The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-28

cur blowing against the swift current
of the river. One of the owners. Jim
Sunderland. was present at the yard,
and we made known our needs, and
sent ROSTERS ashore to carry the
wood upon the deck. We bought bout
ten cords of wood. and the clerk paid
Sunderland ten crisp IS bills in settle
preparing 10 take up the gangplank
and push cut into the stream again,
Lafayette Sunderland made his appear
ance from a neighboring cOpse OF woods
and inquired as TO the settlement for
the wood that had been taken By this
time we had swung out into the stream
and the clerk called across the inter-
vening stretch of water that he had
paid Jim for the wood. From the deck
OF the boat we could discern heated
controversy between the brothers. the
reputation of the two men was SucE as
to create a general interest on board the
boat as TO the outcome OF the quar-
rel but none of US were prepared Tor
the tragic denouement. After. perhaps,
five minutes of alteration, we saw jim
suddenly spring 10 the end of a huSe
cottonwood log which lay near,
and seize rifle which rested
upon the end of the los
But quick as he was. the other man
was even quicker, and although jim
was the first to move, LaIaEstIe
sDrang 10 the other end of the log,
where his rife rested. and had seized 1t
before Jim could take aim. Two shght
pufTs of smoke from the barrels OF the
weapons, two short. sharp reports, and
the two men fell almost simultaneous
". each where he had stood, without
moving a step. Each of the men was
a dead shot, and there could be but
one result TO such duel. The brothers
e-Hg
other, and over the division of $50.
Homicide was not uncommon in those
days. although the killing of brother
by brother in a duel of this description
was little out of the ordinary.
THE other duel took place on the
trestle of the big Missouri bridge, be-
tween Bismarck and Mandan, in 1881
Several of us were sitting on the upper
deck Of a steamboat at the Bismarck
landing, when our attention was at
tracted by the confusion among the
workmen on the trestle, which was on
the opposite side of the river, perhaps
half a mile away. We watched the
men for few minutes, and soon we
saw some dark object fall from the
trestle to the rocks, 20 feet below. In
vestigation disclosed that two of the
carpenters, who had been at work, had
become engaged in an alteration, and
hard words were followed by blows.
until one of them attacked the other
with a hammer, and the other defended
himself with a hatchet. 1t was an eX-
tremely perilous place for an encounter
of the description which followed The
trestle was 20 feet high and just wide
enough to admit of the laying of the
rails with a space of a foot on each
side. There were no guard rails, and
below the trestIe the ground was
strewn with huge powders. A fall from
the trestle was certainly fatal. The
workmen saw the impending struggle
with apprehension, but dared not in
terfere lest they should be cast from
the trestle.
The two belligerent workmen Crap
pied with each other and swayed from
side to side of the trestle. Backward
and forward they reeled and struggled.
each seeking TO overcome the other and
cast him from the dizzy height. Final
ly they battled 10 the very edge of the
trestle. and one of them lost his bal
ance and swung out over the edge.
Realizing that he was doomed, he chung
to the other with the frenzy of despair,
and, unable to loose himself from the
grasp of the falling man, the second
of the men slipped, swayed and fell
over the edge, and, with a wild cry,
both men were precipitated to the
rocks below. The rest of the workmen
were hOrror-stricken, and peered over
the edge, to see the two unfortunateS
lying prone on the rocks below. still
clasping each in the vise-lixe grip of
the other. and stone dead. Hardly a
bone in the body of either but was
broken.