USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 75
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A Year Later.
The second affair between Brown and Reynolds enlivened the municipal cam- paign eleven months after the first ; its beginning was a local report of a meeting
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held to unite various elements upon an anti-Benton ticket for the city election. Politics in Missouri, from 1850 to 1860, was a continuous performance. At the time of these affairs between Brown and Reynolds a mayor and other city officials were elected annually. Party lines were down. Factions formed and reformed. The Missourian could be a Benton Democrat, a "regular" Democrat, a Whig, a Know-Nothing, a reform Republican, an Emancipationist, a Free- Soiler. an Abolitionist. Not infrequently he changed his factional affiliation from one campaign to the next. Benton was beaten for the Senate, elected to the House and defeated for governor, all in six years. St. Louis had in rapid succession a Democrat, a Whig, an Emancipationist and a Republican for mayors. The young editor of the Democrat, guided by a dimly defined political policy, realizing under-the-surface rumblings of the political earthquake which was coming, endeavored to make his editorial page virile and readable; he did not shun personalities.
In March, 1855. the combination was forming to beat the Benton party in the election for mayor of St. Louis. Anti-Benton Democrats, Know-Nothings and Whigs were in it. Boernstein, the German "boss," joined the coalition. This attempt to unite the Know-Nothings and the Germans gave the Democrat its opportunity. Strange to tell, just at this time Reynolds entered into a business enterprise with Boernstein. The district attorney and the German leader became partners in a brewery. Boernstein was the chief object of the Democrat's attack. Reynolds' name did not appear in the lively two-column description which the Democrat reporter wrote of the speeches and scenes of the anti-Benton mass meeting. A later generation in journalism would have called it "a good story." In the next column of the Democrat appeared a communication from "Anti-Know- Nothing" devoted to Reynolds and his brewery association with Boernstein. The letter assumed that the brewery was a cover for a political conspiracy "formed for the purpose of defeating Benton." In the August campaign of 1854, only a few months previous to this, when Benton was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress, Boernstein had pandered to Know-Nothing prejudices by anti-Catholic articles in the Anzeiger, his paper.
These articles were translated and republished in the Missouri Republican, credited to the Anzeiger, to drive Catholic support from Benton. At that time the Anzeiger was pretending to support Benton. The Democrat's correspondent, "Anti-Know-Nothing," insinuated that by secret intrigue Reynolds had prompted Boernstein, who was ostensibly supporting Benton, to assail the Catholics; that Reynolds translated these anti-Catholic articles and furnished them to the Re- publican. Benton was beaten in that election, but the appeals to religious preju- dices led to the worst election riots St. Louis had known.
Referring to the application for the brewery charter by Reynolds and Boern -. stein, the Democrat asked, editorially, "Is it perjury or is it not?" Reynolds demanded "a withdrawal of your editorial of today, a disavowal and repudiation of the communication of the 17th and an apology for their insertion in your columns." He sent the note by the hand of the United States collector of cus- toms at St. Louis, W. A. Linn, commonly known as "Gus" Linn, a relative of the former United States Senator Linn. Brown replied that instead of "proceed- ing in the usual manner to ascertain the author of the communication by which
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you feel yourself to be aggrieved," Reynolds was attempting "to dictate and bully." Reynolds sent a verbal challenge by Linn. Brown replied: "I have no more intention of permitting you to brow-beat me than I have of permitting you to place me in the wrong, and, therefore, whenever you desire to make a further communication in writing, you will not find me unwilling to respond to your satisfaction.""
Challenged by Reynolds.
Reynolds challenged: "Your notes are not only insufficient, but offensive. I ask the proper atonement. My friend, Mr. W. A. Linn, is authorized to act for me."
Brown accepted : "I am convinced of your determination to force a collision with me, and am, therefore, constrained to gratify your unjustifiable caprice. I will refer you for all further arrangements to my friend, Capt. D. M. Frost, who is authorized to act for me in the premises."
Captain Frost immediately notified Linn that the weapon to be used was "the common American rifle, with open sight, round ball, not over one ounce, each gentleman to select his own weapon of the kind named." Captain Frost added for his principal: "He has also chosen eighty yards as the distance, and will on Sunday next arrange as to time and place."
