River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-02-12
WHERE DUELs ARE FOUGHT,
The Deadly Code Which Prevails in Rus
sia-Baltic Encounters.

s1a-Balttc encounters
Pail Mall Gazette. With the excep-
ton of the oft-described "schlager"
duels among university students, which
are still winked at, encounters between
civilians are punished throughout with
considerable severity, the ordeal Of
single combat being a privilege par
ticularly reserved for the army. In the
event of two officers falling out, a court
Of honor (Ehrengericht), generally
composed of five superior officers aud
presided over by the Colonel of THEN
regiment or the General commanding
the district, carefully investigates the
whole affair and decides whether an
apology shall be rendered and accepted,
or whether an encounter is necea sary.
The decision of the court is
/ final, and any officer refusing to
1 comply with it would be compelled to
retire from the service, while any duel
unauthorized by the Court would in
falhbly lead to the cashiering of the Of
tenders. Pistols are almost invariably
used, at distance of twelve PAGES; and,
German officers, being, as a rule, very
good shots, fatal consequences are not
infrequent. BY a strange anomaly the
verdict of the Ehrengericht does not en-
tirely cover the responsibility of the
combatauts. In the event of fatal is
sue, the survivor is liable to suffer
term of open arrest in a fortress, vary
ing from two to six months. A Ger
man officer thus finds himself placed in
the dilemma of refusing to fight, and
being compelled to retire, or Of fight
ing and running the risk of being placed
under arrest for doing SO.
limo country are duels more frequent
or more murderous than in Russia, the
Russian being. especially when in their
cups as quarrelsome among themselves
as they are proverblally courteous tc
foreigners. The mode of combat uni
versally adopted is that termed the duel
la barriere, the opponents being put
up at fifteen PAGES with liberty to add
vance five PAGES each at a civ,
en- signal, and to fire at will
Should one of them fire, and
miss, bis adversary is entitled to com
plete his five PAGES before returning the
shot. Many cases have been known ir
which duelist, although mortally
wounded, has yet retained sufficient
strength to take steady aim and fire with
fatal effect. The great Russian poet
Poushkin, was killed in duel la bar
riere after severely wounding his an.
tagonist.
In the Baltic provinces a system pre-
/ walls, which, at first sight, appears ever
more murderous. The adversaries are
placed only three PAGES apart the pistols
are held with the muzzle pointing up
4 ward, and are brought down and dis
i charged at given signal. 1t may APP
pear almost impossible for two men to
miss each other at so short a distance,
/ but this is not the case. Each of the
/ opponents is so desperately anxious to
/ gain the least fraction of a second on his
adversary that, ON the signal being given,
/ the weapons are often brought down
/ with so hurried and violent a jerk that
/ the bullets bury themselves in the
ground AT duel fought last year at
Riga between an officer and a student in
/ this fashion, three shots were exchanged
without any result, while at the fourth
4 discharge the student had the great toe
of his right foot cut clean off by his OPP
ponent's bullet.