The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-08
WOMEN DUELISTS.
CENTURY AGO THERE WERE
MANY TREMENDOUS FIGHTERS.

Some of Them VIGOROUSLY Deadly
With the SwOrd-MlIe. De Maupin
Left Bali to Fight Three Men.
Killed Them and Returned TO the
Dance.
From, the New Orleans Picayune
Two women in Vienna, prominent fig
ures in the upper crust of the under
world, fought a duel the other day. ac-
| cording to brief cable dispatch, one re-
| ceiving a wound in the neck slightly
more formidable than a pin scratch, and
the other escaping with nothing more
serious than profuse attack of fright
and perspration.
Some innoeents might imagine the duel
| ing woman to be an end-of-the -century
] product; a far-reaching growth of the
: feminine desire to ape Insecurity in all
/ things. But so far as the duello is con-
! cerned, the woman of to-day is an inn
| measurable distance behind her sister of
a century or two ago. In fact, the
further back one goes into the duskiness
of the past the more prevalent the duel
| ing woman becomes.
! In the time of the crusades, particular
! ly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
the lighting woman was as prevalent as
| petN NSDto dAV tO-heig. Nldu III AietiA anu
armed with sword and lance, She accom-
panied her warrior husband, brother or
sweetheart to the holy land and mixed
pentifully in the constant broils which
marked those long and boisterous
marches.
She came from England, France and
Germany by the thousand and figured
| prominently in the outrages which blotted
| the pathways of the blood-spilling cru
| saders. In some of the crusades there
| were as many as 1900 of the Amazons,
| and naturally they didn't get on very
| well together their rows invariably end
| ing by recourse TO arms. In fact, they
| fought so much among themselves that
| the leaders of subsequent crusadeS for
| babe their Joining the army, but this
| edict was futile. Disguised as men, and
| with proficiency in arms equal to the
| average warrior, they easily passed off
| as the masculine article and continued TO
| Kill the Sarcaren and each other until the
| last of the crusadeS.
The French woman has always taken
| front rank in the matter of duels. Italian
| and Spanish women have often settled dis
| putes with the sword Austrian and Eng
fish women figure lightly in the history
| OF the duel, and the instances OF American
/ women who resorted to the field Of honor
| are extremely rare.
One of the few cases of the latter kind
| occurred in France only eleven years ago.
| French woman named Nine. AStia DE
| Nalsayre considered herself insulted by
| SOLl6 ull6TdnCe OF an american BlI1 IldIleu
| GeneVieve Shelley. The French woman
| demanded satisfaction on the field of hon
| or, and the American girl, who had lived
| in France from her babyhood, saw moth
ing particularly strange in the idea of a
| feminine duel, so she accepted. Seconds,
a surgeon and the principals journeyed to
| fought Wlth swords. Both were clever
| fencers, but Nine. De Valsayre was the
more experienced, and succeeded IN
| wounding her antagonist in the sword arm.
| This satisfied the injured honor of the
combatants, and the duel ended.
The most noted woman duelist was
| mysterious creature named Charles Gen
| evieve Louis Auguste Andre Itmotnee
| DION, whose mixture of masculine and
feminine names was quite consistent with
| her mode of life. One-half of the time
she passed as man and the other half as
a woman. So successfully did she lmper-
senate the masculine that after her death
countless disputes arose over the question
of her sex, and some historians of to-day
still throw doubt on the matter.
But when everything is considered 1t
seems that she was a woman, and beau
tiful woman, too. She was contempor-
airy of the wicked Nine. Pompadour and
Nine. Du Barry, who ihelped King Louis
XIV to rule France. The times were pro-
pitious for an adventurous person like the
chevaliere DION, and it seems that she
made the most of her opportunities. She
| was a favorite of the king, and in many
| diplomatic necessities performed eXtraord-
mary services, at one time wheedling out
state secrets as beautiful and fascinating
| woman, at another time bullying as a
deadly fighting man.
In womans garb D'Eon was ambassa-
dress to the court of the Empress Eliza
| beth of Russia from 1855 to 1860 and later
as a man, was ambassador to England
The cheVaiiere's face was handsome and
the voice high-pitched When dressed in
feminine attire she was as handsome wo-
man as any in the courts of Europe, and as
man. in the silk and satin bravery of
those picturesque times there was not a
noble among all the courters who could
drink deeper or throw dice for higher
| stakes than the cheValiere.
| No mans hand more readily sought the
| hilt of his sword than did D'Eon's. She
was one of the best sword shielders of the
epoch and was a noted and much-feared
| duelist. She had notable encounter with
| the chevalier de st. Georges one bright
summers day in the place Royal-a favor
| lite spot-and was wounded in her sword
arm. AS soon as she was recovered from
| her hurt she again picked a quarrel with
her former adversary and ran him through
| the heart.
Another French woman who earned un-
dying fame as a duelst was the celebrate
ed Mile de Maupin, immortalized by Theo-
dore Gautier. She was reckoned the
most expert fencer of her time, and the
famous duelists thought twice before pro-
voking a quarrel with her She was an
actress in Paris but she fell in love with
a fencing master and followed him to Mar
settles. There they disagreed, fought with
swords, and she returned to Paris, leav-
ing him to ind some one else to nurse his
wound.
In Paris she entered the opera and at
tanned great celebrity, both by her talent
and her eccentricties. An actor named
Dumeny displeased her one day and she
lay in wait for him in the place des Vic
torres. Being unsuccessful in provoking
him to fight, she tore his watch and SNUFF
box from him and carried them off as the
spoils of war. Another actor she forced
TO beg her pardon on his knees before the
entire company.
One night at a masked ball at the royal
palace, she was disguised as man. and
paid violent and unmistakable attentions
to one Of the ladies Of the court Three
gentlemen provoked a combat with her
on this account, and she fought them one
after another and killed them ALL after
which, relying on the impunity which she
enjoyed, owing to her high protectors she
returned to the ball room and amused her.
self until daybreak.
One of the few cases on record of Eng
lish women as duelists is that Of a battle
between Lady Almeria Braddock and a
Mrs. Elphinstone both of them leaders in
London society at the end of the eigh-
teenth century. The. quarrel arose over
some criticisms which Mrs Elphinstone
made concerning Lady Braddock. History
says that these referred to the latter's
age.
At any rate Lady Braddock felt mortaIly
Id. FaIV. 49,