AN AMERICAN DUEL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2094, 14 September 1885, Page 2

AN AMERICAN DUEL.

Information recently reached Vicksburg; of a very murderous fatal duel at Rolling ;j Fork, the county seat of Sharkey County J forty-five miles north of took place between Mr F, 8. SheuMJJg clerk of the Chancery and Circuit.Coajgffl of Sharkey County, and Mr W. K. MB® . Lauren, a prominent lawyer of the Stataßr The duel took place early one' inoniwgß| about 300 yards north of the station of Rolling Fork; on thelineofthe ... Louisville, New Orleans, and Texas railroad. There were no persons present but; •' buttheprincipals, asfarascan be learned, but a man named Caldwell saw it from ft ..'. I distance. The weapons - used trers .double-barrelled shot-guns, and the report of only one gun was ■ heard.Shortly , after the meeting, H. E. Shannon, the . City Marshal, started up to where- the - two men had fought, and met Mr McLauren returning. He gave the gyit to the Marshal, saying he had shot Shelton, ■ The Marshal placed Mr McLauren in charge of Mr Joe Stevens as a special deputy and proceeded to the' field where the shooting had taken plaoe. There he found Shelton lying dead, and beside him. was a shot-gun, cocked, Jiut > not discharged. It is said that r . that led to the fatal difficulty originated some two years ago during a heated . canvass in an election, in*which Shelton and McLauren were both candidates for *•' the office of Chancery and Circuit Clerk, which resulted in the election of Mr Shelton. Recently hot words , passed between them during the session ofitf Court. They were then quieted by Judgo. It is also known that notes passed between the two parties, in which it was agreed that they should have a hostile meeting next morning, The murdered man, Shelton, was universally respected. He was the son of the late Judge William Shelton, of Brandon, Missouri. He has a mother and two brothers, residing in Rolling Fork. William K. McLauren, the survivor of the duel, is a member of the law firm of McLauren and McLauren, of Rollins Fork. ..: