The ball had
dropped out of the assassin's pistol. So Sevier reached
Morgantown in safety and was deposited in care of the sheriff,
who was doubtless cautioned to take a good look at the prisoner
and know him for a dangerous and a daring man.
There is a story to the effect that, when Sevier was arraigned in
the courthouse at Morgantown and presently dashed through the
door and away on a racer that had been brought up by some of his
friends, among those who witnessed the proceedings was a young
Ulster Scot named Andrew Jackson; and that on this occasion these
two men, later to become foes, first saw each other. Jackson may
have been in Morgantown at the time, though this is disputed; but
the rest of the tale is pure legend invented by some one whose
love of the spectacular led him far from the facts. The facts are
less theatrical but much more dramatic. Sevier was not arraigned
at all, for no court was sitting in Morgantown at the time.* The
sheriff to whom he was delivered did not need to look twice at
him to know him for a daring man. He had served with him at
King's Mountain. He struck off his handcuffs and set him at
liberty at once. Perhaps he also notified General Charles
McDowell at his home in Quaker Meadows of the presence of a
distinguished guest in Burke County, for McDowell and his brother
Joseph, another officer of militia, quickly appeared and went on
Sevier's bond.
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