The Express.
London, England, 1856-11-04 00:00:00

A FATAL DUEL.

Yesterday'• Golignani has the following. Is it a
canard t " A letter from Aisle-Chapelle describer a fatal
duel which took place near Manbeim on the 28th ult.,
between Mar Meer D—, a French journalist, and a Prussian
officer, named B—. In consequence of some obsen►tions
of an offensive nature mad* by B— in speaking of the
French government, D— requested him to retreat the las-
gusge which he had employed. Matters would probably
have been arranged in a satisfactory manner, had not D—
beeome impatient at the hesitation of the Prussian officer,
and permitted himself to call the latter a coward. A duel
was instantly decided on, end as it was already half-past five
in the evening, no time was to be lest. The Wage-
nista therefore crossed the Maine and prrre•ded to Lad-
wigehaven, a neutral territory, situated in Bavaria. The
pistol bad been chosen for arm, sod the two ad fee
placed themselves in position and fired at a riven signal.
Neither was Injured, but that eircum-tarce icereasee the
rage of the principal•, who refused to listen tr the coccilia-
tory language of their seconds. The Prussian officer was
perticulsrly violent, and asserted that fear alone prevented
1) from pursuing the duel to death. It was then decided
that in order to allow no chance of 'rove to one of the
antagonists, a single pistol shoal] be chsreted, and that the
principals s:,ould choose the arm with their eyes closed, and
then fire at three paces. This was accimplished by
the pair, who then took their around. The Prue.
elan fired first, hut fortune lad bets yell him, ►s D—
remained unhurt. The latter in his tarn aimed at his ad-
versary, who, pale and with contracted features, awaited his
fate, which was no longer doubtful. The finger pressed on
the trigger, but by a providential charce the cap alone ex-
ploded, the pistol not going off. The seconds of D— then
declared the honour of both pasties esti-flee' ; but the Prus-
sian officer Mutated on blood being spilt, end .fter a length-
ened discumioo, he obtained that a duel with swords should
take place. The sensed' insisted, however, •hat at the first
blood drawn the affair should then tetmisete. The princi-
pals then placed themselves in pi sition, and after a severe
rr•gule D—, in pa• eying a feint exposed Lis body to the
sword of his adversary, who deiivired two thrusts in suc-
cession ; the first struck the right arm, but the second
pierced the chest of the unfortunate D—, who expired •
few minutes after."

The Univers devotes a leading article of four
columns to reflections on eotempor try necromancy."
This article is made ■p of coneerva•toos carried on by means
of spirit nipping between the spiritualists of Munich and
the souls of Socrates, St. Augustin, and others. Socrates
appears to have expressed Muriel( in very violent terms
with reference to the Jesuits, while t S•.. Augustin divulges
the name of the reiping sovereign (which the Univers
prudently weenie), who is to overthrow the authority of
the Pope.

PERILOUS BALLOON DESCENT.—The Verona o'a-
Me gives an amount of an atcensiou in an air-balloon,
effected a few days ago by M. Auboin Brunet, the aeronaut,
in the Arena of Verona. The balloon rose with tremendous
velocity to an altitude of 7,200 feet, when, owing to the
extreme rarefaction of the air and the had stile of the valve,
which it memo c 'old not be of tined to let out the gas, the
balloon bent in three distinct pisers. Fcrtunatelly the shreds
adhered to the outer net, so as to form a hind of parachute,
and the aeronaut found blown descending with appal-
ling velocity. but yet with sufficient reguls:ity to enable
him to climb up the net and to formes the flopping eilk, so
as to render the di scent Ina precipitous. He then, being
stall at a height of about 400 feet, got girl's out of the ear,
bet this time to tiling to its bottom, in order to avoid the
concussion and break the violence of the landing by the
elasticity of bis legs. He succeeded, and landed at Santa
Lucie, a place sear Verins. For some minutes afterwards
be was completely deaf, bet this coon wore otl, and he re-
turned to Verona that tame seining, with only a few slight
bruiser.