Then followed much letter writing on the part of Reynolds and the seconds. Reynolds demanded shorter distance. "I consider the rifle, which you have named as the weapon, to be unusual and barbarous, and generally excluded by gentle- men. With this protest, as you leave me no choice, I accept it and exercise the right (which I have absolutely) to shorten the distance from eighty paces to twenty. To show you that I do so not from caprice, but necessity, I assure you, and it is a notorious fact, that I am so nearsighted that I am unable, even with my glasses, in ordinary weather, to recognize any person, except an intimate friend, at a greater distance than thirty paces; and as you have the right to name the time of day for the meeting, I can not safely consent to a greater distance than twenty. I hope that in selecting a distance of eighty paces you were ignorant of my defective eyesight, and that you did not knowingly propose terms on which you, accustomed to the rifle, could shoot me down with perfect safety to your- self."
The correspondence carried on by Frost and Linn over the question of dis- tance ranged through the history of the code. Rules of practice were quoted. Precedents were cited. In the end Frost declined to shorten the distance. Linn refused to proceed.
The Third Controversy.
Benton still was an issue in 1856. He was running for governor and was supporting Buchanan for President against a member of his own family, his son- in-law, John C. Fremont. In the heat of that campaign the third controversy between Brown and Reynolds had its origin.
Reynolds made a speech in German at Mehl's store, in St. Louis county. He had taken the nomination for Congress as candidate of the anti-Benton Democracy. The Missouri Democrat charged that in his German speech Rey-
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nolds "placed Germans and Irish on an equality with negroes." Reynolds sent a card to the Missouri Republican proclaiming this to be "an unmitigated lie, worthy of a sheet whose proclivity to wilful and deliberate falsehoods is only exceeded by the notorious poltroonery of its editor in defending them, or his meanness in not withdrawing them after their falsehood has been proven." Brown took notice of the card by this comment in the Democrat : "The office- holding Pierce candidate for Congress is as full of manifestoes against the Democrat as a guinea fowl is of eggs." He added: "Mr. Reynolds must certainly know that the Democrat has higher game in view in this canvass than himself or the bogus ticket on which he is running. He must also know that he, having on former occasion backed out of a challenge which he sent himself to the editor of this paper, can not be longer viewed as within the pale of those who appeal to such modes for the adjustment of personal difficulties, or expect . his effusions to be noticed in that light."
Reynolds came out in the afternoon paper with another card, which con- cluded : "For him whom this whole community considers an unquestionable coward, and who has been repeatedly convicted of lying, to venture an opinion on my standing as a gentleman is the height of insolence, equalled in intensity only by the abject cravenness with which he has, over and over again, in private and public life, submitted to insults of the most stinging and degrading kind." Reynolds proceeded to "post" Brown by obtaining the publication of his two cards outside of St. Louis. To "post," in the language of the code, was to pro- claim in the most public manner possible an adversary to be dishonorable and cowardly. Brown waited until after the election, having, as he explained in a personal note published in the Democrat, "no desire to mingle our own personal conflicts with the excitement of an election." On the 18th of August, he sent "a peremptory challenge." There was no exchange of correspondence. The acceptance was a matter of two lines.
The Last Political Duel in Missouri.
A graphic account of "the last political duel fought in Missouri" appeared in the Kansas City Times in 1872. John N. Edwards was the brilliant editor of the paper at that time. He had seen much of Reynolds in the days of the Confed- eracy. The two had gone to Mexico with Shelby after the surrender. Brown was governor of Missouri and a leading Presidential candidate in the Liberal Republican movement. The time for reminiscences was opportune. None other than Major Edwards knew so well the details or could have written the narrative that follows :
"Both men meant earnest work, and went about it very calmly and very deliberately. Both represented a party, an idea, a cause, both had a large number of firm and fast friends, and both were cool, brave, and daring. Brown's seconds were Col. David D. Mitchell, formerly a superintendent of Indian affairs in the West, and of great reputation as an Indian trader and fighter, and Leo Walker, a gentleman from South Carolina, who had married into a wealthy St. Louis family, and who resided there. It was understood, also, that besides these immediate friends, Brown had as advisers Col. Thomas H. Benton and Frank P. Blair. Reynolds' friends were Col. Ferd. Kennett, of Selma Hall, the best pistol shot in Missouri, and Capt. Thomas B. Hudson, a leading Democratic politician who had distinguished himself under Doniphan and in Doniphan's march to Mexico. For advisers,
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Reynolds had Col. David H. Armstrong, the present chairman of the Democratic executive committee of the state, Col. W. A. Linn, the then collector of customs at St. Louis, Isaac H. Sturgeon, for a long time president of the North Missouri railroad, and, in fact, the Democrats generally of the city. John How was mayor of St. Louis at that time, and Judge Henry A. Clover, prosecuting attorney. Although these gentlemen knew that a duel was on the tapis, and that a challenge had been sent and accepted, such was the tone of public sentiment and such the leniency with which these things were regarded, that no efforts at arrest were made, and no interference of any kind attempted. When people are in Rome, they must needs do as the Romans do, and hence every preparation was fully carried out by the principals and their respective friends.
