"The bullet...went smashing through the violin case and into the fiddler's shoulder."

The present work was published as an illustration for the story "The Fiddler of Glory Hole" in the December 4, 1915 edition of Collier's Weekly. Told from the perspective of Tom Tenney, a lowly piano player plagued by the drink, the story unfolds as a trio of musicians play throughout southern Nevada, until bandmate Silver Lode falls for the wrong girl in the Nugget Saloon. The present work depicts the moment when a gambler named Mart Fountain, sweet on the same woman, threatens Silver with his gun and inadvertantly shoots John Rudd, also known as The Fiddler of Glory Hole.