The daily Alaskan., 1917-05-21
DUELS IN THE NAVY

The number of United States naval officers killed in dueIs in the half cen tury from I79S to IS4S was twO-thirds the number of officers who lost their lives iu the naval wars of the United States in that same period.
 In the eighty-two dUels which were fought in that period thirty-six men were killed. of whom thirty-three were naval officers. Of those who were not killed in those naval duels One-halt were wounded.
 In those days of the old navy the duel was held to be a sort of indis- pensaJ,e dig.aDa for tue naval officers. Men were sensitive as to their honor, and very fantastic were their notions as to the necessity of it's defense. Duels were fought between officers high in rank and more often between the midShipmcu. The commissioned officers dealt with these affairs of honor" between tle youngsters with POmpOus solCUnity.
 Verses were printed upon their ylc- tins iu the literary journals of the day, and their relatives caused epitaphs in the JohuS0Ejau style to be placed upon their tomJS. Occasionally duels as- sumed the character almost of an h. ternatiouGl incident. and sometimes they became small wars.
 Early in the war with TripoI off, Ccrs became iuyo.red in quarreis among taa--sc.vcs and with the off, cers oG tle British navy who were on service iu the Mediterranean In 1919 the Americans and the British officers who were connected with the garri- son at Gibraltar fought duels so ire queutly that tue governor prohibited the harbOr tO American ships.
 Those old time uiddics were exceed. ingly beI,iCOse, They were very teal. ous of their rank. They had their own exalted Ideas as to tie meaning Of the terms gentleman" and officer" there fore many a sanguinary duel was pre- Cipitated by causes the most trivial What nowadays would. be considered a practical joke then became an affair of ten paces with pistols
 Once a mlddy amused himself by sprinkIng a letter that another middy was writing Thereupon the letter writer spriukled the waistcoat of the offender with the contents of the ink bottle. A few days later the two faced each other in a duel.
 That the number of deaths and seri. ous wounds in these duels was so great Is not surprising h view of the fact that the distance between the com batants measured about thirty feet 4 marksmaR of fair ability could hit his adversary at that distance with out much trouble if hIs nerves were steady. h some eases the distance was much less. In the Bainbridge- Cochran duel 1t was twelve feet. In another duel the pistols almost touch ed. and both combatants were killed at the first shot.
 The largest number of the duels which were fought in the United States took place in the nelghborhOOd of Nor folk, of New York and of Bladensburg, which Is near the city of Washing ton. But duels were also fought on Castle island, In Boston harbor; at New Orleans and in various other places. It was at Weehawken that Commo- dors Oliver II. Perry fought bis duel with Captain John Heath. There were grounds abroad also which in the na. GUre of the circumstances saw many of these naval encounters - for in- stance, Rio Janeiro, Valparaiso, Port Mahon and in various places In the