Alexandria Gazette

The Late Duel in South Carolina.
New York, July 7.-A special from Camden, Kershaw county, S. C, says of the duel which was fought on the 5th instant, in which Colonel Wm. M. Shannon was killed. "The complications leading to the fatal meeting began over a year ago, when a man named Weinges brought suit for damages against another named Ellerbee for injuries to the person which he claimed to have received at the latter's hands. Col. Shannon and Captain W. L. DePass were the attorneys for Weinges and they succeeded in getting a judgment against Ellerbee for $2,000. It was then discovered that all Ellerbee's property was held by the wife of Col. E. B. Cash on a mortgage and there was nothing to satisfy the judgment. Col. Shannon and Capt. DePass secured evidence to show that the mortgage was a fraudulent one and had been given for the express purpose of evading the judgment, and the result of their efforts was to have the mortgage set aside on the ground of legal fraud. The evidence on which this action of the court was taken bore somewhat strongly against the wife of Col. Cash, and he determined to have revenge on the two lawyers who had unearthed it. He and his son have been engaged in several duels before this one. He arranged with Ellerbee to call out Shannon and DePass. Ellerbee accordingly challenged Col, Shannon to fight him, but the old gentleman refused, on the ground that dueling was against the law of the State, as well as his principles. Cash posted the old gentleman as a coward who had sullied his wife's name and then refused to her husband the satisfaction due to a gentleman. The old gentleman protested that he had done no wrong to Mrs. Cash, but wherever he went the vile epithets applied to him by his enemy reached his ears. Finally, goaded almost to desperation, he sent a challenge to Cash, who immediately accepted it, and the duel took place as already stated."