The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-01-05
A PISTOL SHOT.
Remarkable Story of the Last
Shot in Duel.

Our regiment headquarters were in the
village of N.
need hardly describe the regular routine
OF our military life. Almost every body
tuows the life of an army officer; in the
morning military drilling, dinner at the
regiment commander's or in a Jewish lunch
ing-house; in the evening punch aud cards.
There was not a single house where,guests
would be fairly received; not single bride
in N. We had our gatherings at each
others, where we saw nothing but our uni
FORMS Only one of us did not belong to the
army. He was about thirty five years Of
age, and we considered him, therefore, al,
old man. Experience gave him many ad-
vantages over u.s. His gloomiuess, obstinacy
aud malignant tongu5 exercised an additional
influence over our youthful minds. His fate
had something mysterious aboutit; he had
Russian appearance and bore foreign
name. At some former time he served in q
regiment of hussars. and was successful in
service; yet nobody knew the reasons which
had impelled him TO give in his resignation
and to settle in the poor village of NJ, where
he lived at the same time poorly and prodi.
gaily, walked about always by foot in a
wornout old frock, and had his table always
free to all the officers of our regiment. True
his dinner consisted of one or two dishes
prepared by our ex.soldier, yet champagne
was poured out in quite q liberal measure for
the guests. Nobody knew his estates or in
come, and nobody would venture to ask him
about it. His library consisted of military
books or novels He was very liberal to offer
them for reading, never requesting to return
them. And he himself never returned to
the owners the books which he borrowed.
His principal occupation was shooting from
,Nt.s n1 H., .F
with pistol-shots, covered with holes like
bce-hives. A rich collection of pistols was
the only luxury of the poor hut in which he
lived. His art of shooting had attained the
limits of incredibllity; and il he would
OFFER to shoot off pear from the cap of any
one of our officers mono amongst them
would hesitate to undergo the risk. Our
conversation often turned on duels. Silvio
(so shall call hlm) never took any part in
them. To the question IL he ever had occa-
sion to fight, he answered dryly that he did
but never went into the details, and il was
apparent that such questions were unpleas-
ant to him. We supposed that some un-
fortunate victim of his terrible art was
weighing down his conscience. Yet it
never occurred to us to suspect in him
something like cowardice. There arc men
whose mere appearance dispels such GUS
Dicions. A sudden event surprised us all
Ten of our officers dined once at 'Silyio's
We drank as usually, :. e., very much. After
dinner we began to persuade him to play a
game. He first refused for time. for he
almost never played At last he ordered
cards, threw about fifty gold pieces on the
table and went to play. We took seats
around him and the game was started.
Siivio had a custom of keeping perfectly
silent during the game, never entered into
disputes or explanations. IL he happened
10 miscalcuate he either paid the rest or
marked down the overpaid. We knew il
already, and did not prevent him from hay
ing his own way; but there was among us
an officer recently transferred to our regi-
ment.
Partaking in this game, he happened to
miscGlculate. Silvio took the chalk and
strengthened the account according TO his
habit. The officer, thinking that he had
done this by mistake, went into explana-
tions Silvio kept on silently correcting.
Having lost his patience, the officer took the
brush and erased that which seemed to him
q superfiuous mark Silvio took the chalk
and marked it again. Heated with wine
the game and the laughter of his comrades,
the officer considered it a grave insult and
seized in fury the brass chandler from the
table and flung IL into Silvio's face, who had
-
We came into confusion. Silyio rose pale
with anger, and said, with glitteriug eyes
"Gracious sir, be kind enough 10 leave and
thank the Lord that it happened in my
house." We had no doubt as to the conse-
quences, and considered our new comrade
already dead. The officer went out, saving
chat he was ready to respond TO the insult as |
IL would please the opponent The game |
continued for several minutes longer, but |
feeling that tho host was no longer in play |
ing mood, we loft one after the other, and |
went TO our quarters, speaking on the way |
of the new vacancy. On the following day |
we were inquiring at the headquarters If |
the poor officer was yet alive, as he appeared |
himself. The question was offered TO him.
He answered that he had no news from |
Siivio as yet. 1t surprised us very much. |
We went to Silvio, and found him in the |
yard shooting one after another in an ace |
pasted TO tho door-gate. He received us as |
usual, not dropping word OF Yesterdays |
occurrence. Three days passed; the oflicer |
was yet alive. We inquired with astonish- |
ment: SIS it possible that Siiyio will not |
fghtF'
Sivio did not fight. He was satisfied with |
q light explanation, and concluded peace. |
This occurrence had considerably lowered |
him in the estimation of our youth. Lack l
Oh courage ID ledSJ Oh all paruOneu by young 1
men, who see in courage the pinnacle of |
human dignity and virtue outweighing all |
possible vices. Little by little however, |
every thing went into oblivion, and Silyio |
regained his former influence. Only could |
no longer remain on intimate footing with |
him. Endowed naturally with romantic |
Imagination, was first more strongly drawn |
towards this man. whose life was a riddle |
and who appeared TO me as being the hero 1
of some mysterious novel He loved me; at I
Least was the only one with whom he used |
to leave off his biting, malignant way of |
speaking, and spoke OF various things with |
simplicity and unusual pleasantness. But
after the unfortunate evening. the thought
that his honor was marred and that the
stain on his honor was left unremoved by
his own accord-this thought haunted me
always and was an intervening obstacle TO
our former intimacy. felt some scruples
at seeing him. Silyio was too smart and
experienced for this TO escape his notice and
not TO guess the reasons thereof II seemed
10 vex him; at least l noticed in him twice
the desire 10 come to an understanding with
me but avoided such occasions and Silvio
receded. Afterward saw him only In com
pany of my comrades and our former candid
were at an end The scattered
residents OF the capital have no idea of
many impressions 30 much known 10 the
inhabitants OF villages or small towns. AS
for instance, the awaiting OF the postday.
On Tuesdays and Fridays our regiment
headquarters were filled with officers, somo
awaiting money packages, some letters,