He brought an umbrella to a knife fight.
In this episode of Atlanta storiesPart of our series of ATLANTA History Iron and ambitionWe return to 1848 – once the political insults have had real consequences.
When the judge of the Superior Court of Georgia, Francis Cone, described Alexander Stephens as “traitor”, he was not taken lightly. Stephens, known as “Little Alex”, a few days earlier, had publicly published the brothers he hit the cone to insult him. A few days later, in a hotel in Atlanta, Cone and Stephens had a fortuitous meeting and, faithful to his word, Stephens, armed with a cane, struck the cone. Cone had no cane, but he had a knife. What happened and almost changed the political history of Georgia forever.
Look at what’s going on when politics becomes personal – this week Atlanta stories.
Note: In the video, Francis Cone is described as a judge from the Supreme Court of Georgia. He was in fact a judge of the Superior Court of Georgia. In addition, in this video, Alexander Stephens would have used his umbrella as a weapon. The accounts differ on this issue. Stephens may have used a walking stick. Anyway, he obviously brought the bad weapon to a knife fight.
