The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-02

vsrions Countries Rescued from an r.,
tremeIy Embarrassing prcdiosm.p,
There is no man living who bias f,,,l.
more real, bard, to the death duel. -
| Col Monastery. the veteran disciple 60
art Of running ones fellow man t..,,,.
the ribs Col Monastery has Tough, dr9'
| in Europe. in Mexico South and Cer,-i
| America and other countries vher, -
sword IS the arbiter OF the quarrel
| TO n reporter who enjoyed a cU1, r.h
him the other day. the colonel ryplsi,,i
why Gen Boulangers course in OIL. nm
encounter had damaged his (B0.lau-ar.
reputation as great soldier
Gen Boulanger. said be iu Dbl, b-..t
way. from what learn by thr rsr.-.
brought about his defeat by bis a.. n
GOODNESS and consequent fury OF attack
He rushed blindly Oh bis too. lo,lr-.l
sight OF prudence and skill ia the se.-.
to infiict injury. For an expert swact
man TO overcome such an attac, s .,
easy matter. He has only b wait r1aIr
for his antagonist TO leave an openiurani
then sail in. Bouiangef fatal impctu0s..y
| in this instance Is the best possible prof
10 the view OF any soldier. 0t hi, lack .,
ability to command Such man make,
. good fighter in ordinary warfare but lo
commander lie is fitted to obey ouier,
to give them-never' have admired
Boulangcr until now. and looked fr
| great things from him a. a general Bit
in my judgment he has 10 discretion lis
conduct in this duel iustihcs the sapn0,..
ton that in great conflict. in which fwo
| great armies were engaged. he would ac-
| in precisely the same way as he did 10 h.,
fight with Floquet. he would hazard al
| on one desperate move, and a. ro.ult-
lose This. mind you, Is the ,i.v Of au
old soldier, and | tell you Do cant b.
wrong A hot head makes good f-hfa.
but no general.
Passing on 70 4 general commentary 0a
dueling. past and present. Col Monastery
| expressed the keencst contempt DR. tha
average French duel Of the day ltstt,
| explicit understanding. he said. Char uhea
| two Partisan gentlemen OF today 81, le 90
settle quarrel with the rapitr. Tie irs,
flow of blood, no matter by which %.
ceived shall end the combat Tie thought
| the existence of this understanding was
the French government pretext faf b.
recognition of dueling as 4 national o..
stitution.
There are, Of course. occasional oxcop.
tions TO this rule he added aud there
is nearly always an exception WHOM oaa oi
the combatants is foreigner. \ Er,n...
man will always kill n foreigner IN D. duel
if he can, particularly if it is an Lasl.,.-
man. This was the ease IN the famous
duel between Mg Dillon, an English l1-r
nalst. and the Duke de Gramm0nf ie
| Clartreuset, which took place in Paris
eighteen or twenty years ago The duke
was thorough master of the rapior. and
the Engllshman knew nothing 81 ths
weapon At the very first assault tAe
duke, by a skillful play, sent his adycr
sary's sword flying from his hand. To
| then sprang like lightning on hls LA.
armed adversary and ran him through.
| As fought today however, the French
duel with swords is mere child play and
is always ended at the FIRST scratch. 10 IL
different, Of course, when the duel Is
fought with pistols. Firearms cannot be
fooled with safely. and are much more
likely to kill than 10 MAIN. There was
an instance OF this in Paris few weeks
ago, when an artist shot dead nj tho first
fire journalist who had too harshly crlti-
cised some of his pictures.
When n Fronchman who IS challenged
to fight duel chooses pistols as the
weapons. one may know he means basi.
ness His choice OF swords only means
little theatrical display and rcconclia
ton. 1t is evident, though, that tie
| Floquet- Boulanger affair was serious
| II. ttlu tflt IN L
| his adversary, aud when FloQuet saw
what he was at have no doubt but that
he fought TO kill also No man can SEQ
another striving TO take his life and not
return the compliment. Between y0u ana
me, think Boulanger was in great luck
| A man who employs the tactics no did IN
the presence of q skillful swordsman will
be killed in ninc cases out of ten"
With regard 10 the code i'm other conn
| tries. Col Monstercy remarked that tho
men of Mexico and the Central American
republics were the hercost and most in.
veterate duelists. lie recalled the famous
duel of twenty years ago in the City OF
| Mexico, between Col. Garcia, an Amer
can, and Col Mejea Mexican. Rifles
were the weapons used, and Col Garcia,
| who was lame, chose TO fight sitting In "a
n
chair He never rose from the chair
though for the range was short, and the
| Mexican shot him dead at the first fire.
| Col Monastery has in his studio the rec
ords Of an instance where he was able. Oh
| the shortest kind Of notice. 20 extricato a
truculent young man from an extremely
embarrassing predicament. He was sit
ting In his office in New York one gloomy
evening in 1871, when there was merry
Gus knock on the door Come in, cried
he, and on the invitation there entered =
young man, who proved Oh inquiry TO b.
one Col Canzi. soldier Of the days oil
Garibaldi, who immediately began 10 un
fold the tale Of his plight He wa
under contract, it seemed. 10 fight al
dawn with Gen Fardella also tried onc
courageous veteran The weapons TO b.
used were sabers, and Canzi knew about
as much Of handling a saber as lie did Of
cooking q Welsh rarebit He needle
sleep badly. and two hours was all he haC
in which to learn enough TO save his life
Those blessed two hours the coioae
employed in teaching him two yiciou
cuts. either one of which. ii we'll deliy
cred was calculated TO cut oil his advcr
sary in his prime. He was told 10 BID
his time, wear the general out by deien
II