The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1900-06-27
DUEIlNG IN FRANCE,
THE CUSTOM HAS DEVELOPED A MA
TloNAL FIGHTING BLADE.

Epee de Combat. and With It,
We're the Combatants W Inclined
serious Injuries Could lie Indicted.
Persons other than French are wont
to maintain In spite of the occasional
pin pricks that the French dueliSts in
tict on one another that French duel
Ing IS a French farce. But Erenchmen
and sometimes other persons In SYM
pathy with them insist upon being tax
en- seriously They insist that duelng
with swords, which is the real thing In
French ducls. Is not chllds play and
that compared with 1t the old fashion
ed Anglo Saxon resort to pair of
hvcs" Is brutality not to be thought of
by the scrapng smirker OF the boule.
wards
The French habit of settling disputes
by reaort TO Aue,s with rSyortio i,op ,lu-
vcloped a national duelIng weapon, the
epee de combat, a long and strong
blade with three triangular grooves
tapering To Il keen point, with edges
that never are used save for defense.
The hand is protected with n broad,
round guard shaped like the gong upon
nm alarm clock. The handle is straight,
with no other mcumhranee, and bal
anced by II heavy pommel which pro-
jects beyond the root of the thumb
when the weapon Is held ready for Il
thrust.
1t Is modern development of the
rapier with which Cyrano de Bcrgcrac
fought the bullics of Paris. 1t shows
trucos of It's descent through the ele.
CANT court sword which was coming
into being when II Artagnan became Il
field marshal in the Duo de Bragg.
Tonne" But its hllt makes 1t lmpossi.
bic for ordinary wear In Its present
shape, and the epee de combat is the
weapon of the French dnelist and of
him alone
In 1883 General Boulanger and NJ.
Floquet found II necessary TO settle
their differences Mt the swords point
The critics Ind not much difficulty In
picking the winner between n civilian
president of the chamber Of deputies
well advanced In years who had limit
ed his practice to sparrow shooting
with pistol and IL bray general" In
! the full arder of his life whose sword
was the symbol of his profession. Vel
| they We're utterly mistaken.
II NJ Floquet was no swordsman, he
was full of quiet pluck aud common
sense, aud he praeticed one stroke only
the night before the fight A dozen
| times. though not too many 10 make
his old limbs stlff the next day, he
might have been seen IN II 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
thumb The next day Bouangcr made
furious attack, with many stamps
aud hourlshes. The little president
stlItened his back. threw out his point.
and the uniueky general impaled his
neck upon the blade. Boulanger recov-
cred, 10 die by his own hand utter
"Boulaagism" had been diseredlted.
Harry Ais" of the Debats suffered
much more quickly from the effects OF
| the epec Ills real name was lIlppolytc
| Percher, and In lighting Il captain of
infantry on the He dc la Grundc .Inte
about certain scandals connected with
the French kOng0 he was hit IN the
right armplt and bled to death
The duel fought by Catulle Mendcs
In May of 1889 was almost MS serious,
and 1t was caused while Bernhardt
was playing Hamlet" by some fatu-
Gus quarrel over the physical develop
ment of the prince Of Denmark. NJ.
VHnor, Mcndcs opponent was fine
swordsman and, sportsmanllko enough
to recognize the double advantages he
enjoyed, contcnted himself with parry
Ing correctly. Catullc Mendes threw
himself ON his adversnry'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
| priclung your man In the hand or fore
arm, as the least disablement Is held TO
satisfy the honor" OF the combataniS.
| But the hand and arm Of an adversary
are those parts OF him which are near
| est to you and which you can reach
with the least exposure OF your own
| person.
The wound that Is produced by trans.
fixing hand, which may be protected
only by the ordinary Kid glove Of social
custom. Is not only totally disabling,
but also extremely painful Soldiers
| who have been shot In the palm lnya-
riably collapse for II time with the
acute agony produced hy the rupture
OF 50 many delicate nerve ccnters. A
thrust In the forearm is equally effect.
| I've, for II dlsables all the muscles and
! ll2aments that enable man 10 hold
and manipulate his sword
But though fine ducllst Is always
| capable OF these particular TRUSTS
and they are far more various than
would be imagined Mt first sIght-he
has by no means exhausted his strokes
when these have ali been parted. At
tacks In what Is called the "lOwer line"
are frequently successful and lnYarla-
bly, produce an awkward wound when
they succeed. The throat Is as yulner-
able and as often attacked as IL the
chest, ana II must be remembered that
the entire body OF each assailant Is
open 10 attack aud obviously TO injury.
He Was Admitted
Fortunately when red tape comes Ii
contact with common sense It Is rec
tape which goes to the wall. A goot