The times., 1901-06-23


For sixty minutes last night at the Co
lumbia Theatre, F. j. Darieulat professor
of arms, of Paris. and fencing master of
the Washington Fencing Club, and Pie
tro Lanzill fencing master of Italy
crossed swords, parried, thrust. and
jabbered at each other in French and
Italian, and when the assault d'armes
was over, no blood had been spilled, but
Darieulat was $500 richer. for he was de-
clared the winner of the contest.
There were two combats each of thirty
minutes the first with sabres and the
second with dueling foils. and in both the
little Frenchman ha- the better of his an
| tagonist. and forced the fighting. In the
sabre combat, he won by a score of 176 to
III, but in the duels with the foils, which
was far more skillful and afforded bet
ter display of the abilities of the two men,
Darieulat won by the decisive score of
IS to II.
The audience was not large one, but
what it lacked in numbers it made up in
enthusiasm. In the boxes there were
Count Cassini, the Russian Ambassador
and several attaches Of the Embassy; All
Ferrouh Bey, the Turkish Minister; Day
rell E. NJ. Crackanthorpe, Third Secretary
of the British Embassy, and Mrs Crack
dHlHOTpS, Baron LOUIS AIlDTOLy uG CG-
den; Secretar of the Austrian Legation,
and a number of other members of the
Diplomatic Corps; in the parquet were
some members of society and some club
men fond of the sport, few ladies
with escorts in tuxedos. while the bal
comics were largely given over to French
chefs and Italian tonsorial artists, whose
enthusiastic cries were reminders Of the
shouts of the gallery gods at the heart
rending and soul-stirring melodrama.
To begin with there was some inspiring
music, a medley of national airs, and
"Cupids Garden" by Prof. b. S. Gee and
his orchestra, which placed the audience
in fit humor to witness the fierce COM
bats Then the curtain went up, reveal
ing a scene altogether like the isolated
and secluded spot to which, in the stories,
duelists repair to settle affairs of honor.
1t was a wooded scene with green sward
in the centre clearing. There stood
counseling together four men in spike
tails. They were b. Morris and Dr. Rufus
Choate. judges for NJ. Darieulat, and Prof
Cav. G. Trentanove. the maitre de com
bat, and DIR. F. A. MazZei, Judges for
Sgnor Lanzilli.
Very soon the two combatants, sabres
and masks in hand, appeared from the
wings and stood in the centre of the stage
doing the salutes with the swords and
bowling to applause. The Frenchman wore
white and the Italian a black waist gar
ment and white trousers. They repaired
to their respective corners and Trenta-
move examined the blades and found them
CONNIE il faut. Then the combatants
came forward and bowed some more and
touched the points of their sabres just
TO show that there were no hard feelings,
and that it was all an affair of honor
The referee said zen garde,' and then
things began to look interesting, but each
man stood firm. "Commecez!" shouted
Trentanove, and then the audience had the
real thing. Darieulat lead off with a
swift thrust for the solar plexus. but Lan-
zilli caught the thrust full with his blade
and parried it, and what looked like a fin
ish before the contest was fairly begun
counted for nothing. Then the Italian
stamped his foot like defiant billy goat.
as if to bid his antagonist to come on
again. Darieulat thrust again. and this
time landed heavy upon the right shOul-
| der. 'Touchez" cried the Italian. and the
audience cheered. 1t was the first touch
down. and went to the credit of the
Frenchman. Later as the bout proceed
ed. the word ''touchez" became very pop
ular with those in the audience. as they
became more familiar with it.
Darieulat continued to be the aggressor
and during the greater part of the COM
bat kept the master of Italian fencing
hopping about the stage like jack-in-a-
box. Lanzilli apparently suffered from.
broken suspender, for he kept contin-
uaIly inviting his trousers toward his
neck with his free hand. Occasionaify l..
would stamp his foot upon the stas ;t-d
calculate something in Italian. I'i.se
times during the combat the Ital st
his grip upon the handle of his sabre 5Ld
it fell with clank to the floor, ano once
his mask was knocked from his face.
Once he narrowly escaped falling into
the footlights.
The Frenchman was the more popular
! with the audience. and frequently there
were cries of foul as Lanzilli continued
to belabor his antagonist over the head
and body with his blade. after the French
man had made his ''touchez,' which, un-
der the rules of fencing calls for break
away. Lanzilli, however. insisted upon the
clinch, welding his sabre like a baseball
bat. while Darieulat stood calmly at re-
pose and allowed the .'swatting" to con-
tinue until the Italian grew weary, or the
referee called a halt
Meanwhile the gentlemen in the spike
tails stood in the background, pads and
pencils in hand like amateur reporters at
a street fight. and took notes. Finally
time was called and the contestants threw
off the cages from their respective faces
and again stood revealed. Then they
shook hands just to show that there was
no enmity bowed, -saluted. smiled, and
withdrew to their corners. The first bout
was over After the score had been fig
ured up it was announced that DarieUlat
had made 176 points and Lanzilli III. The
announcement was greeted with applause
and mingled expressions of approval ana
disapproval in three languages. The re-
suit was reached by adding the scores OF
the respective judges ana diVldihg py
three
In the interIude between the bouts there
was more music. and some OF the au-
dience went out just TO walk around. The
orchestra played La FRANCESCA, haTry
Stevens rendered The Choir Invisible
and when I'm Big I'll be a Soldier, and
Miss Anna Z. Evans sang selections from
"Mignon" and Dream"
The second combat. which was with
duelinG fois from the standpoint of the
| fencing artist was much the better of
the two. There was far less slugging and
more of the real fine work of the art
Each thrust. to count, must be aimed at
the solar pleXus, side Jabs not being con-
sidered. 1t gave both men an opportu-
| nifty to display their talents and TO eX-
| hIbit the methods employed by the two
schools of fencing-the French and the
Italian.
Ianzllli INDUCED in swinging motion
of his right hand and many false mo-
tfons. while the Frenchman's thrusts usu-
aIly went home and landed heavily.
Again, he WIS for the most part the ag-
gressor driving LanZilli to the woods,
until once the latter became so appar-
Il cd wanted throw