The "West Tennessean," Aug. 4, 1837, says--
"A duel was fought at Calhoun, Tenn., between G.W. Carter and J.C.
Sherley. They used yaugers at the distance of 20 yards. The former was slightly wounded, and the latter quite dangerously."
June 23d, 1838, Benjamin Shipley, of Hamilton co., Tennessee, shot Archibald McCallie. (_Nashville Banner_, July 16, 1838.)
June 23d, 1838, Levi Stunston, of Weakly co., Tennessee, killed William Price, of said county, in an affray. (_Nashville Banner, July 6, 1838_.)
October 8, 1838, in an affray at Wolf"s Ferry, Tennessee, Martin Farley, Senior, was killed by John and Solomon Step. (_Georgia Telegraph, Nov 6, 1838._.)
Feb. 14, 1838, John Manie was killed by William Doss at Decatur, Tennessee. (_Memphis Gazette, May 15, 1838_.)
"From the Nashville Whig."
"_Fatal Affray in Columbia, Tenn_.--A fatal street encounter occurred at that place, on the 3d inst., between Richard H. Hays, attorney at law, and Wm. Polk, brother to the Hon. Jas. K. Polk. The parties met, armed with pistols, and exchanged shots simultaneously. A buck-shot pierced the brain of Hays, and he died early the next morning. The quarrel grew out of a sportive remark of Hays", at dinner, at the Columbia Inn, for which he offered an apology, not accepted, it seems, as Polk went to Hays" office, the same evening, and chastised him with a whip. This occurred on Friday, the fatal result took place on Monday."
In a fight near Memphis, Tennessee, May 15, 1837, Mr. Jackson, of that place, shot through the heart Mr. W.F. Gholson, son of the late Mr.
Gholson, of Virginia. (_Raleigh Register, June 13, 1837_.)
The following horrible outrage, committed in West Tennessee, not far from Randolph, was published by the Georgetown (S.C.) Union, May 26, 1837, from the Louisville Journal.
"A feeble bodied man settled a few years ago on the Mississippi, a short distance below Randolph, on the Tennessee side. He succeeded in ama.s.sing property to the value of about $14,000, and, like most of the settlers, made a business of selling wood to the boats. This he sold at $2.50 a cord, while his neighbors asked $3. One of them came to remonstrate against his underselling, and had a fight with his brother-in-law Clark, in which he was beaten. He then went and obtained legal process against Clark, and returned with a deputy sheriff, attended by a posse of desperate villains. When they arrived at Clark"s house, he was seated among his children--they put two or three b.a.l.l.s through his body. Clark ran, was overtaken and knocked down; in the midst of his cries for mercy, one of the villains fired a pistol in his mouth, killing him instantly. They then required the settler to sell his property to them, and leave the country. He, fearing that they would otherwise take his life, sold them his valuable property for $300, and departed with his family. _The sheriff was one of the purchasers._"
The Baltimore American, Feb. 8, 1838, publishes the following from the Nashville (Tennessee) Banner:
"A most atrocious murder was committed a few days ago at Lagrange, in this state, on the body of Mr. John T. Foster, a respectable merchant of that town. The perpetrators of this b.l.o.o.d.y act are E. Moody, Thomas Moody, J.E. Dougla.s.s, W.R. Harris, and W.C. Harris. The circ.u.mstances attending this horrible affair, are the following:--On the night previous to the murder, a gang of villains, under pretence of wishing to purchase goods, entered Mr. Foster"s store, took him by force, and rode him through the streets _on a rail_. The next morning, Mr. F. met one of the party, and gave him a caning. For this just retaliation for the outrage which had been committed on his person, he was pursued by the persons alone named, while taking a walk with a friend, and murdered in the open face of day."
The following presentment of a Tennessee Grand Jury, sufficiently explains and comments on itself:
The Grand Jurors empanelled to inquire for the county of Shelby, would separate without having discharged their duties, if they were to omit to notice public evils which they have found their powers inadequate to put in train for punishment. The evils referred to exist more particularly in the town of Memphis.
The audacity and frequency with which outrages are committed, forbid us, in justice to our consciences, to omit to use the powers we possess, to bring them to the severe action of the law; and when we find our powers inadequate, to draw upon them public attention, and the rebuke of the good.
