The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-07-20
the Charleston News

from the charleston News
Once and again, and still again. we
Southern people have been reviled by
outside Puritans, Pharises and PILLS
ties for u significant and persistent
use Of the Wor gentlemen
However, we think even the reVil-
ers are beginning to discover that the
term meant something here than
it means in the ordinary chatter and
CHATTER of the outside world. To be
a Southern gentleman in old times
was to be something very fine, indeed.
1t was to keep the fountains Of kind
ness and courtesy always full; TO
scorn trickery in business, and to have
a horror of all double dealings. Il was
to throw Il strong barrier of prOtec-
ton around all women, and TO spread
the mOuthe of charity over TO faillngs
of humanity.
1t was to believe in virtue and homes
~, to maintain the highest ideals Of
character and TO shrink with sour
from the idea or suggestion that
none could be a substitute for these.
And to fight. if one must fight,
uDOn the absolute equal terms within
ones adversary. These were the
men who fought duels in the south in
old times, according to the high,
knightIv, and stringent rules of the
code Of dueIlO. For many years before
the war and for Il few years succeed
ing this code duello was n of the.
strongest and most features Tea
--1- - -~,,+Inrn ITO ~ South "a rn
lima life particularly. By this code Il.
man who considered himself insulted
or aggrievcd by another might chal
Ienge the latter to mortal combat on
the field Of honor.
FOUGHT WITH PISTOLS.
And the field of honor it emphati-
caIIy was. Not with light rapieTs or
pOpguns. as it were, as in France
and Germany. but with the direct, dire
ful, deadly pistols, army or navy repeat
er. the cOmbatants standing so many
PAGES apart, as might be arranged by
their seconds, and using, according to
the code, just such pistols, or in rare
cases other weapons, us might be chOs
On by the challenged man. The sec
onds decided the positions and the
giving of the word by a toss up. Eacll,
cOmbatant took with him to the field
a second, a surgeOn, one, two, per-
hapS three friends as witnesses, and
generally one or mOr male negro ser
wants. The seconds, with excessive
civility, punctiliOus courtesy, and
knightly grace, loaded the pistols, plac-l
ed them III the hands of the combatants
and enforced rigid compliance with the
rigid rules of the code duellO.
Like many other peculiar institutions
of medieval life the duel probably
originated with the Germanic nations.
1t is a certain fact. and Il very remark~I
able one, that no trace of the duel, asI
an institution, is to be found in thel
history of the classical nations of AMI
tiquity, or of the many peoples writter|
of i'll the Bible. And certainly in thaI
few personal cOmbats of classical and
Biblical annals that come to our men,
DRY there was no such chivalry, mol
such respect for absolutely equal terms,
as was evinced and practiced by the
Ofa-time southern cavalier. It Will bel
remembered in Il certain noted duel
that David put off Saul's heavy armorl
because it encountered him, but thai
Goliath came against the stripping with
shield and buckler and sword and spearI
III Muse udN> lutIp seem 10 De ulIISI-t
ent opinions about the ethics Of TAXI
ing care of ones skin. Goliath seemsl
to have been 2 fellow who had an en-
cellent idea of taking care of his
skin.
ANCIENT DUEL METHODS.
IN old days some sort of shield of
the person was allowable, as we'll asl
offensive weapons. Hercules, afteri
conQuering the lion, was clad III :heI
lions skin. Among the later GreekSI
soldiers had defensive arms, and theI
Athenian matrOn would have her sol
dier boy who went out with Le0nidasl
10 return either with or on his shield.
IN the chiyalric ages. when the Cruz
saders went ont to Jerusalem, thcI
champion of some lady fair ~pledgadi
10 maintain that his love was the
taiTest and most virtuOus of the wholel
earth. was usually clad in steel, horse,
and man. from head to foot.
In France and in Germany the duel.
fought with light swords. is still very
much in vogue. The dulles of the stu
dents of the German universities, IF
which so much is said and written.
are really but little than fencing
matches. They may be chivalrous AID
ISkh4SSS Dul luCN dIS IOl uSdAIN al
fairs.
Two officers of Frederick the Great.
King of Prussia, once asked his per
mission TO fight a duel. PermissionI
was granted by the rough and Owe
bearing old monarch, but when they
met on the dueling ground next mOrn-I
ing they found there a gallows erecte1I
and Il ~corpOral's guard stationed. and
iuQuiring the meaning were told that
his majesty had ordered that whoever
survived the duel should be immediate
~ hung. The duel did not take place
During the first sixty years OF the
last century. when dueling was so in
force in South Carolina, there was al
rigid law. but absolutely a dead lette"l
as regards enforcement. Public opin-
ion upheld dueling enthusiastically and
frOwned down the law. The penalties
~ To- Tho lly- yr-n-1 r1-1- 40 hr%f