Show bhim 0 N the rear ot of st pauls churchyard are three rows of old tombstones IN which have been restored to their original places the new york sun s tates states in the upheaval of 0 the last few months due to digging the broadway subway beneath the historic graveyard some of the stones were removed temporarily and others were covered with wooden frames to save them from injury by the subway laborers that part of the subway work has been completed and the gravestones have been replaced and new grass has been planted over the graves in the last row is a plain white stone upon which may faintly be traced the name george 1 I eacker backer A few years ago the date 1804 could be discerned but it is now illegible the stone has long ceased to attract attention and it would doubtless surprise most of the visitors to st pauls to learn that the white sandstone slab marto marks the burial place of the young man who killed the eldest son of alexander hamilton in a duel three years before general hamilton was killed in his duel with aaron burr hamilton received fatal wound philip hamilton was not quite twenty years old when he crossed the terry ferry to the dueling ground at weehawken Wee hawken to face eacker backer one of the young lawyers of the time who was attached to the political party of which aaron brer was the acknowledged leader tito meeting took place on monday afternoon november 23 1801 david S jones was one of hamiltons see sec onda ends and thomas apthorpe cooper one of the popular actors ot of his day represented backer according to the best accounts of the affair hamilton had told hla his seconds that he intended to reserve his fire until eacker backer had fired and that then he proposed to discharge his pis tol into the air As the two to young men faced each other there was a brief pause pausa then eacker backer it la is said leveled his pistol with accuracy and firing arin shot hamilton in the right side hamiltons pistol was discharged at the same time but it did no damage the wounded youth was brought back to this thin city and died the next day the duel aroused great excitement and the newspapers devoted tar far more attention to it than was customary ter or those affairs of 0 honor at the time one ot of the papers did not hesitate to call it ft murder in this paragraph which was published on the afternoon of november 21 24 died this morning in the twentieth year ot of his age philip hamilton eldest son con of general hamilton murdered in a duel the cause of the duel as it appears in the light of the present day seems trivial at the r fourth of 0 july celebration ot of 1801 george backer delivered an address which by his partisans was received with great praise ile he criticized the federalist which angered the party favorable to hamilton afew days before the duel philip ti hamilton amilton with a friend named price the same box at the old park theater on bark ark row with backer and some of 0 bac backers kers friends the park theater was nearly in the middle of the block between annn ann and beekman streets a little above the present park row building hamilton and price indulged in some laughing remarks about backers speech the latter overhearing the conversation asked hamilton to step into the lobby price followed there was waa a slight altercation ending by backers using the word rascals according to the dueling code that dem demanded satisfaction aft after er the performance the three men repaired to a nearby tavern and when eacker backer was asked for whom he meant the epithet he replied for both he then left saying 1 I shall expect to hear from you challenges were issued the next day that of price being accepted first backer and price met at weehawken Wee hawken on sunday november 22 and after exchanging tour four shots without injury the seconds stopped the duel hamiltons challenge was then accepted after the duel reflection on this horrid custom must occur to every man of humanity said one of the newspapers but the voice of an individual or ot of the press must be ineffectual without additional dit ional strong and pointed legislative interference fashion has placed it upon a footing which nothing short of this can control father fell in combat later young hamilton had been graduated from columbia college the t a rt 91 af oy 14 I 1 UK ji 11 ma JUL U A ii J ua 1 I 1 K U J z 16 7 un at PAULS CHURCH before and was preparing for a legal career carer ir mr backer apparently suffered no inconvenience as a result of the duel but he did not long lone survive for he died of consumption in 1804 he is the only person of that name appearing in the city directories ol of 1801 to 1804 in which he was listed as a counselor at law at 60 50 wall street I 1 A little less tha three years after tho the death of his son alexander hamilton was killed in the duel with aaron durr burr on july 11 1804 and that did more than anything else to turn public opinion against the custom the old dueling ground Is now obliterated the tracks of the west shore railroad wiped out every evidence of the bloody field years ago but a little monument to hamilton commemorative ot of the spot and the fatal event now stands on the heights ot of wee hawken almost above the exact sr spot at which was close to the river bank upon the pedestal of 0 the rno monument numen t Is a large red sandstone boulder upon which it 11 Is said hamilton rested his head after he was shot |