Abilene weekly reflector., 1899-03-30
ABILENE WEEKLY REFLECTOR ABILENE KANSAS MARCH 80 sg9TE PAGES

ne had fred a plstol only once in his
life. His title was entirely compH.
mentary.
The duel i'm which he engaged took
place shortly after his arrival al
Omaha City, when he aroused the
luminosity Of Bull Tomey. a blaeklcg
and an eNper, with the pistol. Matt.
news refused to sell goods to romcy
On credit. whereupon phe latter chal-
ienged the young merchant to duel.
As Tomey had participated in
dozen or more such affairs, aud had
always come off victorious, great was
the surprise and alarm of Matthews
friends when he accepted the ehal-
lenge.
u have never had pistol in my
hands in my life" said Matthews. "but
] mean to meet him though neither
OF us will be hit"
The next day Matthews and Tomey
met in a field south Of the town. The
news Of an impending duel had been
well cieu.All i anl rlieGls Of both as
semhled, although the general convic-
tion was that Mathews was as good
as dead.
TO the amazememt of the specta-
tors, as well as romey and his second,
when they reached the field they
found newly dug grave yawming for
dim who should fall in the duel.
Tomey made it the butt of his coarse
wit.
That feller Matthews is Thought
ful one" he said TO the crowd. lie
comes out here to get me to pop, him
off, and has his own grave ready, so
we can hold the funeral without
waste of time.
On the contrary" answered Matt
'hews. . have had that grave dug
for you
There was even greater cause for
establishment when Marthews' second
Williams -slrole on the field He
was known to be one of the most
desperate men in Omaha, hls fame
as dead shot was as great as THAT
of Tomey, while his daring and
wickedness were held in far higher
repute by the rough element of which
he was ruling spirit. Some tritling
kindness had won this desperado to
Matthews, and he had sworn to see
him through the fight and secure fair
play, il he had TO clean out a score Of
his own tribe.
The dllelists were to stand and fire
at ten PAGES, and Williams who i'm.
medialely took charge of all arrange
menls without mach Difference to the
wishes or views OF his fellow second,
SO managed il than the grave came
directly between them. TO this ar
rangement 1omey and his second
strenously objected, but Williams
with am ugly frown, oyerruled them
saying tersely that, as the challenged
party, his principal had the right to
select the ground, 50 bong as no OBJ
stacles INTERVIEWED, The dirt from the
grave had been removed to a dis
tance, so there could be no complaint
on that score. Tomey and his second
appealed to the crowd. but soon found
themselves a helpless minority, fol
the predominatifg rough elemcn1
were afraid of Williams, and so, o
course, sided with him. The re
spectacle spectators naturally agree'
with amy proposition made in the in
terest of Matthews, whether the bene
fit was apparent or mot. Finding i
OF no avail TO protest further, Tomey
second placed his man ON his side o
THE grave, and Williams did likewise
with Matthew's. Then Williams
stepped some PAGES TO the right o
his principal, and made brief ad
dress
"You men are to have one sho
apiece he began, looking straigh
at Tomey, who stood at careless east
wun a smile ON his repulslve face
"That's all want" he retorted
81 don't believe in tearin' i'm all tt
pieces. y
"All YOU want| repeated Williams
"We'll see that you don't try to take
more. And another thing want you
to bear carefully in mind, Bnl
Tomey. that I'm standin' here will
my gun in my good right hand. anf
il you fire before give the word o
command, why, ri blow the hear
out of you; and reckon from wha
you know of me, you will believe In
in earnest when caution you.
Tomey scowled darkly, but made ne
answer. Relations between the twt
men were strained, but Williams, wat
much too strong in the esteem OF th'
rough element for Tomey to declare
for an open breach.
Don N worry about me shooiin
ahead of time" he replied, surlily
"but hurry UP these proceedings,
want to get back to town and take
drink with the boys ito celebrate thi
funeral"
every well, we're ready ! vii
count one. two, three. and then yo
are both to blaze away at the Wort
'E'ire!" wenb ON Williams, at TIN
time leyeling his pistol at Tomey'
breast.
T'm going TO keep You unde
cover" said he, as 1omey drew bac
with a start, ITO make sure you don
fire ait my man tin the proper time