From the Richmond Whig, 8/17/1864, p. 1, c. 5
A DUEL NEAR THE CITY THIS
MORNING BETWEEN THE EDITOR OF THE EXAMINER AND THE TREASURER OF THE CONFEDERATE
STATES.
The chivalry, as well as
non-combatants, for the first time for many a day, were thrown into an
excitement this morning by a rumor that a hostile meeting had taken place
between John M. Daniel, Esq., of the Richmond Examiner, and E. C. Elmore,
Confederate States Treasurer. The current report is that the meeting took place
at 5 1/2 o'clock this morning, on Dill's farm, two miles north of the city.
Mr. H. Rives Pollard, of the
Examiner, acted as the friend of Mr. Daniel, and Lieut. Thomas Taylor, of
S. C., as the friend of Mr. Elmore. The weapons used, it is said, were the
ordinary smooth-bore duelling pistols; the distance ten paces. Only two shots
were exchanged, Mr. Daniel being wounded at the second fire in the flesh part of
the right leg, a few inches above the ankle. His wound, though not dangerous, is
said to be very painful.
The affair grew out of a
paragraph which appeared in the local column of the Examiner on the 1st
instant, headed "Alleged Defalcation in the Treasury Department - Astonishing
Developments."
The paragraph announced that
the arrest of Detective F. W. Boyd, on the charge of attempting to bribe
Detective R. B. Craddock "into silence in respect to certain facts concerning a
high official" of the Treasury Department, had resulted in bringing to its
development "a defalcation in the Treasury, said to be of a very large amount."
Craddock reported to higher authority, and was instructed to ask $10,000 for the
suppression of the fact, that he had seen the "high official playing
Government funds away at faro, and the gamblers 'beating him' out of immense
sums.
It is stated on the street
that Mr. Elmore addressed a note to Mr. Daniel, representing that public rumore
unjustly pointed to him as the "high official" alluded to, and requesting the
insertion of a paragraph in the Examiner disclaiming any allusion to the
Treasurer. Mr. Daniel, report says, declined to insert the disclaimer, and
further correspondence resulted in a challenge from Mr. Elmore, which was
accepted.
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