BETWEEN THE REV. MR. ALLEN AND L. DULANY, ESQ.
June 26, 1782.
Died, in Park-street, Grosvenor-square, Lloyd Dulany, Esq., a gentleman
of a most respectable character, and large property in Maryland.
His death is said to be occasioned by a wound which he received on
Tuesday evening last, in a duel with the Rev. Mr. Allen, in Hyde Park.
The second of the former was —— Delancey, Esq.; and of the latter,
Robert Morris, Esq. He was attended by Dr. Millman, and Messrs. Pott and
Adair. The magistrates of Bow-street having advertised a reward of ten
guineas each, for the apprehension of the Rev. Mr. Allen, and Robert
Morris, Esq., they were, in consequence, apprehended, and committed to
Tothill-fields Bridewell.
July 6, 1782.
Yesterday the Rev. Mr. Allen surrendered himself at the Sessions’ House,
in the Old Bailey, when he and Robert Morris, Esq., were indicted for
the “wilful murder” of Lloyd Dulany, Esq.
Mr. Justice Buller, in his charge to the jury, observed, that the case
before them consisted of two parts, law and fact. As to law, there is
not, nor ever was a doubt, that where two persons meet together
deliberately to fight a duel, and one of them is killed, the other is
guilty of “murder,” and his second likewise. In respect to the fact, he
stated that the quarrel arose from a circumstance of three years’
standing. A paragraph called, “Characters of Principal Men in
Rebellion,” published in the Morning Post, June 29, 1779, referred to
the first and fifth of July, the same year, and now recognised by the
prisoner Allen, in a letter proved to be his handwriting, avowing
himself the author of those characters, retorting the charge of “liar
and assassin,” upon the deceased; telling him he did not mean to dispute
with, but to punish him; and if he (the deceased) harboured any
resentment or revenge, the bearer (Morris) would put him in the way of
securing its immediate execution. This brought on sundry verbal
messages, and at last, on the 18th of June, a meeting of Mr. Dulany, Mr.
Delancey his second, and Mr. Morris; from which they went to Mr.
Wogden’s, gun-maker, to get Mr. Allen’s pistols charged; and about
half-past nine in the evening, after measuring eight yards, discharged
their pistols, when the deceased fell.
Mr. Delancey said that Mr. Morris repeatedly urged deferring the duel to
the next day.
One Lydia Lepine deposed, that she saw the prisoner Allen shooting at a
mark, in a field near Blackfriars’ Bridge, with pistols, between eleven
and twelve o’clock, on the 18th of June. Her master and his son
confirmed the fact; but could not swear positively to the person. His
Lordship concluded with observing, that a mistaken point of honour was
not to bias the judges and the jury in such a case.