<. ■i O 'c/T^K^^* .0^ "i^^i^-^^' .S o^ - 'si-'^'-BS? • xO-7-, 'f s^"-?- > -?-„ s'2- Ao^ (-J I' .■^'^\.>;,j(>;^,_% ► , R Si • -^^ ■^^.^'f ^ %<> ■by (^"^o '.-^^^^'^ .0^ '^. "^^Mi^;-= .N«^'^^ '':<^j0y '.*^'^. ■'=^^:^^.^ , .NED liL 7HOMAS V. PATERSON, I ; ■ JD LIBEL CONTAINED IN A PAMPHLET ENTITLED 46THE PRIVA LIFE, PUBLIC CAREER, KEAL CHARACTER OF THAT : ') V S RASCAL i M.XI M iWfyiiii lEVELOPED BY HIS CONDUCT TO HIS PAST ^^ IFE, PRESENT WIFE, AND HIS VARIOUS P VRAMOURS ! I! I tlie Veil, and Uiimaskiiig to a Horror-stricken 1 lis Debaiiciieries Seductious, Adulteries, ■I i Cruelties, Tlireats and Murders 1 !*' NEW-YORK:' 0M.\ ATERSON, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER, 216 FLLTON^TiiEET. 1849. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 1819, by THOMAS V. PATERSON tt thfcie'vs Office ol' the District c/urt fir the United States, for the Southern District f New York. PROCEEDINGS. LOWER POLICE COURT, HALLS OF JUSTICE. CrrV AND COUNTY ) OF Ntw YuuK. <"■ Libel. The People, &c., o.\ Complaint of e. z. c. judsom, Jlgainst Thomas V. Pateeso.n-. ' J City and County of JVeiv York. — Edward Z. C, Judson, of Bull's Fenv, in the State of New Jersey, transacting business at 309i Broadway, in the City of New York, being duly sworn, doth depose, and say, that he is com- monly known as iVed Biintline, and is the Editor and Proprietor of a paper published in the cit}', called JVed Buntlincs Oion. That the annexed pam- phlet is of and concerning deponent, there being, to deponent's knowledge, no other person of the sjme name. That the contents thereof are a gross, foul, and malicious libel ; for that it charges deponent with having commit- ted various murders, in which, as well as many other respects, it is utterly and entirely untrue ; and that wheresoever in the contents of said pamphlet there is like a resemblance of truth, the real facts are so distorted, exagger- ated, and misrepresented, as to become, by means thereof, untrue, and a malicious libel on deponent. That the same is printed, published, and sold by one Thomas V. Paterson, of 216 Fulton Street, in said City, who was formerly employed by deponent, but was afterwards dismissed by deponent from his employment ; that the same is malicious, and is done by said Paterson to injure deponent and his said newspaper. EDWARD Z. C. JUDSON. Sworn this 27th day of August, > jAiiTr^o »t /^DA-ntr -r, i- t 1849, before me, \ ^^^^^^ McGRA TH, Police Justice. LOWER POLICE COURT, HALLS OF JUSTICE. CITY .^ND COUNTY J^ or New York. J ' The People, on the Complaint of -s E. Z. C. Judson, I r ■, , Against } ^»^«^- Thomas V. Paterson. J City and County of ..Vew Y67-A;.~Theodore F. Strong, of 171J South Fourth Street, Williamsburgh, in the County of Kings, Manufacturer and Machinist, being duly sworn, doth depose and say, he did on Saturday the 25th day of August instant, purchase of Thomas V. Paterson, at his office in Fulton Street, in the city of New York, two copies of a pamphlet called and entitled, " The Private Life, Public Career, and Real Character of that Odious Rascal, Ned Buntline," &c. &.c , and that th^^ 'nexed pamphlet is one of those which deponent purchased as aforesaid. Sworn this 27th day of August, > ,.>-p„ ,,^,,r> A rpu n ; -, r <• lO/in I, r ' S JAMES McGKAlH, Polid Justice. lSi9, before me, ) ' The following is the alleged libel complained of, and placed before the Court : — PRIVATE LIFE, PUBLIC CAP.EER, AND HEAL CHARACTER OF TEIAT ODIOUS RASCAL NED B U N T L I N E ! ! AJ DEVELOPED BY HIS CONDUCT TO H.'S PAST WIFE, PRESENT WIFE, AND HIS VARIOUS PARAMOURS! Completely lifting up the Veil, and unmasking to a horror-siricken Community, liis Debauciciic:-, Seductions, Adulteries, Reveliugs, Cruellies, Threats, and iVlurders ! I ! NKVV VOKK : Thomas V. Paterson, Printer and Publisher, OIG Fulton Street, 1849. INTRODUCTION. '• Be sure your sins will Jind.you out." The object of this brief sketch of the career and character of the Great Moral Retorm- EK I is not so much to gratify Ned's imperturbable vanity, by giving him a Tijc/ie in the "Temple of Roguery," as to let the world know him as he really is, and not as he would seem. Those familiar with the chronicles of the rascal tribe, will find in the revelation*: heiein given, that, however low they may have hitherto dived in criminal research, "there is still a lower