Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1882-02-01
THE KNIFE.
A stabbing ARRAY with Probably
Fatal Results.


A serious scrape took place here yester-
day noon which is likely to end fatally to
one of the men engaged in it. Terry Nc
Mahon and John Potter fell to quarreling
very rough talk was INDUCED in. The
row., as usual, was not altogether about
themselves. The relationship Of one Of
them with Q disreputable woman was dis
cussed and served to whet the passions on.
After a good deal Of bad back talk one
way and another, Potter invited Mcmahon
to retire to the back yard where they
would settle the matter. The challenge
was accepted, both men, as Potter says,
being drunk. A man named Katen, but
called "Scotty," and another man who
witnessed the affair inside, went back to
| the door and looked through to see what
went on outside. They saw q fisticuff for
awhile until Potter seeming to get a little
the worst Of it, the two men clinched and
struggled together against the side OF the
| adjacent house. There Potter drew a
knife-a large ir~on-handled, one-bladed
p~ocket-knife, the blade being about four
and a half or five inches long. With all
his strength and vigor he used this fearful
weapon, stabbing and hacking his adyer-
sary. Mcmahon received three wounds
| from the knife in his left lung and one
cash in his right check, his clothes, also,
being slit about in several places. Scotty,
who had been looking on the fight up to
| this time without interfering, opened the
| door and rushed out, and Selling a heavy
| piece Of wood threatened to knock Potter's
brains out if he did not stop his murder
1 1r,a xunrL He than doafatad and wag
taken into custody by Constable Wallace.
He was either indifferent as to the result
of his use of the knife or pretended to be,
wiping the blood Of his victim from the
blade with his fingers, while he assumed
| the air of q bravado-a bad man"
When interviewed by a SENTINEL reporter
last night he said his fingers were cut and
he had them bound up with a handker-
chief. Some say that he cut his own fin
| gers purposely while pretending to wipe
the blood off his knife, while Others think
that the knife closed upon his fingers
when he stabbed with it. He learned for
the first time last night that Mcmahon
was very seriously wounded and would
| probably die. When told this he was
asked if he had a statement to make. He
answered. "No; l haven't anything to
say. He insulted me and we went out
and fought. That's ALL" The prisoners
| coppers we're very hot and he drank a great
| quantity OF water. "Were you and Nc
Mahon drinking?" he was asked. EYES,"
he replied; "we were, both drunk"
After Potter had been arrested and taken
away, Mcmahon came into the saloon, but
he had barely passed the door before he
fell Town helpless on his face. DR.. Bishop
was called to his aid, and did what was to
be lone TO relieve him. He realized then
that he was badly hurt, and he exclaimed {:
" My breath is going out of my side"
which was literally true, the air he
breathed really escaping through the
wound in his side, by which the lung had
been penetrated. Mcmahon, suffering
great pain, was taken up on q shutter by a
number Of his ire-brother friends and
transported to the engine-house of the
| Hooks & knicks, where he ia being cared
for by Peter VIM and others of the COM
pany.
Potter Is a fellow on whom you would
not bestow the second look, nor would you
remember him again after seeing him but
once. There is nothing about him that Is
unordinary for good or bad. he had work
on the Z. & c.. River Railroad some time
ago., but got sick, and has patronized the
hospital since.
Terry Mcmahon has been here. some
eight or ten years. He is a painter by
trade. He lived in Sacramento some II
or IS years ago, where he earned his living
by working as stevedore. He was foreman
Of an engine company there, and regarded
as an active and efficient fireman. He was
we'll liked there as here. His death would
be generally regretted.
The act Of Potter in resorting to the use
OF a knife when he had challenged his ad-
versary to a fist fight, is, Of course, con-
dsmned as murderous and cowardly.