Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1897-12-02


be no hard feelings about Il, II I'm
left behind you'll push ON with Bin
hero for Your leader What I've got
IN my packs YOU are welcome to di-
vide between YOU. I've got fifteen
minutes to set ready in,"
had heard every word OF the above,
as had every other man In camp, but 4,
was hard for me to realize that the
men were In sober earnest. 1t was TO
be man hunt to the death, and they
hsd talked 1t over rs eoolly as IL the
subject OF discussion was \ bear or a
| deer Williams took with him a rifle,
revolver, u knife nifty extra car
! trfdges, and some bread and mont
Nheh ready to 40 he shook hands
with the two white men OF his marty
nodded to the others and to us, and
said to Johnson:
In an hour | shall reach tho far
SIDE and he ready to turn back. Sorry
the earth isn't big enough for both of
us but We happen to be built that way
l'S fair show for both, and therein
| ne nothing TO kick over"
| During the hour allowed hin, I,,,
son cleaned his firearms, oycrhau,ed
nus pack, and gave some instructions
"a to what should be done with certain
interests IN case he did not return
When tho hour was up he shook hands
! all around, had a word with m, man
OF the other camp, and he was WHIST
| - ~.
ing Us no disappeared from view, II
WAS AT once agreed between tho two
camps that there should be peace. and
eaeh man found something at which
To busy himself. The general idea
was 1hat the affair in the basin would
Dc over before noon, but those who
arSaed thus made a mistake. While
noth men meant to kill, neither prn-
posed TO take any chance. Life was
tue stake to be played for, and the
game was to be drawn out
When Williams had crossed the
basin he turned and headed back ia
'he south, but not ON the trail n,
Know Johnson too we'll to suppose that
he would make his way TO tho ccntnr
or the basin on the trail. He entered
the woods ON his right, and made his
way along through the tangle and
over the bouldors with the stealth Of
an indian, AS our loader entered tho
basin he also entered the woods To his
right, The two mon thus made half
CIRCLE ana were as far away from each
other MS the limits allowed, The basin
contained about 500 acres of land and
was walled In on every side. The
trees were not large hut tho under
growth was very thick, and there
were also many great bowldors lying
! about.
AS Williams circled TO tho south
ana johnson to the north, each made
u half circle before finding tho others
trail Tho distance covered by this
half circle was about two miles, and
such was the caution with which the
mtn moved that 1t was afternoon be-
fore they came upon Signs" Each
mans plan was now plain to the
other and both at once changed
That Is, each turned over his own
trail, or within reaching distance Of
it. This change simply prevented a
meeting. When one had reached the
north end Of the trail the other was
back nj the south end. and 1t was 4
o'clock In the afternoon. Then each
took the trail and held II to u point
| within 200 feet Of the center, and
Williams left II for the woods to his
left and Johnson for the woods to his
right. without suspecting each
others presence they crept carefully
forward until only fifty feet separated
them. Then wolf dnshing out from
! the space between them give both
mon the cue, and each began to work
for n shot. Johnson had before him
three or four vlne-coverod powders
and he crept under the vines and was
so we'll hidden that even the eyes Of n
! fox could not have made him out
4 H. II an hour passed, and II was grow
ing dark In the forest. when Williams
rose up alongside n tree and began
peering about. His uprising was like
that of n shadow, and for ten minutes
he did not expose finger M n target
Then he became impatient or figured
that johnson was not ut hand, and his
head left the shelter OF the tree TO get
n better look IL was too dark for
Johnson TO take accurate aim, and the
bullet meant for Williams eye passed
through and knocked the cap Off his
head. In second Williams had fired
In return, taking a snap shot at the
fash, and his bullet tore through the
cloth OF Johnson's shoulder.
Those were the first and best shots
fired. Each man drew away after
firing. and they were probably a mile
and half apart as they made camp
for the night. Had they been Indians
they might have hunted each other In
the darkness, but each lay down TO
sleep feeling as safe as in camp. As
the sun came up the hunt was on
again. They were now east and west
Of the trail and more than mile
apart. They seemed 10 locate each