The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-05-06
The Duelists.
Charge Of Judge Chandler.
The Crowd at Bay st. Louis.

Our limited space will not permit us to
give the charge of Judge Chandler in full,
as it was delivered yesterday afternoon, at
Bay St Lonis, to the Grand Jury. Below
we give that portion relating to dueling,
which at this time will be Of interest to our
readers. The Judge said:
Gentlemen Of The Grand Jury-It is again
my unpleasant duty to call the attention Of
the Grand Jury to repeated violations of the
statute against dueling. 1t is reported in
the newspapers that two valuable lives have
been lost IN duels upon your soil, III less
than twelve months. Other duelists have
had meetings in your county, which FORUM
ately resulted in no injuries of a very serious
nature To the honor of the good old coun
ty of Hancock of historic renOwn, noted as
having been the abiding place Of many
eminent people Of both sexes. and for the
general good order of it's citizens, none OF
the men who thus trample on yourlaws, and
defy your ministers of justice, reside upon
your soil. They are all reported to core
from your own favOrite city of New Orleans,
bat they are nevertheless liable to indict-
ment and punishment in this court.
Under our laws every man who gives or
accepts a challenge, or who bears a chal-
lenge, or an acceptance Ofone, or who fights
a duel in this State, o. who goes out OF the
State to fight, to challenge or to be chal-
lenged to fight, is liable to be indicted. And
"all persons present at the fighting Of any
duel with deadly weapons, either as second,
aid or surgeon, or who shall advise or give
assistance to such duel" is liable to indict-
ment. And if any person is killed in a duel,
such killing is held to be murder, and must
be tried and punished as other Cases of muir
der.
A number of duelists are on bail to ap-
pear and respond to any finding you may
make in their cases. Act on all these cases
speedily and fearlessly, and without regard
to what the public think Of dueling and
the laws to suppress it. The wmaking
power is confided to other hands-it is our
duty to enforce the law, and no want of
wisdom or expedency in the statute we are
called upon to execute can justify us in fail
ing to perform our sworn duty. To shrink
from the performance of pa!pable duty,
imposed upon us under the sOlemnities OF
an oath and in the interests of law and
order, in the face of any public opinion, no
matter how decisive and overwhelming it
max be, would exhibit such want OF man
hood as to fairly entitle us to the scorn and
contempt of the duelist himself.
All persons who are supposed to have been
witnesses to these duels. that could be
reached, have been summoned to go before
you. But to prevent failure OF Justice for
want of evidence, l will read you the follow
ing section of the dueling act:
IF any person shall offend against any of
the provisions of this article such person
shall be competent witness against any
other person offending in tho same man
ner as other witnesses. but the testimony
SO given shall not be used in any prosecu-
ton or proceeding, civil or criminal, against
the person SO testifying." [Code OF 1871.
page 500
From this you will perceive that in these
cases any person you call upon is bound to
testify, without reference to his completely
in the crime about which his Evidence is de-
sired. And if any witness refuses to testify,
or attempts to evade your interrogatiOns,
direct your bailiff to hold him in custody re-
port his case to the court, and the powers Of
the court will be employed to compel him to
give evidence.
Fighting in any manner is not one of the
evidences of our boosted superiority over
the balance of the animal kingdom. The
only animalit pleased God to make that re-
quires the erection of the JAIL penitentiary
and gallows to keep in subsection, does
many things that are well calculated to
image of the Eternal; and it has often oc-
Cured to me that if our frail, vain human
ity were entitled to 1.-THE Of the Wanted
superiority it claims over other beings Of
Gods creation, it might well afford to show
it by remtting the whole business of fight
ing to dogs and other animals supposed to
belong to an inferior order.
This practice of dueling comes to us as
relic of a less enlightened age, and while the
custom is much cherished 10y many of our
good people, the great mass of civilized men
now hold that it is indefensible upon any
known process of reasoning or principle Of
morals. 1t settles neutrality-suspicious. no one,
and often cuts off all chance OF reformation.
If men are dishonest and untruthful, an eX-
change of shots does not change the fact, nor
atone for ii. If men are held to be coward
]y, the duel does not entitle them to a repu-
tatiOn for courage, but rather shows the
want of it. A certain kind of physical cOur
age, common to brutes as we'll as to men,
may be necessary to enable people to acquit
themselves satisfactorily in duel, but this
is a very mean quality when compared to
the high, enuobling, God-like attribute of
moral courage, that enables men to dsre-
gard an erroneous and morbid public
opinion, and to do right in defiance of the
contempt and ridicule of people less fortu-
nately endowed than themselves.
Besides the above, the Judge charged, re-
garding the accusation of inhumanity that
had been preferred against the Sheriff, Mr..
Saucier, by the press of New Orleans, and
asked them to diligently inquire into its
truth.
All persons released on bond in the matter
of the Wood and Bachemin duel, are or
dered to be in attendance in conrt on Wednes-
day, on pain of forfeiture of bond. The
names of the parties are Messrs. Scherk
F;-r.sey, Vinet, Ramel, Montamat, De Bousset
and Wilson.
The Judge, though determined to enforce
the laws in every particular, if proven to
have been violated, manifests, however, a
spirit Of fairness, candor and impartialty
which have won him golden opinions. He
il evidently a man of cultnre and refine