Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1845-12-25


turn, and by dinner time our pocket books
had disgorged to the tune of two hundredand
| fifty dollars. This was big hole into my
finances. | felt excited almost to madness
at my losses, and determined, so soon as |
: Swallowed my dinner, to play higher and
: take the chances of coming out even or
losing more; but fortunately my preclpitan-
; cy was checked by the kind interposition
, of the captain of the boat, who, seeing my
: situation, informed me that | was in the
f hands of two of the most notorious
gamblers who travelled the river, and that
g, if continued to play, they would, to mo-
f raj certainty, strip me of every cent had.
n With this information, ] saw at once how
: had been cheated and congratulated myself
t that had come off no worse. | reached
the place in safety had selected for my To-
: cation. 1t was thriving little town in the
\ far-west, where the people, though not the
most civilized ever saw, yet were justly
styled go-ahead- kum-down-and-drag-
out set of sqnatters. They were truly, in
!, appearance, like Rocky Mountain bears,
yet possessed noble hearts and ingenious
dispositions There was one thing | did
not like, and that was the extremes to which
they carried their code of honor. was
] told that a man to succeed there at anything
!, must first show his pluck. To be thought
a coward was at once to lose all respect and
be despiSed. .e~
| pretty soon after my arrival found &C
commodations, opened law office, and
hung out my signy painted in large gilt let
tiers, "JoEL NoNsUCH, attorney and COun-
sellor at LaaU." Not many weeks had
rolled by when one day, as was in. the
bar room of small tavern talking with some
} gentlemen, man came in damning the cleo
ton which had just taken place and pro-
nouncing the party to which belonged as
being composed of a set of villainous swim
dlers, rascals, and liars He raved for some
time, when laughingly commenced to diff
fer with him in opinion, and told him !
! thought he was too violent At this he
ragged the more and called me scoundfel.
! NV delicate sense could not stand an in
suit so gross, and, by way of return, let him
have my fist between the eyes. A scuffie
now ensued, but we were soon separated
by the bystanders. The next day a gentle
man waited upon me with challenge from
the man had the day before got the better
of with NATURES weapons. Policy told me
| must fight, though it went much against
the grain. was a good deal alarmed, too,
as my antagonist had killed his man, and
was considered great duelist However
/ thought man has to die but once in this
life and accepted the challenge. Having the
right to choose weapons, | selected short
rifles, as with that species of fire arms was
more experienced than any other. All pre-
liminaries having been settled, and picking
up an old trapper who acted as my second,
| went upon the field. The distance we
fought was eighty yards. The first fire no
damage was done except little dirt thrown
into my face by my antagonists ball. He
was now asked if he was satisfied, TO which
he replied in the negative. This confess
caused a chill to run through my system, as
| felt relieved after the first round Nothing
must do but to load up again and take our
positions. With few suggestions from
my second how to adjust the rifle, at the
word fire, bIazed away, and as the smoke
curld from before my eyes, what did | be-
hold my antagonist stretched out at full
length weltering in his gore. The ball had
penetrated the left breast, and he expired in
few minutes. This duel created consider
able excitement in the neighborhood. From
being a stranger without friends, | soon found
my self surrounded by many land could learn
that was spoken of as brave and clever
i fellow. A short time after this occurrence
| was visited by my first client. He was a
grizzly-bearded old fellow of rather an ir-
ritable disposition, and seemed to be willing
to spend every cent sooner than to have
what he conceived to be his rights violated.
He commenced stating his case, WHICH was
achole-hog story He told me he knew
his hog from pig, and every mark about it;
that his daughter Sally had riz it in the
kitchen upon slops until it was big enough
to run out.
"Now," says he, "Mr Lyyer, the fact is
list this, some five or six weeks afore last
!, Christmas, missed my hog and couldn't
find him high nor low; SO going along one
day through neighbor jones' plantation, jist
afore hog-killing time, stopped at his pen
to look at the hogs he had up fattenin', and
I I'll be chawed up by varmints if there wasn't
my hog, as fat as he could waller, know
ed the minute ! clapped these peppers on
him, cause why, you see, there was long
black spot on his nose, two tight curls in
his tail, (for he was of 'ticular breed, J
! little black and sand y spots all over his