"On the 16th ult., an encounter took place at Little Rock, Ark., between David F. Douglass, a young man of 18 or 19, and Dr. Wm. C. Howell. A shot was exchanged between them at the distance of 8 or 10 feet with double-barrelled guns. The load of Douglass entered the left hip of Dr. Howell, and a buckshot from the gun of the latter struck a negro girl, 13 or 14 years of age, just below the pit of the stomach. Douglass then fired a second time and hit Howell in the left groin, penetrating the abdomen and bladder, and causing his death in four hours. The negro girl, at the last dates, was not dead, but no hopes were entertained of her recovery. Douglass was committed to await his trial at the April term of the Circuit Court."—Louisville Journal.
The Little Rock Gazette of Oct. 24, says, "We are again called upon to record the cold blooded murder of a valuable citizen. On the 10th instant, Col. John Lasater, of Franklin co., was murdered by John W. Whitson, who deliberately shot him with a shot gun, loaded with a handful of rifle balls, six of which entered his body. He lived twelve hours after he was shot.
"Whitson is the son of William Whitson, who was unfortunately killed, about a year since, in a rencontre with Col. Lasater, (who was fully exonerated from all blame by a jury,) and, in revenge of his father's death, committed this bloody deed."
These atrocities were all perpetrated within a few months of the time of the deliberate assassination, on the floor of the legislature by the speaker, already described, and are probably but a small portion of the outrages committed in that state during the same period. The state of Arkansas contains about forty-five thousand white inhabitants, which is, if we mistake not, the present population of Litchfield county, Connecticut. And we venture the assertion, that a public affray, with deadly weapons, has not taken place in that county for fifty years, if indeed ever since its settlement a century and a half ago.
Missouri became one of the United States in 1821. Its present white population is about two hundred and fifty thousand. The following are a few of the affrays that have occurred there during the years 1837 and '38.
The "Salt River Journal" March 8, 1838, has the following.
"Fatal Affray.—An affray took place during last week, in the town of New London, between Dr. Peake and Dr. Bosley, both of that village, growing out of some trivial matter at a card party. After some words, Bosley threw a glass at Peake, which was followed up by other acts of violence, and in the quarrel Peake stabbed Bosley, several times with a dirk, in consequence of which, Bosley died the following morning. The court of inquiry considered Peake justifiable, and discharged him from arrest."
From the "St. Louis Republican," of September 29, 1837.
"We learn that a fight occurred at Bowling-Green, in this state, a few days since, between Dr. Michael Reynolds and Henry Lalor. Lalor procured a gun, and Mr. Dickerson wrested the gun from him; this produced a fight between Lalor and Dickerson, in which the former stabbed the latter in the abdomen. Mr. Dickerson died of the wound."