The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1915-11-26
/ AN INCIDENT or
THE FRONTIER
A Strange Duel In a Border
Gambling House.


that had come to the place where had
located. 1t was given In q big tent and
consisted Of acrobatic, sleight of hand
and other such performances. There
were two brothers, knife throwers.
who showed great skill, Ben and Har-
ry Halliwell. as their names were CIV
en- on the roughly printed playbills.
Ben's part was to stand with his back
to board while Harry planted knives
all about him so that when Ben walk
ed away he left his outline In knives
on the board.
The Halliwen brothers were down
j for two performances, and just before
the second q specimen of the toughest
class at the mines, a thickset, red
faced, thick Tipped man, with Satan's
own look, sidled around and got In be-
hind the ropes on 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 a fash of light on Harry's
face just as he was throwing a knife.
1t went through the heshy part of his
brothers leg. ! had been watching the
man who stood opposite him, and a
second before the knife that wounded
Ben was thrown / saw the intruder
manipulate a pocket mirror. 1t was he
who threw the light of a lamp into
Harry's eyes and caused him to mis-
send the knife. The audience had kept
their gaze fixed on the brothers, espe-
cially the one standing for q target,
and nobody but myself seemed to have
seen the cause Of the failure. I'm sure
II they had the man who had contriv-
ed It would have suffered for his act.
Being unused to such scenes prudent
~ kept my own counsel. A tenderfoot
Is not fitted to take part in quarrels
Of the people Of new countries.
saw Harry Halliwell give the man
a glance and was confident that he was
aware Of the cause OF his wounding
his brother. In that glance / also saw
premonition of revenge. OF course
the incident ended that part of the per-
Torrance. The brothers withdrew, and
the bill was finished by the others. So
far as could see, the spectators sup
,, posed 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 fiend
!! who had caused the trouble had been
melted against Harry Halliwell for
some reason not known to my In
tormant. He passed under the name
Of Nevada Tim and had black record
behind him. His occupation was gam
bling, and he passed most of his time
at the Metropolitan, u gambling den in
the place. I was also told that he had
been informed that Harry Halliwell
had accused him of throwing a light in
his eyes as he was about to throw the
knife, and he was looking for Harry
to kill him.
! having nothing 30 do, sauntered into
the Metropolitan and stood looking at
the game. was surprised to see Har-
~ Hnlllwell 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 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 a crutch standing
opposite. Presently the door opened,
and Nevada Tim walked In. 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
sided around to the left
AS soon as the man entered l 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 up
parently careless way not likely to at
tract attention. wished hadn't come
there, for l knew what he was bent
on. and l wasn't sure the brothers did
Finally he attained position directly
behind Harry, and saw him turn with
sudden swiftness and level a revolver
at the back Of Harry's head, but be-
fore 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 Halliwen had given his brother
a signal which, had it come a few sec-
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 aim that
be had pierced the heart in its center.
had condemned myself bitterly for
not interfering to save a man 1 sup
posed was not aware of his danger.
though something told me might 90
wrong In doing so. 1t turned out that
would have made a great mistake Ia
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 a number of per-
sons present as soon as Nevada Tim
entered knew that either he or Harry
Halliwell would not go out alive Hal
liwell could not hit a barn door with a
~