Show WESTERN DUELS I Seen From the Deck of a Missouri Steamboat I i St Paul Pioneer Press Oldtimers along the Missouri will no doubt recall re-call twoduels which were fought in the early days said an oldtime steamboat steam-boat man who was employed In the palmy days in steam boatng along the river They differed considerably from the ordinary affair of honor in the manner in which they were fought I and in the further fact that both of them were fatal and to both contestants contest-ants In each Instance One of tham was I fought with rUles from opposite ends of a huge cottonwood log probably 30 feet in length and the other took plat Ion I-on the trestle of the big Missouri river bridge when it was In course of erection erec-tion I was a eye witness of each ot the encounters both ofwhich were seen I by a large number ot people Near Chamberlain S D I good many years ago there lived two brothers broth-ers Jim and Lafayette Sunderland I They were typical bad men of the iron I re ties and dangerous characters in an encounter I en-counter Tall lean active suresighted and quick of aim they were ugly customers cus-tomers Their reputation a general along the Missouri river Each of them had one or more notches in the handle i of his revolver indicating that some human being had fallen to his aim No man cared to offend either of them unless un-less he was looking for trouble and prepared I I pre-pared for battle as trouble was sure to follow when either of them felt that his dignity had suffered insult I was i peculiarly appropriate that these two J bad characters should have seen fit to rid the world of each other which they did effectually in consequence of a quarrel between them When steam boating was in its glory along the Missouri Mis-souri the owner of a wood yard along the stream drove a profitable business in supplying the passenger boats with fuel They were establishing yards along the river at such distance apart I I as was most convenient for the i boats and they ran into shore at these I yards whenever their supply of fuel I go low to replenish it from the supply I always to be found on hand A heavily loaded boat making a trip up stream j I I consumed a good many cords of wood and the expenditure for fuel was no small amount Prices ranged from 3 to S3 a cord and when the owner of a yard sold a supply to a passing boat I he had done a very fair days work and received a very fair days Income The wood was always paid for in cash I bv the clerk of the boat and the patronage pat-ronage of the boats was much sought after by the owners of the yards along the river i The Sunderland brothers varied their careers as bad men by wood chopping i and they had established a yard about I i tel or twelve miles from the present site of Chamberlain The yard was a partnership concern the brothers being I supposed to dividE the proceeds of whatever sales were made But as usual with such tharacters there was not even common honesty between them and If either man was able to make a sale without the knowledge of the other he deemed I the part of wisdom wis-dom and good finance to pocket the entire proceeds and say nothing i We were making a trip up the river i i late In the season with a heavy load of I freight and put In at the Sunderland voodyard to replenish our stock of fuel which had been heavily drawn upon by j 4 our plowing against the swift current of the river One of the owners Jim Sunderland was present at the yard and we made known our needs and sent roosters ashore to carry the wood upon the deck We bought i out ten cords of wood and the clerk paid Sunderlaad ten crisp Jo bills In settlement settle-ment of the account Just as we were preparing to take up the gangplank an1 push out into the stream again Lafayette Sundefland made his appearance appear-ance from a neighboring copse of woods and inquired as to the settlement forth for-th wood that had been taken By this time we had swung out into the stream and the clerk called across the intervening Inter-vening stretch of water that he had paid Jim for the wood From the deck of the boat we could discern a heated controversy between the brothers The reputation of the twomen was ouch as to create a general interest on board tad boat as to the outcome of the quar eel but none ot us were prepared forth for-th tragic denouement After perhaps five minutes of altercation we saw Jim suddenly spring to tho end of a huge cottonwood log which lay near and seize a rifle which rested upon the end of the los But quick as lIe was the other man qllc quicker and although Jim was oven alhouh Lafayette was the first to move frst sprang to the other end of the log sprng where his rifle rested and had seized it before Jim could take aim Two slight puffs of smoke from the barrels of the pufs weapons two short sharp reports and the two men fell almost simultaneously simultaneous-ly each where he had stood without moving a step Each of the men was a dead shot and there could be but one result to such a duel The brothers were stone dead each killed by the other and over the division of 50 Homicide was not uncommon in those days although the killing of brother by brother in a duel of this description was a little out ot the ordinary The other duel took place on the trestle of the big Missouri bridge between be-tween Bismarck and Mandan in ISSl Several of us were sitting on the upper deck ot a steamboat at the Bismarck landing when qur attention was attracted at-tracted by the confusion among the workmen on the trestle which was on the opposite side of the river perhaps half oppsite mie away We watched the men for a few minutes and soon we saw some dark object fall from the trestle to the rocks 70 feet below Investigation In-vestigation disclosed that two ot the carpenters who had been at work had I become engaged in an altercation and I I hard words were followed by blows j until one ot them attacked the other with a hammer and the father defended I himself with a hatchet I was an extremely ex-tremely perilous place for an encounter of the description which followed The trestle was 70 feet high and just wide enough to admit ot the laying of the rails with a space of a foot on each i side There were no guard rails and below the trestle the ground was strewn with huge bowlders A fall from the trestle was certainly fatal The workmen saw the impending struggle with apprehension but dared not interfere In-terfere lest they should be cast from the trestle I The two belligerent workmen grappled grap-pled with each other and swayed from side to side ot the trestle Backward and forward they reeled and struggled each seeking to overcome the Qther and cast him from the dizzy height FInally Final-ly they battled to the very edge of the trestle and one of them lost his balance bal-ance and swung out over the edge I Realizing that he was doomed he clung Ito I-to the other with the frenzy of despair I and unable to loose himself from the I beto11 f ros pu grasp of the falling man the second of the men slipped swayed and fell I over the edge and with a wild cry j I I i both men were precipitated to the i I I rocks below The rest of the workmen were horrorstricken and peered over the edge to see the two unfortunates lying prone on the rocks below still I clasping each In the viselike grip of the other and stone dead Hardly a bone in the body of either but was i 1 broken i |