New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-09-12


ent, also. We two only will enter the sheuse,
armed each with q bowie-knife or dagger at our
option. Our friends will lock the door from the
outside, swearing first on the Holy Gospels to
leave US alone for the space Of twenty-five min
utes. Are you agreed ~ s2as pc
But the house to which you refers'' sug-
gested Stevens, g has not been inhabited for
eight years. The window and doors are exceed
ingly strong, almost half covered with bars of
iron, and are, moreover, securely fastened. 80
that we can not possibly gain admission There
fore it would be best TO name seme other place.
81 have the key. said the youth; e ara you
satisfied" -
/ ssI am" 4-'
At this answer Of the desperate, the Young
man, without uttering another word, turned
upon his heel and left the roopa; and mounting
his horse, which had been hitched near the gro
Gerry door, rode slowly off in an easterly direc-
ton.
The runner Of this strange challenge and PROS
pective duel few around the neighboring cofn-
try like the wind, and two hours before the
appointed time large crowd Of spectators we're
assembled, eager to witness the expected scene
lt was night without moon or stars, Of q
thick pitchy darkness, with drizzle OF light
sifted rain from the ebon clouds low-lying over
head. The spectators carried in their hands
long torches made Of rich pine knots, whose red,
glaring fustre reflected among the green boughs
OF, the dense surrounding grove; and the cfus-
tering vines that were intertwined with their
luxuriant foliage all over the lonely walls and
moldering roof Of the old building presented q
scene at once picturesque and savage.
Ten minutes before twelve o'clock, Stevens,
accompanied by chosen second, arrived. His
countenance was flushed his nerves were trsnn-
ulous, and his whole air and demeanor gave
evidence Of the high excitement under which he
was laboring. He appeared to be intoxicated.
ot1 IA
Minute after minute rolled ON, and still he did
not come. The spectators looked disappointed.
They thought themselves In danger Of losing
their promised sport.
1t was three minutes till twelve. Stevens
stood with his fine gold repeater in his hand,
gazing ON the slow moving index that glitsered
beneath the polished crystal with the most in-
tense anxiety. At last both hands were per-
pendicular, one above the other, and directly
over the figures XII. Asneering smile played
around his coarse features, and he said aloud:
IS am here at the time; but where is he ~
Hardly had the last words died ON his Lips,
when a loud voice from the old house shouted in
a clear, reverberating tone: g Heret" A key
grated in the rusty lock, the bolt was drawn
back, the door opened with harsh ereaking
noise on its hinges, and the stranger stepped
from the sill. .,5.sz -. " 3z.s fss,s.aq
We pause minute, to survey his friend, who
was by his side He was q stranger also;
man Of Herculean size, and exceedingly wild
aspect. His hair was long, coal black, and
straight as an Indians. His skin was smartly
sun burned, almost copper -colored, His face
and forehead, a huge mass Of bones, sharply
projecting and repulsively ugly; and his dark
eye flashed rays that seemed sparks Of fire to
scorch the beholder. ,a ssas s ~
| The arrangements were Immediately made
for the duel. The stranger stripped off his coat,
vest and shirt, and tied red silk handkerchief
around his waist. His weapon was a single
long dagger, not very broad, but keen as
razor, and double-edged His other arms he
handed to his friend. The weapon of Stevens
was an enormous bowie knife, heavy as the war
club of O savage.
The stranger exacted an oath from the Sec
onds, that after the two foes entered the house,
| they would neither open the door themselves
nor suffer any one else to open it. 1t was also.
agreed that all the spectators who bore torches
| should retire some twenty PAGES from the house,
80 that no ray of light might penetrate through
the crevices in the wall to illuminate, however
feebly, the deadly gloom within. M tass
| All the preliminaries being thus adjusted, the
combatants were placed by their seconds. in
opposite corners of the room, when the latter
Withdrew, locked the door, and left the foes
alone with death. ts al Is i5sirr!!sacl
| At first they both stopped down, and stealth
lily united and laid off their shoes. SO as to make
/
thought had struck them at the same time-to
maneuver for the advantage. gs51 1a5sstEs
| The young stranger moved in circle, and
softly as cat around the room, till he got
within four feet of the corner where his enemy
had been first placed. He then paused to listen
For few seconds he heard nothing in the grave
like silence but the quick beats of his own heart
But presently there crept into his ear q scarcely
| audible sound, as of suppressed breathing. in
the opposite corner of the room, which he had
just left. His foe was trying the same strata
gem. The maneuger was repeated several times
by both, and with a like result. AT length the
youth concluded to stand still, and await the
/ approach of his adversary. Motionless now
himself, and all ear; q soft noise, like the drop
ping of flakes Of wool, became distinctly audible,
and slowly approached him. When the sound
appeared about three feet from where he stood,
he suddenly made a bounding plunge. with his
dagger aimed in the air where he supposed the
bosom of his foe to be. Stevens, at the time,
was stopped forward, thus seeking for the adj
vantage, and the point of the dagger blade, by
a singular fatality, perforated his left eye and
pierced deep in the brain. He fell with a dula
Il heavy sound on the floor. He had fought his
4 last battle.
The seconds waited with breath1ess anxiety
until the expiration of the twenty-five minutes.
They then unlocked the door, and the crowd
n rushed in with their Pickering torches. A most
i, hideous spectacle presented itself. There lay
the CORY trunk of Stevens, the head severed
from the body, and placed as if in savage mock.
cry on the breast of the dead, and there was
still sticking in the bloody right eye, the fatal
! two-edged dagger, almost up to the hilt in the
now soulless brain! The stranger was stand
/ ing in the middle of the room, with large
f hawk bill pocket knife in his hand, stained
with reeking gore, with which he had evidently
5 performed the work of decapitation On his
face was still the same look, and the same mel.
ancholy smile. He seemed in fact to be con.
scious Of nothing save his own dreamy thought
} that wandered through wide eternity.
The spectators crowded with mute counter
ances of horror around the mutilated corpse
' and for moment lost sight of the living foe.
till maddened at the lamentable sight, some ONT
D cried out g Arrest the murderert'' And al
t | the crowd cried; 'sSeize him-seize him!
They turned to seize him; but both he and hi
l second had disappeared, and were no where Il
' be seen. Neither was ever afterwards heard o
j in that region of the world z HEs''
Eighteen months ago I met them both at Sal
4 Antonio, in Texas. The acquaintance was aeei
dental, and formed under peculiar circumstance
L that gave me their full confidence, and, accord
: ingly. / received from them a clear and com
plete narration Of the facts herein before related
most of which had previously learned from
: witnesses of the transaction Their history
4 since that dreadful combat has been deeply