On March 7, 1925 Daniel Morales and Zacharias Martinez employees of Gladding McBean Pottery Works in Lincoln got into a heated argument. Unable to resolve their differences they agreed to a duel.

The two men walked 2 to 3 miles out of town onto Fruitvale Road. Such a walk was customary to give both men time to reflect and perhaps rethink the duel, but neither man changed his mind.

Unlike duels of the past there were no seconds, no witnesses and when the shooting started each man fired several bullets. Both men took cover behind trees but their final shots were on target. Morales was shot in the chest while Martinez was fatally struck in the head.

Morales was taken to the Placer County hospital where Dr. Mackay reported he would likely survive. He was arrested for murder, but District Attorney Orin J. Lowell discovered he would have to try Morales under an old dueling statute, which carried a sentence of one to seven years.

Morales recovered from his wound and in September was tried for murder as the result of the duel.

On September 25, 1925, he was found guilty. According to the Auburn Journal it was the first murder conviction for a duelist in California since 1859. He was sentenced by Judge Landis to serve one to seven years in San Quentin Prison. He was discharged from Prison November 22, 1928.

The dueling statute was finally repealed by passage of a bill by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson on July 20,1994.

WHAT SAY THE BRETHERN?