Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-01-11
FEMININE DUELISTS.
Instances Showing That Women
Have Observed the Code.
Reparation by Arms Resorted to by La
dies of Nobility-Blood Shed by Fair
Fighters in Defense
of Honor,

Of course there have been duels be-
tween women ever since Leah and
Rachel pulled each others hair for
jealousy of Jacob But duels on the
field of honor between women, or be-
tween woman and a man, are rare
About the first, says the New York
World, according to the code, between
women, took place in the time of Louis
XIV. The great and honorable Ia
dies" we are told, fought each other
with pistols in the Bots de Boulogne
for love of the handsome eyes of Due
de Richelieu. They were Marquise de
Nesles and Comtesse de Polignac.
Fire first" said the countess.
The marchioness fired and missed.
Rage made her hand shake" ex-
claimed Nine. de Polignac. She fred.
Nine. de Nesles fell, swooning Her
adversary's bullet had struck the tip of
her ear.
''They tell at Paris" writes a con-
temporaneous historian, "of two ladies
of the court who fought duel with
pistols. The king said, laughing, that
there was no more excuse for them
than for the men,"
Tallemand des Reaux relates the
story of two sisters One, Nine. de
Chasteau-Gay, having taken offense
against one Of her friends, challenged
him and on the field wounded him. The
other, more original, Nine. La Douze,
wished to punish her own husband,
and having dragged him to the duelliny
place gave him, by way of conviction,
fh1-on rV.6 cfr
done credit to the fencing master.
About the year 100 there lived In
Paris a young woman, very beautiful,
as witty as beautiful and saucer than
either. She had, the writer's of the
time say, the prettiest eyes in the world
and the waviest hair. She sometimes
called herself Nine. d'Aublgny, some:
times Mile. de Mauple Falling in love
with a provost she followed him to
Marseilles where she did all sorts Of
foolish things. Then returning to Paris
she entered the opera, where she met
with extraordinary success and con-
tinued her exploits.
One night, wearing mems clothes, she
went to masked ball at the Palais
Royal. She made herself disagreeable
to lady of the court, and three gentle
men who were with the lady challenged
her She confronted them one after am
other and successfully placed her three
adversaries hors de combat. A few days
afterwards she had duel with fourth
man, whom she seriously wounded
In November, 1884, Baron de Traut-
mandorf, diplomat, was on the eve of
marrying young widow, Countess
Lpdowsl1a de r., p Pole by birth.
An unknown rival of the baron saw At
to Fidicule him in piece of verse signed
Baron de Ropp." The diplomat chal-
lenged the poet. On the ground friend
of the poet took his place, with the con-
sent of Trautmandorf, who was killed
in the encounter. Trautmandorf' Sec
ond bitterly reProached De Ropp for
his conduct. In an hour they met on
the field, sword in hand. De Ropp
wounded his antagonist, but what was
his surprise and sorrow when he rec
ognized in Trautmandorf- second
Qf her wounds De Ropp committed sui,
eide
As late as 1886 Miss Shelley, an
American, fought duel with Nine.
Astie de valsayre. at Waterloo. The
yenng Yankee contended that ADeri--
can female doctors-she was one-txnew
more than the French. The fiery
Frenchwornan denied it. Miss Shelley
retorted, the word idiot was uttered.
Mme- Astie de Valsayre demanded
PREPARATION by arms. but as Miss Shelley
was as ignorant of the sword as she
Nas skilled with the scalpel, the French
doctor generously gave her fifteen days