The Guernsey Gazette

Ranchmen quarrel.

Fremont County Tragedy Will Likely Result in Death.

Lander. Lloyd McGettrick, a ranch owner and stock grower, living in Fremont county, sixty miles north west of Lander, was shot four times last Friday afternoon and perhaps fatally wounded by his former friend and neighbor, Thomas Hestand, another ranch owner and stockman, during a quarrel over the running of an irrigation ditch line. The men engaged in a revolver duel, but all of the shots fired by McGettrick went wild, as he did not use his gun until he had been laid low by one of Hestand's bullets. Jesse Bragg, a friend of McGettrick, had a narrow escape from being killed, one of the bullets fired by Hestand grazing his hat. John McGettrick, a brother of the wounded man, attempted to rope Hestand, but the latter dodged the noose and escaped to his house, where he stood off the friends of his victim with a rifle. Feeling runs high against Hestand.

After the shooting Hestand notified Sheriff Stough by telephone of what had happened and offered to surrender. He was advised to come to Lander and give himself up, which he did, when he claimed that the shot was in self-defense. Lloyd McGettrick was brought here for medical treatment. One of the bullets fired by Hestand lodged in McGettrick's hip and this wound may prove fatal. The other wounds are not considered serious.