deep." Those who have been blackguarded by him— those honest tradesmen ■who have been branded by him — those females whom he has abused — everybody whom he has injured, can here read the actions of that demon, who has assumed the airs of a teacher of morals, lo more plausingly indulge in hell born malignity. This sketch will equally portray his affectation of virlues,'and \i\ii prrpelralion of vices. True, "the end is not yet." While we write, new developments crowd upon us — new phases of his cruelty and heart- lessnes to his wife and family, are being revealed — new falsehoods being foisted on the cre- dulity of an already humbugged public, whom, (so he says,) he continues still lo fleece and delude, which only convince me of the necessity of a hasty exposure. No apology, there- fore, is necessary for this pamphlet. Every well wisher to his species ; every lover of vir- tue ; every one anxious that the right should prevail, knows it to be his duty lo unmask a hypocrite, who, attaching himseU to the press, perverts, what otherwise is the noblest bul- wark of morality and liberty, into an engine of knavery and roguery. Nci, with small talents, little learning and no principle, has usurped the privileges of the press for the most base, sneaking, and cowardly means of extorting money, damning character, and gratifying the most incredible heartlessness. These objects, aid his atrocious attacks upon many private families; and, still more lately, his demonaic d ef aviation oi h'\% oyrti wife and family, together with his threatening letters to them, makes it of some importance th;.t the community should knoio his own rep.l character. Able pens have already touched on dif- ferent points of his career. My task will be the collection of those sweets into one charm- ing nosegay. Much of his conduct for the last eijhleen months, is of that disgusting character that no printer could be got to set it up, and no one could read. Still much of it is here, and enough to morally demonstrate that no character in this or any other country, ■was ever based on such a concentration of villainy, hypocrisy, or deceit ; yet kvebi word IS BEiiEVED TO BE STRICTLY TRUE ! yea, much is extenuated ! H EARLY LIFE. " Defonned, unfiuisheJ, sent before his time, Into this breathing world, scarcely half made np. And that so lamely and uufas-hionably, That the very dogs bork at him, as he halts by them." ■ E. Z. C. JuDSON was born about the year 1813, in Dutchess County, New ■ Y'ork, consequently he is about thirty-six years of age, and looks bad at ■ that. His parents were only remarkable from having a son over whom they ^ had no control. Like the Bedoun Arabs, he was characterized, from earliest P life, as a wanderer and a vagabond. It became a saying in his village, ^ among parents, that wherever he was, there was rascality at work also. P Ned could at a very early period mimic any kind of passion he found most III conducive to his interest. So well, too, that many could not detect the ft cunning counterfeit. But tchen detection followed, he never felt shame. (He (ells us that his most prominent passion was "revenge." Cunning and revenge remain his characteristics to this hour, both more fearful from his long practice and impunity. A contemporary remarks of his education thus : — " It is certain that Ned can read, and even write after a fashion, but 1 owing either to the fault of his teachers, or his own independent spirit, he a has set the rules of Lindley Murray at total defiance, and habitually demo- lishes the English language with a courage and indefatigability worthy of a better cause." One thing is pretty certain, that his early years gave promising indica- .jM tions of his present career. After twelve years endeavor on the part of his ■ parents to curb his lawlessness, in vain, at thirteen j'ears of age he ran away, but not until he had cursed his father to his face. Ned, speaking of ■ this event of his life, admits his taste for low company, his disobedience, and F' consequent punishment — admits that his father, mother, and sister, hated him, and pleads this fact as an apology for his abuse of them. He tells us 'I that when leaving home at thirteen : " He sent a look, and said a word, which, like an arrow, went to my father's heart, which rankled then, rankles now, and will rankle /ortrer." Is it not