An infamous female publicly and grossly a.s.saults a lady; therefore a public meeting is called, the mayor of the town is placed in the chair, resolutions are adopted, providing for the summary and lawless punishment of the wretched woman. In the progress of the affair, _hundreds of citizens_ a.s.semble at her house, and raze it to the ground. The unfortunate creature, together with two or three men of like character, are committed, in an open canoe or boat, without oar or paddle, to the middle of the Mississippi river.
Such is a concise outline of the leading incidents of a recent transaction in Memphis. It might be filled up by the detail of individual exploits, which would give vivacity to the description; but we forbear to mention them. We leave it to others to admire the manliness of the transaction, and the courage displayed by a mob of hundreds, in the various outrages upon the persons and property of three or four individuals who fell under its vengeance.
The present white population of Tennessee is about the same with that of Ma.s.sachusetts, and yet more outbreaking crimes are committed in Tennessee in a _single month_, than in Ma.s.sachusetts during a whole year; and this, too, notwithstanding the largest town in Tennessee has but six thousand inhabitants; whereas, in Ma.s.sachusetts, besides one of eighty thousand, and two others of nearly twenty thousand each, there are at least a dozen larger than the chief town in Tennessee, which gives to the latter state an important advantage on the score of morality, the country being so much more favorable to it than large towns.
KENTUCKY.
Kentucky has been one of the United States since 1792. Its present white population is about six hundred thousand.
The details which follow show still further that those who unite to plunder of their rights one cla.s.s of human beings, regard as _sacred_ the rights of no cla.s.s.
The following affair at Maysville, Kentucky, is extracted from the Maryland Republican, January 30, 1838.
"A fight came on at Maysville, Ky. on the 29th ultimo, in which a Mr.
Coulster was stabbed in the side and is dead; a Mr. Gibson was well hacked with a knife; a Mr. Ferris was dangerously wounded in the head, and another of the same name in the hip; a Mr. Shoemaker was severely beaten, and several others seriously hurt in various ways."
The following is extracted from the N.C. Standard.
"A most b.l.o.o.d.y and shocking transaction took place in the little town of Clinton, Hickman co. Ken. The circ.u.mstances are briefly as follows: A special canva.s.s for a representative from the county of Hickman, had for some time been in progress. A gentleman by the name of Binford was a candidate. The State Senator from the district, Judge James, took some exceptions to the reputation of Binford, and intimated that if B.
should be elected, he (James) would resign rather than serve with such a colleague. Hearing this, Binford went to the house of James to demand an explanation. Mrs. James remarked, in a jest as Binford thought, that if she was in the place of her husband she would resign her seat in the Senate, and not serve with such a character. B. told her that she was a woman, and could say what she pleased. She replied that she was not in earnest. James then looked B. in the face and said that, if his wife said so, it was the fact--"he was an infamous scoundrel and d----d rascal." He asked B. if he was armed, and on being answered in the affirmative, he stepped into an adjoining room to arm himself; He was prevented by the family from returning, and Binford walked out. J. then told him from his piazza, that he would meet him next day in Clinton.
"True to their appointment, the enraged parties met on the streets the following day. James shot first, his ball pa.s.sing through his antagonist"s liver, whose pistol fired immediately afterwards, and missing J., the ball pierced the head of a stranger by the name of Collins, who instantly fell and expired. After being shot, Binford sprang upon J. with the fury of a wounded tiger, and would have taken his life but for a second shot received through the back from Bartin James, the brother of Thomas. Even after he received the last fatal wound he struggled with his antagonist until death relaxed his grasp, and he fell with the horrid exclamation, _"I am a dead man!"_
"Judge James gave himself up to the authorities; and when the informant of the editor left Clinton, Binford, and the unfortunate stranger lay shrouded corpses together."
The "N.O. Bee" thus gives the conclusion of the matter:
"Judge James was tried and acquitted, the death of Binford being regarded as an act of justifiable homicide."
From the "Flemingsburg Kentuckian," June 23,"38.
AFFRAY.--Thomas Binford, of Hickman county, Kentucky, recently attacked a Mr. Gardner of Dresden, with a drawn knife, and cut his face pretty badly. Gardner picked up a piece of iron and gave him a side-wipe above the ear that brought him to terms. The skull was fractured about two inches. Binford"s brother was killed at Clinton, Kentucky, last fall by Judge James.
