The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-18
he WAS A DURLIST.
Astonishing Encounters of the Mar
Quis de Sainte- Maria.

|
Astonishing Encounters of the Mar
! Quis de 5ainte- Maria.
| From the Nei1 York Sun
The recent record of the field of honor in
| Western Europe has been UNMARRIED by
! unique meetings. The German is too serious
by nature to trife with the code. Even in
escaping from a duel already arranged he
shows his reverence for the fitness of things
| by applying for dueling permit from the
| local princeling, whose inevitable refusal
terminates hoSrilities in the ponderously
dignified manner desired To be sure some
| years ago an American student in Leipsic
| when challenged, name base balls as the
| weapons, and, in reckless disregard Of all
! presidents, doubled up his antagonist with
a down curve in the stomach, but then he
| was an American, and on Germany's field
Of honor Americans don't count. The
Swiss are too busy to think up original
| modes of dueing;. the Dutch are too stolid
| The French and Italians are too fond Of the
| heroic, even in the bloodlessness of a pre-
| arranged fiasco, to upset the accepted
method of pitting man against man.
Everything between gentlemen" has been
| done so decently and in order for very
many years that most foreigners have come
TO think that it was always thus, and only
| the American has been frivolous and ir-
! reverent enough to treat the code expert
mentally.
A Frenchman has, however, discovered
that to a certain extent these suppositions
are wrong, and that there lived in the days
OF the first empire man whose masterwork
on the field Of honor had all the originality
| and picturesqueness that characterized the
duels Of early American history. MARQUIS
Mare de Sainte-M Maria was the name, which,
like his deeds, lives only in the traditions of
the region selected by him for the scene of
| his proves. The marquis was a-royalist
| and civilian. In those days the bitterest
| hatred prevailed between royalists and Bon
| apartists, between soldiers and civilians A
| word, smile, or nothing at all was suffl-
| cient to cause one Frenchman to stake his
| life against Rnother's when q question of
politics or military policy was at issue. One
day NJ. Plerrot d lssac, an uncompromising
and eager duelist, called on the marquis and
said: marquis, you are a royallst and am
a Bonapartlst- My name is Pierrot and
yours is Marie. Don't you consider that q
misunderstanding"
Without doubt, sir" answered the mar
qus, rising threateningly to his full hight.
challenge me, and choose pistols More
over, regard it as proper that two wan
! dering birds like us should fight it out from
the tree tops"
The next morning the principals went
with their friends to the woods of Varest
and each climbed a tree. The witnesses
| stretched their necks and noses skyward as
the bullets whistled high overhead from
tree top to tree top. A minute passed.
and then NJ. Pierrot, with shot in his left
leg. came tumbling down through the
foliage. He caught on a lower limb, and
was picked off by friends. The marquis,
meantime, manifested his disregard of estab-
| lshed presidents by whistling loudly from
his tree top in celebration of his triumph.
| Everything was not SO easy, however, for
the marquis. Gen. Fournier, hot Bona
partist, lived also in the vicinity of
| Perigueux He was dead shot and a
ruffian. One night while the marquis was
presiding over a royalist banquet in a
Perigueux hotel the general, in full uni
| form, entered the room, drew his sword
speared a pear on the noble Presidents
plate, and. sitting down in the seat of
| honor, began to eat it. The marquis
smashed charlotte russo in his face. Some
roared with laughter. Others were silent
and white with fear. The general did not
move muscle of his face He wiped the
charlotte russo from his cheeks, salUted the
president and left. One hour later the
room was cleared and the marquis and the
general crossed swords. Each was badly
| wounded, and was confined to his bed for
than month.
Gen. Fournier was also an apostle Of the
|
gueux was his bitter enemy, but as they
moved in widely different social circles the
general found some difficulty in picking
quarrel. His opportunity came one day as
he was showing off before some ladies his
experiences with the pistol. 1t was a con-
siderable distance from the generals bal
cony to the mayor on the other side of the
street, but the old fighter knew his skill.
Just notice, ladies'" he said, "how l will
pick the mayors rose" He raised his pis-
toll The women shrieked that he should
desist, but too late. The hammer fell and
the rose and the mayor dropped-the latter,
however, only from fright. The generals
expertness defeated his purpose. The sure
ness of his aim terrified the mayor out OF
sending the desired challenge.
Shortly after his affair with Gen. Four
nier the Marquis Marie de Sante- Maria
fought his most famous duel. A regiment
marched into Perigueux to take up quar-
ters there, and the whole town was out to
see the soldiers enter. The citizens crowded
out into the line of march. "Drive them
backm commanded the colonel. Most of
the spectators shrank away. Only one man
remained immovable-a great white haired
man. with crossed arms, defiant mien, aud
q contemptuous smile on his lips He was
the Marquis Marie de Sainte- Maria.
A captain named Roland tapped him on
the breast with the handle Of his sword
Marie de Sainte-Maria snatched the
sword, snapped it over his knee,
and threw the bits in Roland's face
A hand-to-hand fight followed. The
marquis was arrested and confined in his
hotel under a guard of three soldiers. He
remained there five days. and then learned
that at O'Clock on the following morning
the regiment, with Capt Roland, would
march away. To get his satisfaction he
must hunt Roland down like fox, and he
! resolved to do it. Early in the morning he
climbed up the chimney of the room in
which he was imprisoned, over five roofs
and down the scuttle of the house of a
} friend. He swallowed glass of wine put
; chicken bono in his pocket, got a sword
} and horse and galloped Off toward the
} crossroads which the regiment must pass on
its way to Paris. He arrived there at 5
= O'Clock. He dismounted, threw off his
, great coat. rolled up his sleeves,
unsheathed his sword and stood still in the
middle of the Paris road. The
regiment marched into sight presently, but