Show a e ea American E eE u km a JA a 1 a t tF d t ill 3 y P 4 4 y I k I G 9 r i t t I iI L 2 I By ELMO SCOTT s If n bundled ed find and four sears 3 ears ao no this month there took toole place on the Virginia side she of the Potomac river riser rh er one of the duels duds In Inthe Inthe the Listen of the Amer Ican code duello It was as between Lt een n member of or the United Stiles tes senate John Jolin Randolph of Irginia and Henry henryClay Clay of Kentucky K tl of te Back of the lie duel lay the conflict be be- bet between between t tween een two political theories s those of President Quincy Quince A Ad tins mis sup supported supported ported 1 by l i Clos CIa and those of a n f Iture PresIdent Andrew Jacl Jaci son by Randolph nut But the Immediate Clu e of the duel was as a speech which Ran Han Randolph dolph hid Ind ma made e In the senate The d debate hate hate- which produced this speech was ns of minor Importance It had to do with a idling c for the production pi of cel t ln doeu docu documents documents ments But nut Randolph made de It the oc occasion casion cas Ion for such a vitriolic speech lS is only he could make mabe lie lIed ass the administration paying p p p at- at attention attention at attention to the close In It of the austere correct and pIOUS Adams with the ft frequently drunken Ince sandy ambling Cliv Chu and end endIng ending endIng Ing up with the these e f wons words I Iwas Iwas Iwas was defeated horse foot and dragoons cut cut up and clean broke do down n bv by J the coalition of rum Adams and lack George Iy by Clay by the unheard of or till then of the Punt Punt-in with the bl blackleg Heretofore Clay hid Ignored the whispering campaign against him bleed on his drinking and his gambling But thIs was a denunciation n which he could not disregard lie cli llen ch ed to a n duel and as wort word of o 0 the affair got out the excitement In was as tremendous Thomas Hart Bart Benton senator of Missouri b by permission of the principals was al- al al allowed 10 lowed ed to attend the duel which wis held beld on time the afternoon of April 8 18 1820 1526 G Noted for tor his Ills eccentricity ant and running run running ning true to form even enn on the duel duelling uel ling field neld R n appeared for the encounter with n a ss white hite t nannel rolp a per 0 over er hIs Ills COlt coat Dc Despite the fact that Ills ids seconds hid had haired the trig trigger trigger trigger ger of his pistol he Insisted upon I on a pair of thick buckskin gloves Io es even e though these would could de destroy destray stray stroy his Ills delicacy of touch and per perhaps perhaps perhaps haps use cause him to fire I t the ord was Vas given ghen nd end that Is e what hat happened h As he stood holding his pc tol muzzle rd It was s 8 Ps charged Clay Clays s a seconds protested but Clay Chy silenced them and demanded that Hitt his Ms opponent be he given ghen gl another pistol When the word ord was as given both men fired but Jut neither shot took tool effect errett al 01 although although though Randolph's bullet nearly struck In the le leg and CIa Clays Clais s 's bullet hullet passed dose clove to Randolph H ss waist len ton Ill I'll immediately medIately ru rushed hed In and tried to stop the fight but Randolph an refused He lie had d determined to make maJe n a grand gesture and was 1 willing to Imperil his life lICe to make mahe It So the pistols v ere erf reloaded and again the fired The secretary of state te put Iut Ills liIs bullet hullet through tl tI tie e a senators 8 coat hut but the latter purposely fired high in III inthis Inthe this the air our t al Clans Clan's 5 Ile head bead d At tills this CI ii rushed forward with Ith outstretched hind I trust In God Cod ni m my dear Ir sir tau IU I are re untouched After what has ha oc occurred occurred I 1 would not n hUH hose harmed sou OU for a thousand worlds orld I he exclaimed l You You owe O me a n coat Sir Mr crt replied re- re re replied plied Randolph with a smite The whole affair Is characteristic of John Randolph of for surely lie was time the strangest s trance t American of his hIe tIme and ml perhaps of lit all ull tl tI ne tie Gerald Gerlld W MC John Johnson on In n a recent biography of him published d bv by Minton find Comp Camp my calls callb him A Political Van ron and p p chaps fantastic b ls n a amore amore more apt v s on ord than either ee eccentric or strange str when lIln applied to his hie life both private ate and political Declaring that he he has lias come do downIn 11 In history tor with Ith onu one of the most moct term terrible ble reputations ever CHr attached l to on an AmerIcan politician who ho never neter ne r as C 11 of mur murder er or treason or theft the biographer r points out nut that lie be suns In public life lire for a third of a century during which winch he served sen ed ns as a acon con congressman and Jefferson on s 8 floor loader In the house houle of es as n senator from flOlD Virginia as to Russia as ns a Ii member of or the constitutional convention of 1 and on many m ny commissions lons and pe pedal dal clat missions minion But Dut he lie declares fi lie be Is ls not Dot remembered for Cor those sen f n ices Ice T l J tl iy 3 JOH A COy COil COyTE L r T TE Cy Rather Randolph s s reputation lives 11 es because be because cause cance he lie carried the wickedest tongue th Hitt t ever eter e er hun in the held head of an an merle merlc m in con congressman or at my 0 rote rate In the head hlad of one olle who had both the courage and ami the wit to use It Many An can remember the tIa day w when hen lien invective with Ith all nil Its sy s n non on ms of abuse reproach railing cen censure sure sarcasm m satire and vituperation el C an on Indispensable part of the equIpment of the politician But of all who ho e ever eer er used them Randolph was as thE ad aeI now no lodged mister master Intimates John Johnson on when hen he says Ao h o man since his hia day da when hen In debate by half h K a doyen do honorable members has s had the th superb Insolence Insolence Insolence ence to rise rl and quote as he h leisurely sun surveyed eyed the th United States House of Representatives The little litti dogs does and all Tray Blanch and Sweetheart See they bark at me meI or hive hie hl e we VT since Inc had as startling as the th metaphor which he is hI frequently said ald to have hav used against henry Clay but which he h real ap applied applied plied to Edward Eduard r ard Lh Ingston rellow r citIzens ho h Is la a man of splendid abil- abil abilIties abil abilities but utterly corrupt Like LIk rotten by moonlight he h shines and stinks links Ills of John Quincy Adams and Clay as aJ I and the George Georee th Puritan and the hardly needed the th duel which followed to stamp It upon the th memory of the th country for although there was no duel as a a result the country bed Ind remembered the of Thomas Thom Jefferson Jefferion as a St StThomas StThomas Thomas Thom of because as asIn a aIn In the th other case cas there ther was w lust just enough truth In It to make mak It stick and sting tine Although John Jolin Randolph himself once complained th that It All All the hl nit It of the countr country has been Jeen fathered on me cites some of his brilliant sallies lIe He once spoke pole of the the glorious lIeg-e lIeg of finding one fault fault one very ery dear to the depraved depra condition of humor hum In mature ture Of at Robert right and John He Rei na Ray he said old that the house of representatives es had two nn A A ri rl ht ala alvi us 5 wrong Hong and a n Rae Hac without a light Once a new v member elected to nil fill a in the house caused byi by hy a de ith ed cd It H who ho Ignored It at nt the tune tine I lter Ater ho er while discussing a n bill In which the dead congressman hid had been much Interested Randolph oil crl that this tills bill hili his has lost much In the 1111 of ot his dear ear Mr Ir whose bose seat scat remains vacant R hen Rich ird Rush Hush was us appoInted of the treasury the gentle gentleman gentleman man from from 1 Irginia declared that cur r were ere abilities so 0 much belo helow so well cell ell rewarded rew no not when ul s hor horse e was as made Con Concul Consul cul col Of a It certain pedantic he i hold mid Ills his mind was as III Ill e o a parcel p of land had v he poor knew poor to begin with an and l made nitile 1 lIe inane barren harren by bJ b too ton In Intensive e cultivation Denouncing me meho he ho demanded Il when a friend told hIm hImI I that a u certain person hind had attacked hIm That Is strange I never diet did him n It r 1 or One day he lie nut met an In cn emy em on the thc narrow Id tiles llIe of or ll Ish IshIn In ington t 1 he man mun halted In the middle of the walk alk and belligerently declared I lIe never neter er stop step tep out of my aay OJ for tor pup puppIes puppies pIes I 1 n nys do replied Ican dolph olph stepping aside Pass on I lint Kilt s pi pl ice In history Is much more significant f than that of or a amere amere mere coiner of or rams according to Ills his biographer who ho declares th that th It he hens suns ns ti tie tl e a ruO most t po single Inlo ence In transforming the tile South from the nourishing mother of the lit Ilc Into tile the lie frantic opponent of the republic c and ul I lie It it would be fur far too much to say Bay Hint that John lohn Randolph of diverted the spirit of southern from the philos philos- philosophy philosophy ophy of Thomas Jefferson to that th of Jefferson Is Da Is It Is luc Incontestably true truc that he Med that transition and that he lie assisted It IL It It seems scents strange perhaps that the man m-in ii Ito hu was as admittedly the first orator In a s that it included eb Webster Ve tl tw r Clay and Calhoun should be je r mainly because i of hia hilI loI oc of or ne- ne netlon ne- ne nelion netlon lion and vituperation of R speech sp ci h Vor 88 8 John J hn of wa w a man inon and hi bo C 4 tl lly lIy Ills His human humn opponents opponent were Im- Im enough for he h dared the wrath successively of Thomas Jotter Jotter- Jefferson J ft son r-son son James Madison Hadison John Marshall John C Calhoun John Quincy Adams Adam Henry II nry Clay Clai Daniel W b and An- An Andrew Andrew An Andrew drew J J lie asked no noI I quarter of the tir beet of them and no weal weak man could have stood tood a moment agaInst the th least of ot these thes Certain of the tir elements of greatness John Randolph of possessed beyond the tir shadow of a doubt In In- In Intellectual intellectual In Intellectual keenness and alertness ho he h rivalled the tir great reat In cour- cour courage courage oe cour age no man among them th m rp hIm and not all were ere his equals In depth of learning he was as superIor to most of m perhaps to all all In per per- personal personal per personal Integrity not Washington him him- himself him himself self was lS further beyond bt ond reproach In addition Randolph possessed a quality quality It ity which none non of the tir stars In Ir Mr v Ir- Ir s l firmament armament red shired In anythIng like the tir first degree decree de ree ThIs quality was as his sheen his coruscation hIs sheer er blinding brilliance But nut for tor all this ho he h was a man at- at at attended tended by fatality the tir heir of the th House Hous of Usher Born Dorn to the purple wealthy 1 i handsome youth charming In his personal relations and equipped with a magnificent mind It seemed upon his entrance nce Into public life that all the powers hid h corn com to Insure his happiness and his glory But his fair prospects were all illusory Instead d of primroses hIs path th was Vas strewn with stones tones and thorns Instead of becoming oven even the stepfather of his country countr I mean the Common Commonwealth of ot VirgInia he urged her along a road ro strikingly ir similar to the one on he trod and which led not to glory e but to madness and death For a n physical ph l l affliction whIch Ran nan Randolph Randolph dolph sustained at the age of nIne nineteen nineteen ten teen follo following In an attack cJ of scarlet fever changed the whole hole course or of his life tad and mati made made- him an embittered frustrated man roan 10 the end of or hits his d duns ds dhe s lie he retained a curiously ho hoI I h appear appearance ance beardless with a shrill hl high h pitched voice olce 1 ibis Illis his fist fact coupled with Ith I Ithe time the statement that lie he was as the first orator of hIs Ills time and his own slate ment of ot I I am urn an nn aristocrat I l ve live Justice and hate bate equality only is ce Tir Nl tot toa the grotesque character of the picture of the man who was s John of or no hen S hen he was as ou 0 lr er tort forty a spectator In the house was ti-is dumfounded at nt lint the skinny shinny youth he t on the floor tad and he hu had hind helle believed ed to he be beabout about sixteen Iten vv us is Ie the great Mr Ir Itan Randolph dolph dol ph of M Irginia The result of this affliction was as In Ine ines es e liable Here Here v vas a aD as in D Intensely prO prot d 11 member of or n a proud rice race a n man n who ho cherished his lineage aho above ahoe e all nil hl his material po possessions a mIn man to whom the funnily family was not merely a sacred but a 1 1 downright awe nwe n e In inspiring ph In institution tion deprived II of or the privilege lIete of con tinning hIs bis family writes vv riles Johnson Here Here vv is is tS n a scornful man mw doomed to he be the time target of nt tile the shafts of the scornful Here was sots a n man ridiculously debarred from an a n orous romance Here was Ie n u man whose hoce finest t quality perhaps was us-is lS Ills his capic Ity for unflagging d devotion to the dom domestIc estIc interests t of or his kin dt time possibility of cm s ting up a domestic establishment hm nt of Ills his 0 own nun n It Is In Inconceivable that tills this frustration this profound humiliation e baue failed to tn cork ork out In hit bitterness Ierne ot of spirit rIt o 0 John lohn Randolph of ItI It R I mole make 1111 ii ho hUll hail In him the elements cleMents of ot greatness Ju Just t miss d II greatness j If It he had bud not been heen such n a strong man his Ills story would I Ie e H It pathetic one Ills o 0 own 11 people have hate remembered hum him with t curious ture of terror pride anti lid delight dell ht f or dart ns ne it h hIs hig till stow on occasion It glitters and sparkles as doe hoes docs that of ot no other American or of any It Is Ie the of t a fighting man of ot time the breed ed of and no one who Is li hy by l y a tale ot of a warrior who ho ii ho lays la s about him pith Q n right good a will ill III can cnn tall fall to I 1 Ie eo e hy by Randolph But nul It Is above e all else elsea lOie u a fantastic tale frequently upon tile the grotesque TLe U IrL lon long Incredibly lean leon Oure O nr op Of I Quixote to the Ibe ute life but John rohn 1 1 lJ n dolph owl ovin 0 11 In Inthe the glittering tree Pee ant the almost t fabulous r er with h 11 he to i n this opponent Ihl th n tA t A Aws an ws 1 P x 7 1 S f |