Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1900-07-14
DUELING IN FRANCE.
THE CUSTOM HAS DEVELOPED A MA
TIONAL FIGHTING BLADE.

1t Is a Long, Strong Sword, the
Epee de Combat, and With 1t,
Were the Combatants So Inclined,
Serious Injuries Could Be inflicted.
Persons other than French are wont
to maintain in spite of the occasional
pin pricks that the French duelists in
f1ict on one another that French duel
Ing is French farce. But Frenchmen
and sometimes other persons in sym
pathy with them insist upon being TAX
en- seriously. They insist that dueling
with swords, which is the real thing in
French duels, is not child's play and
that compared with it the old fashion
ed Anglo-SaXon resort to a ''pair of
fives" is brutality not to be thought Of
by the scraping smirker of the boule-
wards.
The French habit of settling disputes
by resort to duels with swords has de-
veloped national dueling weapon, the
epee de combat, long and strong
blade with three triangular grooves
tapering to a keen point, with edges
that never are used save for defense.
The hand is protected with a broad,
round guard shaped like the gong upon
an alarm clock. The handle is straight,
with no other incumbrance, and bal
anced by a heavy pommel which pro-
iects beyond the root Of the thumb
when the weapon is held ready for a
thrust.
1t is a modern development Of the
rapier with which Cyrano de Bergerac
fought the DULLES of Paris. It shows
traces Of its descent through the ele
CANT court sword which was coming
into being when D'Artagnan became a
field marshal in the "Duc de Bragg
lonne." But it's hilt makes it impossi-
BILE for ordinary wear in it's present
shape, and the epee de combat is the
weapon of the French duelist and Of
him alone.
In 1888 General Boulanger and M.
Floquet found it necessary to settle
their differences at the swords point.
The critics had not much difficulty in
picking the winner between civilian
president Of the chamber of deputies
well advanced in years who had limit
ed his practice to sparrow shooting
with pistol and a ''brav' general in
the full ardor of his life whose sword
was the symbol of his profession. Yet
they were utterly mistaken.
If M. Floquet was no swordsman, he
was full of quiet pluck and common
sense, and he practiced one stroke only |
the night before the fight. A dozen
times, though not too many to make
his old limbs stiff the next day, he |
might have been seen in a well known
sales d'armes Strengthening his arm
and raising his wrist until he could /
only just see the point Of his sword
above and beyond the ball of his
numb. The next day Boulanger made
l furious attack, with many stamps
md fourishes. The little president |
'tifened his back, threw out his point,
ind the unlucky general impaled his
leck upon the blade. Boulanger recov-
cred, to die by his own hand after
had been discredited.
Harry Ais" Of the Debats suffered
much more quickly from the effects Of
he epee. His real name was Hippo1yte
oercher, and in fighting a captain Of
infantry on the lie de la Grande Jalte
bout certain scandals connected with
he French Kongo he was hit in the
light armpit and bled to death.
The duel fought by Catulle Mendes
q May Of 1899 was almost as serious,
nd it was caused while Bernhardt
vas playing Hamlet by some fatu-
us quarrel over the physical develop
nent of the prince Of Denmark. M.
amor, Mendes' opponent, was a fine
wordsman and, sportsmanlike enough
0 recognize the double advantages he
njoyed, contented himself with parry
lg correctly. Catulle Mendes threw
imself on his adYersary's point and
7as severely wounded in the stomach
n almost the same ground where
'ercher had been killed several years
efore.