disgustingly horrible to find a youth venting imprecations upon the parents who gave him birth \ Reader, what could be the nature and character of that being whose father, mother, and sister, could not bear him — when the mother's love for her child became extinguished in unquenchable hate! when a sister's gentleness became shrouded in aversion ! and a father told him never to darken his door ^ The key is found in the abuse of his present wife — in the libels of his present sister-in-law — in his threatening to murder his present father-in-law .' Such a wretch forfeits every privilege of humanity, and finds no language of suf- ficient execration to brand with ignominy. At thirteen we find him cabin-boy in a small schooner, depending for his success upon his cunning, now rapidly developing, when away from all parental control. His vanity seems, at this early period, to have been in full bloom, and his boastings of that day bear a fair proportion to those of the present — means and opportunities considered. Hear him. " Before I was fourteen years of age, I had made love to four beautiful girls, every one of whom was dying for me, as I was for them. First, there was Caroline B., whom, after swearing eternal friendship to, I soon forgot ; then came Jtariam, the splendid Jewess, who on her bended knees implored me to be hers forever j TTe exchanged vows and parted, she to Texas to wait for me, and I to — laugh at her. Next was a sweet angelic creature of New York, called JWaggie, ■who fell, fascinated by my ch^-ming appearance. She, with her mother, lived about Fulton Street. I si^re to make her my wife, when I became a man ! My next flame was Arabella Martin, of Key West. I was obliged to promise marriage in this case as the others, but had no intention of ful- filment. One evening, when we were on board her father's vessel, and all hands rather top-heavy with liquor, Arabella retired to her state room, and 1 — will close this chapter, reader." Such is nearly a literal version of his own story ; such is a picture of this " lady killer" and prodigious Moral Reformer before fourteen years of age, while only a boy on board a schoon- er. Who can be astonished at the parental prediction, that the " boy would be father to the manl" Who can be astonished at the impertinent egotism of the present braggart, on reading the pretensions of the infantile cock- atrice 1 Who can be astonished at his worship of the diabolical trinity of his senilty — namely, " Courtezans, Liquor, and Revenge," when we find such brutal heartlessness and precocious villany at fourteen 1 About this period his father made a "hit." He collected a number of " stale aphorisms," from English works, copyrighted them as his own, and hawked the book about the country ; and by the borrowed reputation of an author, as well as some intriguing and unscrupulousness among the Demo- cratic ranks in and around Philadelphia, contrived, although he hated Ned, and Ned hated him and the whole family, to obtain for him a Midshipman's berth! Most readers aie aware, that the cadets of the American naval service are generally young men of elegant minds and gentlemanly conduct. It is not to be supposed for a moment, they could wish for, or tolerate in their society, such a ciiamelion upstart as Ned was known to be, and, therefore, they spurned association with him. But let Ned tell this part of his own story. " It is needless for the writer to keep the run of Ned for a week or so in the city, during which time he was employed in getting- his uniform, &c., &c,, and also in making o^^cr preparations ; for, from various very at- tentive friends, he learned that the midshipmen of the frigate had met in so- lemn conclave, and resolved," that this contemptible Janus-faced youth, equally noted for his ignorance, pride, quarrelsomeness, and hypocrisy, should not disgrace them and the service by their connivance." The consequence was, that when '■ Ned," swelling in the pride of egotism and his ill-deserved promotion as a "Middy," sent down a note to the mana- ger of the " Mess," the following tart reply was promptly returned by that gentleman : " I am directed by the mess to decline the honor .'' Such was the substantial sentiment of his companions as to his character. Although his association was confined tb the sailors generally, yet his incorriq;ible and