The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-11-06
, B. SAMUEL E. BRAND


ct and waved It in their faces.
Put that dirty rag up!' said one Of
the Officers.
You call that q dirty rag. do your
said Ned. his eye lighting with anger.
I'LL give you q colored, shirt" And he
threw some wine from, his glass In the
officers face and on his bosom. The
man thus attacked calmly wiped away
the .winsrwfth his napkin. then said a"
few words to one Of the others. who
came % the table Of the Americans
and demanded satisfaction under the
code Cunningham assented. but. BE-
ing the challenged party and thus hav-
ing the choice Of terms under which
the duel should take place, chose for
the meeting grounds q farm some
twenty miles from Paris and for weap-
ons rifles. The principals were to take
positions, q mile apart and advance.
each conducting the campaign accord.
ing to his " secret will.
This d1di not suit the Freedman al,
all There were but two ways Of fight
ing q duel to which he was accuptoH-
ed-the n with a foil, the other with
a pistol, the former being the ordinary
French psthpdx He objected TO aRyN
except one OF these methods. Cunning
ham would not yield. He proposed.
however, that If the Frenchman would
apologize for speaking disrespeetfn}ly
Of the American dag he would apollo
gize for throwing wine! over him. But
the odacer. being in the army. could not
permit such an insult to pass without
a fight He was therefore obliged to
accept Cpnningham's terms. =.
One morning bright and early the
two parties started by separate convey.
ances to the farm on which they were
to fight They had succeeded In keep
ing the affair from the public. but 1t
wat known among army officers. and
they 6ocked to the ground in order to
witness this singular fight. They have
sharpshooters in their armies abroad:
but It is a question If there Is the free
fighting. > the ingenious methods prac.
ticed among Americans, whose expe
dents come down from the Indians. s
The two principals were placed. the
one on the north. the other on the south
side Of the farm. The interval between
them was made up Of fields partly and
thinly wooded. Unless they purposeIy'
covered themselves by taking position
here and there behind q tree the
duelists' could sex each other all the
way. The distance, SO far as the fight
was concerned. was not 80 great as
would appear. for the carrying range
Of the rifles was considerable. "
They had scarcely left their positions
before Cunningham fred several shots.
Whether he did this to get some idea
Of the range Of to rattle his enemy
was not known. His first stop was
made behind q fence thickly lined with
busheAn At the same time his enemy
took position behind q stone wall.
They were at long range.
The American resOrted to the COM.
mon device Of raising his hat above
his screen. Getting a bullet in 1t, he
made up his mind that his enemy was
not skilled in this kind Of warfare.
When be saw the Frenchman change
his position. passing a gateway, Cum
ningham's surmise was confirmed. He
could have shot the man during the
few seconds he vas exposed.
Cunningham had no wish to kill his
enemy. During the m~aneuvering he
could have shot the Frenchman sever.
III times. Desiring to wing him. he In.
vented a stratagem that would permit
him to get an easy shot. Tearing q
loose piece Of railing from the fence.
be picked up q stick about three feet
long and with bis handkerchief fas.
tened It across the longer piece about
n foot from one end. Taking OF bis
coat. be put the sleeves on the cross-
piece and put his hat on the end, az
scarecrows are usually made. Having
finished this work. he held his figure
against the top Of the fence 90 that It.
would look to his enemy a. II he were
sitting On Nj, TT" $40 i @lnf;,r
Two shots came in rapid succession.
one Of them knocking the dummy over
The Ffenchman saw It fall and. cor.
cludine''he had shot his enemy. caDei
out from hiding and advanced Ieisursi'
" across the field. Cunningham watcha
ed for an opportunity to wing him
without seriously hurting him and fput
. bullet through the calf Of bis Isgi&oi.
without the drawing Of blood the,
affair might have gone on indennitelyso
As,it was, nothing more was required.
Mutual apologies were exchanged. and
Cunningham aGt1,sAiGn fs4e1dsuOW ese
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