The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-12
DUELS ENDED IN FARCE.
HOW A OCULAR ONE-LEGGED MAR
QUIs ACCEPTED A CHALLENGE.

Some of Richelfeu's Escapades-An
Ardent Lover Found Dead in a
Convent.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer
mot less than 5000 duels have been
fought in France" says Ludovic Meritton.
in Der Salon. and in later times they
have become farcicaL"
No blOodier duels were ever fought than
those in France from the reign of Charles
V 10 that of Louis XVI. but interpreted
with them were many affairs d'honneur
which had ludicrOus or an absurd side.
Some OF these were as follows;
Madainan sent a challenge to the Marquis
de Rivard, who had lost a leg at the siege
Of Puy Cerda The marquis accepted, but
sent with his answer a case Of surgical in
struments insisting that Madaillan should
first lose leg so as 10 place them on an
equal footing. The joke prevented the duel.
The philosophic La Fontaine was forced
by a friend into fighting a duel with
certain young officer whose attentions to
wine were more expressive than becoming.
The good, peaceful old man with young
and pretty wife. grumbled sorely at having
10 get up early in the morning TO march
out and fight a man he liked for a purpose
he did not clearly understand and with
weapon with which he was unaccustomed.
Arriving at the rendezvous, he apologized
TO the officer, complaining Of the necessity
he was under, and assuring him OF his
good VIII. The young man bowed, smiled
and before La FOntaine had well fum-
bled at his first guard, whipped the sword
out OF his hand; then, expressing extreme
regret at the circums tances, he lectured
the philosopher on his folly, and an
nounced his intention Of never entering
is in ssfr4 p is fcfH mar
misund erstoOd La Fontaine was in de-
SPAR. He embraced his dear friend again
and again, and swOre that he would fight
him on the spot II he did not then return
home with him and make his usual visit.
The officer consented, and Nine. La Fon-
tame was highly pleased at the outcome
of the duel.
A general character of what we call
blackguardism, held man harmless an
der the French code, inasmuch as gem
tlemen would not meet him. One Of this
that he had been slapped in the face, and
asked what he should do. Go and wash
H.! said the marshal, turning on his
heel Another, who had been thrown out
OF a second-stOry window for cheating at
cards was counseled by his friend never
TO play at cards again except upon the
ground floor" Brisseuil refused TO fight
with detected sharper, but eventually
he was forced into the quarrel and Sc
Verely wounded.
D'Aydie, an able, the lover of the
Duchess de Berri. fought in a house with
a provincial clerk and wounded him. The
duchess deprived DAydie of his prefer
ment, and forced him to become a knight
of Malta for having fought with one so
Tar beneath him. But the pugnacious
Bouton pursued and fought the able four
times, and then the duchess brought the
affair before the court OF honor under
presidency of the Marshal de Chamilly.
The court and the marshal were disgust
ed with this fellow Bouton, who dared
10 call them my lords" and they order
ed d Aydie to be imprisoned for degrad-
ing himself so far as to fight with such
low-born clown AS for him, he was dis
charged as beneath their notice. But the
duchess got him hanged, to the horror of
all Paris. This was before the majority
of Louis XIV, In the time of the regent
who, though he thought dueling had
gone too much out Of fashion," lectured
two officers who fought about an Angola
cat, saying "they should have fought
with claws, not swords"
The Due de Richeleu began his notable
course as a youth of only % by attacking
and wounding lie Compile de GAGE under
a street lamp. A short time after, having
pique against lie Comte de Baviere he
followed him on a journey and insulted
and obstructed him. They began to fight
but were separated by the CheValier PAU
vray who took de Richelieu in custody as
the aggressor. Taken before the Court
of Honor where all the noble youth of
France were assembled with heads barred
he was forced TO apologize 10 de Baviere,
but they were none the better friends af-
terward.
After few years, fun of RicheIieu's
diverse scampishness had rolled on Al
bani, nephew OF Pope Clement XI, applied
10 him for advice in lark involving Nine
Crequi-Blanchefort. They made a bungle
of it, and were arrested, and Richelieu
was locked in the Bastile for his share in
the affair; Upon his liberation the young
Marquis d'Aumont, a lad of l6, fought and
wounded him in the hip, so that II was
thought he would be lame for life D'Au-
mont was a kinsman Of Nine. Blanchfort
In 1874 Richelieu Killed his kinsman, the
Prince de I.iNpO VVhn himself had lrfi
the Marquis de Ligneville, uncle OF Rich
eheus wife. The quarrel arose from De
LiXen haunting Richelieu. The De Lixen
blood was older than the Richeleu, and
the prince put the sting of truth into
his taunt They were both serving at the
seige. of Philipsberg, and had their bloody
meeting that night in the trenches.
Du Nighan of Santonga was the Don
Juan of his time. Hackney coachmen's
and tradesmen's wives who called TO pre-
sent bills took them back unpaid, leav-
ing him good wishes and money instead
He bewitched everyone, and the Arch
bishop of Paris said of him that he was
the serpent of the terrestrial paradise -
OF course, he was always in some sort of
trouble and was once nearly killed in a
duel with LIE Comte de Meulan. When he
recovered he fell in love with Mile de
scissors, who loved him with a maddening
passion.
> She was severely lectured by her aunt
and shut up in the convent of Montmartre.
But Du Nighan unders TODD the science of
rope ladders and Montmartre had walls
not impossible to scale. He and his prin-
cess met in her cloister as they had before
met at her hotel, and matters went on
swimmingly till the rope ladder was found
when Baron D'Ugeon, De SCISSORS cousin
demanded satisfaction. They met and Du
Nighan received three severe wounds in
his side. Nothing daunted, however. he
scaled the walls of Monmartre that very
night. But TO no purpose. The princess
was under safe-keeping Of warders and
bolts, and poor Du Vighan had to remain
IN the cold cloisters all night alone His
wounds broke out into a fearful hemor-
rhage, and when morning came the nuns
found the hapless youth lying dead upon
the stone pavement
In IT'S the Comte d'Artois-afterward
Charles IX-fought with the Prince dc
Conde-Duc de Bourbon-for having struck
Nine la Douchesse de Bourbonne who al
a masque ball annoyed Nine de Carillac
cher annie of D. Artois, formerly holdinn
the same position with the Due de Bour.
bon. The duchesse was also in love witt
The future monarch. 1t was a bloodless
duel After a vast deal Of parade the of,
Tended parties embraced sobbed uDor
each others shoulders and agreed to keer
their lady loves in subsection for the fu
The. Chevalier D'Eon lived in this livelN
period. lie was one Of the strangest char
acters in all history; the expert swords
man, clever diplomat and man in woman,