On Monday several ladies, while on a visit to a friend’s house, a short distance from Gray’s Ferry, were amusing themselves by singing and dancing, when one of them, a resident of Baltimore, sang a verse of the “Bonnie Blue Flag:” one of the ladies jestingly said, “You’re a rebel;” at which another commenced the “Southern Marsellaise.” When it was finished, the lady who had been called a rebel, said, “I wish we had pistols, I’d fight a duel with you for calling me a rebel.” At this, the daughter of the gentleman at whose house they were, said, “We have pistols in the house, but they are not loaded.” They were brought, and in order to give it the form of a duel, distances were measured in the room, the ladies took their places, word was given, one, too three, when the lady who had called the other rebel said, “I will sit in this chair as I wish to die easy.” Word was again given, and the Baltimore lady, who had a self cocking pistol, pulled the trigger and bang went the pistol; a piercing scream was heard, and in an instant the room was filled with the members of the family, when it was discovered that two of the ladies had swooned; the Baltimore lady was standing motionless, and the one who had wished to die “easy,” sitting pale with terror in her chair; one ball had passed through her dress on the left side, grazing the skin, while in the leaf of the table on which she rested her arm were eight distinct shot holes, and one bullet embeded in the wood. The pistol had been loaded by a boy on the Fourth of July, but the charge had not been fired. The ladies were soon restored to consciousness, and commenced to realize the danger of meddling with firearms, a warning it in needless to say, they will not disregard for the future.—Philadelphia Inquirer.
Sioux City Register, Sioux City, IA, October 3, 1863
