The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-03-05

me till Gabriel toots his horn.
"Well, Saturday came, and will, NV old
rifle III number one order, ] started for the
grocery. There was about thirty fellows
thar. all with thar rifles in apple.pie order
and all hankcring to git shoot for that
gallon of wl'iskey. 'rwant long afore the
shootin' commenced. was about the fust
one TO shoot, and, as usual, druy centre.
Everybody had shot except Levcnribs, and
nobody had tetcl'ed wy shot yit. but when
hevenr'bs come to shoot, lie nut l,is ball in
the same hole mine had made. So him
and me had TO shoot agin. We shot Sec
ond time, and both pIummed the centre
agln; and we kept slootin,' and twas the
same thing every time. The crowd hcgan
to gel awfully excited, for tl.ay was fourteen
on my side and fourteen on his'n, and they
WAS a hollcyn' and takin' on at n terrible
rate, and hcttin everything they could raise.
Onc fellow on 'totlicr side, swore he'd risk
one head Of horse on his man, and every
one OF my men, that could raise a crittcr.
took linn up nfore lie lad tile wos,ls out of
his mouth. By-md-hy, seen that Lcvcn.
ribs was beginning To get - little excited,
and then knowed Id git him, though twas
as much as coald do to keep cool myself.
Well, We had shot more than forty shots
apiece, and, ut last, Levcnribs missed centre
just about the width Of lar, and sucl, hol-
lerin' and capcrin' rs my boys done, you
never seed the like, for they knew was
going to settle the thing right off. walked
up to the shootin place, and Jest as was
"A raisin' my gun to my face, she accident
ally went off. a thing she never did l.cforc
or since. IL call that Shoot" said /, rs
quick as l could aud before the ball was
fairly out Of my rifle. "No you shant,'' says
Leveiril's, and the boys on both stiles took
it up. Ny sid. swcarin' / MonlI take it
back, and 'totI,er side swearin' ! shoukiut
and that tile whiskcy belonged to Lcvcnriis
Every fellow on both sides done his best -,
hoIIerin and swarin,' for they all had bet
on ii; but i'll few minutes, one of my
friends come and told me, that my ball had
struck Il rock, about half way between inc
and the target, and l'a,l glanced aud knock.
c,l out the centre.
"Hcllo" says ], wont call that shoot
let's go and see w!:;.r my bullet hit" Aud
when ',ctl'cr side found that my bullet had
glanced and heat 'cm, they Jest billed, and
sw"re that it Shouldn't count, because call
ed it. and my side swore rs they wouldn't
let nc call it when wanted to that now il
should count. aud should not shoot il over
Aud. after jowcrimg awhile, every fellow
pitched into his mar, and thar was fifteen
pair Of men fighting ut once. I, of course,
had locked horns with Lcven,iLs, and wien
all the rest was done, he and WIS jest get
tin i'll good way. We commenced fight
in about ten O'Clock in the morning, and
lit like all wrath till sun-down. begun to
get awful tired, and WIS afral that if Lev
cnribs didn't soon gin in, that must; and
while was thinking what had best do
goln on. come Il tearin, and rs soon as she
got within hollcrin' distance, she begun :;
" Uooro~, my Bill" AS soon us heard
her, l knew that if got whipped, she would
think she had just cause aud provocation to
leave my bed and board, rs the sayin' is
So, made up my nin,l to whip that fellow,
or die, right thar. So, gathered all
the little strength had, and socked my
thumb in his eye, and, with my fingers took
a twist on lis Snot-Jor, and with the other
hand d,e / grabbed him by the back of the
head; | then caught Ills ear in my month,
gin his head - flirt, and oft came his eur Jy
the roots! then Tapped bis head over,
and caught his other ear i'll my mouth, and
jcrked that. out i'll the same way, and it
made a hole III lis head that could lave
ra'nmcd my fist through, and + was Just a
goin' to do il, when he lIollered: "Nufi !"
My old women then jumped up OH a
stump, and IlollcrcL out: "lf any fsller in
this crowd says that ain't Bill lIardyarn's
wliskey, Jest let him trot his wife oat, and
III use her darncd sight wuss than my old
,nan has done Arth Lcvenribs, and If he's
got 10 wife, III put him through, !" but
none Of 'c,p dared 10 take ler up, and after
comparing notes willie, every fellow start
ed for-home, thinking lie had seen a fight
as was a 6ght.
Boys, i Won that wi'iskey; but it was
right cxpensive!"
"Dut what did he do for you, Uncle
Bill u said oAa Of thc Listeners.
Well that's changing, the subject" said
Uncle Bill, Z" But 10 tell the truth boys, lie
did take off some sign, Il you call all my l,ar
:anyi and next day somc Of US went to the
place, aiid picked up a two-busl,eI basket
4 even full Of ears, noses and eyes, that had
been hit off and gouged out IN tile filss."
"a pretty good pile, Uncle Billy. to come
| off of il,irty men," said one Of the bows and