predestined character was memorialized on board of the vessel. He circu- lated lies and inuendos amongst the various members of the ship, with a se- cresy such as hatred only could mature ; and fostered quarrels amongst the crew, with a success that must have gratified his demon heart. At length, on the coast of Florida, while the officers were on shore, and the sailors ex- cited with liquor, a quarrel ensued between an Englishman and Ned — both being in a grog-shop and tipsy, at the time — which resulted in Ned, with his coward heart, watching an opportunity, and striking the unfortunate man on the back part of the head with a cutlas?, killing him on the spot ! ! Ned was taken and tried for the .-viurder, but the wretch capable of the crime, was equally capable of lying through thick and thin, or of buying himself off. This was the first murder on record by this black-hearted toad, but alas, it was but the Jirst step in his career of blood ! His future conduct while in the service, is so enormous in itself, and ap- parently so incredible, as to stagger belief; suffice it, that he found it neces- sary to witlidraw from that profession, which, were many like iiimself to grace, would degenerate into a bye-word worse than tiiat of felony or piracy. Had he remained but a short period longer, his 6'c//"-dubbed bravery would have been more severely tested than when Mr. McGowan pulled his nose for him recently in Philadelphia. Sic gloria tnvisit of " Ned Bunt- line" from the Navy, as was well remarked by a gallant oflicar in the service. " He nevek did it a greater stiaicE than isv leaving it before he was KICKED OUT," as all had become disgusted with his sensuality, his mendacity, and his brutality. THE WAY NED CAUGHT A WIFE. Excess of Pride'Jias addled his poor brain. " His own account is, that being in Havana, he made the acquaintance of Don Manuel de Candelario, who had a daughter called Dona Seberina, living in the palace of her aunt, the Countess Escudero, and that he no sooner ap- peared in his sailor's toggery, and combed red-rusty hair, than Duchess and Countess prostrated themselves before him. The above tale is one unmiti- gated falsehood, the fruit of his unconquerable vanity, as all can endorse who know him as I do. Besides, I appeal to every one who has ever seen him, whether such a creature, with a face like a bladder of lard, almost goggled- eyed, humpbacked, and red-headed, is likely to be such a Princess killer 1 Why, its really enough to set all Christendom laughing at the ludicrous con- ceit of the little hunchback! His marriage with" Seberina," who certainly was an amiable and handsome girl, was the result of his desperate fortunes, and his unscrupulous method of endeavoring to recruit them. Soured by general spite, ruined of all hope of remaining in the Navy, friendless save in the sympathies of a few row- dies, a perfect tornado of bad passions raging in his bosom, and in hopes of gratifying by the , reputed wealth of this young girl, he made vows to her with all the energy of destitution, and with all the amorousness of sensuali- ty, which she, innocent and artless, mistook for genuine passion and fell into the snare. Poor girl, little able was she to fathom that such a mercenary, deceitful, and disgusting lasciviousness, was the real cause of her bestowing her hand upon this putred monster — this legal ^prostitutor ! — who, to gain his ends, professed to become a Catholic ; yea, he clothed himself in the vile robes of hypocrisy so well, that he passed among the Catholics themselves as a saint of the first water! Such was his indecent anxiety and haste to batten on the poor girl's money, that he went and took the Sacrament'. '' Wliat a veform'd of grace Appears this moDarch of the canting race. *Ti8 said the virtues of this second Paul Brothers the pericraniums of us all." 8 FIDELITY TO HIS FIRST WIFE. " What boots it that I'm rich, Fm still a villain." What crowing and triumphing — what carousing and bragging with degra- ded companions over the victory by marriage, of his wife's little property — with what contempt he contemplated the poor girl he had tricked and cheated by the supremacy of his hypocrisy, and by the unfathomabilily of his mendacity we cannot now narrate, but will take his own version only, of his conduct after marriage : " Dulce will you go to the