large tree served as a target. The instructions were " Fire low and raise your pistol in a line with the burr." The instructor gave the word, and the pupil fired. Both burr and tree remained untouched. Before the two days had expired, however, much ammunition had been spent, and many burrs shattered. The morning of the meeting broke cold and crisp. A large fire had been built of dry pine limbs, at which the injured Goodman was warming himself There he stood awaiting his enemy, half in hope and half in fear, as Hector waited the appearance of Achilles before the walls of Troy. ■ Presently Fitch, attended by his friends, drew near. The combatants were soon placed in position and the word given to fire. Simultaneously the shots rang through the valley, the astute Goodman stood erect, but Fitch dropped his pistol, grasped his knee, and turning half round fell to the ground. Then all went back to their respective avocations, happy in the consciousness of a duty well performed, of a great principle vindicated, and of an intricate question solved. Meanwhile the astute Goodman thought to mend his logic, while Fitch thought only of his knee.
Billy Mulligan and Tom Coleman having quarreled, proceeded according to the custom of such gentlemen to settle the difficulty by an informal shooting. Meeting one day in April 1864 at Austin, Nevada, Coleman drew; but Mulligan from long association with the law and order party, with governors, congressmen, legislators, and judges for his friends, was becoming somewhat fastidious in his tastes, and proposed the matter should be conducted on the latest and most approved method. Coleman agreed. Next day they met and fought with revolvers at ten paces. After exchanging six shots, in which Coleman was twice wounded, once in the finger and once in the leg, the distinguished gentlemen retired from the field.
At Lagfuna Honda near San Francisco in June 1865,