"Selma Hall, the place of the meeting was an elegant country seat in Jefferson county, Missouri, forty miles below St. Louis, and the property of Col. Ferd. Kennett. Here nature and art had combined to make the spot one of the loveliest in the West. Flowers and fountains abounded everywhere. In the August noon, huge forest trees made a grateful shade, under which deer rested at ease, cropping the rich grass at intervals and crouching low at intervals, as the memory of the old wild days of horns and huntsmen came up from the lowlands and the river. There were steeds ever in stall for the young bloods who swore by Kennett and his hounds; books for the pale students who stole away from medicine and law to sleep one night with the hills and the clover; costly wines for whosoever would drink, and an open door and a ready latch-string for every wayfarer benighted through chance or inclination.
"To this delightful place, on the 23d day of August, 1856, Gratz Brown and his friends repaired. Etiquette required that Reynolds' second, Colonel Kennett, should receive them, which he did with princely hospitality, and they were at once domiciled and surrounded with every attention and luxury possible. The night before leaving St. Louis, Reynolds remained at the house of Isaac H. Sturgeon, and slept so soundly that Sturgeon had to call to him loudly the next morning before arousing him. He had in the meantime pro- cured the services as surgeon of Dr. J. H. Shore, a distinguished physician of St. Louis, who, together with Reynolds, Kennett and Hudson, passed over into Illinois by the North St. Louis ferry. They proceeded down leisurely to a point opposite Selma Hall, passing the intermediate night at a friend of Kennett's, and reaching their destination at about twelve o'clock on the second day.
"On Monday evening, August 25th, Reynolds crossed over to Selma Hall, accepting the hospitality of G. W. Chadbourne, now president of the St. Louis Shot Tower com- pany, but then living on the river bank, a few hundred yards from Kennett's elegant mansion. For a week Kennett had been in his element. Nothing pleased him so well as a duel, if a duel had to be fought, and he made all of his preparations with the exact and scrupulous care so necessary in giving an air of elegance and aristocracy to the whole per- formance. Not a single detail was omitted. Two cushioned and commodious skiffs were launched into the Mississippi on the morning of Tuesday, August 26th, 1856. Into one Reynolds and his friends took their seats-into the other Brown and his friends. A stal- wart negro oarsman in each rowed them to a sand-bar in the Mississippi river, midway between the states of Illinois and Missouri. The upper end of this bar was covered with a growth of young cottonwood. In the branches of these trees were singing birds that made the morning vocal.
"It was not yet sunrise. No cloud anywhere over the face of the sky hid the great, tender eyes of the dawn. It was a summer morning. The gorgeous robes of nature adorned all the trees with green. Not a land breeze shook the dew dimples out from the cheeks of the sleeping river. The whole earth smelt sweet with living. The cottonwoods and the oaks were jubilant as a hive. In their branches there was the noise of many wings -among their leaves the rippling of a thousand summer songs.
"As they went down to the skiffs together, Kennett took a long look at the panorama spread out before him-at the river unrolling a curtain of silver to the sea-at the orchards white and pink with fruit-at the glimpses of woodland and valley woven into warp and woof by the God of the Universe, and he turned to grim old Mitchell and said, curtly :
"'It is beautiful overhead and underfoot. Would you like to be shot today?'
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"'As well one day as another. Why?'
"'It is so sweet to live when the sap is in the trees and the birds abound in their branches. It looks like tempting Providence.'
"'It may be, but Providence blesses him who shoots first and pulls the steadiest trigger.'
"Between these two there was no further conversation until they reached the bar.
"The principals stepped from the boats as men who were going to a dance-and that dance a waltz. Reynolds was then in his thirty-fifth year, and Brown was several years younger. The first had a wife whom he had left in total ignorance of the duel, the last was unmarried. Nothing could be cooler than the bearing of each. Brown was dressed scrupulously in black, with his coat buttoned up to his chin-Reynolds in a light gray suit, scarcely distinguishable from the sand of the river. The terms had all been arranged. They were to fight with dueling pistols, carrying an ounce ball, were to face each other, and were to stand twelve paces apart. The drop shot had been accepted by both; that is to say, the pistols were to be held, muzzle upwards, until the word was given, when they were to be lowered and fired. This was understood to be the most deadly way of fighting.
"It was now a little after. sunrise. All the east was red as with fire. A little breeze had arisen with the sun, just enough to shake the dew-drops from the leaves and give to the waves a speech as they broke on the bar.
"Kennett took a silver half dollar from his pocket and turned towards Mitchell, saying :
"'Shall we toss for the position?'
"'Yes, up with it.'
"Kennett won. He tossed again for the word, and won that.
"Walker drew nearer to Hudson, and remarked:
"'Reynolds is lucky. How about the pitcher which goes so often to the well?'
"'It gets broken at last, the proverb says. I hope we all may get safely out of this without a verification of that adage.'
"'We shall see.'
"The choice of position was not of much advantage, however, as the sun was too low to affect either. The word remained with Kennett, and he was to call out: 'Fire-One- Two-Three-Stop!' The principals were not to lower their pistols before the word 'Fire', and not to shoot after the word 'Stop.'
"Kennett and Mitchell measured the ground carefully. Each turned after he had finished and threw a keen glance along the tawny track, and then looked into the eyes of the other. They did not speak audibly, yet both said in their hearts :
" 'It is close.'
"And it was. Too close for two such men, who had only between them the un- pleasant memories of a political quarrel.
"They were placed face to face. Brown looked straight at his adversary, a pleasant half-smile on his lips. Not a muscle quivered. He stood as if carved from the sand, immovable and yet so full of bountiful life. Reynolds' attitude was none the less superb. The Kentuckian and the South Carolinian were to fight as their ancestors had fought before them for an hundred years. They recognized the code, and it was well. By the code they would be judged fairly, standing or falling.
"The pistols were brought and loaded carefully. A grain of powder more or less might sacrifice a life. They were ugly looking weapons to say the best of them, and of English make. On each barrel was the word 'London' engraved. The stocks were of mahogany, and of the 'saw-handle' shape. They had hair-triggers, double-sights, were smooth-bores, and carried each an ounce ball. The barrels were full six inches long, and were dark looking and ominous.
"It was now between six and seven o'clock. The negro oarsmen looked on in sober wonderment. The surgeons arranged their instruments and bandages. The respective friends of each principal took their positions, and when everything was in readiness, Kennett called out in a clear and distinct voice :
" 'Gentlemen, are you ready?'
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"So nearly together as to sound as one voice, both Brown and Reynolds answered :
" 'Ready!'
"Kennett then cried out:
"'Fire!'
"Before the word 'One' was heard, Reynolds lowered his pistol and fired. Brown fired almost simultaneously with his adversary. Indeed, the two reports were blended so nearly as to be indistinguishable and the seconds looked from one to the other to see if either was hit. Reynolds stood perfectly still, with the smoking pistol in his hand, while Brown shifted his weight from one leg to the other as if suffering pain.
"Hudson walked up to Reynolds and said to him:
"'I fear Brown is wounded in the groin.'
"Reynolds replied :
"'You must be mistaken, for I aimed at his knee.'
"Hudson then went nearer to Brown, returning in a short time to his principal remarking :
"'You are right. He is shot in the knee.'
"'I was certain of it,' replied Reynolds. 'The wound will not be dangerous.'
"Brown's friends, in the meanwhile, had approached him, and led him to one side, while the surgeons examined his wound. He was as cool as a grenadier. Although suffer- ing extreme pain and scarcely able to stand, he sternly demanded another fire, insisting on his ability to remain upon the field. The surgeons overruled his wishes, and immediately a conference took place between all the friends of each, which was communicated to the principals, and Reynolds instantly advanced to where Brown was lying, the pain of the wound having forced him to the ground, and offered his hand in a frank and friendly manner. Brown took it in the same spirit, and they had some friendly conversation to- gether. Mutual expressions of esteem were exchanged, and the mutual withdrawal of everything offensive that had taken place between them.
"Just at that time the steamer Editor, from Memphis, heavily loaded and crowded with passengers, came in sight down the river. She was at once hailed and stopped to take the party on board. Brown had to be removed in a blanket, the ball having split the bone of the right leg just upon the edge of the knee joint, causing profuse hemorrhage and intense pain. A state room was placed at once at his disposal, and he received the most generous attention from all.
"Naturally rejoiced that the duel had terminated no more unfavorably, a jolly time was had on board the boat. Several games of poker were improvised. Reynolds' purse was appropriated by one of his friends, and in a very short time its contents were entirely absorbed.
"All kinds of reports had preceded them to St. Louis, which they reached in the after- noon. Some had Brown killed and some Reynolds. One was mortally wounded, and the other dying. Neither had been struck within less than a fraction of an inch of the heart. The mayor and a squad of police were promptly on board, but having no jurisdiction, they of course made no arrests. Brown was carried at once to his lodgings, and Reynolds carried directly home, where he found his brave wife suffering greatly, yet fully resolved to bear the worst. She believed in fighting duels when duels were necessary, and like the Spartan matron would have buckled on her husband's armor and bidden him go forth to the fight and return on his shield or come not back dishonored.
"Both Reynolds and Brown were most excellent shots. Perhaps the first had the advantage of practice. Just before the duel, he had gone in company with Col. Wm. A. Linn to the grounds of the Marine Hospital in order to have a little exercise with the drop shot, with rapidity of firing, and with a low aim. While engaged in this kind of practice, Reynolds told Linn that he intended to hit Brown in the knee, so as not to wound him seriously. Linn remonstrated and said it was a dangerous business as Brown was a splendid shot.
" 'Your life,' he continued, 'may depend upon a fatal wound.'
"Reynolds replied :
"'I am very sure of my quickness in firing, and were it otherwise, I would never con-
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sent to take a man's life for a mere political quarrel. If I can disturb Brown's aim by shooting him first, it will be all I desire.'
"Some difference of opinion existed as to the direction of Brown's bullet. Reynolds declared that he heard it whistle by his head, while Kennett was equally positive that it glanced from Reynolds' breast and told him afterwards that if he had not fired so quickly and so surely, Brown would have squarely hit him in the chest. Brown took his wound like a soldier, only gathering himself together once, and compressing his lips as a man does in extreme bodily pain."
The articles as first drawn provided that the second who "gave the word" should call, "Fire-one-stop" in a deliberate manner, "with an interval not ex- ceeding one minute between words." Later the interval was cut down to one- half minute, but before the parties went to the sandbar the half minute was changed to one second. This required that the pistol which was held upright, be lowered and fired very quickly. Kennett made the changes and probably pre- vented a fatal termination. Brown was lamed for life.
The Two Careers.
Political honors and official duties came thick and fast to both Brown and Reynolds after the duel. Brown distinguished himself the following winter at Jefferson City by the boldness of his utterances on the anti-slavery side in the legislature. He uttered sentiments which were of national comment. Reynolds took the nomination for lieutenant governor on the "regular" Democratic ticket in 1860 and was elected. Brown was in the councils of Blair, Lyon and other unconditional Union men before the capture of Camp Jackson. Reynolds pre- sided over the state senate in the session of 1861, and shared with Governor Claiborne F. Jackson in the planning for the secession of Missouri. He pub- lished a notable letter against Federal coercion of the sovereign State of Mis- souri. Brown was made colonel of one of the Union regiments raised in St. Louis in the spring of 1861, previous to the call of President Lincoln for troops to suppress the Confederacy. His regiment participated in the capture of Camp Jackson. When Governor Jackson left Jefferson City to try to take Missouri out of the Union, Reynolds had preceded him. The convention, which met after the departure of Jackson and Reynolds, organized a new state government. Jack- son and Reynolds, moving from place to place with the state troops under Sterling Price, organized a traveling legislature and went through the forms of election of senators and representatives to the Confederate Congress at Richmond. Jack- son died.
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