The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1894-07-07
Cowboys Fight a Duel Which
Ends Fatally.
BOTH MEN WERE DEAD SHOTS
Each Had Sworn to Kill the other on
Sight and They Come Together
With a Clash.

F'You must remember, gentlemen,
that not one in fifty of the stories of
gun play that came out of the west has
any foundation in fact. Most of them,
very nearly all of them, are pure
fancy"
1t was Colonel George Barry, start
ed again in his experiences on the
frontier.
NOW, in all the time that l was
stationed in Wyoming Territory" he
went on, II met only two men who
might be called bad men, that is men
who are not only willing to shoot when
they get into trouble, but who rather
preferred trouble of that sort and
were frequently on the lookout for it.
Both of the m were master hands with
a six shooter, and neither could quite
comprehend what allied a man who was
ever afraid of anything. Each had
done murder. Neither would admit it,
of course. Both would contend that
they had shot in fair fight, and the
dead men had had just as good q chance
as themselves. But everybody knew
that wasn't so.
lone of these men, Ducello, was bad
horse man. That is it was his business
to break bronchos. He went about
from ranch to ranch and tackled the
,oopias that fha rnwhove didpst have
time to work down. Perhaps it was
his business that made him reckless,
and then again probably it was his
natural recklessness shat led him to
adopt the business. Ducello was the
quickest man with a six-shooter l ever
saw, although Hyde, the other bad
man, had the reputation Of being the
swiftest manipulation of gun in all
Wyoming. 1 once saw Ducello do lit
tie fancy shooting. 1t was in the days
before Crook had thrashed the Sioux
several times across Nebraska, and we
were kept pretty busy. 1 had only a
couple of bars on my shoulders then,
Instead of these eagles. A small de-
tachment was sent under my command
to do some scouting over toward the
the Big Horn country. Ducello went
along as guide. He knew every foot
of the country. 1t seemed as if he
could tell where he was in the dark.
"Well, one day as we were riding
along we ran pretty close to big rat
tlesnake. The RATHER always fights
fair, you know. He never strikes until
he has given warning, unless you get
so close before he sees you that he
hasn't time to do anything but strike
This fellow coiled himself up and rat
tied. Ducello noticed him just as we
came even with him. Without checking
his horse in the least the bad horse
breaker pulled his gun and, with what
seemed to be the same motion, shot
The bullet cut the snake in two. Du
cello jumped off his pony and pulled of
the old fellows rattles; there were
twelve of them besides the button.
''But started out to tell you of the
fight between Ducello and Hyde. AS
said, each had done murder. The frs
man Hyde killed was down on the ole
trail between Sydney and the Black
Hills. There was dance one night al
a roadhouse and Hyde went. He hat
some trouble with another cowboy, ant
the other fellow threatened to shoot
him. Hyde was a peaceable enough
fellow then and didn't pay much atten
ton at first to the other cowboy.
threats. But when they had bsen re
peated several times Hyde got tired
He went into the barroom of the road
house and got Winchester. Why he
didn's use his six-shooter 1 don't know
but he didn't. He went back into the
dining room, where they were dancing
and, walking up the man who haC
threatened him, he said:
"'D- you, you've been talking
about shooting all night, and haven
done - thing. Now. I'm going Il
shoot
HE pulled up his Winchester ant
deliberately shot the cowboy SQUARED.
through the heart. OF course th'
other fellow had time enough to pull
his gun while he was raising his Win
chester, but he didn't get it quicl
enough. Hyde said he was white
livered.
"Ducello's first man was killed in
different sort of a fight. A Michigan