The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-02-02
MARK TWAIN'S DUEL.

flOHi EsmtTaiuS, the scene oil n
=, mining exploits, Mark went to vi
!, ginia City. Here he held repoitc
a rial position ON one OF the d.
=, pels for three years. Aits
n deserti1g the mining speculation
:, and the collapse that followed it b
said: "That was singular towr
q They had some OF the strangest Gus
= toms-some of the mo- curious Gus
o toms. When finished reporting O
a that paper, they made me ctief editor
: lasted just a week. l edited tha
paper six days, and then / bad fiy
= duels on my hands | would no
have minded that, if it had been tn
\ custom tor those other people t,
challenge me. Then l would hav,
simply declined with thanks. But i
was not so. II you abuse a man IL
the paper, if you called him names
, they had no rights there such as We
have here-if the man didn't like il
: you had to challenge and shoot him
Of course, i didn't want TO do this
but the publisher said it was the GUS
tom society must be protected. II
l could not do the duties of my posi-
tion, he would have 10 hire somebody
else.
81 didn't mind the first three or
four men; but the other mani was
after MIN. l knew be didn't want to
fight so l was going to make all the
reputation out of him l could. He
got touched at something / said
ab1It Lim-I don't know what it was
i called him a tLief, parhaps He
fought very shy OF Inc 1t first. and /
piled him with bloodthirsty challenges
all the more. At last he began to
take an interest in this thing. 1t
seemed as though he really was &C.
ing to enter into it at last. All our
boys were delighted at the prospect,
hut was not. This was not turn
| was expecting in things.
81 had taken for my second fiery,
peppery little fellow, named Steve,
full of fight, and anxious to have this
thing fixed right away. He took me
over into a little rsvine beyond the
town to prsctice. 1t was the custom
to fight with Coll's navy revoIvers at
five steps. We borrowed a stable
door for mark from a gentleman
who was absel.. We set up that |
stable door, and then we propped a
fence rail Up agaIns. the middle of it
to represent my antagonist, and put
4 squash on top of it to represent his
head. He was very light, thin
man, veyy thin--the poorest kind of
material for duel-you could not
expect 10 10 anything with a scatter-
ing shot at all. But he made q splen-
did line shot, and it wss this that l
praeticed upon principally.
"But there was Do success about it.
l could not Lit the rail, and there was
no need that / should hit the rail; the
rail did not really represent him. 1t
WIS little too thin and narrow. But
The squash was all right Well, i
could not hitthe rail, and could not
lii the squash, and, finally, when i
fouud | C; uld not lit the door,
either, I-got little discouraged. But
wien i noticed that crippled one of
the boys occasionally l thought it
wss not so bad-I Sas dap gerous
with pistol, bu, not reliable.
FINALLY, we heard some shooting
gong On over in the other ravine.
We knew Whist that cant. The
Oiber party was practising. / didn't
feel comt1rtatl'. They might stray
gle over the ridge, and see what was
eoirg on, and when they saw no bul
let hole IN that bsrn door, it would
be too much encouragement Tor them.
J ust then little bird, 4 little larger
than sparrow, liz on a sage bash
near by. Steve whipped cut his re-
volver ard shot It's hesd off. The
boys picket up the bird, and were
talking about it, when . the otaer
dnelipg party came over the ridge,
snd came down to see wha. was going
on. When the second saw the bird
he said: 'How far eff was that
Steve said about thirty steps. 'Who
did that?' why, Twain, nv man,
of course 'Did he, Indeed! can he
DO thst often p well, he en- do
that about four times out of five
~ knew The little rascal was lying,
but didn't like to eel him so. was
one of those kind of men that don't
like TO be too frank or too familiar in
q mstter like that, so didn't sag
But it was a comfort 10
s those fellows urder jaws drop;
to see them turn blue about their gills
and look sick. They went off, and
got their man, and took him home,
and when l got home found little
note from these parties, peremptorily
decliniDg to fight. How sore the
boys were! How indignant they
weM! Bat 1 was not distressed
shout it. / thought 1 could stand
it, perhaps.
swell, l was out of that scrape,
and L didn't Tant to get into any
more of them. l turned the other
four duels over to Steve, who wal ted
them. BIT when those people found
out afierward that he did the shoot
ing, be didn't get any good out of his
duels. They wouldn't fight him
"All that was in My younger days,
VIXEN l didn't know much-which
l do now. I didn't know any better
then, but now | am bitterly opposed
to dueling. won't have anything to
do with dueling. think that duel
ing is immoral, and has a bad
tendency, and 1 think it is every
ran's duty 10 frown down and
scourage it on all occasions.
l. man were to challenge
me now, / would go and take that
man by The hand, and lead him to a
quiet, private room-and kill him
"Lsdies and gentlemen, after thank
ing you very heartily for the atten-
tion you have given me this evening,
] ieslre TO wish you a very pleasant
Q cd night, and at the same time as
sire you earnestly that have told
7, Il nothing but the truth tonight,
and l hardly exaggerated that"
Laughter and applause.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton eyi
d ntIy takes after her mother. AT
She recent Suffrag Convention she
p. ,Iad mn a family rem inIscpncp as fol-