Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1905-06-16
A DUEL IN THE DARK

THAT reminds me-" said the man who
had spent some time in the SOUTH 'of
game | sat in down in Kentucky some
years ago"
Tell usl" cried the crowd-hands
were running poorly anyway,-and after
some little persuasion he told his story.
an our particular set down there in
the horse country where Jim Pettingill
and MIR. j. Tomlinson Jones. When
tell you that Jim Pettingill was always
Jim to the crowd, and that T. Tomlin-
son Jones was always Mr.. Jones, you
will know as much about the respective
characters of the two men as could be
told In a book. In addition to that |
might say that Jim In one respect was
like the city of Washington-made up
of magnificent distances.
1--WE were having our usual little Fri
day night affair, and Jim, as on one or
two previous occasions, was raking in
the discs of various colors with regu-
larity too frequent to be agreeable to
the rest of us. AS the game went on
this fact seemed to be getting on Mr.
to him how he, ]. Tomlinson Jones.
could lose. His manner became offens-
i've, and finally. when it was Jim deal
and he handed himself as fine a set of
pot-lifters as ever bore the royal faces
of king, queen and jack, preceded by the
ace, Mr.. Jones exploded
Sir, said he, in his best ]. Tomlin-
a 90
tinue longer in this game. I am &C.
customed to playing with gentlemen,
sir not cheats
well, the hush that fell on that
crowd was so deep you could hear it.
For a second no one breathed. Then
Jim elevated himself to the limit Of his
six-foot-two, seized the struggling
-and-forty-seven pounds of
Jones and dropped 1t out of the window.
We heard a muffied, sickening thud, and
then all was still.
"Of course that broke up the game.
We all knew Jim was square, but after
such an unpleasant occurrence we did
not feel like playing any more that
night. | did not realize, though what
a fine thing Mr.. Jones self esteem was
until the next morning, when Jim sent
for me.
John, he said, that Jones person
has challenged me to a duel. want you
to be my second
"Of course was willing to be in. Jim
and talked the matter over, and finally
decided upon plan which we thought
would make this fight unique in the his
tory of dueling. Back in the moonshine
district was a small hut we had run
across one summer that we were spend
ing near to natures heart. The duel was
arranged to take place In this hut at
midnight The principals were to fight
in the dark, entering the hut separately,
drawing lots for first chance. The first
man in was to begin firing as soon as the
second man entered. Pistols were the
weapons Jim selected. l advised shot
guns loaded with birdshot, but Jim
wouldn't have 1t. l think Jim expected
]. Tomlinson to back out when he heard
the conditions. but J. T. stuck like a
man.
Two nights later our little death
party was gathered In front of this tum-
BILE down log cabin In the heart of Ken
lucky wilderness. Contrary to our ex
pectations and the predictions of pat
ent medicine almanac, the moon was
shining like million candle power arc
light. Under such conditions the man
who entered the hut first would have
such a bunch on the second man that 1t
might be considered that his goose was
cooked. They drew lots and Jones won.
with a confident smile which the
pale moonbeams distorted into a ghast-
ly grin Mr.. Jones received his revolver
from the surgeon and entered the hut,
closing the door after him. looked at
Jim anxiously, but he appeared cool and
calm. Jim received his pistol and the
rest of us fell back to a safe distance.
He walked to the hut, took one last look
at the moon-silvered landscape and
opened the door. There was an in
finitesimal period of silence, broken only
by the violent beating of our hearts, and
then six shots rang out in rapid success
sion
Il turned away, not having the cour-
age to look at poor Jim's bullet-riddled
corpse, but. hearing groan from J. T.
j. second, ventured to look toward the
hut. The door, gentlemen, was closed
and Jim was inside. Then we heard
three shots followed almost immediate
ly by the most blood-curdling, lost soul,
human agony shrieks | ever heard
Headed by the doctor with his lantern,
we rushed into the hut. Near the fire.
place stood Jim, gazing sadly at the
writihing form of Mr. Jones.
"'I didn't want to hurt him. said
Jim to me, so walked straight across
the room and fred my shots up the
chimney. But continued Jim, that's
where Mr.. Jones was
"'Well. ]. Tomlinson Jones recovered