The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1862-10-16
A wEsTER N DUEL.

western duel is no work of fiction. but the
history of an actual occurrence, that took
place in a public tavern some years ago, a no
amidst number of witnesses. To make the
story Ineligible, it should be promised that
0 staggering Western colonel. one OF those
ruffianly bullieskhat occasionly liz fest society,
on entering a tavern, swore that ne wUutu !,
raise fight, and, in order to do so, walked
quietly up to young m an IN the company
and, after listening to some private CONVEX
sation between himself and friend, de-
liberately gives him the lie, and calls HIM. a
coward. A rencontre, of course takes place,
and the following is the mode OF fighting
and the result of the fight
decentralization, even during the space of
q few hours. being thus rendered impossible,
and all the already proposed modes of fight
ing being rejected or unattended to. new
proposition was made. 1t was distinctly
that in order to disarm one of the parties OF
his decided general advantages of a duelist
to prevent the other. as far as possible.
the following articles ought to be agreee to:
That the landlord should give up the use OF
q large empty room, which extended over
the whole top of his house. and allow every
window to bs closely blocked up with shut
tiers and boards. That, when this was done.
the duellists should be Invested of every
particle of clothing. armed each with brace
of pistols and bowie knife. and then be let
into the room, three minutes being given.
after the closing of the door, before hoStiili-
ties comm enced, the expiration OF the tim e
being announced to them by three rapid
knocks upon the door.
"Will it be believed that this arrangem ent
was instantly agreed to? But so it was
And tolerable party Immediately proceed
81 turl
rangemeuts, and others to listen to this uu-
seen fight, and await its exciting result.
Savage as mems spirits may be, such a
scene of preparation was enough to silence,
If not awe them. While it was passing, no
man spoke; but all looked curiously upon
the fine, muscular persons that were socu,
In all probability, about to cut each other up
alive.
"All things being ready, the door, which
had cautiously been kept closed, to prevent
the interior of the place being seen by the
duelists. was opened, and they entered the
room ofdeath together. The old man, VIII ose
friend one of them was, wept il silent bitter
ness; but, by an involuntary action, as the
young man passed out of his sight, evident
" besought heaven to assist the Innocent
The door was closed. The time keeper
drew out his watch, and kept his eyes
steadily fixed upon it. The assembled party
employed that brief period in offering and
accepting Gin whispers) bets of from one to
five hundred or more dollars, as to the re-
suit. According to sporting phrase, the
colonel was the favorte,' though the hackers
of neither one nor the other appeared in
clined to offer very long odds.
"The me-keeper closed his watch. and
gave the signal; at the same moment, all the
lights on the landing and staircase were ex-
tinguished, in order that no ray might pass
through the least creviee into the inside of
the room.
Everybody expected, upon the giving Of
the signal, to hear the comm encement of the
strife; but they listened in dead silence to no
purpose-not the remotest sound, even of a
footstep, could be heard. And thus thew
waited five minutes, and ten, and twenty,
and yet the combatants gave no sign. After
the lapse. as near as might be coujectured,
of half-an-hour, or thereabouts. one pistol
was discharged; and although the listeners
had been in continued expectation of it so
long, yet, when it Hid como, sudden start
of surprise ran through them, as though each
man had instantly felt that he might have
received the contents himself. And then
followed hasty step across the floor-au-
other pistol report-the clashiug of knives,
and a brief. but seemingly desperate, at
tempt to wrestle, which quickly termina ted,
and all again was quiet.
ATS al up" whispered one, 'I'll betdrinks
for the crowd!'
"'Take n!' said another. i begin to want
q julep.'
{" Fifty to forty the colonel has killed
him!' remarked a third. He was a very
nice young man, but he can't come in this
time.'
"And thus they would have gone on, had
not the third report been just then heard
followed by prolonged conflict, hand to
hand. and knife to knife, in the course of
which the fourth pistol was exploded. The
strokes of the knives began to grow less fire.
quent, and more faint in sound; but ere they
had entirely ceased, heavy body dropped
with dead sound upon the floor of the
room. Another instant, and there followed
another heavy fall.
some individuals present were for OPEN
Ing the doors Immediately; but this propo-
sition was overruled on the ground that, if
the fight was not yet over, the most able
might take advantage of the appearance of
the light to kill the other even lying on the
boards.
'About half an hour was, if I recoliect
Alright. allowed to pass in close and attentive
listening. to catch the most dista Mt sound
from within. None was heard: and at the
expiration of that period, amidst a crowd of
the most horrible of anxious faces, the door
was opened, and the whole party rushed in.
Towards the remoter end, and not far from
the wall. lay heap like red cloth. 1t was
composed of the gashed and bloody bodies
Of the duelistsi One lay across the other
They were taken up; and something like
distant murmur of applause followed, when
it was discovered that the colonel was under
most!
"But many who best knew him spoke out
right their sladness, when an examination
proved that he was perfectly dead. Both
impossible to handle them ithout touching
the wounds.