The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 5, number 3, March 1922

              wisconsin's saddest tragedy 279 of venue granted they permitted the case to come to trial at the ensuing term of court of the actual trial i have found but one contemporary description written by a correspondent of the new york tribune.14 the writer who purports to be a traveler in the west gives a sufficiently spirited picture of the scene dwelling particularly upon the conduct of strong the jury he says from which every man giving outward signs of intelligence was rejected was such a group as could not have been matched this side of botany bay most of the article is devoted to an account of strong's speech for the defendant it relates that before commencing the address he had a pitcher of whiskey placed upon the table before him from which as he proceeded he drank long and frequently so that before the speech was half concluded he reeled to and fro like a drunken man the truth of this story was denied by strong but the incident fixed upon him a colorful sobriquet which he tried in vain to live down and for years he was known as the knight of the pitcher from the vantage point of eighty years detachment the vineyard-arndt affair is chiefly interesting for the light it sheds upon the ideals and practices of society in pioneer wisconsin it is easy now to perceive that vineyard and arndt were alike common victims of conditions for which they as individuals had but slight responsibility today it would be inconceivable that a member of con gress or of our state legislature should carry a loaded gun to the sessions and with it in the heat of sudden anger blot out the life of a fellow member and friend in 1842 however dueling was still a well-known custom in the united states and personal affrays between men of stand ing in the community were a recognized feature of life in the lead-mine region of wisconsin vineyard was a kentuckian who had been transplanted to the lead mines 14 issue of november 4 1843