Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-08-12
WAR BEGUN BY FISTICUFFS.
A Punch on the Nose Led to the Kill
ina of 10000 People.

1t Is curious, when one comes TO
reflect upon the matter, how fire.
quently comparatively harmless
bout of fistcuffs between two individ-
uals has led directly to a great war,
in which thousands of lives have been
lost.
A notable case in point, for example,
occurred so late as the year 1891.
Two Chilian naval officers, one Con-
gressionist and the other a Balma-
cedaist, were discussing politics aboard
a vessel of the fleet.
In the heat of the argument one
struck the other. Other officers join
ed in the fray. The sailors, too, took
sides, and blood was shed. BY night
fall the fleet was in revolt, and the
great Chilian civil war had begun.
That single blow cost the lives Of
more than 10000 men.
Innamed with wine at a village
fiesta, a Macedonian peasant named
Nicholas Martinovitch engaged in a
rough and d-tumble fight with a COM
patriot whom he suspected of being his
rival in love, and killed him. Chased
by the police, to evade arrest he
crossed the frontier into Thessaly,
where he quickly gathered round him
started raiding the Turkish villages.
This was in March, 1897, and it was
the last straw that broke the back Of
the sultan's patience. Within month
the Graeco-Turkish war had begun.
The Candian war between the
Venetians and the Turks was to have
been settled by the rival commanders,
who agreed to meet one another in
single combat in front of their re-
spective armies. But neither was vic
Itorious. for each succeeded in killing
the other during a duel of only about
ten minutes duration.
ThereupOn the two armies, frantic
with rage. rushed at each other. intent
upon avenging the deaths of their
leaders. The war which followed was
one Of the most dreadful recorded in
history. The Turks lost 10000 men,,
the Christians over 10000.
Curiously enough. this terrib'. con-
hct might have been finished much
sooner than it actually was, but for
another cOntretemps of a somewhat
similar nature Both sides had be-
come appalled, at the awful slaughter,
and terms of peace had been agreed
upon. but when it came to ratifying
the treaty. the Turkish minister in
sisted that the Venetian ambassador
should swear upon his beard and
the beard Of the prophet"-the ordi-
nary Moslem form of oath.
To this. however, the ambassador
objected, for" he said, 1--WE Vene-
tians wear no boards" Neither, for
that matter, do the babOOns." retOrted
the Turk. contemptuOusly, where
upon the Venetian. stung by the in
suit. struck him i'm the face with his
mailed fist The other retaliated in
kind the unsigned treaty was torn to
fragments, and hOStilitieS resumed the
, very next day.
The beginning of the great upris-
ing of the Sicilians against their
French cOnquerors and masters
commonly known as the "Sicilian
VesperS"-was intensely dramatic. 1t
was Easter eve, and Palermo was
thrOnged with merrymakers. Sici-
liam bride passed by, leaning on the
arm of her husband. A French Off
Ger standing near flung at her a
tauntng remark, and the young. new
ly wed husband sprang at him and
felled him with a blow.
The Sicilans were not allowed to
wear arms, and the Frenchman car
ried a sword This he attempted to
draw, as he scrambled to his feet, but
a second time the youths arm shot
out, and again the ruffian measured
| his length on the ground. Then, be-
| fore any one could interfere. the In
suited husband wrested the deadly
weapon from his PROSTATE foe and
ran it through his body.
Wild shouts of eXultatiOn from the
assembled Sicilians showed how they.
at any rate, regarded the deed. cries
were raised of Death to the French.
nf
Seized with sudden frenzy. the popu-
| lace rushed wildly through the streets,
Staying all of that nation they could
| find. Altogether about 5000 perish
ed and many times that number on
both sides lost their lives in the war
/ subsequently undertaken by France
to avenge what she StigmatiZed as a
massacre. but which the Sicilians
| gl0ried i'm as an act of praisewOrthy
patriotism.
Somewhat similar was the begin
| ming of the terrible series of religious
wars which desolated France in the
latter half of the sixteenth century.
over thousand HuguenOts were
assembled i'm a large barn near a place
called Vasy, and were peaceably cele-
brating their religious rites under the
| prOteCtiOn of what was known as the
| ''Edict of January" The Duke oil
Guise. with large escort. rode by
Some of his followers made game oi
/ the wOrshipers. mimicking them.
The Huguenots got angry, ana re-
taliated with certain opprobious re-
marks. and from words the rival par
ties quickly came to blows.
This was the signal for genera
massacre. About sixty Huguenot:
were slain and above 200 wounded
| nSt naw tn
ling spread far and wide. And thirty
Years later Frenchmen were still kill
ling one another on account OF TN:
self-same trivial happening.-Pear
sons Weekly.