New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-10-29
THE PISTOL AID THE KNIFE.

According 10 Iu6 1AW6 Oh 0OUOI TUG
pistol was formerly held to be gentle
mans weapon, the knife An assassin's.
But there are those who contend that the
so-called laws of honor are not based on
high morality or pure reason; that in
their results they afford no assured
remedy for wrongs or vindication Of in
nocence. Whether these conclusions be
correct or not, it it is certain that ct one
time the duel WAS recognized part of
our Southern civilization, and as every
man was his own interpreter of the laws
in question he felt bound to be prepared
on all occasions to avenge an insult and
defend his honor to the death. The pis-
tol, however, was occasionally found at
fault, and particularly SO before the march
of modern improvements made it the re-
peater that it is. It sometimes missed
fire, was sometimes too quick upon the
trigger, and in the hands of the unskillful
it not unfrequently invited disaster when
it was expected to afford protection. For
these considerations honorable men of
the Bowie stripe supplemented it by the
knife, and for the sound reason that it
never missed fire and never required load
ing. Thus the knife was relieved from
the bad repute it had acquired in foreign
lands and took rank with the pistol as
recognized implement for the defense of
innocence and honor
1t so happens, however, that among the
idiosyncrasies of human nature the less
honor man has to defend the more noise
he makes about it, and the more deter
mined he is to defend all that he claims
to the bitter end. To intimate to the
veriest blackguard in Louisiana that he is
no gentleman constitutes such an assault
on that blackguard's honor than nothing
but blood can wash it out. The spirit of
vengeance is aroused at once into more
than Hotspur heat, and the seriously in
nRlted BLACKBOARD feels that he would be
doing injustice to himself by awaiting the
tedious formalities of the code. He there
fore takes the law into his own hands and |
kills the man who questions his supreme
gentility and immaculate honor.
But there are men in this sugar-bowl
State of ours so assured in convictions of |
their own honesty and honor that they
carry no weapons for their defense. They
are, however, the exception, not the rule
The custom is to carry pistol or q knife,
or both, and to use them on any provoca-
ton, more especially should such provo.
cation be based on an unpleasant truth.
When the parties involved are of the silk
stocking fraternity they sometimes stand
upon their dignity, and while nursing
their wrath for few hours, arrange to
kill each other according to the code.
The matter then resolves itself into one
IF skill or chance, and, quite as often as
otherwise, the insulted combatant stands
up 'sike little man" and is manned or
slain. 1t is clear that the result under
such circumstances proves nothing and
'venges nothing, for the wronged party is
till further wronged, and the wrong-doer
escapes unwbipped of justice, unless JUS
ice employs some means of punishment
lot apparent to the outward eye.
There has been some discussion of late
the propriety of using the
phrase "he drew his pistol" or "his
Znife," in newspaper accounts of street,
Tub or barroom quarrels. But the prob
Utilities are that when citizen draws q
PISTOL or knife from one of his pockets
he weapon is actually his. Death deal
ng weapons are cash-commandine, and
hough the possessor be unable to pay his
wash bill, his taxes or his board, it would
We deadly imputation on his honor to
Intimate that he obtained his pistol or
lis knife by indirection. It is, therefore,
enthusiastically proper to say che drew
lis pistol and slew the man who ques-
Toned his respectability;" and if other
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