The "Red River Whig" of September 15, 1838, says:--"A ruffian of the name of Charles Gibson, attempted to murder a girl named Mary Green, of Louisville, Ky. on the 23d ult. He cut her in six different places with a Bowie knife. His object, as stated in a subsequent investigation before the Police Court, was to cut her throat, which she prevented by throwing up her arms."
From the "Louisville Advertiser," Dec. 17th, 1838:--"A startling tragedy occurred in this city on Sat.u.r.day evening last, in which A.H.
Meeks was instantly killed, John Rothwell mortally wounded, William Holmes severely wounded, and Henry Oldham slightly, by the use of Bowie knives, by Judge E.C. Wilkinson, and his brother, B.R.
Wilkinson, of Natchez, and J. Murdough, of Holly Springs, Mississippi.
It seems that Judge Wilkinson had ordered a coat at the shop of Messrs. Varnum & Redding. The coat was made; the Judge, accompanied by his brother and Mr. Murdough, went to the shop of Varnum & Redding, tried on the coat, and was irritated because, as he believed, it did not fit him. Mr. Redding undertook to convince him that he was in error, and ventured to a.s.sure the Judge that the coat was well made.
The Judge instantly seized an iron poker, and commenced an attack on Redding. The blow with the poker was partially warded off--Redding grappled his a.s.sailant, when a companion of the Judge drew a Bowie knife, and, but for the interposition and interference of the unfortunate Meeks, a journeyman tailor, and a gentleman pa.s.sing by at the moment, Redding might have been a.s.sa.s.sinated in his own shop.
Shortly afterwards, Redding, Meeks, Rothwell, and Holmes went to the Galt House. They sent up stairs for Judge Wilkinson, and he came down into the bar room, when angry words were pa.s.sed. The Judge went up stairs again, and in a short time returned with his companions, all armed with knives. Harsh language was again used. Meeks, felt called on to state what he had seen of the conflict, and did so, and Murdough gave him the d--d lie, for which Meeks struck him. On receiving the blow with the whip, Murdough instantly plunged his Bowie knife into the abdomen of Meeks, and killed him on the spot.
"At the same instant B.R. Wilkinson attempted to get at Redding, and Holmes and Rothwell interfered, or joined in the affray. Holmes was wounded, probably by B.R. Wilkinson; and the Judge, having left the room for an instant, returned, and finding Rothwell contending with his brother, or bending over him, he (the Judge) stabbed Rothwell in the back, and inflicted a mortal wound.
"Judge Wilkinson, his brother, and J. Murdough, have been recently tried and ACQUITTED."
From the "New Orleans Bee," Sept. 27, 1838.
"It appears from the statement of the Lexington Intelligencer, that there has been for some time past, an enmity between the drivers of the old and opposition lines of stages running from that city. On the evening of the 13th an encounter took place at the Circus between two of them, Powell and Cameron, and the latter was so much injured that his life was in imminent danger. About 12 o"clock the same night, several drivers of the old line rushed into Keizer"s Hotel, where Powell and other drivers of the opposition-line boarded, and a general melee took place, in the course of which several pistols were discharged, the ball of one of them pa.s.sing through the head of Crabster, an old line driver, and killing him on the spot. Crabster, before he was shot, had discharged his own pistol which had burst into fragments. Two or three drivers of the opposition were wounded with buck shot, but not dangerously."
The "Mobile Advertiser" of September 15, 1838, copies the following from the Louisville (Ky.) Journal.
"A Mr. Campbell was killed in Henderson county on the 31st ult. by a Mr. Harrison. It appears, that there was an affray between the parties some months ago, and that Harrison subsequently left home and returned on the 31st in a trading boat. Campbell met him at the boat with a loaded rifle and declared his determination to kill him, at the same time asking him whether he had a rifle and expressing a desire to give him a fair chance. Harrison affected to laugh at the whole matter and invited Campbell into his boat to take a drink with him. Campbell accepted the invitation, but, while he was in the act of drinking, Harrison seized his rifle, fired it off, and laid Campbell dead by striking him with the barrel of it."
The "Missouri Republican" of July 29, 1837 published the details which follow from the Louisville Journal.