The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-07-24
A Dwarf on the Field Of Honor.
g RlocWAY co.

n DWaTT on tne fIeIo OF Honor.
Another oddity among affairs of honor had
for one Of the principals dwarf. This was JEFF
frey Hudson. an Englishman, who from his
eighth to his thirtieth year measured just eight
cen inches in height. Then this astonishing per.
son began to grow, and kept at 1t until he had
attained height of three feet and nine inches
But d1minuttve stature proved no bar to an ad
venturous career On journey from the Con-
tinent to England he was captured by a DunkirR
privateer. Afterward he fell into the hands Of
Barbary pirates He escaped finally, and re-
turned home to become captain of horse in the
civil wars.
1t In France however, whittier he had
gone in attendance his queen, that the duel
occurred. Some dispute arose between him and
another Englishman, named Crofts.
A meeting with pistols arranged On ac-
count Of his low stature Hudson was accorded
the privilege of being mounted on horseback,
while his adversary remained afoot, which was
fair enough, since Crofts was tall man. The
dwarf, unharmed himself mortaly wounded his
enemy at the first fire.
Long before the days of militant suffragettes,
women asserted their rights by engaging in the
duello, although such encounters were frowned
on by the authorities.
One of the most notable was fought over
Chasse, a famous singer of the old French Acad-
emy, in which the principals two love-sick
women, both Of the nobility, the one Polish the
other French. The weapons pistols, and
the Frenchwoman was severely wounded. An
unsympathetic government shut up the passion
ate French countess in convent and expelled
her rival from the country.
Something of the modern press7agent flavor
clusters about the affair Of honor between
Marotte Beaupre and Catherine de Urls, actresses
Of the Hotel Bourgogne. Their meeting occurred
on the stage Of the theater, and revealed some
clever swordplay but not too much blood.
In an encounter on horseback, with pistols, be-
tween Melinte and Preanie, which resulted from
a quarrel over a greyhound, the fair Melnte was
severely wounded by her charming antagonist,
and, too, she lost the dog.
France was indeed the happy home of dueling
until after the Napoleonic wars. Then it prac-
tically ceased. There had been enough of fight
ing, enough of death.
But there revival with the restoration,
which soon waxed absurd and at last made duel
ing wholly ridiculous.
The influence of democracy caused tradesmen
to resort to a practice hitherto confined to those
far above them in the social scale. The barber
challenged the hardware dealer who sold him
damaged stove. The charcoal seller had an affair
of honor with the huckster who sold him onions
in short measure. Such vulgarization Of the
noble art of manning and killing wrought havoc
with the prestige of the code. Indeed, in France,
that stigma has never been wholly removed and,
aS rule, aIIalrS OF nOnOr tnere are today with
out that underlying seriousness which they pos
in other countries of Europe.
Spain, from the standpoint of the duelist is
entitled to credit for being both sincere and
strictly upto-date In maintaining the CODE As
an instance In point may be mentioned an en-
counter arranged between two members of a
bicycle club of Granada named respectively
Perez and Moreno.
This fought by the men from their wheels
with the deadly knife known as the navaga. The
place Of meeting was lonely bit of the Melaga
road Perez inflicted severe wound in the left
arm of Moreno, then was killed by thrust in
the right breast.
Exit the DuelIo
Maeterlinck wrote wonderful defense Of duel
ing, but since then he has taken to boxing with
such enthusiasm that he may believe he has re-
canted. Certainly the sentiment of today is hos
tile to the code, despite the archaic preferences
Of czar and kaiser Nowadays we are fostering
human life to the limit with science struggling
wildly for the survival of the unfit Luckily,
while we are saving the diseased and criminal,
we also incline to preserve the hale and honor
able. We are not minded to let good men be
slain for the whimsies Of the code. We leave
dueling to the stark ignorance OF mountaneers,
to the viciousness Of thugs in city gangs and to
the antiquated habit of the finest gentlemen Of
Europe.