masquerade-ball to-night 1 " said I to my lesser- half, on a bright evening during the gayest part of the " carnival season." ", No, ray amor" answered she ; "1 aji ill this evening; don't go out to- night, but stay by my side, and let your cheering presence save a doctor's fee." " Madam, you know that 1 had made up my mind to go out in my new caballero's dress ; you are not very ill ; and I shall be dull company for you, if disappointment holds a berth in my mind. You had better consent to my going ; I will return early." " Do as you please. Sir," she responded poutingly ; "but if you neglect me thus in the first year of our mairiage, how shall 1 be treated when Time's shadow shall darken my brow and dim the light of my eyes ; when my spir- its shall droop, and my beauty fade before the wintry frosts of age V To shorten my yarn, reader, I rigged myself and went to the ball, rny heart beating a "conscience-tattoo" against its casing all the way ; for well I marked the' soft reproach which my wife's full dark eye spoke when I left her side. Having arrived at the ball' room, I mingled with the gay maskers, listened to the music, and in the sparkling wine-glass sought for excitement ; yet that perpetual drum-stick of conscience kept thumping against the parch- ment head of reflection and I could not feel happy. Dressed as attractively as possible, I sought and danced with the fairest maidens in the throng ; yet still, Thought, that nettle in life's garden, kept J03' in a distant offing, and Pleasure far in my wake. After a time a lady is selected from amid the throng and thus, the lecherous fox, grown already vulpone in countenance with the success of stolen am- ours, speaks of his new charmer : " My wife had beautifully soft, glossy curls of jet, but ihey could never compare with the black tresses of twining silk, which hung nearly to the feet of my strange chanmr. J When we had got clear of the throng, she again spoke : " ' Are you a gentleman ? — one on whom a lady may in all honor de- pend !' " I answered, that to the best of my knowledge and belief I was, and thought I might be depended upon. " ' Would you,risk your own life, or destroy that of another, for a lady, if her honor required, and her love would reward the act V " ' For one so /air, so angelic as j'ourself, 1 would risk more than life !' " A shudder seemed to pass through her form ; her little feet stamped the tesselated floor impatiently ; her fingers were clasped together until they were bloodless, as she continued : " ' Have you ever loved V ^' 1 may have felt a school boy^s passion,' I replied with assumed indifTer- ance. " ' Then you are not married V " ' I have been,' was my reply. " A^ain she showed marks of impatience and excitement, as if some great trouble rested on her mind. This 1 pressed her to reveal to me, offering every aid in my power to defend her, or even to avenge past wrong. I besought her to have confidence in my atfection, new-fledged though it was, and to test its strength, even as ' she might direct. She faltered, hesitated for a moment, and then, requesting me to await her return, hastily left the ball-room. * • « * » * * The lady afterwards asks him would he assist her in ridding the earth of a person she hated, and this is Ned's replj' : " I would slay him ! by the Hand which made me ! I would slay him as a dog that had bitten or a serpent which had stung me !" Such is a specimen of the revolting homage which this mercenary, traf- ficker in blood Land human affections, offered to a strangerj such was his conduct to the wife, that but few short weeks previously he had sworn to be faithful to; but whom lie left at home to weep and pine, while he coquetted with other women, and strutted about in the gaudy garb her marrage portion purchased ! And yet, Reading Public ! this poor souled wretch — this veno- mous reptile is ike insect that for two years past has made his dirty meals of public and private slander! We really wonder that such a Rascal from the press has not been hurled. Scorned by the good rfnd carted round the world. ILL USAGE AND DEATH OF HIS WIFE. Where'er he moves ajjliclion mourns his amity. Poor girl — poor lorsaken, desolate, heart-broken, Seberina ! Ned's infi- delities — his reproaches, his 'extravagancies, which all had for their object his own self-gratification and