On this day in Hibbing in 1910, miners and “best of friends” Peter Radovich (first reported as “Redovitch”) and Sam Kacich (first reported as “Katich”)—both natives of Montenegro—faced off in what is thought to be the last duel in Minnesota. The “chums and bunkmates” had known each other for three years. They apparently became entangled in a dispute, walked together to a hardware store, purchased a pair of pearl-handled revolvers, walked to the railroad tracks, stood six feet from one another, faced each other, and shot each other. Redovitch was struck in the upper part of the mouth, the bullet lodging in his brain, killing him instantly. Katich caught a bullet in his left arm, just below the elbow, shattering the limb. He then walked back to town and turned himself in. He didn’t explain the dispute, but simply pointed to his head and said “Redovitch no good. He could have kill me.” The next day his arraignment was postponed when he was sent to the hospital for blood poisoning. He then “expressed regret that one of the three bullets fired by Radovich did not prove fatal and his demeanor [was] one of dejection.” Read the Duluth News Tribune’s coverage of the duel, alternative spellings and all, here: duel_10.29.10_DNT, duel_10.30.10_DNT
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