Dueling had been forbidden in Pennsylvania since 1794, under penalty of fine and imprisonment, and loss of citizenship for seven years.[240] An unconverted public sentiment, however, still approved of the code of honor, and Pentland, who had at first threatened legal proceedings against Bates, challenged him instead. The challenge was carried by Thomas Stewart, a young Irishman who was a merchant in the town. Bates declined to accept, on the ground that Pentland’s conduct since his chastisement, had rendered him unworthy of such notice. Pentland then posted Bates as a coward, upon which on January 7, 1806, Bates published a letter in the Tree of Liberty giving his reason for refusing the challenge, in which he reflected on Stewart. Stewart demanded a retraction, which was refused, whereupon he challenged Bates. This challenge was accepted.
Bates immediately wrote his will. It was expressive of deep feeling. There was every indication of a premonition of his forthcoming end. He had always led a simple life, and in death he desired to avoid display. In that moment he recalled the discussions in the French Legislative Councils during the Directory, on the disposal of the dead by burning. “Henry Baldwin, my very dear friend, my sole executor, ... is to burn my body, or at least bury it without any direction,” he wrote; then he provided for the education of his brother James, which was to be completed by his studying law. In case the estate proved insufficient for the purpose, his brother Frederick was to provide the deficiency. Any residue, he declared, “is to go to my adored mother.”
The encounter took place the next day in a ravine in Oakland, in what is at present the Fourth Ward of the city of Pittsburgh. The ravine through which a rivulet coursed, called “Three-Mile Run,” long since sewered over, opened on the Monongahela River, at a point now occupied by the lower end of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company’s ore-yard, and by the office of the Eliza Furnace. To-day there are laid out through the ravine several unpaved hillside streets with narrow board sidewalks, one of which is the lower portion of Halket Street. On the upper edge of the easterly border of the ravine is Bates Street, named for Tarleton Bates. The duel was fought near the Monongahela River; the distance was ten paces; the weapons were pistols. Both principals displayed undaunted courage. Bates fell at the second fire, shot in the breast, and expired in an hour.[241] On the day that Bates lay dead in the ravine which ever since has been haunted with his memory, Pentland made another slanderous charge in his newspaper: “I shall not engross the columns of this paper with remarks on the private character of Mr. Bates, because that already appears to the public in colors as dark as the skin of his mistress.”[242]
The community was shocked at the tragedy. Notwithstanding the directions of Bates’s will in regard to the disposal of his body, he was buried in Trinity Churchyard. A great concourse of people attended the funeral, the chief mourner being Henry Baldwin; but the whole town deplored his death. In its next issue, the Tree of Liberty added to the general gloom, by appearing in mourning dress. Two weeks later the post brought news of the dire calamity to the widowed mother in her Virginia home, and to her children. Amid their tears they rejoiced that the Virginia traditions of honor had not been violated and that Tarleton Bates had accepted the challenge and preferred “death to a life of infamy and disgrace.”[243] The depth of their attachment appeared in the fact that the family preserved his letters as precious mementoes as long as they survived. For a time the grave was a hallowed spot to be pointed out to visitors, but as Bates’s old friends died, and a new generation came on, it was neglected, and now the location is forgotten. Bates’s brothers received their inspiration from him. He was the ablest member of the family. Had it not been for his untimely death, the name of Tarleton Bates might have become one of the great names in Pennsylvania history, if not in that of the United States.
At the northwest corner of Market and Third streets, in the house built by Major Ebenezer Denny, of brick taken from Fort Pitt,[244] was the store of Denny & Beelen. The firm was composed of Major Denny and Anthony Beelen. They sold, “dry goods, hardware, groceries, stationery, perfumery, china, glass, and queensware.”[245] Major Denny, the senior partner, was a slender, blue-eyed, and red-haired man of thirty-nine. His was a most adventurous career. In the Revolution he was ensign in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, and lieutenant in the 3d and 4th Pennsylvania Regiments. He had served as lieutenant under General George Rodgers Clark in Illinois, was adjutant to General Josiah Harmar in the campaign against the Indians in 1790, and aid-de-camp of General Arthur St. Clair in 1791. He was the messenger who carried the news of the rout of St. Clair’s army to President Washington at Philadelphia, then the seat of the national government. On returning to private life he had gone into business with Captain Joseph Ashton, a former Revolutionary officer like himself, at the place later conducted by Denny & Beelen. This partnership was dissolved in 1794 when Denny was again appointed to a military command and placed in charge of an expedition sent to Fort Le Boeuf. In Pittsburgh he took a conspicuous part in public affairs.[246] He was a candidate for representative to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives against Lucus, but was defeated. Later he was elected county commissioner. In 1803 he was treasurer of the county, being the first man to hold that office, and was the first mayor of Pittsburgh upon its becoming a city in 1816.
