The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-10-05
MISCELLANY.
Cuban Affairs OF Honor.

Duelling is one OF the institutions of
Cuba. Probably with the evacuation
of the island by the Spanish forces ii
will go as the bull fight and the lottery
will also go. There were, however,
several aft airs of honor which 1t was
promised should be settled by a resort
to the code as soon as the cessation of
hostilities permitted the prohibition
laid by Gen. Blanco on duelling to be
raised. The captain-g eneral would
have no resort to arms among quarrel.
ling army officers and civil officials dur
ing the blockade.
DR.. Congosto, the Cuban secretary
general, who was formerly Spanish
consul at Philadelphia, has several post
poned events on his hands. He had
many disagreements with Consul Gen
ersl Lee, and among the ignorant
Spanisrds of Havana it was the COM
mon belief that the secretary-gene1al
would hold Gen. Lee personally re-
sponsible for the troubles which were
thickening around the Blanco admins
tration. Congosto had also many Bit
ter quarrels with the American news
paper correspondents. He frequently
told them that only the duties of his
official post kept him from calling
them out. His 6ercest quarrel was
with one OF the editors of the most
violent Spanish newspapers published
in Havana. The two men came to
blows, and formal challenges were re.
ported to have been exchanged. At
the time when SIMPSONS feet was
guarding Havana harbor and the
fn1 IN x;u
way any day to bombardment it's
presence caused less excitement than
the impending duel between the secre-
tary general and the journalist. Blan.
cos veto on the duel ended the excite
ment, but the sequence is now due.
There is in the Cuban capital Ger
man of some notoriety as a fighter,
who, If he carries out declared pur.
pose, will never let Congosto leave
Cuba without giving him genteman's
satisfaction for insults which could
not be resented at the time they were
received
The Havana editors have usually
shown willingness to back their opin-
ions by resorting 10 the code, though
it is not invoked with the same fire.
quency as among French editors. A
few weeks before the American con-
suls were withdrawn from the island
the autonomists government was honey
combed with intrigues and torn by dis
sensions. An outcome of this situa-
ton was a prospective duel between
Ferdinand de Castro, the present civil
governor of the province, and the edi-
tor of one of the autonomist newspa-
f.,1 <c
one night that the meeting had taken
place and that one of the principals
had been wounded. This was untrue,
but one reality was that stern orders
and energetic action on the part of
Blanco had prevented the meeting.
Several of the Havana editors and re-
porters have records as duellsts. One
of them has his office ornamented with
weapons OF all kinds, some of them tro-
phies. To the indignant subscriber
who wants retraction is given
chance among them.
The Union Club of Havana, which,
without being fast is not slow, has
room which is devoted to arms, and
tales of practice and of prowess, there
sometimes foreshadow the settlement
of a difficulty. Fencing is leading
diversion, and facilities for pistol prac-
tice are not lacking. In the rooms of
building overlooking the Prado and
the central park several duels have
been fought. A year or more ago a
young man, a member of well known
family, was found dead in one of these
rooms. In his pocket was letter say
ing that his purpose was to commit
suicide and giving directions in regard
| to various personal matters. He had
| been killed in duel. The circum-
stances were all known, but neither
the surviving principal nor any of the
seconds was arrested. 1t is customary
for each of the principals to write let
ter of this kind. Usually its existence
does not become known, because ia
tai result is almost as rare as in Ger
man students duel.
There is a local literature of duel
ling which is much read. On the
shelves OF the Havana book stores can
usually be found a pamphlet which
gives a complete account of duels
fought for period of years. The COM
| piler is an ardent admirer of the code.
His pamphlet gives the names of the
principals and seconds, the causes of
I
the chal ,enges, and the incidents of the
combat. A few fatal endings are re-
corded. Quarrels over politics appear
to be common cause Of duels. Then
there are those "insults unprovoked, :"
which in the United States would be
called barroom squabbles. In some
cases discreet hint is given that a
woman's honor had been rashly ques-
toned and atonement made. A sug-
gestion is also occasionally conveyed
that disagreement arose at the gam
/ ing table. This is apt to have the been
cause when the principals were mem
bers of the Circulo Militar, or Spanish
Military Club. Formerly high stakes
were played for at this club and the Of
ficers quarrelled. Some names that
were we'll known in Havana decade
or two ago appear in this pamphlet.
Another handy volume which can be
had at the book stores is complete
treatise on arms and duelling. A por-
ton of its contents was published in
one of the newspapers few years ago.
| The duellst this treatise declares. is q