The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-02-17
OlsD DuEIlNG RULES.

OLD DUELlNG RULES.
nMucA USEFUL ADVICE" FROM AN
ANCIENT BOOK.
III the COmbatnnt Dies ms a Result of
the Encounter. He II Told to Go on
with AS Good Grace as Possible.
Irishmen Not Good seconds.
TO Englishmen dueling is happily a
lost art. but three-quarters Of q century
ago dueling was sufficiently in vogue to
induce an anonymous writer to publish
q book Containing much useful infor-
nation, : ironically dedicated to Daniel
O'Connell. Esq, NJ. p, and James Silk
Buckingham, Esq. N. p. as center
tanning the opinion first promulgated
by the immortal Falstaff of happy
memory that discretion is the better
part Of valor.
The author advises ''all my country
men who go abroad to use the pistol in
stead Of the sword when they have the
choice Of the weapon, as the balance of
killed and wounded is now much in ia
vor of the French, who. upon the ter
mination of the late war, amused them
selves by occasionally splitting some half
dozen Of our travelling young fashion
ables before breakfast" He recon-
mends '.Purdey, in Oxford street, as
the maker of the best dueling pistol
locks, Z care in the selection Of a stock
which fits the hand comfortably and to
eschew .saw handles. Barrels should
be ten inches long and half rifed.
which. considering that throughout his
volume he poses as a man Of the strict
est honor, is puzzling, for he admits
that a wholly rifed pistol is considered
an unfair weapon, therefore n not APP
pearing to be ri1ed should be substi-
tuted.
On .sthe chances he writes: MANY
a poor, long armed, struggling fellow
has received the coup di (sic) c9ur (or
fatal stroke) who might still have been
in existence had he known how to pro-
tect his person in the field, the neces-
sary protection consisting in standing
sideways and drawing in the stomach.
ssShould the party be hit"-presumably
because he could not draw in his stom-
ach-.'he must not feel alarmed. This
seems difficult, as a man with a bullet
in his stomach can hardly be expected
not to display some little natural ankle
ty, for. as is admitted later. "a shot in
the digestive organs must be particu-
larly annoying to a bon viyant. To
aldermen his advice is ''the old method
of fghting-the back to the adversary
and discharging over the shoulder.
''The chances of a mans being killed
are about IA to 1, and Of his being
hit about 6 to L." He arrives at
this conclusion by dividing a mans
body. when opposed to his adversary,
into nine parts. Therefore he says, LAS
in only three of these a wound would
1 against his being killed, and 5 to
1 against his being hit-that is, how
ever. he hastens to add, provided his
antagonist has never read my work. II
he has, the case may be Different
The combatant is told mot to allow
the idea of becoming a target to make
him uneasy. but to treat the matter
loosely" He is to laugh away the
evening over a bottle Of port, and play
drinking to excess, or taking ''any food
that tends to create bile. because ''55il-
ious objects are not seen either distinct
~ or correctly. This would rather be
a valid reason for getting as bilious as
possible. A man with an attack of
jaundice should be invisible, and able
to blaze at his antagonist in perfect
safety. If he cannot sleep on retiring
to rest, he is to read Byron's "Childe
Harold" His servant is to call him at 5
and give him a strong cup Of coffee.
Then he is to smoke a cigar, and ''on
his way to the scene Of action he is to
take a brandy and soda, as a most
''grateful stimulant and corrective.
No wonder our author recommends
him at this point to draw in his stom-
ach. :.'If he dies, he is to go off with as
good grace as possible!" On the other
hand, if he hits his antagonist, he is to
greet.
A challenge is not to be in rhyme.
such as "a certain poetical, brandy low
ing major general of marines wrote
to a brother officer who ran off with his
wife:
Wounds on the flesh a surgeons skill may
heal,
But wounded honor's only cured with steel.
An Irishman is not to be chosen as
second. for nine out of ten have such an
innate love of fighting they cannot
bring an affair to an amicable adjust
ment. and the first duty Of a second is
to prevent the affair coming to a seri-
GUS issue. Other advice is for the Sec
ond to take care his principal is not in
convenienced by the sun. and to get his
antagonist with something dark behind
him, when it will be much more easy
to hit him.
As may be inferred, the author holds
by dueling, for 'the man who falls
~ - ~ "