Anthony Beelen, Major Denny’s partner, was a native of the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium, and was the son of Francis, Baron de Belen Bartholf, Minister of the King of Austria, Joseph II., to the United States, who, upon the death of the King in 1790, continued a resident of the United States. The Baron seems to have soon discarded his title of nobility, as he was engaged in business in Pittsburgh at an early date, going by the name of Francis Beelen, being a partner in the firm of Amberson, Beelen, & Anshutz which was dissolved in 1794.[247] Anthony Beelen made the acquaintance of Denny in Philadelphia, and became associated with him, and in 1794 settled the affairs of Ashton & Denny.[248] In 1803 he was one of the Pittsburgh assessors.[249] In later years he conducted an air furnace and other enterprises. Beelen afterward lost his property, but the family fortunes rose again when Mrs. Mary Murphy died. In her will she left all her valuable estate, the principal part of which consisted of the block on Market Street in which “Clapboard Row” was located, to Beelen in trust for his daughter and granddaughter.
On Third Street a short distance west of Market Street, Andrew Willock, Jr., conducted a baking business, at the “Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat.” He also kept a tavern,[250] taverns and bakeries being frequently carried on together. Alexander McLaughlin, an oldtime merchant, was located at the southwesterly corner of Market and Fourth streets in the same block with Denny & Beelen. He had formerly been on Second Street.[251] In 1800 he was a candidate for county commissioner, but was defeated by Nathaniel Irish.[252] James Wills, who dealt in “boot and bootee legs,” adjoined McLaughlin on the south.[253] Next to Wills’s house was that occupied by John Wrenshall. Wrenshall was a man of culture and, in addition to keeping store and preaching the Gospel when the opportunity was presented, was a writer of ability. His Farewell to Pittsburgh and the Mountains, published in Philadelphia in 1818, was a poem of some merit, and of considerable local interest. He was the grandfather of Julia Dent, the wife of General U. S. Grant, eighteenth President of the United States. Joseph Davis was located between Wrenshall and Denny & Beelen. He was assessor in 1802.[254]
John Irwin, one of William Christy’s old partners, had his store at the northeast corner of Market and Fourth streets. He was a former Revolutionary officer, having been captain in the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment. At the next corner, where Market Street intersected the South Diamond, in the large three-story brick building were the tavern and store of William Irwin, the other partner of Christy. This building was another of the houses built of brick taken from Fort Pitt.[255] To this house William Irwin had removed in 1799[256]; and here he furnished public entertainment, and sold, in addition to whisky, and other diverting drinks, “kettles, stoves, and dry goods.”[257] Dancing classes were also held in the building, those for ladies at three o’clock in the afternoon, and the classes for gentlemen at six o’clock in the evening.[258] More serious business was conducted there. In the large hall in the third story the courts were held for more than a year after being removed from Andrew Watson’s house.[259] This was likewise the room in which Lodge No. 45 now held its sessions.[260]
North of the South Diamond the buildings were farther apart. At the southeast corner of the East Diamond and Diamond Alley was the log store of William Woods & Company.[261] On the opposite side of Market Street from John Irwin and William Irwin’s stores, in the middle of the block, was John Hamsher’s retail shop, where he sold copper and tin-plate articles, and clover seed.[262] Next door was the store of James Dunlap & Company.[263] In the Diamond, east of Market Street, was the semicircular market house, which covered most of this part of the Diamond. Its wide, projecting roof was supported by a double row of brick pillars. In the interior of the building were rows of stalls, with benches and blocks, for the butchers. Encircling the structure was a brick pavement along the curb of which the farmers and market gardeners were stationed.[264] In the Market House the borough elections were held.[265]
Across Market Street from the Market House was the new court house. It was the pride of the western country, and the only high building in the town. It was a square, two-story brick structure with one-story wings, for the county offices, and was surmounted by a tall wooden spire. In 1800, the main building was barely completed, some of the upper rooms being yet unplastered, although the county offices had been removed to the wings two years before.[266] The belfry lacked the bell; and the space before the building was only then being paved. The main entrance was on Market Street, and on either side of the doorway were fluted wooden columns with Corinthian capitals. The court room was on the first floor and was paved with bricks which, like the brick used in the pavement outside, were large and almost square. Supporting the ceiling were Doric pillars resting upon square panelled pedestals.[267] The judges’ bench and the jury box were in the rear of the court room. They faced the entrance, and the judges’ bench admitted seating the president judge and the four lay associate judges, at one time. It was elevated above the floor and was reached by stairs placed at the northerly end. The jury box was southerly of the judges’ bench, with a narrow passage between it and the judges’ bench. After the bell was placed in the belfry in 1801, Joseph Harris became bell-ringer, and rang the bell whenever court was about to convene.