The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-03 00:00:00

STRANGE SOLUTION OF A QUARREL.

A strange affair has just taken place at Vienna. A
, few days ago, one of the guards in the Stadtpark heard
the report of a firearm at a very early hour—about three
in the morning. Following the sound, he found,
after long search on the bank of one of the bywalks
a large pool of blood and a hat, but no person in
the park. He called for assistance from the police,
and the search was continued, but, so far as the
park was concerned, without success. Outside of
it, however, the commissary of police in search
saw a man lying on some leaves, and, thinking him
drunk, ordered that he should be removed to the station.
On raising him it was found that he was covered with
blood, and that he held a pistol in his hand. The shot
had gone through his neck, and had shattered his jaw.
On searching him four letters were found, 'one addressed
the authorities, another to his parents, a third to his
lady-love, and a fourth to his colleagues in the opera-
house. The youth was the son of a dancing-master,
and himself employed as one of the dancers in the corps
de ballet of the opera-house. In the letter addressed to the
authorities Reisinger announced that he was the victim
of an American duel, and that the motives which had in-
duced him to act would be found in a letter which he
had deposited in the dressing-room of the male dancers
of the opera. In this letter, which was found in the
place indicated,after thankinghis colleagues for their kind-
ness to him, and asking them not to judge him too harshly,
he tells them that he had made the acquaintance of a
lieutenant, who was a Maltese Knight of St. John ; that
they had quarrelled, and that the lieutenant had chal-
lenged him to fight with pistols, which he had accepted.
As he came next day to the rooms of the lieutenant there
were already several officers there. When he came in they
began to talk French. After a time the lieutenant came
in, and told him that he could not fight him, as he was too
young. On this the youth says that he became violent, but
the lieutenant told him, smiling, that there was a way to
fight without exposure, and this was that each should
wear a glove on the left hand, and whoever was seen in the
street by the other without the left glove on his hand should
kill himself. The writer of the letter says that he had been
so unfortunate as to be seen by his adversary without the
glove, so if he did not wish to be dishonoured he had
to kill himself. He says that he would not have been
so foolish as to take off his glove had he not yielded
to the remonstrances of one for whom he would always
have ventured to expose his life. The young man has
died since, but before his death he had given the name of
his adversary, a cavalry lieutenant, who had been a fre-
quent visitor at the well-known dancing school which is
kept by the father of the youth, and had made advances to
the lady-love of the latter. This was the ground of the
quarrel. Both the girl and his own relations, who did
not know the meaning of his always wearing the left
glove, had taunted him about it, and the first time
he yielded he met the lieutenant, who looked at his hand,
and the young man thought' himself bound to fulfil the
stipulations of their foolish duel. The authorities are
looking for the lieutenant, but have not been able to find
him. The Times correspondent observes that it will be a
cnrious case if he be tried, for there are no provisions made
in the criminal code against this sort of duelling, and a
fight with murderous weapons is necessary to make out a
case of duelling.

At a meeting of the Manchester district committee
of the National Education League, the original programme
of unsectarian, compulsory, and free education in public
elementary schools was unanimously re-affirmed. At a
meeting of the Manchester education bill committee,
resolutions were passed cordially approving of the amend-
ments which the Government propose to introduce into
the bill.

The vicarage of Broad Chalke cum Bower Chalke,
in the county of Wilts, vacant by the death of the Rev.
Dr. Rowland Williams, and worth between £3OO and
£4OO a year and a residence, has been conferred by King's
College, Cambridge, on the Rev. William Henry Whit-
ting, M.A., Fellow of King's College, and curate of St.
Benedict's, Cambridge.

There has been an apprentices' strike at Messrs.
Clover's shipbuilding yard at Birkenhead, and the turn-
outs have resorted to viclence to coerce one of their
number. They seized their working companion and
threw him into a tank of water. Some of them were
taken before the magistrate, who fined the ringleader
(John Linton) £5, with the option of two months' impri-
sonment ; two others being fined £3, with the alternative
of imprisonment for six weeks.

M. Theodor Wachtel writes a letter to the papers,
in which he says, "During the recent representation of
" Don Giovanni" at the Royal Italian Opera, Madame
Adelina Patti (Marquise de Caux) believed herself insulted
by me, and, in consequence, informed Mr. Gye that she
should decline to sing again with me. Although after-
wards it was proved that the alleged insult was the result
of a misunderstanding on the part of Madame Patti, and
as such acknowledged by her, yet I felt it due to my repu-
tation as an artist, and also to my personal honour, to re-
quest Mr. Gye to release me from my engagement, which
he has accordingly done."