The Last Fatal Duel: Part 1

If you are ever in New Maryland, New Brunswick, Canada and stop at the Wetmore-Street Pub, the menu and the village has an interesting history. It’s claim to fame - last fatal duel was fought there on October 2, 1821.


The road sign reads:

WELCOME TO NEW MARYLAND
NEW BRUNSWICK’S LAST FATAL DUEL...
and RESTING PLACE
EXIT 285 A

There is for your appetite a 3.2.1. Draw - your buns or burger and Freshly Shot Chicken on the menu.

The Wetmore-Street Pub is named after the two respected lawyers, George Ludlow Wetmore and George Frederick Street. The two Georges faced each other in the fatal duel.

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You may wonder how a disagreement over a courtroom case could get to this point.

George Ludlow Wetmore stewed all evening about the quarrel with the other George (George Frederick Street) as his pregnant wife was putting their four children to bed.

Earlier that day Wetmore and Street had been outside the court trading insults in loud voices.

It started over a simple case of mistaken identity over the arrest for Jacob Smith Jr being misconstructed and his father being arrest.

George Frederick Street, a respected attorney from one of New Brunswick’s most prominent families, had directed the sheriff to arrest Jacob Smith Sr., when the summons had actually been issued for his son, Jacob Smith Jr.

Jacob Smith Sr. was not on good terms with his son anyway. He was angered by this mistake and engaged the service of George Ludlow Wetmore to charge the sheriff with false arrest and imprisonment.

Since the wrong man had been arrested, there was no way to justify the case. Mr. Street, acting for the sheriff, chose to sign a judgment by default and have damages assessed by a sheriff’s jury. The assessment proceedings brough arguments about this procedure and raised questions of legitimacy.

The court adjourned on September 29, 1821, leaving both attorneys in bad humor and carrying their anger out into the street, hurling accusations of incompetence at each other.

That evening, George Ludlow Wetmore was becoming more agitated about the quarrel and made a decision to defend his honour.

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At 11 o’clock the next morning, George Frederick Street answered a summons to his door to find John Winslow, acting as second for Wetmore, with a formal challenge to a duel.

Fact: Although dueling was a well established practice in Europe by the 1800s and was not unknown in New Brunswick, it was illegal by 1821.

Mr, Street was shaken and astonished at this turn of events but agreed to meet Wetmore provided that the duel be fought near Fredericton and as soon as possible.

Winslow tried talking Mr. Wetmore from going ahead with the duel. On Monday, Winslow again went to Mr. Street with the proposal that if he would make a public apology, Wetmore would withdraw the challenge. Street declined, and the parties agreed to meet at Maryland Hill, four miles from Fredericton, the following morning.

Fact: Fredericton is the capital city of New Brunswick, Canada. By the end of the 1700’s many United Empire Loyalists had settled there after the American Revolution, leaving their home in the U.S.A.

The duel was only known to Wetmore, Street and their seconds, Winslow and Davies. The four men were to meet at a clearing behind John Segee’s farm.

The wives and children of the two Georges knew nothing of the fatal duel to take place.

On October 2. Street and his second, Richard Davies, reached the destinated meeting spot at 6 a.m. and waited for Wetmore and Winslow.

When they arrived, the four men then tied their horses and walked to a clearing behind John Segee’s farm, which was hidden from the farmhouse by thick woods.

The seconds, Winslow and Davies, measured off fifteen paces and the principals took their places.

Wetmore brought the two pistols as Street owned no firearms. One gun was slightly inferior to the other. The seconds drew lots, and Street got the better weapon.

The seconds loaded the pistols with gun powder and handed the pistols, fully cocked, to the two Georges.

Standing on the sideline, Davies shouted out the rules,

”Pistols at your sides until ordered to fire; when ordered, raise one arm and fire as quickly as possible without aiming or stopping.”

Fact: No sense in careful aiming as pistols didn’t shoot straight before changes to the calibre were made in 1830.

“Fire!” shouted Davies.

Both men fired, and both stood unhurt. The seconds, greatly relieved, declared that honor had been satisfied and the dueling pistols could be put away.

Wetmore insisted on one more shot. Dueling etiquette demanded an exchange of weapons for a second shot.

Wetmore may have felt confident he could succeed with the superior pistol.

“Fire!”

Two shots echoed through the crisp autumn air.....to be continued.

This story is getting long enough. Part 2 will be continued tomorrow. Check in to see how the duel ends and what happens to the survivor.

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