Excerpt from Historical Sketch of Charles S. Hempstead Mr. Hempstead was a true and brave man, a man pure and without reproach, fearing God and discharging every public and private duty with scrupulous exactness; he united benevolence with true piety, and in him patriotism was sublimated to the highest degree. In the words of Scripture, he has been blessed in all his generation. Missouri met with an irreparable loss when his son Edward Hempstead died. No man could have stood higher in pub lic or private estimation, and had he lived he would have received every honor that the State could bestow, and would certainly have been the first. United States Senator. He lost his life in serving a friend, Mr. Scott. I was with lum the night of his death Here he paused a moment, as ifin thought, and then continued abruptly, r r Sir, how we did things in those days! After being up with my dead friend all night, I went to my office in the morning to refresh myself a little before going out to bury him five miles from the town. While sitting at my table writing, a man brought me a challenge to fight a duel. I told the bearer instanter, I accept; but I must now go and bury a dead friend: that is my first duty, after that is discharged I will fight, to night, if possible; if not, to-morrow morning at day-break. I accept your challenge, sir, and Col lawless will write the acceptance and fix the terms for me. I was outraged, sir. That the challenge should have been sent when I was burying a friend. I thought it might have been kept a few days, but when it came, I was ready for it. In this interview with co1. Benton, I was so strongly impressed by his forcible language, the touching tribute he paid to his friend and his characteristic manner, that when I returned to mv room I put down his words in_ writing as I quote them to you now. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.