Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1911-11-03
THE CODE DUELLO
It Had It's Origin In the Barba-
rous Wager Of Battle.
QUEER coMBATs IN FRANCE.

but N Balloons and another Was
Decided With Billiard Balls a.
Wsapons-A Duel Between Women.
The idea from which the code dueilo
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 a 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 a 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 a
baton or stick. the woman kind Of
sling with a stone In It.
The story Of the duel In the modern
sense may be dated from 1927. when
Francis /. gave the lie to the Emperor
Charles v. n proceeding which prom
ised to lead to 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-
vate duel. fought before witnesses.
who seconded the principals in the en-
counter. came In. Sometimes the Sec
onds also mixed 1t up. and instead OF
a duel there was a quartet or a sextet
The day Of dueIIng 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 or
three instances Of duels between a
man and woman, in which the man
did not always get the better Of 1t.
One of these dues between women
was that between two Frenchwomen,
the Marquise de Nesle and the Com
Jesse ue fohgnae' IN the eignteentn
century. Ihe TWO tilted women were
rivals for the affections of certain
duke. and an incident occurred which
brought on bitter quarrel between
the two jealous grande DANES.
AS a result OF TINS the marquise cnai-
ienged tne comtesse 10 nght ner uuei'
ana the challenge was accepted us
tois We're CHOSEN ana the BOISE ue bou-
Iogne seiecteu as tue place OF mee,ihs-
When tne women haa taken tneir
places tne >omtesse caiied Out 70 the
marquise. 'Do you hre hrst. mauame,
aru- mino you. oont mss me- uon't
imagine Tor moment that am going
70 miss you. Ine marquise nred' out
missed anu MT nelshporing Tree Inc
comtesse smiled your hanu tfempies
with passion. madame' ered sne-
lou are iosts
Inc comtesse aimed ueiioeralely NJ
tne head OF the marquise ana nred-
Inc inarquise zen win great cry as
OF one VINO mad received mortal
wound put tne pullet nad only cul
away q minute piece OF ner sheil-nke
ear. All faris iaugned-eVeh tne uuke.
Two duels have been rougnt from
balloons Ihe most interesting was
tnat between M. de Grandpre ana NJ
lie Pique. which took place on May ..
lsoS Why they selected balloons Is
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 q
great crowd the cords were cut and up
shot tie balloons. The combatants
were armed with blunderbusses- At
about 800 feet from the ground LIE
Pique fired. and Grandpre Immediately
responded. The latter's shot was eff
fective and penetrated lie Pique's bal
loon, which rapidly descended. and lie
Pique and bis second were dashed to