Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-20

batants were ready and, after the customary
| salute, they set to. From my meager
| judgment would say they were both very
good swordsmen and pressed one another
very hard and with fury. The journalist
was a man of about 35, of slight build, and
his adversary man of 45, of heavy build.
Three rounds were gone through, and, in
| touched and in the fourth the politician
was slightly wounded in the shoulder, which
finished the encounter. Just then there was
lively alteration between both Sides I
| was not near enough to'get the gist of it,
but L surmised the principals wanted to
| continue AT length they shook hands; the
surgeon attended to the wound; the swords
were packed up; the carriages were hailed,
and the honor of both sides was satisfied.
French Duels Are Not Dangerous.
My opinion on dueling, from the single
one which 1 witnessed, is that it is not such
serious affair when both sides are skillful
swordsmen, or when it is not duel, to the
death. There are very few of the latter.
When one of the principals receives a death
wound it often happens to be an accident.
Besides, when you only want to satisfy
your honor it is very inconvenient to kill
man. 1 must confess good stand-up fist
fight is much more dangerous affair than a
modern French duel.
Our politician, I suppose, has another
duel on his hands at present, as L read in
yesterdays s paper that when in a cafe an in
dividual entered and administered to him a
sharp blow on the face. There was
o lively scrimmage; cards were exchanged,
and the politician will soon have the repu-
tation of Henri Rochefort. I must also
state that in my impromptu attendance Of
the above narrated duel, not knowing much
about the etiquette of stray spectators in the
matter of dueling, L hovered around the
scene, keeping corner of my eye on the
duelists and at the same time seeming. to be
very much engaged in collecting botanical
specimens in the olive grove.
Not in Sympathy With the Malta.
The French population of Tunis are not
much against the lynching of the Mafates
in New Orleans. Tunis is within "a hours
steam of Sicily, and in consequence is inun-
dated with Italians, especially Sicilians,
many of whom are not very desirable colon
lists The Italians in Tunis outnumber the
French many times in spite of its being a
French colony. A few weeks ago two Ital-
ians, who murdered defenseless old Arab
for the purpose of robbery, were pardoned
by President Carnot from the death sentence
imposed on them. One of the daily papers |
stated that when Justice failed in New Or
leans lynching took its place.
A French resident of Tunis for the past !
ten years stated to me that he would much |
prefer to go through the worst parts of the |
Arab quarter at night than through the |
Italian quarter. I had it from another |
Frenchman who is in business here that one |
day an Italian came to him in search of a |
job and incidentally mentioned the fact, as |
if it was only mere bagatelle, that he was |
obliged to leave Italy on account of knitting |
a man to death with whom he had dispute. |
When told he could not be employed he |
wanted to know if his having killed man |
was the only bar to his employment. In
Italy there is no capital punishment, which |
may partly explain the indifference to muir
der. When man is murdered in Italy |
they shang their heads with gesture of
and sigh 'povera gente."
A Fine Collection of Dignitaries.
At kermesse given few Sundays ago
by the French Resident General of Tunis |
saw a collection of dignitaries which sup
pose you could not see anywhere else for
the money. The public could attend at
10 cents a head. First there was
the Resident General. himself, the
laughter of General Boulanger and her
husband, the Bey of Tunis, his family and
suite; Admiral Duperre and Vice Admiral
O'Neill and all the officers of the French
Mediterranean squadron. Admiral O'Neill,
Is befts his patronymic, has very fine
Irish phvsiognomy. The most striking
hing l observed about the Bey of Tunis
was the shabbiness of his suite. The suites
IF Oriental potentates are in general shabby.
saw the Shah of Persia and his suite few
years ago in Paris, and can say his suite
formed no exception to the rule. The cos
;umes of the Bey of Tunis' suite was me-
ange of Turk and European. Some of
hem, instead of wearing baggy Turkish
wore baggy European trousers,
,nly the latter were baggy at the knees, and
IS fringy as the pantaloons of spring poet
The Bey of Tunis appears in public in
European carriage, drawn by six splendid
mules, two abreast, with guard of honor
If native troops mounted on spirited Arab
rorses. DE WOLFE SCANLAN.