SWORDDUELING.COM

OLD
Sir Palomides and Sir Goneyeres entered the field, jousted, and broke their spears. Then they both drew their swords; with his first stroke Sir Palomides knocked his opponent to the ground, and with his second stroke beheaded him. Then Sir Palomides went to supper.

NEW
The challenge gave Alexander K. McClung the right to set terms, and they were odd: From eighty paces apart, each with four pistols and two bowie knives, they would walk toward each other shooting at will. If the last bullet was spent and both were still standing, the bowie knives would finish the matter.

They met in a bushy tract along the Pearl River. At the signal, they started forward, and Allen cried, “Now we’ll see who’s the coward!” and raised his first gun, “Yes, we will,” said McClung, but he kept his own gun down. They were still over a hundred feet apart. Allen, nervous, fired and missed.

“Are you content?” called McClung.
“No!” cried Allen and pulled out his second pistol.
McClung replied, “Then I’ll hit you in the teeth.”

He fired almost casually, they say, but it was an amazing shot, considered an American distance record for a dueling pistol, and exactly in the teeth as he’d promised. The ball imbedded itself in the back of Allen’s neck, and he died as he fell.