AN AFFAIR OF HONOR.

Evening Star, Issue 4009, 31 December 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN AFFAIR OF HONOR.

{Pall Mall Gazelle, B lh October.) A good many people must have felt, when they heard that the simple minded agriculturists of Winnebago county, Illinois, had invited the ex-Piesident of the Southern Confederacy to deliver a lecture to them, that they were paving the way for trouble. The invitation to Mr Davis led almost immediately to an outburst of feeling, and has been indirectly the cause of one of the most remarkable duels of modern times between the two Western journalists. The full particulars of the affiir are given in the correspondence of the ‘ Chicago Tribune.’ The origin of the difficulty was the publication io the * St. T .ouis Times ’ of “a red-hot editorial” containing the following piece of prettv distinct satire : We don t blame the women of Winnebago county so much for the fury which possessed then at the bare mention of the name of Jefferson Davis. The bulk of them, no doubt, had in their houses at the time the invitation was extended, pianos stolen from Mr Davis’s Mississippi neighbors, and silver spoons with names upon them as familiar to Mr Davis’s eyes as household words ; and, while he was a gentleman of too much good taste to seem by his manner even to recognise the fact, it would have been terribly mortifying to the average of the indignant dames if, in accepting an invitation to dinner or supper, he had chanced upon a house filled with the spoils of Sherman’s march to the sea. This “ wholesale insult on the women of the country ” (for it was, indeed, a direct implication that the matrons of Winnebago were receivers of stolen goods) was of a nature to arouse some feelings in the breasts of Winnebago husbands, because it must have been by them that the wholesale plunder of Mr Davis’s Mhsissi pi neighbors had been carried on if at all. But they maintained a pnfouud silence, while, strange as it may seem, the pois med shaft, of which they took no notice, lodged itself far away from Winnebago—in the heart of Major Emery 11.I 1 . Foster, of the * St. Louis Evening Journal.’ This gentfeman took the earliest occasion “to hurl back the foulmouthed accusation,” and “madeamanly defence of thewomen of the country,” using the following language, which leads the observant critic to infer that the ‘ Evening Journal’ is Republican in politics;—“ The soldiers who whipped these cowards that insult women into a dog-!ike submission should never forget that they are dealing with creatures incapable of anything but meanness. They should remember that these men who deliberately slander thenmothers are now asking the people of this country to give them control of the Government, and, remembering these things, the true men of the North and of the South, whether Confederate or Federals, should unite as one man to save the country from such intolerab e shame and degradation Federal soldiers can trust each other, and they can trust former confederates when they prove by their conduct that they are worthy to hi trusted. But as long as the loudmouthed braggarts keep themselves before the people of noth sections of the country as representatives of public opinion in the Smith, so long will the Southern people •suffer by such leadership. When the true gentlemen of the South take charge of her affairs there will he no longer auy*feud to heal between Confederates and Federals, pr between the North and the South. Such a time will come, but its coming is retarded by such utterances as that found in to-day’s ‘ Times.’ ” This was altogether beyond the chduriittCh of the author of thb * ’ arti-

Ole, who was no other than Colonel John Edwards.. of the ‘ Louis Despatch,’ and on the 27th of August he sent to Maj or Foster a formal demand for an apology. The m jor replied that the article in the ‘ Journal ’ was not intended as a “personal r. flection” on the colonel at all, but was written in the spirit of journalistic con roversy. He felt that, however deeply it may have wronged the colon J in the beginning, to imply that the W innebago ladies had in their possession pianos and spoons which had been “lifted” in (Georgia, the sting was taken out of the wound by this exp anation ; but in this he was greatly mistaken. The colonel was determined to wipe out the affront with biood ; aud though the msjor seems to have done his utmost to pacify him, nothing but a hostile meeting would satisfy him. Mr William D. W. Barnard now appears ou the scene as second of Major Foster, and H. B. Branch as second to Col. Edwards. These seconds were men of the right sort. They apparen ly made up their minds at once that the affair should be as bloody as possible. They agreed upon Colt’s pistols at twenty paces, and drew up a code of their own for the government of parties concerned, one article of which provided the “ respective seconds shall be armed with similiar weapons as the principals. Any violation oi the rules shall subject the party offending to be shot down by the second of the other party.” Another - “ lhat these rules shall be signed in duplicate, and each second shall have a copy; Thun the destruction of someone was almost guaranteed. The whole affair was managed, after the seconds took hold of it, with great skill, and even that part of the duel which is always a little melancholy the communication of the approaching conflict to the wives of the principals—passed off very pleasantly. Mrs Foster “ showed the true spirit of a soldier’s wife,” and told her husband that “life was valueless without honor,” adding that “she wished to accompany them to the scene of the duel ” The privilege was re fused, probably on the ground that under the sixth and seventh ruL-s either principal bringing his wife with him would have to be shot down by the se.ond of the other. The whole party started for Chicago on Friday night, wi’h a r porter attached. From fiist to last the affair was conducted with the strictest punctilio ou both sides, though at one time there seems to have ben some danger of Dr B. S. O’Reilly, the surgeon on the Foster side, “jeopardising the honor of his friend.” Dr ■>’ tveill'- 1 who, notwithstanding his race, seems but ill-qualified for affairs of this kind, began to grow “fidgety” as the time approached on th < su ject of his own legal respon i nlit es lude d, he determined to do what we have never heard of being done under similar circumstances before —namely, take legal advice ; and, greatly to his cons'creation, he learned that he was quite as amenable to the laws as either principals or seconds. Fretting under this disagieeable responsibility, which recalled to him the necessity of getting back to Chicago for his ■ unday practice, the doctor declared that he must return immediately, even if he had to charter a special engine for the purpose. Major Foster declared hj mself ready to goon without a surgeon ; but his second. Mr 6arnard, forced the doctor into a carriage and drove him to the ground. The distance was measured, and the principals stationed. We must pause for a moment here take in the who'e bloody scene. Une of the principals has repeatedly disclaimed all intention 0? offending the other; the other has firmly resolved as a matter of principle to take the fir t’s life. The seconds, each povided with a copy of the “rules” in his left hand and a pistol in the right, stand by. The principals take aim and fire without effect. Colonel Edwards is asked if he is satisfied. The bloodthirsty man replies that he “will go on if he takes a thousand fires.” Was this sanguinary intention carried into effect ? Not so. The gallant colonel did not fire another shot, nor was the gallant major compelled to lire in his turn ; nor was ether of them shot down by the second of of the other. In short, the gallant colonel walked over to the gallant m.ijor aud tendered his hand ; the gailant major reciprocated the courtesy ; some one produced a bottle of whisky; and the whole affair ended as pleasantly as it had begun.