The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-08-08
A DITEL A L'OUTRANCE.

A DUEL A L'OUTRANCE.
A letter from Medicine Lodge, Indi-
an Territory, to the New York World
gives the particulars of the death OF two
noted desperadoes, each at the hands of
the other, in duel to the death. The
incidents of the terrible affair, as related
by the writer, read like romance, but
they are vouched for as being true i'll the
main. The scene opens in log cabin
of one Job Harding, described as Ken
tuckian of enormous strength and stature,
where a game OF faro is being conducted
by one of the actors in the bloody TRACE
DIV. The narrator proceeds:
1t was terribly warm. The usual cool
breeze from the south that bowed the
prairie grasses and tempered the fierce
rays of the sun, bringing on its wings
the perfume of wild flowers and the
warnings of happy birds, seemed to
have forgotten its accustomed journey,
though the afternoon was far spent and
the sun was close to the horizon. The
few hunters and Indians obliged to be
out of doors moved about with hstless
steps, not seeming to notice the unusual
number of buffaloes that dotted the
prairie on all sides. The oxen. and
horses belonging at the Lodge, jaded
and worn out as their appearance indi-
Gated them to be, refused to eat, but
stood with dropping heads and lolling
tongues, and eyes piteous in their ex-
preston of suffering. Within the house
the keenest of the gamesters were to be
found ut the table, and the dice this
time ratified from the hands of another
looking man, with thin lips and gray
eyes; 50 bright and piercing that they
seemed to penetrate one very thoughts.
| had caught a passing glimpse OF this
man day or two before on his arrival
with party from Kansas, and though
did not then see his face there was
something III his carriage and gait that
struck me AS being very familiar. The
impression made on my mind at the
time was that we had met before under
either very peculiar or very disagreeable
cumstances, but where or when the
utmost efforts OF memory could not de-
termine. Not noticing him depart with
the rest of his party, who had pushed
on to the south the next morning, l
supposed he had made an earlier start,
and so banished him from my mind.
But now, as he sat at the faro-table
with the whole of his expressive face in
full view, and l heard the hard, crisp
tones of his voice as he now and then
addressed word TO one or the other of
the players, his identity came to me like
a flash of lightning, and recalled the
hour when three years before, in New
ton dance house, | was a looker-on and
saw the silver-mounted pistol now peep
ing out at his breast send death into the
bosoms of three human beings. This
was Anderson, the Texas desperate, the
horse-thief, the celebrated pistol-shot,
red-handed murderer. l instinctively
recoiled as our eyes met and he
flashed look of recognition on me- In
the account / had written of the dance
house tragedy L had held him up to
public eXecration as q wretch well de-
serving of the halter, and had even adj
vised the formation of vigilance COM
mittee to infict on him summary VEN
geance. | had no reason, therefore, to
expect his friendship, but, on the con-
trary, the full revenge of which / knew
he was capable. He kept his seat, how
ever, and Harding at that moment en-
tering, L quietly withdrew and fastened
to the house in which the party to which
/ was attached had taken up its quar-
tiers, with a view to arming myself.
AS 1 passed along the wing of the
building voice hailed me by name from
an upstairs window. Looking up, the
figure of a man appeared for an instant,
and, with rapid motion Of the hand, as
if inviting me to ascend, suddenly dis
appeared. Though not at the time re-
cognizing the person who thus hailed
me, was not left long in doubt, for on
mounting the stairs L encountered the
burly form of an old Newtonian, who at
once grasped me warmly by the hand,
and expressed the greatest pleasure at
our meeting.
"Why, McCluskey," 1 exclaimed,
what brings you here so far out of
your usual beat p
ITO avenge Nike" he replied. "But
come into my room, where we can talk
in quiet" at the same time pushing
open the door of a small room close at
hand, which, after we had entered and
he had offered me a chair, he proceeded
to close and fasten.
Anderson is here" he resumed,
after seating himself on an old saddle
which had been fixed up to serve as a
seat. "I have tracked him all the way
from Abilene, where Hudson has just
driven big herd of beeves. Old boy,
L shall kill Hugh Anderson to-day. -
him." he exclaimed, starting from his
chair with clenched hands and eyes blaz-
ing with fury, g. him, I've got him
now, and by - I'll give him what he
gave Mike.