Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-06-06

lar, the servant, IN reEhing TIE SiDf
long afterward, not us Il matter of con
lesion in religion to The priest, but Il
q matter of confidence, could not sa,
The apartment WAS unusually larg'
and lofty-spacious enough for ~
assembly room and uncarpeted.
The man, Mcgowan, Was ordered t
procure piece OF chalk, and unds
the direction of the Major himself h
! formed an acute triangle, the sides q
which were twenty-odd feet Tht
| Major, now armed with his duelln.
| pistol, took up a position at one OF thu
convergements, and the Captain ane
Lieutenant being similarly armed, by
the courtesy of their host. with pistols
as honestly loaded, and us reliable a.
his own, placed themselves on the
other angles. Mcgowan, now thor
oughiy frightened and trembling in
every limb, was instructed to hold Il
white handkerchief or napkin on 4
level with his head, it being under
stood that the antagonists were 10 fire
between its falling and shrinking the
floor. But to make everything satis-
factory, it was further agreed before
the signal cloth should drop the Major
should cry "one," the Captain "two,
and the Lieutenant sthree," and upon
the utterance of the last word Mcgowan
was to obey Instructions.
Everthing had worked much better
than the Major had hoped wculd be
the case. As we have said, he had no
idea of ofreceiving hurt, while he believ-
ed he could readily put his ltagonists
in love out of the field in his race for
"beauty and booty"-the capture of
the heiress O'Neil
Fortune, however, did not smile on
him more than on his enemies.
The words were uttered and Mcgowan,
the most frightened man present, with
a nervous twitch dropped the signal
cloth. Before ittollched the floor the
pistol shots rang out their messages OF
death.
Mcgowan, before the sound of the
combined report had died out, or the
smoke had ceased to ascend, rushed
out of the house, and seeing, at a little
distance IL coach standing near the
post-office receiving the mail for Bel
fast and more distant places, ran to it
and climed to seat on its roof.
He was thoroughly a frightened man.
He knew not how tile strange fight
had resulted. His only desire was to
get as tar from it as possible, even if he
should at a later day be arrested us a
deserter, for he WAS Il member of the
regiment, but inyalided in conse-
quence of a wound received in an en-
gagement, and which at times affected
his mind.
Two days after the duel, the Major,
Captain and Lieutenant not reporting
for duty, Their felIow-officers OF the
battalion instituted search for them.
Some of these naturally called at the
residence OF Major Mallory. To re-
peated signals at the door for admit
lance no answer was returned. Losing
patience, one of the callers ventured
to enter the house and penetrated To
the room in which, when on conyivial
bouts, they were wont TO be received
by their superior in command. Then
he found, to his horror, the three duel
lists lying in death on the door, holding
empty pistols in their hands.
Subsequent examination proved
that each flad been fatally wounded on
the first and only fire, and that Major
had received two bullets-one
of which had penetrated to and lodged
in his heart, and the other passed
the skull and was thought to
have imbedded itself in the brain.
The affair was hushed up as far rs it
was possible to do so. 1t was soon for
gotten what little of the tragedy that
had fallen on the public ear.
Miss O'Neil early heard of the "tri-
angular duel" but it did not seeenl to |
her, or cure her of her
to seduce men into falling
IN love with her wondrous beauty.