Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-10-20
DUELS AND DUELISTS.
AN OLD MASTER AT ARMS COMMENT
ON BOULANGCR.
The French Generals Fatal Impetuosity.
Fighting with u Forcigucr-Thc Code In
Various Countries-Rescncd from m Ex.
trcmely Embarrassing Predicainent.

I'VE iTosl III IA
trcmeiy Embarrassing Predicainent.
There Is no mar living who has fought
more real, hard, 10 tho death duels than
Col Monastery. the veteran disciple of the
art of running ones fellow man through
the ribs Col. Monastery has fought duels
In Europe, in Mexico, South and Central
America and other countries where the
sword Is the arbiter Of the quarrel.
10 a reporter who enjoyed a chat with
him the other day, the colonel explained
why ten. Boulanger's course in his recent
encounter had damaged his (Eoulanger's)
reputation as a great soldier.
Gen. Boulanger," said he, in his brisk
way. from what | learn by the papers.
brought about his defeat by his lack Of
GOODNESS and consequent fury of attack.
He rushed blindly on his foe, losing all
sight of prudence and skill in the desire
to inllict injury. For an expert swords
man to overcome such an attack Is an
easy matter. He has only TO wait coolly
for his antagonist to leave an opening and
then sail in. Boulanger's fatal impetuosity
in this instance Is the best possible proof,
to the view Of any soldier, of his lack Of
ability to command. Such a man makes
a good fighter in ordinary warfare, but no
AAS 80 hhhSa w ~ olhCIo >
to give them-neverl ! have admired
~Boulanger until now. and looked for
great things from him as a general But
In my Judgment he has no discretion. His
conduct In this duel ~justifies the supposi.
ton that IN "A great conflict, in which two
great armies were engaged, he would act
In precisely the same way as he did in his
fight with Floquet; he would hazard all
on one desperate move, and rs a result
lose. This, mind you, IS the view Of an
old soldier, and | tell You 1t can't be
wrong. A hot head makes agood fighter,
but no general"
Passing on to n general commentary on
dueling, past and present, Col Monastery
expressed the keenest contempt for the
average French duel of the day. 1t Is tho
explicit understanding, he said. that when
two Partisan gentlemen Of today decide to
settle q quarrel with the rapier. the first
flow Of blood, no matter by which re-
ceived, shall end the combat. He thought
the existence of this understanding was
the French governments prctext for it's
recognition Of dueling us Il national tn
stitution.
There are. of course. occasional excep-
TONS to this rule" he added, and there
IS nearly always an exception when one Of
the combatants is a foreigner. a French
man will always kill "a foreigner in a duel
if he can, particularly If 1t is an English
man. This was the case in the famous
duel between Mr.. Dillon, an English Jour
nalist, and the Duke de Grammont dc
Chartreuset, which took place In Paris
eighteen or twenty years ago. The duke
was a thorough master of the rapier, ana
the Englishnan knew nothing Of the
weapon. AT tho very first assault the
duke, by n skillful play. sent his adver.
sary's sword flying from his hand. lie
then sprang like lightning on his m.
armed adversary and ran him through
AS fought today, however, the French
duel with swords is mere chiid's play and
is always ended at the first scratch. 1t Is
different, Of course. when the duel Is
fought with pistols. Firearms cannot be
fooled with safely, and are much more
likely TO kill than to MAIN. There was
an instance Of this in Paris n few weeks
ago. when IN artist shot dead ut the first
fire a journalist who had too harshly crit
cised some Of his pictures.
"When a Frenchman who is challenged
to fight a duel chooses pistols as the
weapons, one may know be means busi
ness. bis choice Of swords only means a
little theatrical display and a reconciIia-
ton. 1t is evident, though, that the
Floquet-~ Boulanger affair was serious
enough. Boulanger plainly meant to kill
his adversary, and when Floquet saw
what he was at | have no doubt but that
he fought to kill also. No man can see
another striving to take his life and not
return the compliment. Between you and
me, | think Boulanger was in great luck.
A man who employs the tactics he did in
the presence Of a skillful swordsman will
be killed in nine cases out Of ten"
With regard to the code in other coun-
tries. Col. Monsterpy remarked that the
mel Of Mexico and the Central American
republics were the ~fercest and most in
v~eterate duelists. He recalled the famous
duel OF twenty years ago In tho City Of
Mexico, between Col Garcia, an Ameri
can. and Col. Mejea, a Mexican Rifles
were the weapons used, and Col. Garcia,
who was lame, chose TO fight sitting In q
chair. He never rose from the chair,
though, for the range was short, and the
Mexican shot him dead ut the first fire.
Col. Monastery has In his studio the rec.
ords OF an instance where he was able, On
the shortest kind Of notice, to extricate a
truculent young man from an extremely
embarrassing predicament. He was sit
bA1S IA AZ ilt III 4NcW ibih DiS SioDBiy
evening in 1871, when there was a nerv-
ous knock on the door. Come in" cried
he, and on the invitation there entered q
young man, who proved on inquiry to be
n Col. Canzi, a SOLDIER of the days Of
Garibaldi, who Immediately began TO I'M
fold the tale OF his plight. He was
under contract, 1t seemed, to fight at
dawn with Gen. Fardella, also q tried and
courageous veteran. The weapons to be
used were sabers, and Canzi knew about
AS much Of handling a saber as he did Of
cooking a Welsh rarebit. He needed
sleep badly. and two hours was all he had
In which TO learn enough TO save his life.
Those blessed two hours the colonel
employed in teaching him two vicious
cuts, either one Of which, if we'll deliv-
cred, was calculated to cut off his adver-
sary in his prime. He was told to bide
his time, wear the general out by defen-
sive tactics, and then send his cut home
at the proper moment. Canzi departed
full of hope, and followed out his orders
to the letter. After twenty minutes of
hard fighting. during which he success
fully repealed Fardella's attacks, he de-
livered one Of his two cuts with such con
scientious effect that the generals sword
arm was slit clear from elbow to waist,
completely disabling him. The press of
tho country teemed with extended &C
counts Of the affair, and Canzi was ever
afterward regarded as a bad man with the
saber. Inter Ocean Interview.