A Bit of Shooting.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 217, 27 August 1887, Page 3

A Bit of Shooting.

A typical south-wesfc duel was .fought at Kingston, New Mexico, .a ffe»v vdays ago between Jim Burke, who has been known for several years as the Terror of the Black Range, and Con Ryan. They had had many quarrels, and early one morning, after " more than the ordinary .amount of trouble," Burke said,, " Come, now, let us light this thing out like men. You and I have carried blowiug far enough. Either you'll drop or I will. l!ll give you two minutes to draw." Ryan responded by saying that he was willing to light, but that lie had no g"iv and that Burke knew it. "Come on," Burke yelled, "and I will get you a gun. ' When they reached his house Burke entered and brought out two revolvers, one of which he threw on the groiind at Ryans feet, and said savagely, " There's your jjnn '!" Ryan expostulated at the unfair conditions, and, the crowd backing him up, it was settled that Burke should put his revolver on the ground also. Both were then to pick up their weapons and go at it. At a word from Burko both men sprang forward. Evan gat his weapon first, but for some reason did not Hre until Burke had sent two bullets whizzing past his head. Everybody expected to see Ryan diop. His antagonist had .the reputation of being a dead-shot, and his failure to hit his mark disconcerted him as much as it surprised the spectators. Bourke stood in silence for a moment with his weapon outstretched, evidcutly making a de>peratc attempt to put the next shot wheie it would count. While he was thus surveying Ryan, the Litter filed two shots lapidly, "and when the eyes of the multitude could move fi om the place where he stood to the spot whore Burke should Jiavc been they fell on the prostrate form of the man who had pio'voked and suggested the duel. The Tenor of the Black Range was stone dead. The first shot had finished, him in the twinkling of an eye, and the second bullet, despatched almost simultaneously on the same course, did not iind him there. He diopped like a log at the instant of the first shot, and when examined was found with bib lcvoher clutched in his hand and with a bullet-hole thiough his head. It is the\erdict of the crowd that the job was the slickest that was e\cr done in the town."