Delaware City press. (Delaware City, Del.) 1913-19??, 1913-07-25

prit explained that he had rengious scrupes
against dueiing.
"Relgion" the autocrat retorted, is one thing;
honor is another" And he commanded the sur
geon's resignation.
In the German Reichstag Socialist recently
attacked William for the imperial sanction given
TO dueling He concluded fierce denunciation
with the assertion that the royal exemption
from the code removed so that the crown prince
might become a principal In an AFFAIR OF honor
the kaiser would instantly put the ban on sucn
personal combats
II ia nrobable that the allegation of the Social
list was without any warrant, and that, did honor
permit, the kaiser would send his heir to the
neld without a whimper. But this charge as
we'll as the czars procurement, calls attention
anew to the fact that dueling is still encouraged
by the highest civilization on the continent oil
Europe, though for generations the divinity that
doth hedge about king has commanded that
the immediate family of royalty as well as the
sovereign himself, must not be exposed to such
peril of bullet or blade. Aforetime it was not
30. Many kings became famous for prowess In
personal encounters with the foe, and more than
once duel has served to determine sovereignty
There has been nothing Of the sort, however, IN
recent history although only skilled diplomacy
avoided an encounter between George III, OF Eng
land and Frederick Of Prussia.
King Georges Duel.
These two peppery and oplnionated monarchs
had a long list of grievances between them. AT
the time of crisis the chief quarrels between
them were over marriages and Mecklenburg
Finally they agreed to settle their disputes by
personal combat according TO the code.
King George chose, as his second, Brlgadler-
General Sutton, while Colonel Dersheim was TO
serve Frederick. George was in residence AT
Hanover The Prussan monarch was at Saltz'
dahl which is near Brunswick Arrangements
for the duel were formally completed, and Hide
shem on account of its convenient location, was
selected for the place of meeting Naturally
those in the confidence of the two sovereigns
were in state of frightened suspense and every
effort made to prevent the light. These rail-
ed however until the Prussian minister to the
court Of st. James by ruse secured slight de-
lay. The interval sufhced to remove the causes
of btterest contention and the monarchs grew
calm enough to hear reason
Under all the circumstances that would nave
been the most curious Of duels had it been
brought to pass. The outcome might have been
either farcical or tragical.
For the matter of that, there have been actual
meetings apenty of either kind, the ludiqrous OF
tlSi A cgmbst In the Tree-Tops.
Perhaps the absurdest duel was fought in the
eighteenth century. The Marquis Merle de
Sainte-Marie interchangeable duelist. An
other gentleman almost equally busy the field
Monsieur Pierrot dIsaac Now, pierrot In
French is sparrow, and merle is blackbrd Out
of these seemingly innocent facts combat.
for dIsaac visit to the nobleman. delivered
himself in this wise:
Il am Bonapartist monsieur lie marquis you
i the
blackbird, Isn't there bird too many?"
The marquis gracefully accepted this suave
statement of the situation.
Precisely" he agreed MY choice is pistols 3"
And he added "As is appropriate for birds of
our species, let us fight in the trees"
This whimsical suggestion was carried out.
The seconds had their places on the ground, but
the principals aoft in the branches of trees
that stood the requisite distance apart. The in
stgator Of the duel was the victim for at the
received a ha
which sent him crashing through the branches
He managed to seize of the lower limbs and
from there was helped down by his seconds.
But the marquis failed to be discreet in the
time of victory. Seeing his adversary laid low
he began twittering joyousiy, initiating the song
of blackbrd DIsaac only waited for his les
to heal before issuing a challenge on account Of
the offensive chirping, and in this second en-
counter, which lacked any bizarre feature excep
its cause, the Marquis de Sante.Marie was Sc
verely wounded
duel more amusing in wholesome way wal
fought in our country some seven y-fv
years ago. An itinerant preacher named Brew
used to travel through Kentucky. He was mai
possessed of mighty snews and, too, of a Gel
tain skill that would have delighted a league
manager, as the event showed. In his exercis
of the ministerial function, he scathingly rebuke
man of notorious prohigacy who retorted witt
challenge
Tho parson, the challenged party ha
choice Of weapons. He selected for each con
blatant hslf-bushel of Irish potatoes-large one,
solid and well rounded, The further stipulation
OF the engagement were for distance of fftee
PAGES and the taking of only potato at
time from the receptacle.
The profgate protested but in vain Even
ually the two met in accordance with the clerg,
mans requirements. When the word was give
the parson instantly hurled a potato, whic
caught his enemy in the ribs before the ma
could lay hold a missile
The first was followed by FIVE Others al
every one smote the wretched target The vi
tim never even secured potato much less thre
one Each time he reached for one anoth
from his foe smote him sore After the six
potato had struck, he fell unconscious and 1t w
week before he recovered sufficiently to lea
his bed.
The farcical result of this resort 10 the he
of honor had very considerable effect in brir