Just east of Bishopville and beyond Lynches River where U.S. Highway 15 crosses it, there is a flowing well.  It can be seen from the highway, on the far side of the old road.  But in these days of fast travel it receives little notice, for the cars whiz past and few passengers ever notice it.  Grandparents of the present young people, or more likely their parents, may have stopped their horses and delayed long enough to quench their thirst from the stream of clear, cool water flowing from an iron pipe.

            Perhaps now and then a youngster of my generation may have it pointed out as the spot where the Cash-Shannon duel was fought, and where Colonel Shannon lost his life.

            Several years ago a special correspondent for the Darlington paper had this to say of the duel.

 

 

            “This last duel, fought in what was then Darlington County, involved high spirited antagonists who had been friends for many years and both of whom had a distinguished Confederate War background.

            They were Colonel E. B. C. Cash of Chesterfield County and Colonel William M. Shannon of Camden.  The “field of honor” for them was a sand ridge known as Shannon Hill, just east of Bishopville. 

            The duel grew out of what Cash termed “charge of fraud” made against his wife by Col. Shannon and Capt. William L. DePass, both attorneys of Camden.  On September 11, 1879, Cash ordered the sheriff of Kershaw County to levy upon and sell the property of Captain R. B. Ellerbe to satisfy a judgment of this sister, Mrs. Cash.

            This order was contested by Shannon and DePass, representing Conrad Weinges who previously had instituted suit for $15,000.00 against Ellerbe charging him with assault.  A marginal note in the original, not appearing in the revised pleading, suggested to Cash the inference that his wife was being charged with a fraudulent settlement with her brother to prevent collection of damages from him.  Outraged, Cash told a friend, “I would rather die than submit to such as insult.”

            Cautioned by friends to act prudently as long as there was any issue at law and being advised by them that it was all the result of a misunderstanding, Cash wrote to Shannon, reminded him of the “kindly relations” existing between them for 20 years, and asked for an explanation of the inference of fraud against his wife. 

            Shannon replied in courteous vein, disowned any knowledge of the offensive marginal note, and declared, “I was only assistant counsel, and it was only a courtesy toward me that induced the regular counsel to use my name as leading counsel.”

            He avowed that “ no charge whatever of ‘fraud’, in any offensive sense was made or intended,” but in a later paragraph pointed out the difference between a “legal fraud” and fraud as Cash construed it.  This letter satisfied Cash who termed himself “greatly relieved” at its contents.

            The case came to trial in Darlington on February 7, 1880, resulting in a decision against Mrs. Cash, later reversed by the Supreme Court.  Upon reading the printed pleadings necessitated by appeal of the case, Cash concluded that “charges of fraud were distinctly, repeatedly, and expressly made, both against Mrs. Cash and her brother.”

            On April 4, while attending her sick husband Mrs. Cash fell ill and died.  “She was a proud, high-spirited and noble Christian,” said Cash, “and I resolved to revenge her wrongs or forfeit my life in the effort to do so.”

            About one month later he and Capt. Ellerbe sent challenges to Col. Shannon and Capt. DePass, the one from Ellerbe going to Shannon and the one from Cash to DePass.

            Shannon declined to meet Ellerbe as being an improper person, but DePass accepted Cash’s challenge.  It was arranged that they should meet at DuBose Bridge in Darlington County on May 30.  Four days after the challenge was sent, Cash was notified that DePass had been arrested and could not fight.

            On the following day Cash was delivered a note from DePass proposing that they go beyond the limits of the state to fight.  Cash accepted and arrangements were made to fight in Anson County, North Carolina.  But again the rumor spread and DePass was arrested.

            Under these conditions, Cash’s son, W. B. Cash, wrote what he termed “Camden Soliloquies”, which according to the senior Cash was “written in the spirit of retaliation and as the only means of resenting the wrongs inflicted upon his mother.”

            The offensive language contained within “Camden Soliloquies” led to an exchange of letters between Cash and Shannon in which Cash said of Shannon, “I have with great reluctance come to the settled conclusion that you are the unmitigated scoundrel that you have been represented to be by those who have known you better than I did.”

            He refrained, however, from issuing a challenge, since “ you have been advertised as a poltroon and a coward,” and lacking “in all the essentials and characteristics that constitute an honorable man.”… But he added, “ I think I have given you in this note ample and sufficient grounds to justify your taking action against me.”

            He was right.  On June 27, Shannon demanded “redress which is usual under such circumstances.”  The two men met on July 5, 1880 at DuBose Bridge.  The first bullet from Cash’s pistol was fatal to his antagonist.”

In 1955, William McInney, Jr. in The Columbia Record gives an account of the duel in Colonel Cash’s own words:…

 

“So soon as I arrived upon the ground, some of Col. Shannon’s party advanced to the center of the field where I and some of my friends went to meet him.  Here pistols were loaded and nearby pegs were set, and I was directed by my friend, William B. Sanders, to take my position.  My brother-in-law, Capt. Ellerbe, and my son, William Boggan Cash, came to bid me farewell….

           “At ‘one’ Colonel Shannon fired and I felt a burning sensation on my right cheek and neck and thought I was shot.  Later, I learned it was sand blown up by his shot which fell a few inches in front of me.  …I fired at ‘two’ and saw a white spot through his black coat precisely at the place I had aimed, and still he stood firm and unmoved.  It was only for a moment--he stepped forward, toward me, then turned toward his right and staggered.

           “I called Mr. Sanders back and requested him to ask if the gentleman were satisfied (as the Code Duello required he should do) to which Mr. Johnson replied and I think he said, “My God, what more could you ask? Do you not see that Colonel Shannon had been killed?”

 

            Following the incident, papers all over South Carolina and the nation clamored over the fatal duel.  The previously impeccable character of Col. Cash was torn apart thread by thread.  Col Cash was tried for “Murder” and “Duelling” in Darlington at the October term of court in 1880.  A mistrial resulted.  On June 21, 1881, he was tried again and this time acquitted.

            Thus, the duel between Colonels E. B. C. Cash and W. M. Shannon, fought July 5, 1880, at DuBose Bridge, Darlington County, marked the last fatal duel fought in South Carolina and brought to an end an era in the history of the State.”

 

 

            In My Own Story, p.38, Bernard M. Baruch, in his account of the duel, has this to say:

 

“This tragedy also resulted in legislation which outlawed duels in South Carolina and disqualified from public office anyone who had taken part in one.  At the inauguration of James F. Byrnes as governor in 1951, I was amused to hear him take a solemn oath that he had never engaged in a duel.”

 

                                                                    The End  

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