Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1911-09-01
THE CODE DUELLO
II Had Its Origin In the Barba-
rous Wager Of Battle.
QUEER coMBATs IN FRANCE.

One Fatal Affair Of Honor Was Fought
Out In Balloons, and Another Was
Decided With Billiard Balls as
Weapons-A Duel Between Women.
The idea from which the code duello
was developed came down from the
north with the barbariars 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 1t 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 fitting mode Of set
Ting disputes between man and wife.
To equalize as much as possible the
inequality of such contest the man
was put In pit In which be was
buried up to the girdle. while one Of
his arms was bound to his side.
Sometimes a barrel took the place Of
pit. For weapon the man had a
baton or stick, the woman q kind Of
ehhk WIN u cluut Ill II.
The story Of the duel in the modern
sense may be dated from 1921. when
Francis !. gave the lie TO the Emperor
Charles ". proceeding which prom
ised to lead to combat of excep-
uonal 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-
vate duel, fought before witnesses.
who seconded the principals in the en-
counter. came In. Sometimes the sec
onds also mixed II up. and instead Of
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 us a sort Of
harmless comedy.
Several duels have been fought be-
tween women. and there are two or
three Instances of duels between
man and woman, in which the man
did not always get the better of 1t.
One Of these duels between women
was that between two Frenchwomen,
the Marquise de Nesle and the Com
tesse 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 result of this the marquise chal-
lenged the comtesse to fight her duel,
and the challenge was accepted. Pis-
tolls were chosen and the Boise de Bou-
logne selected as the place of meeting.
When the women had taken their
places the Somtesse called out to the
marquise. do you fire first. madame,
and. mind you. don't miss me; don't
Imagine for moment that am going
to miss you" The marquise fired. but
missed and hit neighboring tree. The
comtesse smiled. "Your hand trembles
with passion. madame" cried she.
"You are lost"
I The comtesse aimed deliberately at
the head of the marqulse and fired.
The marquise fell with great cry as
of one who had received a mortal
wound. but the bullet had only cut
away minute piece of her shell-like
ear. All Paris Aughed-even the duke.
/ Two duels have been fought from
balloons. The most interesting was
that between NJ. de Grandpre and NJ.
lie I'ique. which took place on May 3,
l,aI fa
not clear, but possibly because balloon
ing was one of the crazes OF the day.
Each duelist. with his second. got
into balloon in the field adjoining the
Tuileries. and in the presence Of
great crowd the cords We're cut and up
shot the balloons. The combatants
We're armed with blunderbusses. At
about 500 feet from the ground lie
Pique fired and Grandpre Immediately
responded. The latter's shot was eff
fectlve and penetrated lie Pique's bal
loon. which rapidly descended. and lie
Pique and his second were dashed to
death on a housetop. while Grandpre
and his second descended safely some
seven leagues away.
A duel with billiard balls took place
in France Sept 4. 1913. between two
young men named. respectively, Le-
FAINT and Melfant. They quarreled
over a game of billiards and decided
to fight duel with the balls with
which they were playing. They drew
lots for the first throw. and Melfant
won. II am going to kill you at the
first throw" said Melfant. and. aim
ing the missile. he hurled 1t at Lefant,
striking him in the center of the fore
head and killing him almost instantly.
Among curious American duels was
that fought at the Oaks. the famous
New Orleans dueling ground. between
NJ. Pedesclaux, a creole. and retired
French cavalry officer. In antebellum
days. The duel was fought with both
combatants mounted on magnificent
stations and armed with broadswords.
It was fierce battle. in which the
French officer was killed.