Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-08-07
DUELING En- FRANCE.
THE CUSTOM HAS DEVELOPED A Ma
TlONAL FIGHTING BLADE.

OoA DG
Persons other than French are wont
b maintain in spite of the occasional
pm pricks that the French duelists in
tlict on one another that French duel
Ing is a French farce. But Frenchmen
and sometimes other persons in SYM
pathy with them insist upon being TAX
ell 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-
| Yards.
The French habit of settling disputes
by resort to duels with swords has de-
velOped a national dueling weapon, the
epee de combat, a 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 lncumbrance, and bal
anced by a heavy pommel which pro-
jects 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 Bergcrac
fought the DULLES Of Paris. 1t show
traces Of its descent through the elc-
giant court sword which was coming
into being when D'Artagnan became a
ieid marshal in the Duo de Bragg
%ivnnp." But its hilt makes it impossi-
De for ordinary wear in its present
Shape. ard the eree de combat is the
weapon of the French duelist and OF
him alone.
. In 1883 General Boulanger and NJ.
Floquet found it necessary to settle
their differences at the swords point.
The critics had not much difficulty in
picking the winner between a civilian
president Of the chamber of deputies
well advanced In years who had limit
ed his practice to sparrow shooting
with a pistol and a bray general in
the full aydor of his life whose sword
was the symbol Of his profession. Yet
they were utterly mistaken.
If NJ. 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 see In a we'll known
sales d'armes Strengthening his arm
and raising his wrist until be could
only just see the point Of his sword
above and beyond the ball of his
thumb. The next day Boulanger made
a furious attack. with many stamps
and flourishes. The little president
stiffened his back. threw out his point,
and the unlucky general impaled his
neck upon the blade. Boulanger recov,
cred. to die by his own hand after
"Boulangism" had been discredited.
Harry Ais" Of the Debats suffered
much more quickly from the effects Of
the epee. His real name was Hippolyte
Percher. and In fighting a captain Of
infantry on the lie de Ia Grande Jalte
about certain scandals connected with
the French Kongo be was bit In the
right armpit and bled to death.
The duel fought BY Catulle Mendes
in May OF 1890 was almost as serious,
and It was caused while Bernhardt
was playing Hamlet" by some fatu.
Gus quarrel owe the physical develop
ment Of the prince Of Denmark. M.
Vanor. Mendes' opponent, vas a fine
swordsman and. sportsmanlike enough
recognize the double advantages he
enjoyed. contented himself with parry
Ing correctly. Catulle Mendes threw
himself On his a~dversary's point and
was severely wounded in the stomach
on almost the same ground where
had been killed several years
1t often is urged outside of France
that French dueling consists in merely
your nan in the hand or fore
as the least disablement is held to
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 reach
with the least exposure Of your own
The wound that is produced by trans.
liking a hand, which may be protected
'nly by the ordinary kid glove of social
custom. is not only totally disabling,
also extremely painful. Soldiers
Who have been shot in the palm inva.
'iably collapse for a time with the
lcute agony produced by the rupture J
# so many delicate nerve centers. A
thrust in the forearm Is equally effect
for 1t disables all the muscles and
igaments that enable a man to hold
manipulate his sword.
But though a fine duelist is always
Of these particular thrusts-
Ind they are far more various than
would be imagined at first sight-he '
las by no can exhausted his strokes
when these have all been parted. \ At
acks In what Is called the flower line"
re frequently successful and invaria-
Iv, eNrs0I,vnn ~, ,J -,o,.- -t--