Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-11-18
pEcATuR'S DAGGERS.
A Weapon Won in a Hand-to-Hsnd FTgh


u
on Tripol
One sunshiny afternoon in spring.
while talking with Stewart, I picked
up from his table a peculiar knife.
The handle was ivory. yellow with
age The blade was perhaps eight or
ten inches long, curved like scimi-
tar. 1t was, in fact dagger, there
being no edge on it, but the point
was of need:e-like sharpness He
noticed nv curiosity and said:
'That knife was a present from
Decatur, and it has an interesting
history. Our war with Tripoli broke
out in 1901. Those treacherous dogs
had way of surrendering, and then
when a boat was sent to take posses
sion, they would open on it. Lieut.
James Decatur, brother Of Stephen,
was shot dead by the captain of a
vessel that had run up the white flag,
and, waiting until young Decatur
stepped upon his deck, killed him.
t>tephen Decatur learned of this
crime, and made his way to the boat
on which his brother had been killed.
He led his men over the rail, and at
tackled the crew with desperate valor.
He had learned that it was the captain
who had fired the fatal shot, and,
singing him out, Decatur went at
him like tiger. Such a fight could
end only with the death of one of the
combatants.
"There was no mistake about the
identity of the captain. He was
fully six and a half feet tall, and
wore gorgeous uniform. Seeing the
American making for him, the mis-
creant eagerly rushed forward, for he
must have been confident of crushing
the audacious officer, who was not
large man by any means.
THE Moor lunged at Decatur with
a pike, but it was parted with so
much violence that the assailant was
partly turned round on his feet. He
instantly whirled back like cat just
as Decatur struck with his sword.
The blow was caught on the Tripoli-
tan's pike and the SWORD broke In
two; but with the stump Decatur
checked a second blow, though the
point passed through his coat and
pierced his breast. Grasping the
pike with both hands, Decatur
wrenched it from the other, flung it
aside, and leaped at him, just as I
had seen him do scores of times in
Philadelphia, when fighting with a
boylarger than himself.
II never saw beJter wrestler
than Decatur, but to his astonish-
ment. he found the Moor was his SUI
perior. When they went down on
the deck, Decatur was fiat on his
back, with the Moor on top. That
dagger which you now have in your
hand was in the sash around the
fellows waist. He reach down to
draw 1t, so as to stab Decatur; but
the latter flung his legs over the
Moor's back. and with the help of his
arms held him so tightly against his
breast that the Moor could not shove
his hand between their bodies to
draw the weapon. One Of Decatur's
pistols was near his side, so that |
while he held his enemy rigid with
his left arm, he slipped his right |
down and drew the weapon. He
cooked it by using the body of the
Moor to help him, reached over the !
back Of the. savage, and, pointing the !
pistol downward, pulled the trigger: |
'1t was just like Decatur, for a
more reckless thing cannot be i'm
agined. He might have fred side !
ways into his enemy's body, but dis
charged the bullet directly toward |
his own breast The chances were
that it would pass through both. but,
luckily, it struck bone, and, with a
gasp and groan, the Tripolitan rolled
off the body on the deck and died,
without another struggle. Decatur
took the knife from his sash and pre-
sented it to me. Blue and Gray.