calsfoundation@cals.org
April 28, 1878
In the long newspaper war conducted between the Arkansas Gazette (then the Daily Arkansas Gazette) and the Arkansas Democrat, the Gazette called James Newton (J. N.) Smithee “too light a weight” to threaten the Arkansas Democrat’s place in the community. The continued criticism eventually led to a duel between Gazette owner John D. Adams and Democrat owner Smithee. The Smithee-Adams Duel has been described as “the last duel fought in Arkansas.”