The Elbert County tribune., 1913-07-25
Dana
A Dwarf on the Field Of Honor.

fession before he expired.
Dwarf on the Field Of Honor.
Another oddity among affairs of honor had
for one of the principals dwarf. This JEFF
frey Hudson, Englishman, who from his
eighth to his thrtieth 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 diminutive stature proved no bar to ad-
venturous career. On journey from the Con-
tinent to England he captured by DunkrR
prvateer. Afterward he fell into the hands of
Barbary pirates. He escaped finally. and
turned home to become a captain of horse in the
civil
1t in France, however, whittier he had
gone In attendance on his queen, that the duel
occurred. Some dispute between him and
another Englshman named Crofts.
A meeting with pistols was arranged. On ac-
count of his low stature, Hudson accorded
the privilege of being mounted horseback,
while his adversary remained afoot, which
fair enough since Crofts tall man The
dwarf, unharmed himself mortally 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 frowned
on by the authorities.
One of the most notable fought
Chasse, famous singer of the old French Acad-
emy, in which the principals we're two love-sck
women. boti, of the nobility, the Polish, the
other French The weapons we're 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 press-agent 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 sword-play. but not too much blood
In an encounter on horseback with PISTOLS be-
tween Mente and Prelane. which resulted from
quarrel over a greyhound, the fair Melinte
severely wounded by her charming antagonist.
and. too, she lost the dog
France indeed the happy home of dueling
until after the Napoleonic wars. Then it prac-
ticay ceased There had been enough of fight
ing, enough of death.
But there came 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 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 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 meyer been wholly removed. and.
rule, affairs of honor there today with
out that underlying seriousness which they pos.
sess in other countries of Europe.
Spain, from the standpoint of the duelist is
entitled to credit for being both sincere and
strictly up-to-date in maintaining the code. As
an instance in point may be mentioned en-
counter arranged between two members of a
bicycle club of Granada. named respectively
Perez and Moreno.
This was fought by the men from their wheels,
with the deadly knife known the navaga. The
place of meeting lonely bit of the Meaga
road Perez inflicted severe wound in the left
of Moreno then 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 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
also incline to preserve the hale and honor
able We are not minded to let good men bs
slain for the whimses of the code. We leave
dreling to the stark ignorance of mountaineers
to the viciousness Of thugs In city gangs and to
the antiquated habit of the finest gentlemen Of
Europe.