The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1891-07-21
MONKEYS FIGHT A DUEL
DeeA Of the Simians Found Dead a .
Field Of Honor.

| 1O88 Oh the Simt000 Oun0 DEAD q -
Field OF Honor.
A duel recently took place in travel
ing circus temporarily stationed in {
village outside Paris, and very curio1!
were the consequences Two aero
bats" says q 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, neither of the combatants was
hurt and their wounded honors being
satisfied the incident terminated. The
dlelists 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 20 initiate it Gravely
leading their pistols they faced each
other-not at twenty-five PAGES. but at
five-and fred. 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:
I'm 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 1t must be deemed ap-
propriate-if, indeed, the story is not
An unworthy aspersion on the intelli-
gence Of the animals According to .
correspondent two acrobats in the cir
Gus in Paris had a dispute, followed BY
an affair of honor Tho distance was
the nice gentlemanly one of twenty-five
PAGES at which even 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 a volume
Of sketches, and once in a novel, Bel
Ami
Now among the temoinS az this az
lair were two apes The creature is
initiative and ingenious, but never has
monkey carried imitation and ingenuity
further than the Paris monkeys The
'amed ape of the cannon story had no |
They only made one
Inference in the arrangements which |
hey had observed to be so picturesque,
20 safe, and to honor so consoling. |
They found pistols and cartridges: they |
oaded; they stood up to each other at |
ive-not twenty-iive-yards distance.
nd they blew each other to pieces Of |
III monkeys concerning whom history |
peaks, these alone are dead on the field |
4 honor How the details have been
discovered. as the monkeys chose no
econds, does not appear. Nor is it
nown whether they had been long on
IL 'erms. We seek for the lady of
his quarrel in vain.
Perhaps that is the wiser theory
'hich denies that the apes had any hos
lie motives at all. They thought, from
hat they had observed of the duello,
hat it was an exercise no less friendly
nd harmless than gentlemanly. In his
ersion Of The Sleeping Beauty Per-
ault makes the Beauty little boy fence
18th monkey. This is. perhaps. the
earest to duel with civilized weapons
nat any simian creature ever came be.
IRE the monkeys of the Daily Tele-
raph. The baboon is belligerent ami
lal With military discipline, and he is /
lid tn throw stones and do many other
,artli1g tricks of war But aduel with
istolA and doubly fatal duel, is .
INK tco many for him. Possibly the
onkeys fought on Japanese principles
herein it is dishonosable for either
to return alive. But we have
D evidence about the most interesting
,ints as who gave the word to fire, 4
neither it was not a barrier duel, and {
forth. We only have the sad plain
cts to speak for themselves in the Q
ally Telegraph"