Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1885 — DUELING ON THE CONTINENT. [ARTICLE]

DUELING ON THE CONTINENT.

The Deadly Mode of Fighting Which Prevails in. Russia. Over five thousand duels occur annually in France alone. The enormous majority of these encounters occur between private soldiers. In every French regiment are to be found two or three first-rate swordsmen, commonly called des tateurs, whose especial business it is to test the nerve of any recruit suspected of a deficiency of physical courage. On the most frivolous pretext the tateur fastens a quarrel on the unfortunate nouveau, and the unanimous voice of the regiment declares that honor demands bloodshed. The encounter takes place in the presence of four non-commissioned officers and the regimental fencingmaster, who stands by, sword in hand, ready to parry any too dangerous thrusts. The weapon used in the cavalry is the saber, and in the infantry the ordinary sword-bayonet, and the issue is generally harmless enough, although cases have been known of the tateur himself coming to grief through the recruit going for his adversary. In society, and especially among gentlemen connected with what the French term la petite presse, a very similar rule prevails, but with one important modification. The tateur is here conspicuous by his absence, and the young aspirant to social or journalistic honors is expected to faire ses preuves by deliberately picking a quarrel with some eligible opponent. The weapon used in these affairs of honor is almost invariably the small sword, the pistol being considered by far too dangerous an arm—the issue of these encounters is, as a rule, a scratched finger or forearm. Occasionally, when political or other considerations render even a scratch undesirable, pistols are resorted to, but with peculiar precautions. Thus M. Gambetta and De Fourtou—the former being one-eyed and the latter nearly blind —were put up in a dense fog at forty paces to exchange shots with very short-barreled smooth-bore pistols. In short, nine out of ten French duels may be looked upon as mere farces, played for the amusement of the gallery. The excellent health enjoyed by M. Rochefort, De Cassagnac, and Carle des Ferriers, who among them have beeri out over fifty times, adds strong confirmation to this view of the matter. In both Italy and Spain duels are frequent; but in both countries the saber is used, to the almost complete exclusion of the small sword. Indeed, !/ the the latter arm is ’•'so strong in Itajy that it is all but impossible to find seconds who will con- .. sent to act in a duel a I’epee. The <. natural result is that, while a fatal • .issue isare, the ugly in the face are vijry common. In both these countries Ahe penalty for .dueling, as in ’■•France, is merely nominal. Throughout Germany, including Prussia, Austria, and the minor States,

a very different style prevails. With the exception of the oft-described v “Schlaeger” duels among University students, which are still winked at, encounters between civilians are punished with considerable severity, the ordeal of Single combat being a privilege practically reserved for the army. In the event of two officers falling out, a court of honor (ehrengericht), generally composed of five superior officers and presided over by the Colonel of their regiment or the General commanding the district, carefully investigates the whole affair and decides whether an apology shall be tendered and accepted, or whether an encounter is necessary. The decision of the court is final, and any officer refusing to comply with it would be compelled to retire from the service, while any duel unauthorized by the court would infallibly lead to the cashiering of the offenders. Pistols are almost invariably used, at a distance of twelve paces; and, German officers being as a rule very good shots, fatal consequences are not infrequent By a strange anbmally the verdict of the ehrengericht does not entirely, cover the responsibility of the combatants. In the event of a fatal issue, the survivor is liable to suffer a term of open arrest in a fortress, varying from two to six months. A German officer thus finds himself placed in the dilemma of refusing to fight and being compelled to retire, or of fighting and running the risk of being placed under arrest for doing so.

In no country arfi duels more frequent or more murderous than in Russia; the Russians being, especially ■when in their cups, as quarrelsome among themselves as they are proverbially courteous to foreigners. The mode of combat universally adopted is that termed the duel ala barriere; the opponents being put up at fifteen paces, with liberty to advance five paces each at a given signal, and to fire at will. Should one of them fire and miss, his adversary is entitled to complete his five paces before returning the shot. Many cases have been known in which a duelist, although mortally wounded, has yet retained sufficient strength to take steady aim and fire with fatal effect. The great Russian poet, Pushkin, was killed in a duel a la barriere, after severely wounding his antagonist. In the Baltic provinces a system prevails which at first sight appears even more murderous. The adversaries are placed only three paces apart; the pistols are held with the muzzle pointing ■/nupward, and are brought down and dis’'‘chrifcged at a given signal. It may appear almost impossible for two men to miss at such a short distance; but this is not the case. Each of the opponents is so desperately anxious to gain the least fraction of a second on his adversary that, on the signal being given, the weapons are often brought down with so hurried and violent a jerk that the bullets bury themselves in the ground. At a duel fought last year at Riga between an officer and a student in this fashion, three shots were ex-, changed without any result, while at the fourth discharge the student had the great toe of his right foot cut clean off by his opponent’s bullet— Pall Mall Gazette.

A famous aeronaut says that no balloon has ever gone over a second sunset The moment the sun goes down the gas condenses and you get through the

night better than the day. But the next day, in the presence of the sun, the gas expands, and you mount to great elevations, but every mount the balloon makes cripples its power, and it is only a question of hours, if not minutes, how long you can keep up. If an aeronaut could have have forty-eight hours of night he could travel a great distance. The highest rate of speed he had ever attained, even with a strong wind blowing, was eighty miles an hour.