The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1907-02-07
The Knife ThroWer
[Original,1

soon after my arrival went to show
that had come to the place where had
located. It was given in a big tent and
consisted Of acrobatic, sleight Of hand
and other such performances. There
were two brothers, knife throwers, who
showed great skill, Ben ana Harry
Halliwell, as their names We're given
on the roughly printed playbills. Ben's
part was to stand with his back to a
board while Harry planted knives all
ABOUT him so that when Ben walked
away he left his outline in knives on
the board. 1t occurred to me that it
was a horrible way of making living,
for an accident must surely occur in
time. But this gave the sympathy Of
the audience to the brothers, the spec
tators holding their breaths till the end
of the game, then applauding vocifer-
ously.
The Halliwell brothers were down
for two performances, and just before
the second specimen Of the toughest
class at the mines, q thickset, red
faced, thick Tipped man, with Satan's
own look, sidled around and got in be-
hind the ropes on to the plot reserved
for the performers. He stood opposite
the knife throWer and sidewise to the
man at whom the knives were thrown.
Harry had nearly pinned his brother in
when saw flash Of light on Harry's
face just as he was throwing a knife.
1t went through the feshy part of his
brothers leg. l had been watching the
man who stood opposite him and a
second before the knife that wounded
Ben was thrown I saw the intruder
manipulate pocket mirror. It was he
who threw the light Of lamp into
Harry's eyes and caused him to mis-
send the knife. The audience had kept
their gaze fixed OH the brothers, espe-
cially the one standing for a target, and
nobody but myself seemed to have seen
the cause of the failure. Pm sure if
they had the man who had contrived it
would have suffered for his act. Being
unused to such scenes prudently kept
my own counsel. A tenderfoot is not
fitted to take part in the quarrels of the
people Of new countries.
I saw Harry Halliwell give the man
glance and was confident that he
was aware of the cause of his wound
Ing his brother. In that glance also
saw prennOnition of revenge OF
course the incident ended that part of
the performance. The brothers with
drew, and the bill was finished by the
others. So far as could see, the spec
tators supposed that an accident had
happened, but were so used to scenes
Of sudden bloodletting that they soon
forgot it.
The next day learned that the flend
who had caused the trouble had been
melted against Harry Halliwell for
some reason not known to my in
formant. He passed under the name
Of Nevada Tim and had a black record
behind him. His occupation was gam
bling, and he passed most of his time
at the Metropolitan, a gambling den in
the place. was also told that he had
been Informed that Harry Halliwell
had accused him Of throwing light in
his eyes as he was about to throw the
knife, and he was looking for Harry
to kill him.
The afternoon after the performance,
having nothing to do, I sauntered into
the Metropolitan and stood looking at
the game. was surprised to see Har-
ry Halliwell sitting at the table play
ing very moderately. He seemed more
interested in watching the door than
In the game. went out after awhile,
but something-I could not tell what
led me to go back. There was Harry
Halliwell still sitting at the table, the
door on his left, and now noticed his
brother leaning on crutch standing
opposite. Presently the door opened,
and Nevada Tim walked in. I saw
him start when he saw the knife
thrower, and instead of walking
straight up to the table, as he had
started to do, he sidled around to the
left.
As soon as the man entered I saw
that both the Halliwells were aware Of
his presence Ben drew little off
from the table where he and Harry
could better see each other, and his
eyes never left their enemy for a sec
ond Nevada Tim kept edging around
to get in Harry's rear, but In an ap-
parently careless way not likely to at
tract attention wished hadn't come
there, for knew what he was bent on,
and I wasn't sure the brothers did.
Finally he attained position directly
behind Harry, and saw him turn with
sudden swiftness and level revolver
at the back Of Harry's head, but before
he could pull the trigger heard thud
and at the same moment saw the
handle of knife protruding from his
left breast He pitched over back
ward and lay perfectly still.
Ben Halliwell had given his brother
! onds later, would have come too late.
Harry had turned only half around and
thrown the knife over his left shoulder.
So sure was his ain that he had
pierced the heart in its center.
l had condemned myself bitterly for
not interfering to save man I sup
posed was not aware of his danger.
though something told me l might go
wrong in doing so. 1t turned out that
would have made a great mistake In
interfering. The Halliwells had plan,
ned the affair, had kept out Of Nevada
Tins way and gone to the gambling
house to lay in wait for him. Further
more, found that number Of persons
present as soon as Nevada Tim entered
knew that either he or Harry Halli-
well would not go out alive Halliwell
could not hit barn door with pistol.
My Introduction to the country did