The Last Fatal Duel

A while back I was driving along the Transcanada Highway and came across a road sign near New Maryland, New Brunswick which stated that this was the location of the last fatal duel in New Brunswick. I found it to be an odd thing to advertise as the major attraction. I even entertained humorous thoughts that there may have been other non-fatal duels since then perhaps caused by disputes among individuals that could not shoot straight. Actually, this last fatal duel was also among individuals that could not shoot straight. In 1821 a dispute between George Frederick Street and George Ludlow Wetmore led to a pistol duel in which Wetmore was killed.

At first, it seems that we have progressed in that for almost 200 years the people of New Brunswick have put down their lethal guns in favor of other manners to settle disputes. We can claim that our modern methods are more humane and much better for our society.

However, upon further reading, I learned that the duel was between two lawyers who were facing each other in a court trial that had gotten rather heated. Shouting and name-calling carried on into the night and eventually the two lawyers faced each other with pistols. They fired and missed and that was sufficient to claim that the dispute had ended.

But no.

Apparently, lawyers can not live with the idea of a dispute ending in a tie and so they reloaded and went at it a second time with a bullet finding Wetmore's skull eventually leading to his death.

As I ponder those events I wonder if perhaps we should revisit the idea of lawyers shooting it out. If a trial is not completed in a short amount of time, then the dispute is carried out the next morning at dawn. The advantages are speedier trials and eventually fewer lawyers.

Of course, this is a bad idea (so says my lawyer) and we should maintain our more civil approaches. I do have to agree that lawyers shooting it out is a bad idea.

However, as one lays in bed at night, they can still dream of a better world.

(Additional post)

Perhaps the dream is coming true:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/attorney-james-crawford-face-slammed-into-courthouse-bench-during-brawl-in-santa-ana/