self-aggrandisements, became at last so offen- sively mean, and so mercilessly cruel, that her Spanish blood was roused, and she actually threatened his murder and her own assassination ! But Ned knew how to cure the blighted creature. His hideous self-love and unbridled sensualism, soon scattered to the winds her little all, and he left her alone with the gnawing, snapping fox of poverty, and an aching heart to eat into her very bowels, and shortly the damning evidences were visible. Dragged far, far away from home and kindred, a stranger to our very lan- guage, she became a denizen of a miserable, fcetid apartment, and that face, which a short time ago beamed with beauty, kindness, gentleness and love, became care-lined, hag;:ard and dejected by habitual want and habitual brutality! But that bouncing braggart — that connubial apostate— that blaspheming thing of outward observances — that hideous moral mountebank, foul and leprous within, actually sported with joy at the miserable writhings and struggling? of his now hopeless, victim! B cause, by her death he should be relieved of a burden and at liberty to look for new game — for new geese, and new feathers to pluck. Such unparalleled depravity, thank heaven, is very seldom seen among ought bearing the human form, else we ipight truly blush for our race, and consider redemption as impossible. Poor Seberina ! deserted and spurned, she sat in her almost empty apart- ment, a being sacred in her very misery, glorified in her very desolation — divine, by the very meekness evinced by the betrayal of woman's most 10 sacred affections. Yes, although daily want and misery had anticipated her age, she seemed to her poor neighbors a divinity in her martyrdom, and ex- cited so much sympathy for her condition that a subscription was set on foot in Nashville, to send her home to Florida ! To make the story short, she died ere assistance could be collected to send her back to that home of her youth. She never again saw that father of her heart — that mother of her love — more horrible than all, she died giv- ing birth to another being, which luckily never opened its eyes after the mother's were closed in death. She died alone ! among strangers ! her husband revelling amongst the pariahs of the city — aye, while the ulcer of death was eating his poor wife's heart, was he a pattern of all that is loath- some in name, and indescribable in print, but which will be referred to in another chapter. His victim is no more ! She had often declared, the church-porch had been the entrance to her tomb — the bridal ring had wed- ded her to the worms. " Some women die so slowly, that none dare call it murder," therefore^l shall not call the above tit-bit of tyranny, brutal spite and callous heart- lessness. Murder, but the climax remains to be told. Nero fiddling while Rome was burning, is nothing to it. Ned heard a subscription was on foot to send his wife home, he watched from a distance its fulfillment, and hear- ing of her death, and imagining her in possession of the collection money, he hastened to the house of his dead wife and child, literally plundered the corpses and decamped ! ! ! I will not dwell upon this most unheard-of and most melancholy exhibi- tion of brutality. The funereal scene of woe, in its best form, is dreadful enough to the general reader, but a wife and child sacrificed to the demon of brutality and heartlessness, is an awful spectacle — fit only for the hellish imagination that conceived, and the fiend who executed it. NASHVILLE TRAGEDY. The marble-hearted fiend. The foregoing chapter may contain statements about our Moral Refor- mer, which v/ill stagger credibility, but, alas! all is cabable of ample proof. Ned's career, hitherto, is one of disobedience, lying, murder, desertion, and death. Flis annals, a memorial of deceit, self-gratification, and self-aggran- disement — that, to obtain these, he sticks at no meanness, no fraud, no as- sumption, no arrogance, and no cruelty. While proclaiming virtue as his peculiar attribute, none so licentious; assuming the mien of candor, none so hypocritical ; pretending an utter carelessness of wordly riches, I will shortly show that, under the rose, he is the very demon of cupidity, and that his pre- tended generosity is a Selusion and a snare. The hideous portrait of Hhe freature hitherto described, is