Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-07-10
A VERY FAST DUEL.
sKETCHED FROM REAL LIFE.

est Funeral on Record, and other fast
stories, written by fast men; but IN
bet sixpence to kid of mush, that
you never heard of the fast duel.
1t occurred ten or twelve years ago
yes, thirteen CT them-when was
youngster aboard the sloop-of-war Bos'
ton, in the West Indian Squadron.
We had just got in from cruise up
among the Windward Islands and
hadn't had much fun for some time, fol
twas in the hurricane season, and we
had seen heavy weather enough to sat.
isfy any old blowhard that ever smell
salt water.
The very day we came to anchor al
Pensacola, however, we had God-send
in the shape of fresh caught midship'
man, who coming from the backwoods
of Alabama, had never seen anything
higher than fat-boat and was as
green as prairie colt in harness, and
pretty near as wild. His name was
Ezra Blizzard, and the Commodore Or
dered him aboard of us, as we had
couple of vacancies, one of Our mess
having been shot in duel, and another
did worse by falling in love with an
heiress and marrying her, and resign
ing.
Mr.. Blizzard, therefore was, as I said
before, perfect God-send. He was
soon initiated into the duties of keeping
his own watch, watch for some of the
rest of us occasionally taught how to pay
over his mess-money, persuaded out OF
dozen of wine for his footing" and
made the victim of few harmless
tricks; such as having his hammock
cut down by the head, when he was
asleep in it-being baptized by a sailor,
by getting a bucket full of salt water
poured over him when he was sleeping
with his mouth open-fnding a dead
rat or two occasionally in his pockets,
or salt instead of sugar in his coffee,
ETC., all of which he bore so mildly that
we began to consider him regular
spoony, and not calculated to become q
credit to his mess in particular or the
service in general.
To settle the point and determine his
quantum of spunk, it was voted that he
must be made to fight duel, and the
plot was made up between three of us,
that it should be harmless one, Just to
try his spunk.
Accordingly Hogan B, one of the
best shots in the squadron, by the way,
insulted him in due form, and, much tc
our astonishment, was knocked down
for his pains. He arose as wrathy as
mad bull, and would have pitched into
his opponent on the spot had we not in
terfered, and insisted upon the quarrel
being settled according to the code OF
honor" Hogan therefore challenged
Blizzard, at the same time insisting
with Us that the fight should be real
and not in fun, with cork balls as frs
proposed. But we overruled him, mas
much as the insult he had given was
uncalled for, and the youngster declined
the writer's volunteered service to ac
as his second.
Must L fight him with pistols?" he
asked. Il could wollup the life out Of
him in my own wayp
Gentlemen only use pistols-you
struck him, and of course must give
you are good shot-he isl" l replied.
81 never shot off a pistol in my life,
but I'm some with rife"
"Rifes are not allowed in the code
pistols are the only weapons, and Ho-
gan has first-rate pair, has killed two
REFERS with them alreadyp / could
see that Blizzard didn't like this news
but he tried to look calm, and asked
when he would have to fight.
1 told him he would have it out thai
afternoon, as it was bad to let tn,
blood cool over such affairs, and accord
ingly in an hour afterward wei man
aged to get ashore, with the case O
pistols wrapped up out of sight in al
old pea jacket.
We Immediately went out to the old
Spanish graveyard, back of the town
to heighten the effect, and as luck
would have it, we found freshly.d dug
grave, which was probably to be ten.
anted on the morrow. Blizzard looked
at it, and wanted to know what that was
for. We told him that the death of one
or the other party only could atone for
the blow, and that the grave had been
prepared for the one that fell, or for
both, in case both were killed. The
youngter turned shade paler as he
heard this, but still he gave no stronger
signs of backing out.
Reaching little orange grove near
the new-dug grave, We halted, picked
out, and measured the ground. Myself
and the other second now opened the
pistol-case, and commenced preparing
the weapons. Hogan coolly lighted a
cigar, looking as ferocious as a meat.
axe at his opponent, who nervously
watched our movements.
Blast the luck" | exclaimed, pre-.
tending to try the lock of one of the
pistols. The handspring OF the pistol
Is broken-what shall we do ?"
Fight with the other-toss up which
1haIl haUa tha E,.t4 Ia
gan in fierce tone
Yes, said his second, that's fair"
mo, it amt S'pose he gets the first
shot, he'll kill me without my getting
shot at him !" cried Blizzard
Yes, sure as winking" l added,
"but then if you get the first shot you're
safe. Trust to luck my boy, you'll
stand as good a chance as he"
Very reluctantly b. consented, de-
claring that he had never had any Luck,
but to his delight, and to our surprise,
he won the first fire.
de was now more nervous than ever
and as handed him the pistol loaded
very heavily with powder only, his
hand shook so thathe could hardly hold
it.
If l should miss him, he'll kill me
sureP he muttered to me.
Yes, said |, "but you mustn't miss
him. Take good aim. I'll give the
word very slow, bore him right through
the heart; for you're dead ii he gets G
shot at you"
They were placed-the distance only