times the word was given and the rifles were discharged. Nobody was hurt. The seconds refused to per- mit any more shooting. Principals, seconds and surgeons came back to St. Louis, went to the residence of Colonel Chambers, and passed the rest of the day in banqueting. The seconds joined in a card to the newspapers stating that the principals had acted with coolness and bravery.
John B. Clark, "Old Bustamente," of Fayette, had his experience with the code in that same campaign. He gave the writer this account of it:
"When I ran for governor in 1840, I wrote a letter about some man being a rascal, and I spelled it wrong,-put in a 'k' I believe, instead of a 'c.' Claib Jackson was a bitter political enemy of mine. He wrote a piece about the letter in which he commented on my spelling. It was a mighty severe article. Abiel Leonard, afterward supreme judge, and I were friends, and I showed him the piece. He said I ought to fight. I sent a challenge. Jackson agreed to fight and named a place right in the edge of town here (Fayette). That was the same day the article about my spelling came out in the paper. We both were arrested before the fight could be had. I turned in and published Jackson as a coward. I said the article was a mean and cowardly attack. He had accepted my chal- lenge and had named a place where he knew there couldn't be a fight. I had this printed in handbills and put them up on the corners. Of course, after that, I meant to shoot wherever we met, and we went prepared; but friends interfered and fixed it up. Jackson and I afterwards became friends. That was about the extent of my connection with dueling, except that I carried a challenge from Leonard to Taylor Berry in 1823. That trouble started about a speech Leonard had made. Berry horsewhipped Leonard, and the latter sent a challenge. I delivered it, meeting Berry on one of the corners downtown. They met and Berry was killed."
The Blair-Pickering Affair.
A noteworthy resort to the code in Missouri was by Francis P. Blair, Jr., and Lorenzo Pickering. And that, too, was about Benton. Pickering was conducting the Union and had made it anti-Benton. Blair was foremost among the younger adherents of Benton. Pickering assailed Blair so bitterly in the Union that Blair, although opposed to the code, sent a challenge. Blair's "friend" in the transaction was Thomas T. Gantt, afterward judge of the court of appeals. In his acceptance, Pickering exercised the right of the challenged
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to name the time and place; he did it in such manner as to make the duel im- possible. His stipulation was that the meeting must take place at Fourth and Pine streets; that the hour must be twelve o'clock noon. Blair "posted" Pickering. That is to say, he denounced him as a coward. A few days later the men met on Chestnut street. The sidewalk was narrow. Pickering stepped off into the roadway. He either drew a knife or made a motion as if to do so. Blair thrust his umbrella forward into Pickering's face, making a mark which was visible several days.
A short time afterward there was held a Free-Soil meeting at night in the rotunda of the courthouse, then a favorite place for political gatherings. Blair made a speech. He started to leave by the Fourth street front. As he stepped through the door out on the portico, which was semicircular, instead of the present form of architecture, a man greeted him with "Good evening, Mr. Blair."
The words were spoken loudly. Acknowledging the salutation, Blair con- tinued across the portico to the steps leading down to the street. Another man standing at the bottom of the steps fired and ran. The ball went by. Blair drew his pistol and fired." He ran down the steps and fired again, but without effect. At the inquiry which followed, suspicion pointed to Doctor Prefontaine, a writer on the Union, as the one who had given the loud greeting. It was sup- posed that this was done to give notice to the person standing at the bottom of the steps that Blair was coming. There was no positive identification of the one who fired. Street lamps were not lighted, because, as one witness ex- plained, it was a "corporation moonlight" night. Pickering was arrested on suspicion, but was discharged. The proof against him was not positive, but the real reason why the case was not pushed was a secret agreement or under- standing that he would leave Missouri. Pickering went to California with the goldseekers, started a paper in San Francisco and became widely known and. wealthy. Blair and Gantt were summoned to court for participating in a ·challenge to fight a duel. They pleaded guilty and were fined $1 each. The district attorney who prosecuted was Samuel T. Glover, who became one of the leaders of the St. Louis bar twenty years later. The judge who imposed the fine was James B. Colt, a brother of the maker of Colt's revolvers.
The Blair-Pickering affair was far-reaching in its relationship to newspaper . destinies in St. Louis. With the departure of Pickering, the Union not only changed hands, but entered upon a new political course. It took up the fight for Benton in his appeal from the pro-slavery resolutions of the Missouri legis- lature. Blair and Brown contributed most of the editorials. Brown found newspaper work to his liking. When in the summer of 1852, Giles F. and O. D. Filley, John How and a few others thought the time was opportune for a dis- tinctively Free Soil paper in St. Louis, Blair and Brown joined them. The business men furnished the capital. Blair and Brown contributed the political and editorial talent. William McKee, who had a large job printing establish- ment, supplied the mechanical plant, and took a half interest in the venture. The Signal, which had been conducted as a morning paper by a group of printers on a co-operative plan, was purchased. The name of "Missouri Demo-
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crat" was chosen. The Union was absorbed. This was the beginning of what is now the Globe-Democrat.
The Blair-Price Feud.
