The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-26
A DEAD SHOT,.

Scott was much simmer, more e2ndlfed
! looking man than he is now, tht Te were
seated at one of the little round marble
! tables before the Cafe Ricci, in the Boule-
yard des Italens, in Paris, two young
| lEenchmen, the cheek of one Of who IN bore
a red mark asif some one had brou ght his
| hand sharply against it. In an inne room
of the cafe the person who had don this
was engaged in wiping away fro 70 his
shirt front the stains of some red wine
which in his fury the recipient of tn D slap
had hurled across the stable. The man with
the red cheek was the young Adolphel Fer
rier the son of the celebrated artist oErthat
name. The man with the soiled shirt sftDnt
was Martin G. Scott of Mobile, Ala.
There had been an exchange of card +, and
Scott and his friend, George K. VAIN
wright, twelve houEs later suddenly found
themselves with large sized, h .sthy
French quarrel on their hands to be set
tied, as most of those,matters are in r rance,
under the code.
When it came to a choice Of we ipons
Scott had wisely chosen pistols, for, while
he was notoTiously bad shot, he was
| totally ignorant of the use of the rapi sr.
The affair was to come off at Auve rgne,
a little village distant about nine miles
from Paris, in forty-eight hours time.
The parties were to go out on the early
| train
doubt if Scott was SO much cut bout
| the affair as Wainwright, even thong he
fully expected to be killed. Wainw right
kept on blaming himself for having |, 1t his
friend get into such scrape. 1t was to be
no child's play. They were to fire at tI Velve
on6 70 FIRING until n "a of
! the parties was disabled.
The more Wainwright thoughtovt.r the
affair the more he realized what an fawk-
ward job he had upon his hands.
! He lay awake all night at his hotel, re-
volving some plan by which they could get
out of the scrape. He had frequently seen
| Eerrier practicing at fashionable pistol
gallery in the Rue du CapacInes. lie knew
that he spent the best part of every evening
there in ringing the bell on the target, to
accomplish which feat, asievery one knows,
st is necessary to hit the bulls eye Vain
wright arose early with a plan fully thought
out.
Come" he said to Scott, 1--WE haven't too
much time before US. We must go down
to Maupassant's gallery and get some
practice. You stay here and have some
breakfast. l don't care to eat SO early.
I'll run down there and see if we can't get
the gallery all to ourselves forla couple of
hours"
THAT will be pretty costly, won't it,"
| hazarded Scott.
Not more than decent coffin and all
the other funeral fixings," replied Vain
wright with some little sarcasm. ''If pos
sible | want to throw those expenses on
the other fellow"
Wainwright jumped into a cab and
dashed off to the Gallery Maupassant,
where for upward of half an hour he re-
manned closeted with its proprietor.
Its agreed, then,n said Wainwright at
the conclusion of the interview. Now,
then, Nj Maupass,rnt, there are 80 francs,
down. The remainder of the 500 you, get
if the duel doesn't come off"
agreed" said the Frenchman, and he,
sat down and wrote at least twenty letters
like the following
m Maupassant requests the pleasure of
your company tomorrow afternoon at 3
O'Clock to witness the phenomenal shoot
ing of an American gentleman, who has
kindly consented to give an exhibition. of
his skill at that hour"
While NJ. Maupassant was thus engaged
| Wainwright put in half an hour making
( SuuhE1 pUKCAelScS, ICLuIuiuS Win lHSiu
TO the gallery, where the next hour was
probably employed by him in company
with an ingenious mechanic.
! Meantime, as the idea grew upon the
mind of NJ Maupassant, he chuckIed and
wrote, extending his invitations, until, if
one-haf of them were accepted, the ques-
tion was, would there be standing room in
the gallery?
I'VE must certainly so down and see this
American shoot" said NJ Ferrier's second.
You may ind some of his tricks useful to
you at Auvergne tomorrow"
! NJ. Terrier, whose courage was not of the
notwithstanding kind shivered
slightly. though the weather was decidedly
warm.
Il wish that fellow had chosen rspiers,"
| be muttered- These Americans are such
devils with the pistol"
Ii was O'Clock in the afternoon.
NJ MaupassSnt's gallery was crowded
NJ Terrier had an excellent seat He sat
talking with his friend and second. He
had been drinking somewhat TO keep his
courage up, and his voice could be heard
all over the room. With s. FreDchman's
love of gossip, his second had talked freely
OF the meeting of the morrow.
As the American had not yet come a
dozen voices called on Terrier 10 step down
and set some practice and anuse the COM
psny 81 the same time.
| Terrier, who WAS a really good shot, was
not a little proud of it, and with such an
audience he was not slow TO avail himself
of the opportunity thus afforded of display
/ ing his skill.
Throwing of his coat he stepped down
on to the floor Of the gallery. and picking
up pistol marked two bulls eyes in rapid
succession.
His third bullet went just above, however
| an inch at least 10 the right.
"Your pistol is q little heavy on the trig-
ger, monsieur" said voice behind him.
Turning quickly, he recognized Vain
wright. who was standing o9letiy BIZ. q