The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-08-09
DUELING IN FRANCE.
THE CUSTOM HAS DEVELOPED A Ma
T,ONAL FIGHTING BLADE.

Persons other than French are wont
70 maintain In spite Of the occasional
Din pricks that the French duelists IN
dict on one another that French duel
ing IS q French farce. But Frenehmen
and sometimes othT persons In SYM
pathy with them insist upon being tax
en- seriously They insist that dueiing
with swords. which is the real thing IN
French duels, Is not clild's play ana
that compared with 1t the old fashion
ed Anglo Saxon resort to pair OF
fvcs" Is brutality not to be thought OF
by the scrapng smirker OF the boule-
wards.
The French habit OF settling disputes
by resort to ducls with swords has de-
yeloped national dueling weapon. the
cpee de combat. long and strong
blade with three triangular grooves
tapcrin. to keen point. with edges
that never are used save for defense.
The hand Is protected with broad.
round guard shaped like the gong upon
an alarm clock The handle IS straight,
with no other incumbrance, and bal
anced by n heavy pOmmel which pro-
jects beyond the root Of the thumb
when the weapon is held ready for a
thrust.
1t Is modern development of the
rapier with which CyranO de Berserac
fought the DULLES Of Paris. 1t shows
traces of it's descent through the ele-
CANT court sword which was coming
into being when D'Artagnan became
field marshal In the Duo de Bragg
Tonne" But its hilt makes it impossi-
bic for ordinary wear In It's present
shape, and the cpee de combat is the
weapon Of the French duelist and Of
him alone.
In 1883 General Boulanscr and NJ.
Floquet found 1t necessary to settle
| their differences at the swords point
| The critics had not much difficulty in
| picking the winner between q civilian
| president of the chamber Of deputies
| well advanced In years who had limit
ed his practice to sparrow shooting
| with pistol and bray general in
the full ardor of his life whose sword
was the symbol Of his profession. Yet
they were utterly mistaken
/
! was full OF quiet pluck and common
sense. ard h" practic"d one stroke only
the night before the fight \ dozen
| times though not too many to make
| his old limbs stiff the next day, he
| might have been Seen In Il well known
sales d'arIncs 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
thumb. The next day Boulanser made
furious attack. with many stamps
| and fouriSlirS. The little president
stifened his back threw out his point.
and the unlucky general impaled his
neck upon the blade. Boulangcr recOS
cred. to die by his own hand after
"Boulangisln" had been discredited
| Harry Ais" Of the Dcbats suffered
much more quickly from the effects of
the epee. His real name was IIippolyte
Percher. and in lighting captain of
infantry on the lie dc la Grande Jalte
about certain scandals connected with
the French Kongo he was hit In the
right armpit and bled to death.
The duel fought by Catulle Mendes
in May Of 1899 was almost as serious,
and it was caused while Bernhardt
was playin. Hamlet" by some fatu-
GUS quarrel over the physical develop
ment Of the prince of Denmark. NJ.
Vanor. Mendes' opponent. was a fine
swOrdSman and. Sportsmanlike enough
to recognize the double advantages he
enjoyed. contented himself with parry
ing correctly. Cutulle MendeS threw
himself Oh his adversary's point and
was severely wounded In the stomach
| on almost the same ground where
Perchcr had been killed several years
before
1t often Is urged outside Of France
that French dueling consists in merely
prickine your man in the hand or fore
arm. as the least disablement Is held tc
satisfy the honor" Of the combatants
But the hand and arm Of an adversary
are those parts Of him which are near
est to you and which you can reacl
with the least exposure Of your OWL
person.
The wound that is produced by trans
fixing hand. which may be protected
only by the ordinary kid glove Of socia
, custom. Is not only totally disabling
but also extremely painful Soldiers
who have been shot In the palm inya
riably collapse for a time with the
acute agony produced by the rupture
of so many delicate nerve centers. A
> thrust in the forearm is equally effect
i've. for 1t disables all the muscles anG
ligaments that enable n man to hole
and manipulate his sword.
But though 4 fine duelist is always
capable Of these particular thrusts-
and they are far more various thar
would be imagined at first sight-ht
has by no means exhausted his strokes
when these have oil been PARKED. At
tacks in what Is called the lower line
are frequently successful and invaria
bly, produce an awkward wound wher
they succeed. The throat Is rs vulner
able and as often attacked as Is thu
chest. and 1t must be remembered tina
the entire body Of each assailnnt 1:
open to attack and obviously to injury.
M