GenChat-L Archives
Archiver > GenChat > 1998-04 > 0891741944
From: Wtynf <>
Subject: [GenChat-L] Fwd: Aunt charlotte's book ( The duel between Matney(Hatney) and Nezsmith)
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 21:05:44 EST
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--part0_891741944_boundary
Content-ID: <>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
--part0_891741944_boundary
Content-ID: <>
Content-type: message/rfc822
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Content-disposition: inline
Return-Path: <>
Received: from relay25.mx.aol.com (relay25.mail.aol.com [172.31.109.25]) by
air09.mail.aol.com (v40.19) with SMTP; Sat, 04 Apr 1998 16:39:05
-0500
Received: from lion.state.or.us (lion.state.or.us [159.121.88.21])
by relay25.mx.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with SMTP id QAA26620;
Sat, 4 Apr 1998 16:38:55 -0500 (EST)
Received: from archive14.sos.state.or.us by lion.state.or.us; Sat, 4 Apr 1998
13:36:41 -0800
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 16:36:52 EST
Message-Id: <>
From: "or-roots" <>
Sender: Walt 55 <>
Subject: Aunt charlotte's book ( The duel between Matney(Hatney) and Nezsmith)
To: , , ,
,
Precedence: Bulk
X-Listserver: ListSTAR v1.1 by StarNine Technologies, a Quarterdeck Company
Reply-To:
Errors-To:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
After passing Fort Laramie we traveled through the black hills and a new
trouble arose. Up to that time, our people had gotten on nicely with each
other, that is, with the exception of Zanders, and no one had bothered a
great deal about him.
This time, two men, whom we all liked, had a serious quarrel. Mr. Matney had
sold a mule to J. W. Nezmith, a young lawyer then, but he was later a United
States senator from Oregon. Young Nezmith had not paid for the mule at the
time, but had promised to pay for it later.
He kept it and rode it quite a while. The mule may not have been all that
Matney claimed for it, I do not know, but anyway it became very jaded and
thin. Then young Nezmith wanted him to take it back, but Matney refused. So
they quarreled bitterly over it. Finally a group of the boys around the guard
fire put Matney up to challenging Nezmith to a duel. Nezmith's honor was at
stake and there was nothing for him to do but accept.
The matter was carefully kept from the older men of our party. Had they
known, they would promptly have put a stop to it.
So the seconds were chosen and the time and place was agreed upon.
The two principals took their places and at a given signal, they fired. When
the smoke had cleared away, they found themselves still facing each other and
neither of them was harmed, though the boys said Hatney felt himself all over
before he seemed quite satisfied.
When the duel was on the boys had all that they could do to keep their faces
straight. When it was over, they rolled upon the ground and shrieked with
laughter. They had all been in on the conspiracy and had helped the seconds to
load the pistols with powder and paper. But even at that, it was a bad piece
of business. Something goes wrong sometimes with guns that are not supposed to
be loaded at all.
But it turned out all right for it cleared the atmosphere. Young Nezmith
apologized and Matney took back the mule. Matney may have been at fault in
the first place, I do not know. He was a good natured, easy going fellow that
we all liked. I never could understand how they got him aroused to the point
of challenging anyone to a duel.
Walt Davies
Monmouth, OR
I was never able to put a face to this Hatney until yesterday when I was
copying the index for my nephew and found that my original copy was flawed and
that the name was Matney (W. J. Matney) now I know who he was and I also know
not to buy a mule from any Matney.
--part0_891741944_boundary--
This thread: