Show the rear of st paul a churchyard IN ar ethrea rows of old tombstones which have been restored to their original places the new york sun states in the upheaval of the last few months due to digging the broad way subway beneath the historic graveyard some ot the stones were removed temporarily and others were covered with wooden frames to cave them from injury by the subway labor ers that part of the subway work has been completed and the grave stones 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 I 1 eacker A few years ago the date 1804 could be discerned but it Is now illegible the stone has long ceased to attract at tendon and it would doubtless sur prise most of the visitors to st paul s to learn that the white sandstone slab marke the burial place of the young man who killed the eldest son of alex ander hamilton in a duel three years before general hamilton was killed in his duel with aaron durr hamilton received fatal wound philip hamilton was not quite awen ty years old when he crossed the terry to the dueling ground at weehawken Wee hawken to face backer one of the young law of the time who was attached to the political party of which aaron durr waa the acknowledged leader the meeting took place on monday afternoon november 23 1801 david S jones was one of hamilton s sec theater on park row with eacker and some of eacker s friends the park theater was nearly in the middle of the block between ann and beekman streets a little above the park row building hamilton and price indulged in some laughing remarks about eacker speech the latter overhearing the conversation asked hamilton to step into the lob by price followed there was a slight altercation ending by eacker s using the word rascals according to the dueling code that demanded satisfaction after the the three men repaired to a nearby tavern and when eacker was asked for whom he meant the epithet he replied for both he then left say ing 1 I shall expect to hear from you challenges were issued the next day that of price being accepted first eacker and price met at weehawken Wee hawken on sunday november 22 and after exchanging tour shots without injury the seconds stopped the duel haell tona challenge was then accepted aft er the duel reflection on this horrid custom must occur to every man of human ity paid one of the newspapers but the voice of an individual or of the press must bo ineffectual without ad dit lonal 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 bradu abed from columbia college the year ands and thomaa apthorpe cooper one of the popular actors of his day represented eacker id be best accounts of the affair hamilton bad told hie ands that be intended to reserve bis fire until eacker had tired and that then be proposed to discharge bis pis tol into the air As the two young men faced each other there was a brief pause then eacker it Is eadd leveled his pistol with accuracy and firing shot hamilton in the right side hamlton pistol was discharged at the time but it did no damage the wounded youth was brought back to this city and died the next day the duel aroused great excitement and the newspapers devoted far more attention to it than was customary or those affairs of honor at the time one of the papers did not hesitate to call it murder in this paragraph vilh was published on the afternoon of november 24 died this morning in the awen year of his age philip hamilton eldest son of general hamilton murdered in a duel the rause of the duel as it appears in the light of the present day seems trivial at the fourth of july celebia alon of 1801 george eacker delivered an address which by bis partisans as received with great praise he criticized the federalist which an the party favorable to hamilton A few days before the duel philip hamilton with a friend named price occupied the same box at the old park before and was preparing for a legal career mr backer apparently but no inconvenience as a result of the duel but he did not long survive for he died of consumption in 1804 he Is the only person of that name appearing in the city directories ot 1801 to 1804 in which he was listed as i counselor at law at 50 wall street A little less than three years after the death of bis son alexander ham allton was killed in the duel with aaron burr on july 11 1804 and that did mere than anything else to turn public opinion against the custom the old dueling ground Is now obliterated the racks of the est shore railroad wiped out every evidence of the bloody field years ago but a little monument to hamilton com memora live of the spot and the fatal event now stands on the heights of wee hawken almost above the exact spot which was close to the rarer bank upon the pedestal of the monument Is a large red sandstone boulder upon which it Is said hamilton rested his head abter he was shot |