delay. T h e meeting was to c o m e off at a spot indicated at the river Glenelg, an the 27th June. It was previously understood that A d a m s , as the challenger's friend, should provide fire-arms, but through his inability to procure proper duelling pistols, he was forced to do with c o m m o n pocket pistols of such an inferior description that the seconds experienced considerable difficulty in properly loading them. O n Campbell being handed his he looked at it with contempt, and sneeringly observed " that it would be the merest farce to fight with such ridiculously miserable things." W h e n the word was given, Campbell's piece merely snapped, and Sprot's with a struggling effort, barely managed to go off, but do nothing more. Campbell was then asked to withdraw the offensive expression which had provoked all the trouble; but he would do nothing of the sort, and preparations were being m a d e for a second round, when A d a m s gravely declared that as there was no medical m a n in attendance, he should withdraw his principal from the field. In this determination he persisted, and the four companions re-crossed the boundary line, and returned home, after riding four hundred miles for the most miserable flash in the pan imaginable. A newspaper war followed, and columns of original correspondence were printed in acrimonous vindication of the circumstances tinder which such a ridiculous farce was brought about. O n the last day of October, 1849, there was a merry-making party at the Prince of Wales Hotel, then a fashionable rendezvous in the eastern quarter of Little Flinders Street; and in the course of the enjoyment, a Dr. F and a Dr. T got up an altercation which was " seen out" the following morning on the then unpopulated Collingwood Flat near to the present Abbotsford Convent. Shots were exchanged, and T received F 's ball through his hat, and had a rather narrow shave of being brained, for some of a not over-luxuriant crop of hair was singed across the crown of his pate. This was considered quite a satisfactory result, and a thorough reconciliation ensued. About 4 o'clock on the morning of n t h December, 1850, a duel was unexpectedly prevented at Emerald Hill. A Mr. John Allan, from the Pyrenees, was staying at the Prince of Wales, and another country settler, named Purcell, was quartered at the Port Phillip Club Hotel. Allan was examined as a witness in a trial in which the other was concerned, and his evidence was so displeasing to Purcell that it led to a dispute, and thence proceeded to a challenge. Arrangements were in train on the hill summit, but the fun was spoiled by the appearance of Chief-Constable Bloomfield, with a half a dozen subordinates, and warrants were issued for the arrest of the principals, who were confined in the magisterial retiring-room, when Purcell thrust an offensively-worded note at Allan's face, with an accompaniment of a coarse and opprobrious nature. Allan refusing the cartel, was struck by Purcell with a whip, and a scuffle followed, in the course of which Mr. Frank Stephen, as mediator, experienced a practical exemplification of the aphorism that " Those who in quarrels interpose Will often wipe a bloody nose,"
For though his nose remained intact, Purcell administered a header, which stove in the lawyer's hat, and momentarily astonished the wearer, who, however, lost no time in recovering himself and pitching into Purcell with a will, treating him to what is known as the "hand and foot trick," and levelling him. T h e Police Court idlers were n o w in their glory, a crowd had by this time collected, and a ring was being formed for a continuance of the exhibition, when the police interfered, and Purcell was secured. T h e intercepted duellists were subsequently bound in heavy bonds to keep the peace for six months. Stephen having repaid what he got with m u c h more than an usurer's interest, took no further action for the battering of his bell-topper, and it would have been better for Allan if he had allowed the squabble to remain where it was; but he took it into the Supreme Court, where the assault cause of Allan v. Purcell was tried on ioth March, 1851, when the jury awarded a farthing damages, in addition to ^ 1 0 paid into Court. Such was Judge A'Beckett's opinion of the transaction that he refused to certify for costs. Here end m y gleanings in the traditional stubble-field where the "Wild Oats" were sown, when Port Phillip little dreamed of the golden future which the Para* had in reserve for her.