but an incom- plete skeleton sketch of his varied and unparalleled career. It is as a Pub- lic Teacher of Morals, that fairly puts a climax upon all comparison, and displays this miscreant in bold bas-relief. These initiatory chapters simply show that Ned's nature is essentially bad, and the fruits are consistent with the tree that bears them. Void of all principle, destitute of every virtuous feeling, he suffers no restraint but that of policy, in the audacious pursuit of self-indulgence. It scarcely seems possible that the man who caused the horrid scene in the last chapter could again look in the face of heaven — in the face of his fellow 11 ■man ! [t seems fictional tliat this reptile in sovil did not, after the murder of an angel wife and child, crawl like a snake to the grave on the dust. — Not he ! While hi? wife was perishins:, he, as a '■ Reformer," was actually publisiiing a paper, trathcking upon black mail, and enjoying the piquancy of a new seduction. His shamelessness ir this case, like all others of this blood-stained wolf, must be ended in blood ! After" boasting the seduction of Mr. Porterfield's wife he finished the tragedy by murdering the husband! But let us quote from the papers on the subject. NED BUNTLINE'S MORALITY!! Particulars of the Porterjield Traqedij at Js'ashviile ! — Si/pposed Criminal- ity with .Vrs Porterjield — Killing of her husband by Buntline — Buntline\s narrow escape from the excited populace — Fearful leap from the third story of the hotel — His seizure by the mob — Forcitly taken from the prison, and hanged in the public square — ^Miraculous escape, SfC, &c. We took occasion, last week, to allude to the Nashville tragedy, in which Ned Buntline bore so conspicuous a part — we now furnish our readers with the particulars of that affair, and they will, after reading it be better enabled to judge of this person's qualifications to improve the morals of the commu- nity of New York. The following account was published in the newspa- pers at the time of the occurrence : — " In our paperTof Tuesday, we copied an extract from the Nashville Ga- zette, of an afl'ray which occurred there on Saturday last, between Mr. Robert Porterfield, a worthy citizen of that place, and one E. Z. C. Judson, (Ned Buntline,) in which the former was killed. The last Nashville Whig gives a detailed account of the whole affair. We make a few extracts from it : — " Robert Porterfield, whose untimely death a whole community is now deploring, having learned that Judson had stated that he had criminal inter- course with his, Porterfield's wife, sought an interview with the latter on Wednesday last in presence of several individuals, to one of whom it was said, J. had made the statement. That individual, when asked in J.'s pre- sence, if such a statement had been mide to him by J., promptly answered in the affirmative. J. strenuously denied it, but Porterfield, placing no con- fidence i?i his denial, drew a pistol, and would have shot him on the spot had he not been prevented from doing so by those who were present. On the eveninj' of the day on which this interview took place, the individual at whose office it was held, made known to Mr. John Porterfield, brother of the deceased, that prior to the interview, J. had called upon him and co7ifcssed that he had made the statement in question to the individual about to be brought forward as a witness, but that for the purpose of saving his life, which he knew would be taken by the Porterfield's, if the fact were proven upon him, he intended to deny ever havimx said anything of the land. Both the Messrs. Porterfield became entirely satisfied that J. had made the infamous statement charged upon him, and we are informed upon reliable authority, that there cannot be a doubt of his having made it. " Notwithstanding this, however, the all'air might have been dropped here, but for the fact that on Friday, Judson and Mrs. Porterfield were known to be alone together for a considerable time at the graveyard in the vicinity of the town. When this circumstance was revealed to her unfortunate husband, he fell to the floor as if a ball had penetrated his heart. He was of a singu- larly amiable and confiding disposition, and devotedly sittached to his wife. '• In this frame of body and mind he proposed fo his brother, John Por- terfield, on