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A/cvewcpeve 2 O./9960
THE SORROWS OF THE
ALSTONS. Part 9.
Augustus Alston was shot to death near
Mannington, Fla., in a duel with General
Leigh Read Dec. 12, 1839, the tenth anni
versary of his brother Gideon's accidental
death in preparation for a gunfight. (It was
also the 30th anniversary of the signing of
Georgias first anti-dueling law.) Alston had
stumbled as he fired, missing his shot. Under
the rules of dueling, Read had not been obli
gated to give him a second chance, but the
grief-maddened Alston family insisted that
Read had killed Augustus in an ungentle-
manly manner. Augustus’s sister Ann had the
bullet removed from her brother’s body, -e-
molded, and sent to their brother Willis in
Texas, commanding him to return to Florida
and take revenge.
The fierce and excitable Willis needed
little encouragement.
As soon as his sister’s
message arrived he left
his wife and four voung
children and headed
east with a small arsenal
that included a buwie
knife, several pistols,
and his favorite weapon,
a short-barreled, flared-
muizle shotgun known
as a jaeger. According to
an account written in
1878 by Georgia editor
and novelist Mary
Edwards Bryan, Willis
arrived, wrapped in a
cloak, at the Tallahassee
home of her fatter, War
ren Jourdan, on the
night of Jan. 4, 1840.
Jourdan was a close
friend of the Alstons, a
As soon as his
sister's message
arriired he left his
wife and four
young children
and headed east
with a small
arsenal that
included a bowie
knife, several
pistols, and his
favorite weapon,
a short-barreled,
flared-muzzle
shotgun known
as a jaeger.
Whig planter who once served as Speaker of
the Georgia House of Representatives. Mary
Bryan said that she got the story from her fa
ther, but it must be noted that she was less
than eight years old when he died, and her
account was written 40 years after the fact.
According to Bryan, Willis lay down in Dr.
Jouidan's bed and told him his plan: On the
following night a big banquet was planned at
Brown’s Hotel for Florida’s newly-elected leg
islators, mostly Democrats who had beaten
back the Whig threat to sweep the recent
election. Prominent among them would be
Leigh Read, who had won his legislative race
and been elected Speaker of the House of
Representatives. Willis told Jourdan that he
intended to provoke Read to a fair fight and
avenge his brother’s death in the presence of
his enemies.
A contemporary eyewitness account,
published in the New Orleans Daily Pica
yune of Feb. 9, 1840, gives a different ver
sion: The correspondent stated that Willis
arrived in town only two hours before the
banquet, and that Read had advance warn
ing of his presence and his plans but re
fused to hide from his nemesis. According
to this account 150 people were gathered
in the hotel dining room at 6 o’clock drink
ing coffee before dinner; General Read had
not yet arrived. Willis Alston appeared in the
entrance to the dining room and stood there
with his elbow cocked, talking to some men
at an adjacent table. Read entered the room,
jarred Alston’s elbow, and continued several
paces before turning around. Alston drew a
pistol and fired, making a large wound in
Read’s upper abdomen. Read rushed at Alston
with his cane raised and pistol drawn; Alston
fired again, missing Read and hitting the wall
of the dining room (the bullet scar was still
plainly visible 40 years later). Read fired and
struck Alston on the hand and closed on him
with his cane. Alston drew his bowie knife,
made one deep thrust and fled.
Before continuing with the narrative, it
should be noted that yet another version of
the encounter exists. In
the mid-1870s the
young Henry T Grady, not
yet the venerated godfa
ther of Georgia journal
ism, published an ac
count of the Florida
Alstons in the Atlanta
Herald, a newspaper he
owned in partnership
with Willis’s son Robert.
In 1878 Grady repub
lished it in a Philadel
phia newspaper. Grady
claimed to have gotten
his melodramatic and
ludicrously inaccurate
version from an old
dishwasher in Brown’s
Hotel while, in tempo
rary forgetfulness of his
famous anti-liquor
stance, “pickling himself
in orange brandy." Letters and articles ap
peared in several Georgia newspapers refut
ing Grady’s facts and pointing out glaring im
possibilities in his story, yet the stubborn
namesake of the University of Georgia’s jour
nalism school stood by his discredited article.
Willis Alston escaped from Tallahassee,
presumably back to his family in Texas. Gen
eral Read recovered from his grievous wounds
to preside over the Florida legislature. One
of die measures considered by that body in
the 1840 session was a stringent anti-du
eling bill, it failed to pa c s.
About this time the affairs of Augustus
Alston’s estatf were wound up. Augustus’s
banking and cotton farming enterprises
seem to have suffered greatly by the Panic
of 1837. Hia 700-acre plantation on Lake
Miccosukee was sold at public outcry to
satisfy unpaid debts. The purchaser was
Noah Thompson, a close friend of the
Alston family. In the spring of 1841, Th
ompson was in New Orleans on business
and crossed paths with Willis Alston, who
asked for the loan of $65.
Willis was on his way back to Tallahassee
to take care of unfinished business.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.
©1996 John Ryan Seawright
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The 1097 1= LAG POLE
.Athens JVlusic Directory
This February, FLAGPOLE will publish a special issue
devoted to local music. 6,000 copies will be inserted into
participant registration bags at the South By Southwest
Musk and Media Conference in Austin, Texas. 4,000 copies
will be available for free at Athens businesses.
The FLAGPOLE Athens Music Directory will feature:
• Bands - complete listing of Athens bands and musicians
• Support Services - a lisi of graphic artists, electricians,
lighting engineers, management, accountants, attorneys,
printers, etc., serving the local music scene • Studios - a
directory of local studios • Clubs - how to book your
band at clubs in Athens and around the Southeast
Get your band or business in the Directory. Fill out the
coupon by Friday, Jan. 17, and mail it to FLAGPOLE
Athens Music Directory, P. O. Box 1027, Athens, GA
30603, bring it to our offices (112 S. Foundry St., behind
Farmer’s Hardware) fax it (706-548-8981) or email it
(flagpole@negia.net).
,
Tire 1097 FLAGPOLE Athens Music Directory'
Band / Business Name i
Contact Person I
Address '
City / State / Zip j
Email / Website |
Phone / Fax Number ^ *
LI Band G Studio G Club G Support Service (what kind?) |
Describe your music, Studio, club, □ management □ promotion 1
or support service in ten words or less: n . .
rr LI accountant Li attorney
—— □ graphic artist □ printer |
——— O lighting designer □ sound
Q other *