Clement Vallandigham was in the middle of demonstrating how another man might have accidentally killed himself — then he accidentally killed himself.
Library of CongressClement Vallandigham
Clement Vallandigham always believe in predestination .
“ I may , however , be mistaken , ” hesaideven on his deathbed , “ but I am a unfaltering believer in that good erstwhile Presbyterian philosophy of predestination . ” Of naturally , the cause that he was on his deathbed was that he ’d just by chance shot himself while in the process of demonstrating how another mankind may have unexpectedly shot himself .
Library of CongressClement Vallandigham
It was July 1871 and former congressman Clement Vallandigham was working as a attorney in Lebanon , Ohio , defending Thomas McGehan , who was accused of kill a piece named Tom Myers during a saloon brawl . One night at the outset of the test , Vallandigham sought to prove out his defensive structure , which suggested that McGehan had n’t shot Myers , but that Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing his own pistol .
After conducting some ballistics trial that night , Vallandigham and his fellow begin back to the hotel . “ Val . , there are three shot in your pistol yet , ” one of his companionssaid , “ you had well discharge them . ”
“ What for ? , ” Vallandigham replied .
“ To prevent any accident . You might film yourself . ”
“ No danger of that . I have carried and practised with shooting iron too farseeing to be afraid to have a pissed one in my pocket . ”
And , indeed , the pistol in his pouch did n’t go off — not right then anyway . The serviceman made it back to the hotel , whereupon Vallandigham arrange the loaded handgun down on a table next to an unloaded pistol that had been used earlier in royal court .
Vallandigham then essay to shew for some fellow lawyers how Myers could have by chance shot himself while drawing his handgun . He by chance lifted the loaded pistol from the table , put it into his pocket , pull it back out , and leave it pointed at his abdomen .
“ There , ” he said , “ that ’s the way Myers reserve it . ” Then his hired man touched the induction , there was a flash , and he cried out , “ My God , I ’ve shot myself ! ”
Over the next 12 or so hours , Vallandigham lay mortally hurt as friends , reporters , doctors , and onlookers filtered in and out in an attempt to facilitate and comfort him , but to picayune avail , as the smoke could not be found . Even McGehan was escorted in from his cubicle and reportedly hollo upon see the scene .
McGehan was soon acquitted and dress free . After all , Vallandigham may have died in the process , but he did prove this theory . Nevertheless , McGehan himself died four geezerhood later — in a saloon shooting not unlike the one of which he ’d been exonerated . Perhaps there was something to Clement Vallandigham ’s belief in foreordination all along .
As for Vallandigham ’s own singular end , it receives less attention than you might suppose today . His prescribed congressional biography , for example , statesonly , “ died in Lebanon , Ohio , June 17 , 1871 . ”
What that biography likewise polish over is Vallandigham ’s disputatious tenure in the House of Representatives between 1858 and 1863 , during which prison term he spoke out against Abraham Lincoln , go the anti - Civil War “ Copperhead ” faction , advocated for states ’ rights on the yield of slavery , made countless supportive approach to the Confederacy , and even attempted to shape his own before the state of war ended .
In the last years of the war , Vallandigham met with a Confederate spokesperson in an endeavour to form a “ Northwest Confederacy ” that would see Ohio , Kentucky , Indiana , and Illinois overthrow their governments and secede from the Union . However , the plan fail , Vallandigham withdrew from political relation , and went back to Ohio . And within a few years , Clement Vallandigham was dead by his own bridge player .
After this look at Clement Vallandigham , see the infamous footage ofFranz Reichelt , the human who died testing his homemade parachute by jumping off the Eiffel Tower . Then , see the equally ill-famed footage ofR. Budd Dwyer , the politician who shot himself in front of tv cameras .
