The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-06-29
A CHAPTER ON DUELlko


eral question OF dueling, ana It's
abolition had the greater number of
advocates. Chevalier Won Korwin
Czebanski, in recent publication.
pleaded for its legalization as a justi-
fable measure of self-protection in adj
dition to that afforded by the state.
He declared that the custom is SO
deeply rooted in certain sections of So
ciety that threats of the severest penal
ties are insufficient to prevent it and
that therefore it ought to be recog-
nized and regulated. particularly as
there are certain wrongs for which
there is no legal remedy. AS an ex-
ample of this class of offenses the
chevalier puts the case of a gentleman
being charged with having forged
will and the sole witness of the false
ness of the charge dying before he
could give evidence. In such circum-
stances the court would not be In q
position to establish what the facts
really were and tn refore, according
TO to the writer, the only redress left
70 the slandered person would be
duel. Chevalier Won Korwin Czebanski.
after a statement of the offenses in
connection with which dueling should
be considered legally permissible, lays
down the following principles on which
the law he advocates should be based:
Duels. when unavoidable and con-
Quoted in regular form. are not to be
punishable. The seconds are to bear
the chief responsibility for whatever
may happen. A duel without seconds
is to entail the severest penalty.
In France the law does not recognize
dueling, but it is carried on with per
feet IMMUNITY. Even when there Is
fatal result-a very rare occurrence
it is extremely difficult to punish, be-
cause jurymen are lenient to duelists.
The frequency of dueling in France Is
notorious, but she has not a monopoly
of that pastime. Dueling among stu
dents in Germany Is just as frequent,
but not so well known to the public
The gilded youth of Germany have no
sports. Football is too 'barbarous"
for them, running is below their dig
nifty. even cricket is practically un-
known.
An enterprising but ignorant stran-
kCt waning uONh coiCCo Va ~ O'Ct-
man university town would at once be
struck by the number of Scared and
disfigured faces he saw. 1 remember
constantly coming across certain mau
who had one large slash reaching from
the lobe of his ear to the bridge OF his
nose; another had evidently had the
tip of his olfactory organ sliced off and
put on again, which gave him an arti-
ficially retrousse appearance. The pos.
SCISSORS of these honorable scars do
their best to make the most of them,
and preserve them as carefully as
fading belle her complexion. A tour
list tells of an obese. rakish-lOoking
man he saw in n gasthof. who spent
the whole afternoon alternately sip
ping benedictine and gently pressing
open with his thumb and finger half
healed wound on his face. The truth
is that Gretchen won't look at the
modern Faust unless he has at least
two or three marks of distinction of
this sort
When "fox" or freshman comes up
to the university, if he is not hopeless
ly theological, he joins fighting corps.
There are usually four or five large
corps in each university. and after the
tyro has been initiated he thirsts to
meet some rival 'fox." The captains
meet and arrange the lists, pitting A
against B and C against ID, although A
and b so far from having had any disa-
greement, probably have never set eyes
on each other. Each corps has its own
colors, its own insignia; the members
Of each several body keep pretty much
to themselves, eat and drink together,
live under an exacting code of honor
and rarely meet their rivals except to
fight
When the great day of the ''mensur'
arrives the youngster is hauled out of
bed at four or five o'clock in the morning..
What the feelings of the cub fox"
must be on cold winters morning
can be better imagined than described.
The students then repair to the fight
ing ground, which is either some quiet
spot outside the town or large supper
room of tavern. The duelists are
then carefully bandaged by profess
sional dresser, all the vital portions of
the upper part of the body are we'll
swathed. exposing only the lower part
of the face and the top of the head
Large goggles are worn to protect the
the eyes. The fighting arm is also pro-
tected.
The weapons used are long, thin, phi.
able rapiers, sharp and light The ex-
posed portions of the face are, of course,
the chief object of the attack.
A good deal of hair flies about invari-
ably, and the fight continues till one of
the combatants is sufficiently wounded
for the surgeon to interfere. As soon
as one duel is finished another pair is
ready to begin, and nothing strikes the
stranger more than the indifference, real
or affected, with which the onlookers re-
gard the issue of the encounter. They |
languidly drink their beer and ''prosit"
one another, while their comrades arc |
slashing each others noses off.
The reason why the fights are always |
held early in the morning is because
dueling is forbidden in Germany. But
the authorities for the most part, with
some notable exceptions, wink at the
offense. and dueling continues and is
likely to continue for long time to
come, in spite of Schopenhauer's bril-
liant sarcasms Whether it is that |
they have no national sport, or because
the blood of the old medieval free |
booter still runs through their veins, !
certain it is that the majority of stud
ants are passionately devoted to tho
mensur.
An Englishman became very init
mate during his stay abroad with a
German of this kind, and the last re-
A. l. !, ,,1