The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1884-04-03

ter luck, and as he pulled ont one
fish after another, would hold it up
and call out to Luke that he ''didn't
know nothin' about fshin'" Luke
determined to have fish, luck or NO
luck, and bidding his old friend
good morning he walked down be-
low bend in the river where he
kept a canoe, and getting into it.
crossed over, cut down a sapling
eight or ten feet long, leaving a
fork at the little end, crept up be-
hind the fisherman, who was seated
on steep, slippery bank, and
waiting till he had hooked another
fish, placed the forked stick to the
back of his neck, showed him head.
long into the river, which was very
deep, and seizing the string of fish,
carried them home, whilst the old
man was left to save himself if he
could. With great difficulty he
scrambled out half drowned and
half frozen, to find his fish gone and
Luke's sapling, which he had bur,
riedly dropped, in their place. This
betrayed him, but when charged
with the assault and theft, he in.
sisted that the old man had been
pulled in by the fish.
While q shooting match for beef
was going on one Saturday after
noon, at the Dead Fall, on Hollow
creek a low groggery then kept by
Col. Drury Sawyer, Luke rode up
in a gallop, rife in hand, singing at
the top Of his voice,
Fourteen pence in the corner Of the
fence,
"And the Hollow Greek boys haint got
no sense:''
then dismounting and tying his
horse to a limb he gave him cut
saying Hes four years old and
trots already" He began by treat
ing all round, taking several chan
ces for the match and then proceed,
ed to make himself at home. well
coming one with the question, "How's
your wife and my children when
another appeared, running and pre-
tending to hide behind the house
while e exclaimed, What have ]
done that the devils come; asking
third, "Are you always mad when
you look ugly" and making free Of
the defects or deformities Of others,
particularly of Col. Sawyer, red
eyed, nervous little body, who was
lame in the hip:joint. AS the day
wore on, !Ne continued drinking and
grew more and more contentious
and disagreeable, and when one OBJ
served that The winter sky looked
red like blood he replied, "Wait
till the shank of the evening
and I'll show something more
like blood by a jug full, for ]
feel the devil in me as big as
meeting house" AS was not un'
common, the match was prolonged
into the night, with fires burning
at the target and the marksmen's
stand. At these matches the dis
tance was always one hundred
yards, with a rest. They were
drinking freely and all more OF
less intoxicated. when q quarrel
arose between Manning and Sawyer,
who, irritated beyond endurance by
the repeated and unfeeling illusions
to his crippled limb, said to Luke,
''If l was we'll and of your size,
you darscnt treat me So" This
Luke denied and after further al.
tercation he proposed to put them
both upon an equality by fighting a
duel then and there with their rifles,
each to commence loading at the
word ''go'' and to fire when he got
ready adding "your pally hurts you,
if YOU refuse this offer The other,
though O peaceable man, was as
brave as Julius Caesar and he ac-
cepted the challenge. The bystan-
ders meantime ceased their clatter
on other matters, and giving their
attention to the disputants, made
some efforts to adjust the difficulty.
But Manning swore that he had
come there to kill somebody and he
had as liefit should be that lame dog
as any one else. Accordingly, the
light was replenished and when the
combatants declared themselves
ready, both expert rifemen, at the
word began to load, knowing that
their lives depended upon their e1-
pedition. They first poured down
the charge of powder, to be fol-
lowed by the ball, wrapped in bit
of creased rag. which fitted the bore
of the gun exactly and required
some force to push it TO its place
with the ramrod. 1t happened that
Sawyer in his haste and excite
ment got his bullet fast soon after
it entered the muzzle and all his
efforts failed to move it. To fire the
gun in that condition he knew would
cause it to burst, and while he tugged
and cursed at the ramrod, Luke, see
ing his difficulty, finished loading and
with a whoop screamed out, Now
thrapple and DIN you, III send you
to hell in minute then dropping
his rifle to horizontal position, was
in the final act ofpriming, when one
of Souya-'r frian6c whose name