A personal feud between Francis P. Blair and Sterling Price continued sev- eral years. Under different conditions it would on two occasions have led to a duel. In his unpublished memoir, preserved by the Missouri Historical Society, Thomas C. Reynolds wrote of the feud and of its important bearing upon Mis- souri politics :
"I have heard the statement of both in regard to it, from Mr. Blair at Jefferson City in January, 1857, and from General Price at Camden, Ark., in the summer of 1864. Mr. Blair considered his arrest as a piece of tyranny and an outrage on him by General Price, then U. S. military governor of New Mexico, and attributed it to personal malice. Even after the lapse of ten years (1857) he spoke of it with great bitterness, and as fully justify- ing his violent philippic in the Missouri legislature against General Price when governor of the state. He justified his personal abuse of Governor Price at the time when their respective official positions prevented the governor from demanding 'satisfaction,' on the ground that he was retaliating for an outrage committed on him at the time when their respective positions in New Mexico prevented, and indeed precluded for all time his seek- ing redress for it from General Price; that as he had had to pocket the outrage he insulted Governor Price in a speech at a time. when the latter would have to pocket the insult in like manner. Mr. Blair added, 'I consider him, however, a man of such courage that I believe he would have given his right hand to have been able, without violating his duty, to resign his governorship and challenge me.' This feud with Mr. F. P. Blair, Jr., and with his family, who shared his resentment, was considered to have influenced General Price in his desertion of Colonel Benton in 1852, the period at which the latter, more publicly than he had previously done, entrusted the management of his political fortunes in Missouri to F. P. Blair, Jr., Hon. Montgomery Blair, his brother, and Mr. B. Gratz Brown, his cousin, all of St. Louis, and allied himself more closely than ever with Mr. Francis P. Blair, Sr., at Washington City. But in General Price's own account of the matter to me in 1864, he treated the New Mexico incident as a petty quarrel between Mr. Blair and some subaltern officer, with which he as governor of New Mexico had really little to do, and in regard to which Mr. Blair's resentment had greatly surprised him; in general his account treated the matter very lightly, and as of little importance in deter- mining his subsequent relations with the Blairs, against whom neither his manner nor his language evinced any personal ill-feeling."
The attack of Blair upon Governor Price occurred, according to Judge Fagg, in a joint session when Burns, of Platte, had proposed Price for the Senate. Burns had made a very complimentary speech on the public services of Price. He had dwelt on the governor's record in the Mexican war and in conclusion brought in a description of a picture which an artist convict of the penitentiary had made showing General Price in his uniform receiving the parole of a Mexican general :
"Instantly Blair rose to reply. As usual he was perfectly cool and self-possessed. There was neither excitement nor surprise indicated in his face. With a cool deliberation characteristic of all his speeches, he proceeded to analyze the public services of the gen- eral in the various civil positions he had held. He asserted that whatever honors he had received in the civil career, whatever fame or notoriety he had attained, he owed it all to the shadow of the great name of Thomas H. Benton, under which he had constantly sought favor and preferment. He said that no man had ever been bound by stronger
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ties of gratitude to another than Price had to .Benton. That when the cup was full and running over, when the old senator had been attacked, and in 1852 when he seemed to be almost in a death struggle with his enemies, this man Price had basely betrayed him and sold himself to the anti-Benton party for the office of governor of the state. 'Judas,' he said, 'with his thirty pieces of silver was not so degraded as this hero of the Mexican war.' Then turning toward the governor he said, 'He is a subject worthy of the genius of a convict artist.'
"The governor's name was instantly withdrawn and that of Atchison placed in its stead."
The last duel on Bloody Island was just before the outbreak of the Civil war. It was bloodless. The principles were General D. M. Frost and Edward B. Sayers, both well known in St. Louis and both afterwards in the Confederate army. Sayers was a civil engineer. He laid out Camp Jackson in the spring of 1861. He was active in the state militia. Frost was brigadier-general, com- manding the militia of the St. Louis district. After the return of what was known as the Southwest Expedition, a movement of Missouri troops to South- western Missouri to meet expected troubles on the Kansas border, Sayers indulged in some criticism of General Frost. The latter went to Sayers' office, which was on Chestnut street, near Second, and applied a horsewhip. Sayers chal- lenged and Frost accepted. At the meeting on Bloody Island, Sayers missed and Frost fired in the air.
Edwards-Foster.
Late in the decade, 1870-80, an editorial controversy occurred between the St. Louis Times and the St. Louis Journal. The editor of the latter was Emory S. Foster. John N. Edwards was editor of the Times. The mana- gers of a county fair on the northern border of Illinois conceived the enterpris- ing idea that the presence of Jefferson Davis would be a drawing card. They extended the invitation and made public their action. The press of the country commented vigorously. Davis declined the invitation. The ex-Confederate editor of the Times and the ex-Federal editor , of the Journal kept up the fire. On one side it was intimated that Davis' declination was probably just as well, as it might have been embarrassing to have the ex-president of the Confederacy discover in the North some of the silverware stolen in the South and carried home by returning Union soldiers. Foster denounced the insinuation in words that reflected upon the editor of the Times. Edwards challenged. Foster ac- cepted and chose for the place of meeting Winnebago county, the Illinois lo- cality where the invitation to Davis had been extended. And to Winnebago county the principals journeyed, attended by Morrison Mumford and P. S. O'Reilly for Edwards and by Harrison Branch and W. D. W. Barnard for Foster. The party reached the appointed locality, drove out into the country a few miles and exchanged shots. The duel was bloodless. The dignity .of Illinois was outraged and for a time there was much talk of prosecution under the anti-dueling statute, but it died down.
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