The Hillsborough recorder., 1872-12-25
HOW / ESCAPED BEING KILLED IN
A DUEL.


A DUEL.
ny MARK TWAIN.
Tho OILY msrs ! claim for the followin
narrative 10 that II h true story. II ha
moral at tho end oft. but | claim moth
ing an that. - IL Is merely thrown In I
curry favor with the religious element.
After had reported couple Of year
on the Virginia city tNcvada) Daily En-
teyprse. they promoted me " 10 cditor-i'
chief and II lasted just > week BY th'
uatsAs But 4 made 40 uncomnaonly live
! u Newspaper whiis fdid iast xpd when
retired | had duel on my hands, sne
three horse e-whippings promised me. Th'
latter made no attempt to collect; how.
ever, this history concerns only the former
II was the old flush times Of the silvel
excitement. when the population was won.
derfuily wild and mixed; everybody went
armed to the teeth. and oil sights and in.
suits had to be atoned for with the best ar.
tic!e Of blood your system could furnish.
In the course Of my editing | made trouble
with Mr.. Lord. editor Of the rival paper.
lie aew up at some little trihe or other
that said about him-I do not remember
now what it was. ] suppose | called him
thief. or bo'ly-suatcher, or m i.liot, OF
something like that. I was obliged "a
make the paper readable. and could no,
fail in my duty to whole community oil
subscribers merely 10 save tho exaggerated
sensitivcness Of an individual. Mr.. Lord
was offended, and replied vigorously IN his
paper. Vigorously means great deal
when it refers to a personal editorial in a
frontier newspaper. Duelling was all the
fashion among the upper classes in that
country, and very few gentlemen would
throw away an opportunity Of fighting one.
To kill person in duel caused man to
be even more booked up 10 than TO kill two
men in the ordinary way. Well, out there.
il you abused man, and that man did not
like 1t, you had to call him out aud kill
him; otherwise you would be disgraced.
So challenged Mr. lord. and did hope
he weuld not accept; but | knes perfectly
we'll that he did not wan. to fyht. and so
| challenged him in the most violent and
implacable manner. And then sat down
and suffered and suffered till tho answer
came. All our boys--ths sditoY-wcre
10 tar Dfscs. ts;Fsas. NO IN sbe dissszi
business. and telling about duels. and dis
cussing the code with lot Of aged rufians
who had experiences in such things. and al
together there was loving interest taken
IN the matter. which made me unspeakably
uncomfortable. The answer came-Mr.
Lord declined. Oar boys we're furious
aud SO was Ion the surface.
! sent him another challsnge. and an
other and another; and thc'more he'hid not
want to fight. the bloodthirstier became.
But at last the mans tone changed. lie
appeared to be waking mp. II was becom-
ing apparent that he was going to fght
me. after all. fought to have known bow
il would be-he was . man who noysr
could be depended upon. Our boys were
cxultant. l vas not. though tried 10 bo.
II was now time 10 90 out and practice.
II was the custom there TO Hght duels With
navy six-shootsrs at fifteen paccss--load
and empty till the g.me for the fussnl
was secured. We went to little rsvias
jurt outside oftown. and borrowed barn
door for targct--borpwed Il from cen-
tlsmsa who wus absent we stood this
barn door up. and stood . rail On sn.l .
gainst the middle Of u. TO represent
Lord. and put squash on top eftbs nil
to represent bis head. He vas very tall,
lean creature. the poorest sort Of material
Tor duel--noxhihe but limo shot could
fetch him. snd svsa then be might spss
Jour bullet. Exarssrstion aside. the rsil
vas. Of courIe. little too thin 70 reprc-
sent bis body accurately. but the squash
was I'll right. 1fthcrs vas any intclI.c-
tual difference between che squash and 81
head, IL was in favor ofihe squash.
Well. l praetiesd and pret;ssd st ths
ban-door. aud cor.d not biz II: ana I
prseticsd ~ the rail. and could not lii
thss and | tried bzrd Sor the tosssb. and
could rot Biz the sqansh. | would have
been eatirely dishssrtened, but that osss.
sionally Icripplsd ono Of tho boya, and
that encouraged me 10 hope.
At last 70 began 10 hear ristol-shoss
near by. Ia tho next rsvine. We knew
what that meant. Tho other party werr
cut practicing too. Then vas in tho Iast
degree distressed; Tor Of course tho-s roo-
pls would aear our shots. aud they would
scnd srics orer tho ridge. and The spics
sould Cad my barn-dsor without . wound
or scratch. and that would simply Be The
end Of mc--for Of eourss that other man
wouId iInmsdistcly become IS blooithirsty
a. vas. Just at this moment . litris
bird. 10 larger than q sparrow. hsu By.
and !it on = s-rs hush about thirty p~css
away. and nay little scoond. Sssrs GiIIi.
Who was matehle.s marksman with pix,
.ol--snncl, letter than I vas--matehcd
out bis revolver and shot tho Lird's head
oil we,s I'll nm U pick up ths game. asd
surs eooseb. ju~t a. this momsnt. soms Of
the other duellsss came reeoapeilsrisk .
vsr The ridge. They ran 10 our group 70
sss what the maitcr was. and whsn thsy
usv fae bird. Lords second aid:
That wss = splssdid ~. How fss