The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-07-05
STUDENT DUELS
A Peculiar Feature of Leading
German Universities.
"Friendly" Contests Which Of
ten Result in BloodShed.

Berlin letter to the Hartford Conn
Courant, were student affairs and char
acterized by the features common to
such scenes. went as the guest of a
German whose department at the uni
versity was theology; this shows that
no thou hit of the mensur (dueD being
Objectionable enters the most orthodox
mind. At an carly hour of the morn
ing we went to distant part of the
city, to building which stood in the
rear of a yard, the front of which was
occupied by beer saloon. The room
was low studded, dirty and bare of fur
niture, as well as insuiiiciently heated
by stove; long boxes containing the
dueling outfits stood along the walls,
aud on the window seats were spread
the operating tools of the sur
geons; passage led into back
room fitted up with tables as a
drinking place. and waiter constantly
circulated between tie two in order to
| fill the orders for beer and cognac. The
fcrty or fifty men present were nearly
all smoking and the air was Opaque and
malodorus with the weed. Ga my ar
rival my German friend introduced me
to the second" of his club. who babe
me welcome, and then paid no more at
tention to my presence. l should men,
ton that this was not corps duel, but
a So called Burschcnschaft contest. The
corps is the SWEETEST club or association
in student life, and as its members wear
! distinctive colors the duels between the
corps are more picturesque; but In all
other respects the contests of the other
organizations do not differ. The
sight of the blood stained breast
protectors thrown in the middle
of the floor between two
chalk lines and the hospital like smell
that pervaded the place, did not add
particularly to the festivity of the hour.
Soon came. the arraying of the contest
ants, long, tedious procc 5 4; after each
principal had stripped bare to the
waist and donned linen dueling shirt,
no end of bandages were wound about
his neck and arm, the brcastp,ate. not
unlike those worn by our base ball
catchers, was adjusted, iron goggles
were put over the eyes, ald great box
ing glove on the right hand. so that it
was a wonder how the sword Lilt could
be grasped at all. When the right arm
is thus prepared it is so helpless that 1t
has 10 be put in position high above the
head by man who stands beside the
duclist for that purpose, and when
ever ''halt" is called by the seconds,
the arm is caught and held b.
these same men, the duclist himself be-
ing as powerless as n medieval knight
in armor when off his horse. The ap-
pearancc of the contestants when fully
equipped is grotesqu, and clumsy. The
seconds are prominent and picturesque
feature; they stand diagonally to the
du lists, padded also about neck and
body, though to a less degree, wcarin 2
caps like those Of American jockeys and
with swords which they cross on high
between the principals and remove when
they give the order to fight. Still an
other man. the time keeper and ref
cree, stands hard by with pencil,
note book and watch in readiness,
so that in all there is little group
of seven men in the middle of the
room, the number beng swelled inter-
mittingly to eight, when the duel is
advanced, by the doctor who coolly cx-
amines the wounds of the fighters to
see that none are serious enough for a
cessation of hostilities. One hundred
and twenty quarter minute rounds are
fought, which gives half an hour of
'ctual fighting, though sometimes this
|, is shortened to fifteen minutes. OF the
three contests witnessed, the first was
'n.Irely bloodess. one of the scLlaccrs
(duelists) alone receiving tiny scratch
I on the cheek, which injury was received
} with groans of derision or disgust from
'hc onlookers; they evidently thirsted
for gore. When number one was over,
my theological friend, apparently