Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-07-02
paovlDs ssol AND 4 I DULLsr.
Two Hrothers Prevented From Killing
Each Othrr by a Miracie.

Two Brothers Prevented From Killing
Each Othrr by a Miracle.
A half dozen mon were sitting out in
front of an up town hotel the other
evening telling stories, one OF which Ia
noted by the Washington Star.
"When l was 21,ii' said a tall man,
evidently from q Southern State, II
had an ungoyernable temper and a
half brother three years Older than
myself. We were both church mem
bers. but that didn't, seem to bring
us any closer together for he was a
Methodist and ! was Baptist. You
may have observed, " he threw in as a
decoration to the story. that Chris
tian charity and brothetly love don't
always thrive on denominational feed.
However, as was saying, we were OF
different denominations. and We got
along fairly we'll together until we
began arguing on our respective faiths
Then we got hot, and / always lost my
temper. l may sag that he did very
nearly the same, but he wasn't quite
as bad as was In that regard.
"One day we were out hunting with
only one gun, squirrel rifle, between
us, and had the gun. ] may add
here that we lived on farm, and 9
one-gun hupting party was not at al
unusual. We had sat down on rock
near the edge OF stream to rost, and
in some way slipped and went into
the water. 1t made me mad to begin
with, and when he began chatting me
and telling me that Baptist ought to
be used to a. little, thing like that,
got ten time worse and hit him lick
| in the face. He ran off few yards
and picked up boulder about as big
as your double fist, while l made q
grab for the gun, which had set W
| against willow under the bank.
"Of course, we did not know what
we were doing by this time; only re-
member of telling him if he raised his
hand to throw the stone I'd shoot him.
He was nervy, though, and I hadn't
more than got the words out of my
mouth than no let the boulder come al
me, and. true to my word, banged
away at him. Wo weren't 40 feet
apart, and it was stand-on between
| the boulder and the bullet as to which
was the more dangerous, but Provi
dence, reckon, was watching over US
for as l fired the boulder flew into |
dozen pieces, and both Of us were lef
standing looking at each other in ;
dazed, helpless kind of way. Then,
still not understanding what had hap
pened, but realizippt how nearly GU
tempers had brought US to bloodshed
We rushed into each Others arms ant
began crying over each other.
when we had got over the excite
ment and collected our wits suilicientl.
to make an investigation, we discov
cred that by the 4merest phance-b.
providential interference, l mean--m.
bullet and his boulder had met in thei
flight and nullified each other. Oh
one piece of the brpken stoue we foun'
the blue mark OF the bullet, and il
another place WEI found the battsre,
bullet. He took the bullet and tool
the piece of marked stone, and We hav
kept them to this day as sasred souve
Mrs, and as very potent reminder
never to discuss odrarespectise beliefs
I'm just as strong,a Baptist as ever
and he is equally a Methodist, but W
both believe that greater than eithe
Baptist or Methodist is the Providenc
that watches over us all.