RAILWAY ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 300, 13 May 1911, Page 10

RAILWAY ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY.

A duel to the death was fought on the morning of March 14 between Mr. Kid well McSween, only son of Colonel W. J. McSween, a well-known Tennessee lawyer, and Mr. John Pritchett. a young engine-driver, of whom the eighteen-year-old sister of Mr. McSween had, it is said, become enamoured. The contest recalls the early days of railway history, when, in response to the demands of the country aristocracy, the Legislature of South Carolina passed a law making it a penal offence for any railway employee to flirt with or wave his handkerchief to girls who watched the passing trains. Mr. Pritchett made the acquaintance of Miss Emma McSween in 'a station yard, and used to send signals to her window from the cab of his engine. The romance flourished until a few weeks ago the colonel sent his daughter to a convent. She escaped, and in response to her telegraphic request, Mr. Pritchett met her at Knoxville. Young Mr. McSween set out on a furious chase of the couple, and followed them to hot springs, in Xorth Carolina, and thence back to Xewport, Tennessee, the home of the girl's parents.

While a relative drove away with Miss McSween her brother caught Mr. Pritchett on the station steps and opened lire nn him with an automatic pistol. Mr. Pritehell, who had been warned, had a revolver in each hand. Both men fired as fast as possible, until Mr. McSween sank dead with six shots in his body, one of them being in the heart. Officials hurried up and found Mr. Pritchett dying heside the body of his opponent. He had received three bullets, one close to the heart and one in the thigh, while the third had passed through his hand.