The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1873-01-18
MARX TWAIN.
av~apspss ~ 0ossy ~ Passes Il
eIeo John Nm

MARK TWAIN.
a.WaapsDss ~ 0esy ~ Ses'ss 4
slsa Jehn Nm
From Hoods Apaaal
The only merit that claim for the fol
lowing narrative 10 that It 10 true story. i
has moral Ut the end of It, hut I claim
nothing on that. % It ID merely thrown IL
to curry favor with tn religious element.
After had reported couple Of years on
the Virgins City, (Nevsds), Daily Enter
prize, they promoted me to the editor ID
chief, and l lasted just week. by the watch
But made On uncommonly lively uewses'
per while ! did last. and when I retired
had duel on my hands and three hors<
whipplngs promised me- The latter made
no attempt to collect however, this history
concerns only the former. 1t Was tue old
Flush times of the silver excitement, when
the population was wonderfully wild and
mixed everybody went armed 70 the teeth,
and every insult had to he stoned for with
the best article of blood your system could
furnish. Ia the course Of my editing made
trouble with Mr.. Lord; editor OF the rival
papcr. lie flew up about some little tridt
or ther that had said about him. l do moi
remember now what it va. ! suppose
called him thief, or IN idiot, or . body
snstcher, Or something like that. l Va,
Obliged to make the paper readable, and
could not fail in my duty to wholeecom'
muuity Of subscribers merely 10 save the
exaggerated scnstivencss Of IN individual.
Mr. Lord was offended aud replied v,gor.
ously in bis paper Vigorously means q
great deal when 1t refers to 4 personal edito'
rial In frontier Newspaper. Dueling was
oil the fashion among the upper classes In
that country, ssd very few gentlemen
would throw away MI opportunity Of fight
ing one. To kin = person 10 duel caused
a man 10 be even looked more up 10 than Ia
kill two men In the ordinary way. Well,
out there, II you abused man, and that
man did not like 1t, you had to call him out
and kill him; otherwise You would bc dis
graced. 80 I challenged 1r. Lord, and !
did hope he would not accept; but I knew
perfectly well that lie did not want 10 fight,
and 20 ! challenged him In the most viO-
lent and implscable manner. And then !
sst down and suffered and suffered TIL
the answer came. All our boys-the editors
were In the Office. ''helping" me 10 the dis
NAL business, and telling about duels, and
discussing the code with lot Ut aged ruf.
fans who have had experience In such
things, and altogether there wss . loving
interest taken In the rpsttcr, which made me
upspsskably uncomfortable The answer
csuse-Mr. Lord dcclipsd. Our boys were
furious, and 70 wss Lon the surfsce.
I sent him anOsher challenge, and another
and another; and the more he did not want
to Aght, the bloodtbirs,icr l became. But
ct hist the mans tone changed. lie ap.
pcared 70 bs waking up. l ought TO have
known bow Il would bs-he WAS man who
never could 10 depended upon. Our boys
were exul.ant. I Twas not though l tried
TO be.
II wss now time 10 20 out and practice.
II was the custom there 10 fight duels with
navy six shooters at fifteen paces-load and
empty ill the game for the funeral was se>
cured. We went 70 little rsvinc just out.
side Of town, and borrowed barn door for
targct-borowed II Of gentleman who
Vas abscnt-and NC stood this barn door Up,
and stosd rail- On end a8aiast The middle
Of It, " reprssen, Lord, and Pot . sqsash
"a top Of Il TO represent bic head, He was
v9y tall, lean creature the poorest sort
Of naterial fos duel-pothing but line
slot onuM "letch" him, and even then DO
might split your bullet. Exaseration aside,
ths sail WA Of course, . little TOO thin to
rspsssest hs body accurately, but The squash
was Ill Hgbt. II there was any intellectual
difference between the squash and bis bead,
Il was In favor Of the squash. .ma
~ lsst ~ began to hear pistol shots near
BY. ID the next ravine. We knew what It
meant The o.hs party were out prscticing,
TOO. Then was In the last degree dis.
tresscd; for, Of course, those people wosld
hear our shots, and they would sesd spics
over the ridge, ssd Tho spies would hnd my
barn door without . scratch, and that
would simply be the end Of ms-for Of
course that other man would Immediately
becomc - bloodthirsty - was. Just 1t
THE moment. little Lird, no larger than
. sparrow, flew by and lit on . sage bush
about thirty PAGES away; and my little sec.
ond, Steve ellis, who wss maschless
marksman With . pistol much better than
was snaiched ont bis revolver, md shot
the birds head of. We oil ran to pick up
The game, and sure enough. just ct this mo.
nsoe, some of the other duelkes caDs 70.
conno'tering over the little ridge. They ran
to our group to see what the matter Wa;
and when they saw the birl, Lords sec.
ond said:
"Thae was spjesdid shot !. how far of
wss IT, Steve replied with some indiffcs.
cucc.
"Oh, no great distance sbou, thirty pa.
ccs"
Thirty PAGES! Heavens alive, who did
~" "S.3 : 80
NY man TWAIN" ~GEER.
1.-THE mischief he did. Can he do that
often" f'5 " "+*'
"Wcll, yes be cas d. Il ai,oat-well-
about four times ont Of i've" ya~ .5 i'd
knew the liule rascal Wa lying, but I
never raid anything. I never told him 70.
He wss not Of dispositl ion 10 invite con.
adenccs Of that kind, 90 I lct The matter
'esi ;but II Was comfort to ses those ~.
pls look sick, and &c their under laws
lrSp when Steve made THESE stassnests
they went of and got Lord and took bin,
home, and when We got hosns. half On hour
'sssr there was note saying that NJ. Lord
psesnpton'y declined y iight. 81 Il
II wss narrow escape. We fouud out
ssssewasds thst Lord hit 1T mark thirteen
lines Ia eighteen shots. II he had nut
lhoss shirteea shots through 10 Il would
ssve narrowed my sphere of usefuluess .
|ood oesl-would have well nigh closed Il.
. fact True, they could have put Peg In
~ holes and used me for hat s>ck: but
RhAe y 4 hat rnck 10 = mas vhn H>.la - 49,