From the Richmond Dispatch, 8/18/1864, p.1, c. 5
Examination for Dueling. – Yesterday morning Messrs. Henry R. Pollard, of the Examiner, and Edward C. Elmore, late Confederate States Treasurer, arrested Tuesday evening on the charge of being about to engage in a duel with deadly weapons, were brought before the Mayor to answer the offence. Hon. Humphrey Marshall appeared as the counsel for Mr. Elmore, and Hon. Patrick Henry Aylett acted in the same capacity for Mr. Pollard. The Mayor, on calling the case, explained why it was that he had refused on the evening of the arrest to admit Mr. Elmore to bail. He stated that after Mr. Elmore had been taken into custody he learned that he had shot Mr. Daniel in a duel on that day, which act constituted a felony, and therefore, he considered that the law in such cases necessitated committal. Mr. Pollard had been arrested and admitted to bail not on account of any offence he had committed; but for the purpose of preventing a hostile meeting which it was apprehended was about to take place between himself and Mr. Elmore. After this explanation, Messrs. George W. Butler, J. Marshall Hanna, and Dr. A. E. Petticolas were examined as witnesses for the Commonwealth.
Mr. Butler, on being sworn, stated that he knew nothing of his own knowledge about the duel. – From a conversation with Mr. Elmore, he had learned that a fight had taken place between Mr. Daniel and himself with pistols, and that Mr. Daniel had been struck; but that he did not ascertain where or at what hour it came off.
Mr. Hanna only knew of the duel from hearsay; learned about seven o’clock Tuesday morning that fight had taken place, and that Mr. Daniel was wounded, but had not seen him since the duel.
Dr. Petticolas concluded the examination. He stated, under a protest that he might implicate himself, that Mr. Daniel was wounded, and that he received his wound about two miles, or thereabouts north of the city, west of the Central railroad, and about fifty yards north of a county road which runs west from the toll-gate on the Mechanicsville road to the Brook turnpike.
At this point the counsel raised the question of the Mayor’s jurisdiction, and claimed that the shooting, according to Dr. Petticolas’s testimony, had taken place more than a mile beyond the corporate limits, in the county of Henrico.
The Mayor then examined Messrs. Washington Gill and Thomas M. Lass as to the locality of the place of meeting, who decided that it was at a point beyond his jurisdiction; whereupon Mr. Elmore was sent to a county justice for examination.
This case being disposed of, so far as the Mayor was concerned, Mr. Aylett asked that, as Mr. Pollard’s name had not been mentioned in connection with the duel, he might be discharged. This was objected to by his Honor, who stated that upon information received from certain parties he had good reason to believe that arrangements were being made for a fight between Mr. Elmore and Mr. Pollard, but that in the absence of witnesses who had been relied on to prove that fact, he should continue the matter till this morning, and in the meantime would admit Mr. Pollard to bail in the sum of two thousand dollars for his appearance. The required surety was given.
After the Mayor had passed the case of Mr. Elmore from his control, he left the court-room in company with his counsel and the witnesses in search of a county magistrate, but did not succeed in finding one till nearly night, when Justice Riddick happened to be at home as they drove up; but it was then too late to go into an examination, and Mr. Elmore was bailed for his appearance on Saturday at the county court-house.