The Donaldsonville chief., 1875-04-24
Dueling in Nevada.
From Mark Twain's Charity Lecture ]

From Mark Twain's Charity Lecture.l
Virginia City was a bloodthirsty
place, and the first twenty men plant
ed in its barying ground were mur-
dered. Dueling here was q pastime.
/ The man who fought duel was more
respected than il he had murdered
two u.en. have tale to tell you
about dueling which has a moral in
it. People who pay IL dollar for u lee
ture ticket have Il right to something
with a moral in it.
For two years I was city editor of
a newspaper in Virginia City. was
then promoted to be the editor.
lasted i. week, but made an uncom-
mon lively sheet Of it while l lasted.
brought Oh a quarrel with the editor
Of an opposing paper. | suppose l
called him u thief or u body -sIatcLer.
| 1t was customary for the man who
offered the insult to make the chal-
leuge. So l challenged the editor
whom l had quarreled with. l will
call him MI. Lord. My party were
anxious for me to fight. knew Lord
wouldn't SO ! sent the challenge.
Shortly after received i. note from
him, declining to meet me. This dis
gusted the boys and exasperated
them, but was calm. l am always
calm. | sent another challenge, and
another, and another. Lord began to
grow bol,ler, and ut length accepted.
l was mortified, but began to practice.
| Went out to the barn, set up rail
against the barn door, first putting
squash on the end Of it. This was to
represent Mr.. Lord. Iu regard to ill.,
tellect, the chances between Lord and
the squash were in favor of the latter.
l began to practice, first at the rail,
aud then at the squash, and last set
tied on hitting the barn door, but
missed all three. ...
My friends were with me, but, after
l had shot away while, We heard
Lords party practicing on the other
side of the barn. 1t looked bad, for
if they should find out what l had
been doing there wasn't any sight for
me. But just 1T that juncture small
bird flew by, aud my second, who
was IL major and beautiful shot,
fired at him, cutting away his head
as clean as Il knife would have done.
He picked up the bird, aud Lords
second came lunning up to see how
the thing had been done. Says he,
Z" That's Il fine shot. How far was he
when he firedi" "About thirty
PAGES" !" the major answered.
The seconds face was picturesque
at this. It was rlcl. to see him grow
sick-to get blue under the gills.
'' Does he do that often Z" the fellow
next inquired. Well" said my Sec
"nti, about four times out of five"
l knew the major was lying, but l
couldn't interrupt him. Lords Sec
ond returped to his gang and took
his man home. On examining it was
found that Lord had hit the mark
fourteen times out of seventeen, aud
ii he had fired these fourteen shots
about my system, my skin would not
have held nay principles. Now think
dueling a bad custom, and l want to
warn the young against it. wouldn't |
fight duel now. If a man should
send me Il challenge, | would take
him by the hand and lead him to a
quiet place and kill him.
One Of the peculiarities Of Nevada
is that there are only Il few in.ligen-
GUS animals there. Iwant to empha-
size that word indigenous. 1t isn't !
often that you get lecturer who has
such a tlnency AZ that. Well, the |
only indigenous animals are rattle
snakes, Indians and the horned frog.
The horned frog, they say, spits Wit
liol at you. 1t doesn't make any diff |
ference whether he has seen you or
not: They never did SO to me. |
wouldn't take that from a frog. You
may think l have exaggerated. |
differ from George Washington. He
tell Il lie. l can, but wont. |
PROFESSIONAL INCOMEs.-Sonle one |