Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-05-03
Heidelberg Students Drinking and
DueIing.
[Cor. Chicago Tribune,

lCOTs CulCdSO 1TlOuue,l
Since my arrival in Heidelberg, | have been
more in favor of the "Darwinian theory" than
ever was before; and | sometimes think that
if this theory be true, and we do all spring from
apes, the Heidelberg Corps Students" didn't
spring very far. Their habit of drinking is
really beastly. They drink upon an average
about twenty-five glasses of beer day, and
most of them have arrived at such point of
perfection in the noble art of drinking that they
can drink between sixty and seventy glasses
OF beer of an evening, and not feel much the
worse for it. They do this about five evenings
in the week. This habit of regularly drinking
so much beer would of course not agree with
Americans, lin fact, two Americans have died
here on account Of drinking such quantity of
beer); but it doesn't seem to injure the Germans
at all, for the ability to drink so much beer
seems to belong exclusively to them, and is ap-
parently handed down from father to son. As
an example of their drinking powers, | will cite
the following two examples: A few evenings
ago, one of the Corps" was drinking at their
clubhouse, and one of the members came in as
the clock was about to strike twelve, and bet
that he could drink twelve glasses of beer
during the twelve strokes of the clock Ac-
cordingly, the beer was laid before him
and much to the astonishment Of even the
students themselves, he did it. The
same evening, one of the students drank 100
glasses of beer on bet, and was hardly affected
at all by it, These are really wonderful things
to do, when you consider that one of these
glasses contains almost two pints of beer
About two weeks ago, however, one of them got
pretty well intoxicated, and went home, and got
to bed (after fashion,, leaving the lamp burn
ing, which exploded and set the room on fire;
and you can imagine how drunk he must have
been when | tell you that his legs were burned
horribly before he became aware of the fact that
there might possibly be something the matter
with him, and accordingly staggered, half
smothered with smoke, out of bed. He was so
drunk that he didn't know enough to 20 to the
window or door, but still screamed out Justify
for help, which, after while brought the neigh
borS to the rescue, but only in time to see him
faint. They carried him, horribly burnt, out of
the room, and took great care of him for one day
and half, at the end OF which he died and was
buried with torch-light procession, as all the
corps students" are buried. Of course this
continual drinking makes the students yery
large; but the largest corps student that ever
appeared in Heidelberg was an American, who
came here an average sized man, and went away
something wonderful to behold, and having the
honor OF being the best drinker, and also the
best duellist in Heidelberg So you see America
bears the palm here as everywhere else He
fought something like a hundred duels and
never got defeated till nearly the last one he
| fought, when he got his nose almost cut off; but
nothing daunted, he stepped up to his adversary
holding his nose on with his hands, and chal-
| lenged him to another duel, which was accepted
They fought and the indomitable American, the
| hero of a hundred duels, came out ahead, to the
| great qualification of all his admiring friends
| He is considered TO have been the greatest man
| in Heidelberg (which he certainly was as regards
| size), and his name will probably be handed
down from generation to generation, and looked
up TO as something superior, something almost
immortal, by the students.
The house which they use for their duels is
situated short distance out of town, and when
duel is going on, sentinels are placed cOmmu-
ntp from t1ta TO A.I,.z
entirely unnecessary, for, although the duels are
against the law, yet they are walked at by the
authorities; in fact, the inhabitants are rather
proud OF them than otherwise, and would be
very sorry if they were put stop to- The stu
| dent, who took me to see the duels and myself
started at about half-past ten in the morning
and walked for about fifteen minutes. We ar
rived at the house, and after introducing me TO
all his corps, we sat down by a table and talked
and drank beer, and waited for the duel to com
mence.
The duels are arranged so that there are duels
on three days of the week, whether a proyoca-
ton is given or not. The way of it is this The
| director of the duels takes the names of the
members of the corps in regular order and pairs
them off, and they are compelled to fight, al.
though they may be the very best friends in
the world, or, perhaps, even relations. So YOU
see that when fellow goes into one of these
corps he is compelled to fight, although he may
be very peaceable fellow; for, as | said
before, they don't wait for a prOvoca.
ton, but fight anyway. The swords that
they tight with are made of a long and very
thin piece of steel, which bends very easily and
IS as sharp as razor, so that the least touch
leaves a mark. The students here are cut mn
horribly, and some of them are really dis.
gushing to look at, their faces are so frightlully
Scared. The head is the part of the body
aimed at, and is, in fact, the only part that can
be hit; for the upper part of the body is padded
so thickly that the sword cannot cut t6rou I'll
the padding When fighting, the sword is held
over the head in such position that instead OF
striking, it slashes; and the eyes being protect.
cd by large iron spectacles it is very seldom. II
ever, that real injury occurs, further than cut.
ting up their laces, and that doesn't last long
for the wound soon heals up, and leaves scar.
which the students are very proud of; in fact
they don't think very much of Il fellow unless he
has at least one scar.
Last Friday ! saw four duels. Each pair
fought for quarter Of an hour, unless the doc.
tor declared one of them was too badly hurt 10
light il out for that length of time, when, OF
course, the opposite party was declared victor
When student got cut the students all walked
up and examined II, in the most unconcerned
manner possible. The director wrote down in
his book how long a cut 1t was, and also how
deep 1t was, tthe longer and deeper it was the
more the sufferer was thought of J; and the doc.
tor washed it out and sewed it up, and the duel
continued, unless the student that was cut was
unable 10 do SO, when he was declared TO be the
loser; and the next duel went on IN the same
manner. All this reminded me very much of Il
barber shop, with the barber calling out Next u
when bis chair is empty.
can assure you it is disgusting, and went
away with more contempt for the Heidelberg
corps students and their duels than ever,
ANCIENT REMAINS IN ARIzoNA.--A Tucson
letter to the Alta California says: Recently some
| tVpr N an Mr.