Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1911-09-27
THE CODE DUELLO.
1t Had Its Origin In the Barba-
rous Wager of Battle.
QUEER COMBATS IN FRANCE.
Ono Fatal Affair Of Honor Was Fought
Out In Balloons, and Another Was
Decided With Billiard Balls as

WsaponsNA Duel Between Women.
The idea from which the code duello
was developed came down from the
north with the barbarians who over
ran the Roman empire. They brought
with them the ordeal or wager Of bat
tie or judicial duel, which sprang from
their idea to fight it out and let the
guilt or innocence OF the accused be
determined by the result of the battle.
Strangely enough, the judicial duel
was considered n fitting mode OF set
Ting disputes between man and wife.
To eQualize as much as possible the
Inequality OF such a contest the man
was put in pit in which he was
buried up TO the girdle, while one of
his arms was bound to his side.
Sometimes a barrel took the place of |
a pit. For a weapon the man had n |
baton or stick, the woman kind Of /
sling with n stone in it.
The story Of the duel in the modern |
sense may be dated from 1927. when
Francis l. gave the lie to the Emperor
Charles ", n proceeding which prom
Used to lead to u combat of excep-
tional interest. but which never took
place because mutual friends recon
ciled the pugnacious monarchs.
By this time the judicial duel had
been gradually abolished. and the pri-
waite duel, fought before witnesses,
who seconded the principals in the en-
counter. came in. Sometimes the sec
'Onds also mixed it up. and instead OF
a duel there was a quartet or a seXtet
The day of dueling has passed long
since in England and America and
only fingers in France as sort OF
harmless comedy.
Several duels have been fought be
tween women, and there are two OF
| three instances OF duels between a
man and a woman, in which the man
did not always get the better of it.
One Of these duels between women
was that between two Frenchwomen.
the Marquise de Nesle and the Com
Jesse de POlignac, in the eighteenth
century. The two titled women were
rivals for the affections Of a certain
duke. and an incident occurred which
brought on a bitter quarrel between
the two Jealous grande danes.
As a result OF this the marQuise chal-
and the challenge was accepted. Pts
tolls were chosen and the Boise de Bou-
logne selected as the place OF meeting.
| When the women had taken their
places the comtesse called out TO the
marquise. do you fire first. madame.
and. mind you don't miss me; don't
imagine for a moment that am going
to miss your The marQuise fired, but
missed and hit a neighboring tree. The
comtesse smiled. "Your hand trembleS
with passion, madame" cried she
You are lost!"
The comtesse aimed deliberately at
the head of the marQuise and fired.
The marquise fell with great cry rs
OF one who had received mortal
wound, but the bullet had only cut
away a minute piece Of her shell-like
ear. All Paris laughed-even the duke
: Two duels have been fought from
balloons. The most interesting was
that between NJ. de Grandpre and NJ
lie Pique, which took place on May 3
1908. Why they selected balloons Is
, not clear, but possibly because balloon
Ing was one OF the crazes of the day.
y Each duelist, with his second. go
into q balloon In the field adjoining the
Tuileries, and in the presence Of
great crowd the cords were cut and III
!, shot the balloons. The combatant'
were armed with blunderbusses. 4
about 500 feet from the ground l.
PiQue fired. and Grandpre Immediately
responded. The latters shot was IF
fective and penetrated lie Pique's bal
loon, which rapidly descended. and l.
PiQue aud his second were dashed {
}. death on a housetOp. while Grandpr
r, and his second descended safely som
q seven leagues away.
II A duel with billiard balls took plac
in France Sept. 4, 1S43, between tw
young men named. respectively, Lt
FAINT and Melfant. They quarrele
~ over a game Of billiards and decide
to fight duel with the balls wit
y which they were playing. They dre'
. lots for the first throw. and MelfaT
won. 81 am going to kill you at tn
first throw" said Melfant, and. ain
ing the missile, he hurled it at Lefan
n striking him in the center OF the for
w head and killing him almost Instant.
% Among curious American duels We
that fought Mt the Oaks. the famo,
New Orleans dueling ground. betwee
IL NJ. Pedesclaux. a creole. and Il retire
a. French cavalry officer. In antebellu
ID days. The duel was fought with bot
combatants mounted on magnificei
stations and armed with broadsword
1t was a fierce battle. In which Il
French officer was killed.