A MOCK DUEL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 28 January 1925, Page 9

A MOCK DUEL.

EARLY DAYS in THE WAIKATO

Away hack in the sixties, soon after the conclusion of tile Maori war, the military spirit was very strong throughout the Waikato, and more than one brawl was settled bv resorting to the use of dangerous weapons (writes J. MeCombie in the Auckland Star). The duel about which I. am going to write took place on the eastern bank of the Waikato River, close to the town of Hamilton, and the principals were ■a surveyor and a saddler. These two men were candidates lor the affections of a certain young lady, who evidently did not care much for either of them; and this, it would appear, only added fuel to the flame that burned m the breasts of the two swains. At any rate, the time came when they met at the residence off the adored one, where the usual freezing-out policy was pursued, and the saddler was the first to cry peceavi. , Instead of going home. he. waited on the road until the surveyor put in an appearance, and tlipn he challenged Jnni to light it out there and then without any 'further delay. This the surveyor declined to do, as he was not equal to a game- of 'fisticuffs, but he expressed his willingness to meet the saddler where and when lie liked with pistols. Reing a crack shot, and influenced by the 'green-eyed monster, the saddler leaped at the chance of wiping out Ins bated antagonist in one act. Seconds ivere nominated, and tbe time and place fixed for the' meeting. Soon after daybreak on the. appointed day th<e rivals, accompams/l bv their respective seconds, v doctor, and a few intimate friends, arrived on the convincing grc-und. lbe seconds, having made all the preliminary arrangements beforehand, examined the loaded pistols and then handed them over to the combatants. The surveyor appeared tc, take the matter very ->oollv, but the saddler was worked up nto a rabid state of excitement, and t was plainly his purnose to shoot his opponent. Pistol in hand, they took up their positions, looking in opposite directions, twelve paces apart—being the distance agreed upon—and they were instructed to act as follows: At the word “one” right about lace, two present pistols, “three” lire. Then tno referee sang out m quick succession “One,” “Two,” “Three.” Both men fired simultaneously, and when the smoke cleared away the surveyor was lying full length, hack downwards, oil the sward, with blood smeared all over his face and clothing. Believing that he had shot the surveyor in a fatal place, the saddler, acting on advice, hastened away from the scene ol the conflict, and his haunts knew him no more. In the meantime the surveyor, who bad the full strength of the game, was "onveved on a sheep hurdle to the nearest hotel, where he was speedily resuscitated with sundry libations of whisky and water.. , , ... Both pistols had been loaded with blank cartridge, hut added thereto, in the case of the saddler, was a. junk of congealed blood, which produced the desired effect on the surveyor’s exterior. , Within one year of the above-men-tioned time, when engaged in the work of defining tlie 'boundaries! of sot no disputed land near the Aukati, or confiscated line, the surveyor came to an untimely end. After dark one night the Maori who committed the murder, armed with a loaded rifle, crept up quite close to the tent inside which the surveyor was silhouetted against the canvas, aim shot him dead.