DeSoto times., 1890-09-25
MONKEYS FIGHT a DUEL.
Both of the Simians Found Dead on tha
Field of Honor.

botn OF tne Sln1ans IOund DEAD on th1
Field of Honor.
A duel recently took place in a travel
ing circus temporarily stationed in a
village outside Paris and very curious
were the consequences Two aero
bats" says a dispatch to the London
Daily Telegraph, ''quarreled, and re-
solved to fight duel. The place chosen
was the ring-after the public perform
ance, of course-the conditions being
two shots at twenty-five PAGES. AS
usual, Mother of the comb batants was
hurt and their wounded honors being
satisfied the incident Terminated. The
duelists and their seconds overlooked
the presence of two members of their
company, who were quietly munching
nuts in corner. These were two trained
monkeys, who had been taught to ride
around the ring dressed up as soldiers,
and to fire pistols en- route. The mon
keys saw the performance of their
masters, and when the way was clear
they resolved to initiate it, Gravely
loading their pistols they faced each
other-not at twenty-five PAGES but at
fve-and fired. They both fell dead,
one with its head nearly blown off and
the other shot in the breast. At the
sound of the shots the master of the
circus rushed in and found the bodies Of
the initiative duelists in the ring with
the still smoking pistols lying by
them"
Commenting on this interesting item,
the London Saturday Review observes:
''ln gloomy week two monkeys have
considerably sacrificed themselves on
the altar Of gaiety. There is somewhat
wildly laughable, according to French
critic, in whatever concerns death
When we have heard what mirth the
monkeys made, it must be deemed APP
propriate-if, indeed, the story is not
an unworthy aspersion on the intolli-
gence of the animals According to a
correspondent two acrobats in the cir
Gus in Paris had a dispute, followed by
an affair of honor The distance was
the nice gentlemanly one of twenty-five
PAGES, at which even a good pistol shot
may miss an opponent with a weapon in
his hands. At all events, whether good
shots or not, the combatants did miss.
Perhaps they were as nervous as the
timid duelist whom Guy de Maupassant
has described twice once in volume
of sketches, and once in novel, Bel
Ami
"Now amonp the tAn,nins Of this Of
ia ip +1ITn q
initiative and ingenious, but never has
monkey carried imitation and ingenuity
further than the Paris monkeys. The
famed ape of the cannon story had no
compurgators. They only made ono
difference in the arrangements which
they had observed to be so picturesque,
so SAFE and to honor 50 consoling.
They found pistols and cartridges; they
loaded; they stood up to each other at
fvo-nOt twenty-five-yards distance,
and they blew each other to pieces. OF
all monkeys concerning whom history
speaks, these alone are dead on the field
of honor How the details have been
discovered, as the monkeys chose no
seconds, does not appear. Nor is it
known whether they had been long on
i'll terms. We seek for the lady of
this quarrel in vain.
perhaps that is the wiser theory
which denies that the apes had any hos
tile motives at all. They thought, from
what they had observed of the duello
that it was an exercise no less friendly
and harmless than gentlemanly. In his
version of The Sleeping Beauty Per-
rault makes the Beauty little boy fence
with monkey. This is, perhaps, the
nearest to duel with civilized weapons
that any simian creature ever came be-
fore the monkeys of the Daily Tele-
graph. The baboon is belligerent ami
nal with military discipline, and he is
said to throw stones and do many other
startling tricks of war. But aduel with
pistols, and a doubly fatal duel, is
link too many for him. Possibly the
monkeys fought on japanese principles,
wherein it is dishonorable for either
com Blatant to return alive. But we have
no evidence about the most interesting
points. as who gave the word to fire,
whether it was not o barrier duel, and
so forth. We only have the sad plain
facts to speak for themselves in the
Daily Telegraph"