1848 Louisiana Manuscript Document re: Government Job and Duels - Rare For Sale

1848Louisiana Manuscript Document re: Government Job and Duels - Rare

Offered for yourconsideration is a manuscript job application stating that the applicant hasnot engaged in dueling practices. Headlined “De Soto Parish / Stateof Louisiana”, this document states that “I, William Long do Solemnly swearthat I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the dutiesincumbent on me as Deputy Clerk of the District Court in and for the Parish ofDe Soto, according to the best of my abilities and understanding agreeably tothe Constitution and laws of the United States and of this State,”. Thetext continues “and I do solemnly swear that since the adoption of the presentConstitution, I being a citizen of this State have not fought a duel with deadlyweapons within this State nor out of it with a citizen of this State, nor haveI sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons with acitizen of this State nor have I acted as a second in carrying a challenge oraided, advised, or assisted any person thus offending So help me God.”.It is signed at the conclusion by “Wm. Long”, followed by the statementthat it was “Sworn to & Subscribed before me on this 15th day of May,A. D. 1848.”, with the me being “J. E. Cunningham / Justiceof the Peace”. The verso bears three notations, all on one panel whenfolded for storage. One of these states that this is the “Oath of William / Long /as/ DeputyClerk”, the second indicates that it was “Filed May 15th 1848/ M. W. Holman / Recorder”, while the third lists thebook that it was filed in. The references to dueling discussed in this documentis quite unusual, though given the area of the country that this piece comesfrom, it may be more common than in others. A great piece to display with anillustration of a duel.

The presently offereddocument exhibits signs of expected period use, followed by years of relativelygood long term storage. Light toning or fading is present across the entiresurface, the toning being more pronounced at the edges and along the folds. Thetext is accomplished in standard iron gall ink on what was probably light blue orgray paper (it now appears grayish-green). All of the edges are ragged andirregular, the one at the left seeming to have been torn from a book. Minorpaper loss and tears at the folds are noted, with a few of the words havingbeen affected. Three horizontal folds are present, done at the time for ease ofstorage. These folds have caused some weakness to the paper, as well as thealready noted tears and loss. This document measures approximately 8¼ x 13¼,with the text covering about half of the total length. A very unusual documentreferencing a rarely spoken of topic.