The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-22
CATFISH THEIR WEAPONS.
A DUEL WITH SERIOUS RESULTS IF
NOT ACCORDING TO THE CODE.
II was FouEht Betwecn Two Riah Vendors Mt
L~eayenworth. aud ono Combotnnt Lost an
Rar aid the other an Eyo-Bncounter Be-
fuNnn. wen I'm n Rnnt On tho Rio a;rnnde. |

tueen mcn In n Bont on tho Rio Grnnde-
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2l.-"Did you ever see a
couple Of men fight n duel with catfish for
weapons r. inquired Martin Logan Of oskaloosa.
Kan, ut one OF the hotels tho other night.
"Well, I did. and It was a pretty serious duel,
too, for one or the mon lost the sight OF an eye
init, and the other had m ear torn of.
ut happened Mt L~eavcnworth, my State. in
IT. The fighters were a couple OF fish huckstcrs
who had been ut swords points over tho divis,
ion OF the fsh.vcndlng territory In tho town for
a long time. and before they came together in
the catfish duel they had often bntted each
other about with their fists over matters OF in.
fringement, Although one OF them was a good
deal smaller than the other. he generally man
aged to hold his own fairly we'll In the alley
scraps. Leavcn worth was a shooting town In
1.-THE James BOYS used to make II their head.
quarters. you know, every once In a WHILE. and
theirgun.plny practices demornliZed the hero
worshipping youth Of the place. This pair Of
fish huckstcrs l am telling you about were
not shooters by any means whatever;
they were simply a couple Of wranglcrs
who would probably have been banging each
other around with their paws yet II they hadn't
met down on the lovee one Saturday night, when
both OF 'cn were q little more than three parts
drunk. and permitted themselves to be talked
into this queer duel.
"A gang of no.account devils. who had re-
Gently returned to Leavenworth from a freight
ing trip in Colorado were down on the levec,
eating up quart bottles of nose paint on this
Saturday night, when the two fish hucksters
reeled up to the crowd from opposite directions.
When they began to jabber strong talk to each
other the freiehters. disturbed in their enjoy
ment OF a peaceful drunk. began to rear up some.
The nover-ending rows and jawing between the
pair had made all hands in the town weary.
"'fou two fellcrs has got to quit chewin' each
others names around here says one OF the
freighters. why don't you have IL out to n
standstill. or else chuck 1t altogether an drink
your booze peacefully
PEACEFUL says the uglier and bigger of the
hucksters. There ANT no peace in this game
whatever. I'm huntin' for trouble tonight, an
a whole lot OF it. And. bin! he suddenly
cracked the smaller chap on the Jaw and knocked
him fiat. The gang wouldn't stand for this. and
demurrcd strongly.
THAT amt no fair shake says the man who
had pointed ont the necessity for a finish scrap,
AN 1t amt calc'lated to bring about no white.
winged finish to this here perpetual blanket-est-
in an hcll-roarin' talk game, nohow. Hey, drop
that = he shouted. pulling mp suddenly, for he
noticed, with all the rest. that the huckster who
had been knocked down had picked himself up.
reeled down to a tied-up fishing skifY. picked out
VI thc uohI IL DB DullaIo cdlHSn tnat welRneO
about twenty-five pounds, and was advanc-
ing upon the other huckster warily. the fish
tightly clutchcd in both his hands by the tail.
"'Oh, | don't know says another OF the
frcighters. Hold up n minute. Every man to
his trade. says l.. What's the matter with both
Of EN- havin' a bull.head cat and gettin' the
thing over with that,awayf II nd be a fair
doal for both, for they'd both be handlin'
weepons they're used to hnndlin'.'
The :psEestion was received with applause.
"'All right, says the bigger of the hucksters.
its up to me; an. ! amt no crawfsh. WGitll !
picked out a buffalo catfish about the size OF the
one, his enemy had already provided himself
with. The big huckster swung his fish around
his head a couple Of times to get the heft and
feel OF it,. When he whirlcd it around the third
time BY the tail the slime on the thing caused it
away from where he stood.
,o r,Ta he dspne Ss, things n st got to be made fast be,
went back to the skif. cut of a yard or SO Of
rope from a net line. tied q double knot around
fastcn the other end Of the rope around both Of
his wrists. The smaller huckster watched this
grSseedinE, saw that 1t was a good thing. and
1T was a rank. evil fight and no mistake.
neither OF the men was sober enough TO do any
more than keep his feet, When they made their
looking fish, neither OF 'em coming within a
yard Of hitting the other. the momentum spun
lntm pOln around ike TOPS ana carried them to
the sloping levee pavement with hard thuds.
They both struggled to their feet, sized each
ether up again; got another firm clutch on the
smaller chap caught the other man square on
the back of the head and sent him spinning. but
the impact OF the blow also sent him TO grass.
his smaller opponent aidn't Appeal 10 be
quarters this time. both Of, them hsv:
Ing ihsir KIND KIND , o. pit picked Esfn @TP, the style Of
each other WAS sOmpthinV nprc, Eyery tinn
ono OF EN- hit the other and knocked him down,
the hitter would go down, too. by reason OF n
combination of conclusion and jag. They were
hard;ooking sights. the pair OF them, after they
got down to business. You see. the skin OF 4
as glass when strokcd downward. but like No. 3
emery paper when rubbed toward the head.
tagonist on the side OF the head. the tsh's skin
would carry away a few inches OF scalp and face
eMticle, and 9fter three minutes you couldn't
blood. Finally, when both men were pretty
weak after going down about a dozen times
each. they took a tive.minutc rest by common
consent Then they came to time. refreshed
and hostile, and it was about even money in the
betting which man would drop out first.
MISUNDERSTANDING fish around their heads
sei6er. and both iicEss landed with a n thMd y .%i
could have heard IA mile on u still night. We
could I'd only aGd sec int s eq, a, had caught each other
the gang saw that the two hucksters were lying
still where they had fallen. they divided Their
NV eha fhiNV i'oAh z "CTc III ann
pretty sound asleep at that. When they were
carried into an abandoned grain elevator that
hung over the Missouri the physician who was
summoned found that tho sharp gill of one fsh
had torn the big huckstcr's right ear from his
head as clean rs a whistle. and the freighters
who went out to search for the ear with Ian.
terms never found IL. The smaller huckster's
left eye was poked so far into his head that II
hasn't let the light of day into the port side Of
his skull since"
Happened to see a duel about AS peculiar as
this catfish Hight at FL Paso, or rather. on the
he Rh GranSS alongside Fl P&so, said George
was Of the, party. only there was a bit of
con, mixed up In 1t, whereas the fish fight ap-
pears to have been on the level. But. then
up In to DO altogether on the square.
"A couple OF Mexican mule whAckers IN HI
Paso got 10 quarrelling over u half.breed Rirl
who kept them both dangling on a string for a
long IL Thile, pretending to be equally enainorod
this division OF affection. Their WAY of oneninr
hos'illties was to Jump from their wheel mules
ma cut each other up II good deal with their
blacksnake mule tick.ers. They kept nj this for
quite a while, until tho hides OF both OF them
ullsl nave been pretty well slithcrcd. Then
Ramon tried the Greaser game OF attending to
Al1fn n al