P a g e 6 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r One Two Three Fire! – The Duel That Didn’t – 1896 Missoula’s Only Duel Several documented fatal duels have occurred throughout the United States, the most famous one between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. A long list of known duels begins in the late 18th century and usually involved encounters between men who lived east of the Mississippi. But by the mid-1800’s the participants were moving west. One of these took place in California in 1859 and is sometimes called the last notable American duel. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Alfred Bendiner Memorial Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-90145] It occurred between David C. Broderick, a U. S. Senator, and David S. Terry who was a former Chief Justice of the California State Supreme Court. Terry had previously stabbed a man in 1856 and was known as hot -tempered. Terry was a strong advocate of slavery, while Senator Broderick was antislavery. Dueling being illegal in San Francisco, they moved their fray to Lake Merced just south of the city. At the signal to open fire Senator Broderick’s gun misfired, while Terry shot the Senator in the chest. He died three days later. The political fallout from that duel was felt across the country when the antislavery element made the Senator a martyr for their cause. Although California had been admitted to the Union as a free state in 1850, the cause of slavery remained a powerful influence there for decades. Later, several duels featured the quick-draw, the most famous one involving ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok who killed his man in Missouri in 1865, after losing his watch in a card game. Another celebrated quick-draw duel occurred in Arizona in 1882 and involved Wyatt Earp. If Montana ever hosted a duel, it isn’t well documented. Still, there appeared to be some concern in what later became the state of Montana when laws outlawing dueling were passed by a Territorial legislature in Virginia City in the 1860’s. Legislators may have recognized the potential for dueling when dozens of men were robbed and their assailants hanged in the lawless days of Bannack and Virginia City. Gunfighting and killing were rife during the Vigilante days but the formal term ‘duel’ wasn’t used as a description. Almost 2/3 of a century had passed when a killing at Superior, Montana in 1923 was described as a “duel” in The Daily Missoulian. A Matt Miers was given an obituary in the newspaper that stated the following: “Funeral services in memory of Matt Miers were conducted at the Forkenbrock chapel yesterday by Father Meade of St. Anthony’s church. Mr. Miers was killed at Superior last Saturday, being fatally shot in a duel with Harry Echardt.” A coroner’s jury was empaneled for that killing and found there had indeed been a gunfight at a local hotel, with Miers allegedly under the influence of alcohol when it happened. Earlier, he had threatened Harry Echardt with a pistol and had been disarmed by the proprietor of the hotel. But Miers returned later with a rifle while Echardt sat at a dining table. As Miers opened fire on Echardt, he was met by return fire which caused his death. A murder charge was brought against Harry Echardt but dropped by the county attorney the following day. It was not a duel in the classical sense. Something that had the earmarks of a real duel occurred in Missoula in 1896. Shocking their fellow citizens, the participants took pains to announce their intentions and the Daily Missoulian seized the moment, publishing an entertaining scoop about it.
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