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AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
5. CRAU,ENGE TO A. DUEL
St. Louis June 1 th 1817
Sm, • You ha'!e wantonly and without provocation insulted me, and injured my person, I demand of you that Satisfaction which is due to the outraged honor of a Gentleman My friend Doctor Farrar will point out to you the mode and manner by which you are to make reparation Yours • s. F. AUSTIN Mr. JosHUA PILCHER
6. AUSTIN'S STA.TElIENT OF THE CAUSE OF THE DISPUTE
[June 1, 1s11n for Some time past I observed a coolness in Mr. Pilche[r]s deport- ment toward me, which I noticed with the utmost astonishment being perfectly unconscious of ever having, even in thought, injured him in my life. I waited untill the 13 th May for him to call on me for a redress of these greivences he thought I had done him, but finding that he would say nothing but continued his coolness I thought it my duty to call on him for a candid declaration of the causes of his conduct. I deemecl my duty .to do so in consequence of our being M as01l.'J amongst whom the utmost candour and frankness aught always to exist, another reason which induced me to call on him was that I feared if an open rupture took place between us, it might be at- tributed by the world to a young Lady whose feelings of course would have been mortified thereby I therefore called on him for an explination of his conduct his Letter to me and my reply contain the Substance of what passed verbally between us. He gave me no Satisfaction as to the cause, either verbally or in his letter he gave me his Letter on the morning of the 14 th May and he recd- mine in evening of the Same day the next morning as I was walking down Street with Mr. ,vash, Pilcher came up behind me and without giv- ing the least notice or warning of his intention Struck me before I saw him and injured my eye so that I was deprived of the use of it for more than ten days-I wished to demand satisfaction of him immed-iately, but my Friends would not permit me to do so untill my eye was recovered, and on the 16 th Mr J Connor call'd on me and requested that I would submit the subject of dispute to T. Douglass, S Rector and himself-I freely submitted every thing I knew of t};le business-and gave them the Letters whica had passed on the 17 th • I recd· a no~ from the above gentlemen requesting me to suspend all further proceedings for 5 days-I answered that my eye wns in such
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