Saturday about half past three o'clock, to take a walk, without any expectation, it is seriousl}' believed, of meeting with J. Unfortunately, however, they met with J. near the Sulphur Spring-, when a rencontre im- mediately took place. Judson took an opportunity when Robert Porter- field's head was turned, to shoot him just along side of the occipital bone, the bullet passing out of the right eye, of which wound Mr. Porter field died that night about 11 o'clock. ;,'B" The news, that Judson had killed Porterfield soon spread like wildfire. The public mind, roused up to a pitch of deep and maddening excitement, was in a condition to be thrown ott its balance. "A large crowd soon collected in and round the Court House where J., who had been immediately apprehended, was brought before the examining Court. The ('ourt was in the act of preparing an order for his committal to jail, when J. Porterfield, frantic at his brother's death and injuries, made his appearance in the. court room, and the cry burst forth from the crowd, 'Make way for John Porterfield — let him kill Judson! ' "The Sheriff Lanier, who was in the clerk's box, where also was Judson, sprang forward and met Porterfield, who had jumped over the railing and behind the bar, about midway between the railing and the box, seized, and with the aid of one of his assistants, held him for some moments, Porterfield struggling violently to release himself from their grasp. This he finally effected by the aid of some friend, who overpowered the Sheriff, and, draw- ing a pistol, commenced filing at Judson, who started in a run out of the house, Porterfield following in close pursuit, and firing at him as often as occasion would permit, down the steps, across from the Court House to the City Hotel, and up the steps of the staircase of the hotel. One or two gen- tlemen endeavored to aid Judson in escaping to the hotel, but Porterfield and his friends followed so closely in pursuit that they were compelled to retire, and Judson, in hopes of effecting his escape, jumped, or more pro- bably, swung himself off from the portico of the third story, and fell to the ground stunned by the fall. " Here we most sincerely wish we could end our painful narrative. But it is not permitted to us. About 10 o'clock that night, a considerable num- ber of persons, among whom, we are informed, were a /lumber of our most respectable citizens, still laboring under the intense excitement which the occurrences of the day hnd produced, proceeded to the jail, and against the remonstrances and in defiance of the jailor, possessed themselves of the keys, grasped Judson, and proceeded with him to the public square with the avowed intention of hanging him. This, however, was not done. The rope, it is said, with which it was attempted to hang him, broke. We suspect it was intentionally cut. Reason had by this time begun to re- sume its sway, and Judson was finally carried back to jail and delivered into the hands of the keeper by the same party wlio had taken him out. His situation, we understand, is somewhat precarious, rendered so by the bruises he received, and possibly from some internal injury, occasioned by his fall from the portico." " Me cheated the linngman sadly one day ; That (lay he escaped the gallows doom, lie cheated the devil liimaelf, I say, Who thought of his soul to maUea prey. Butiio Boul had the rogue to be borne away." What more need we say to the above ? His hand against every man, and every man's hand against him; as usual, he fled from the city deeply in debt, deeper in dishonor, and, did his dim-eyed vanity but see with the spectacles of truth, he would find his soul spotted with the crimson blood of the English 13 sailor; Seberina and her babe ; Mr. Potierfield's Wool also glistpning on his hands; while the widow, with character siainH, reputation blackened, and her husband festering in his giave, points with bloodless fiinger to the butcher who TET walks the earth under the gaib of a reformer ! Kead the following letter to Mr. Graham from an eye witness : NASHVILLE, TENN. J\'ed Bunllines career at jVashville — T/ie allenml Seduction nf Portcrfield's wife by him. The SAootin": affair and death of Portcrjidd. — Lynch Law applied to Buntline. — Miraculutis escape from extraordinary peril. Is'as-uvjlle, Tenn. April 'lOth, tSlg. "C. G.Graham, Es