Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-27
DUEL OF KNIFE
 vS. PISTOL

1uc CoHYSiSdliOH udu turned upon
 dueling, and several in the group
 gathered in the cafe had related ex-
 periences which directly or indirectly had concerned persons of their ac- quaintance, when Colonel Pitzer Martin of Texas entered into the sub ject.
 T s'pose you all think man with
 knife would have a mighty small
 chance against man with gun
 and 8 dead shot at that--in regular
 paced-off- -go-at-the-signal encounter,
 don't you?'
 There was a unanimous chorus of
 assent and the Colonel shook his
 gray head in a knowing sort of way
 and smiled faintly.
 T thought so too, until one day
 few years back, down in the Pecos
 valley section, where I saw one of the oldest duels 1 reckon was ever fought. It was between Bob, Ander-
 son and Mexican known only to us
 as Savior We never bothered much
 with the last names of greasers in
 those eow,pnnching days. Bob and
 Savior never got along any too well
 some trouble over a Mexican girl belieye-but they never came to an open rupture, partly, believe, because
 Bob always packed a gun. Whats
 more, he knew how to use that same gun
 Savior had no use for gun. His weapon was a long-bladed knife with a heavy handle. It was homemade affair and Savior set heap by it, and how Savior could iuggle that knife, He handled it Mexican fashion. of course, the hilt down almost to his finger tips, the blade passing over his wrist. The first and little fingers holding the weapon steady, Savior could throw the knife with a peculiar jerk of the forearm and send the point true to the mark every time.
 We were rounding up one day near Toyah when the quarrel between the pair broke out with fresh violence. It ended with Bob Knocking Savior down, then stepping back and draw. ing his gun. ready for the attack he expected; but Savior made no such move. He got up, his lips white and his black eyes blazing Well, there was some lively exchange of talk for a few minutes, Savior calling Bob coward for striking an ''unarmed" man, and Bob offering 10 settle with fists if Savior would drop his knife, agreeing, in turn, to discard his gun. But Savior was physically no match for Bob. and he knew it. You fight me?' he asked eagerly. You fight me-my knife against your gun? You give me chance to get even? You stand off and shoot-I throw knife yes, you one brave man. You do it, I know and Savior shook with min gled rage and eagerness to meet the man he hated, on what seemed to be equal grounds.
 Tt didn't seem quite fair for the greaser-leastway as we figured it: but he was keen for a fight and Bob was fairly begging for a chance to do 1 up his enemy The boss of the outfit, ! who had kept from mixing up in the 1 matter. now took a hand in the game. He said it was only a question of time before one or the other man would l be killed and the sooner it was over the better.
 Savior dictated the terms of the l duel We didn't care much what he asked for because we figured it was a dead open and shut case that he would have bullet in him before he had time to throw his knife. Savior stipu. lated that he and Bob were to stand side by side: that Bob should step forward ten paces, gun in hand, but | held muzzle down, at arms length. At the end~of the ten paces he was to turn and fire. the instant his foot. marking the end of the tenth pace. touched the ground.
 As Bob stepped out, Savior crouched down, holding his knife in position to throw. There could be no ! about the counting. Every ! time Bob's foot hit the ground a chorus of voices called out the num- Der. As his heel touched for the tenth time he raised his gun above his head and whirled about-just in ! time to catch the blade of the Mexi- cans knife in his throat. It was all [ done so quickly that we scarcely knew what had happened until we say Bob pitch forward on his face and lie still, his undischarged gun rolling in the grass beside him. After we got our i senses bit. we realized the whole thing. The greaser had watched like a cat and the instant Bob's heel hit f the turf for the tenth time, he let fy with the knife. Ii had only I distance of about g feet to travel and it went that distance while Bob was raising his gun and swinging around. i A little reflection showed us that as a matter of fact. Savior had de