Evening star., 1921-11-30
.DUEL|NG IN ITALY
OF EP|DEM|C.F0RM
Custom in Disfavor, But Man
"Must Fight if ChaI-
Ienged."
by Lillian Il. MOWRER.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and Chicago
Dnily News

by Lillian n. MOWRER.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and Chicago
, Daily News.
ROME, Italy. October 29.-The
American delegate had arrived. The
committee had met to decide whether.
in drawing up the charter Of the
Italian branch of the Junior Red
| Cross, there should be an appeal to in
ternational solidarity. Bus nothing
| could be done. The Italian chairman,
Gen. Roberto Bencivenga, was not
present. He was, in fact, busy fight
| ing Il duel with the nationalist deputy,
Alfredo Rocco. International soli-
| darity had to wait.
| The general is a splendid soldier
| and liberal minded man. He ID not
feudist, or militarist, or Don
| QuiXote. Yet he fought q duel over
! a newspaper argument.
Italy in the last few weeks has suf-
fered from d plague of duels. After
the general and the deputy had
| fought. two newspaper editors, Benito
Mussolini of the Milan Popolo dItalia
| and Francesca Ciccotti Of the Rome
| Paese crossed pens in yenomous combat
and then changed their weapons to
broadswords The government disap-
proved. 1t set detectives on the trail
of the duelists, with orders to follow
| them and arrest them the moment
they began to fight. Dueling is
against the law in Italy. But this
duel was fought, nevertheless. in TIE
| parlor of a solitary villa near Leg
| horn, and after fourteen terrible as
saults had to be stopped because the
doctors present declared that if 1T
continued there would be danger that
Sig. Ciccotti would die of heart fail
ure. But the two adversaries were
not reconciled.
| Omitted to Say ellis Nacellency."
! Now there are threats of u new duel
between an old general and a magis-
| trate before whom he was asked to
| testify. The general, be it noted, has
| a right to the title of 'eXcellency.
The magistrate, with the supposed in
tention of humiliating the army. ad-
dressed him simply as "Mr General
Hence the generals anger. the ex-
change of words, the challenge. Who
wouldn't resent having ones excel
lency ignored?
But worse than that, several Of Mus
solinfs friends have protested against
his acceptance of the duel with Cfc-
cotti, because they declared that Cic-
cotti was morally unworthy. And
since Mussolini fought. he. too. must
be unworthy. and his friends have
challenged him.
Against these duels the Vatican and
Father Semeria. former chaplain to
Gen. Cadorna. are protesting vigor-
ously. But they are all in proper
| form. Each principal arrives with
two seconds and doctor. The
weapons are broadswords. The op-
ponents whack and thrust at each
other for as much an hour, and yet
they seldom do each other any real
harm. To be sure, the encounter ends
as soon as blood is drawn or honor is
| satisfied in any other manner, or any
one is threatened. with heart failure
or nervous pPostration. Still, the COM
parative immunity from serious re-
suits seems remarkable.
Challenge Means Fight.
At the beginning of the war Senator
Carlo Schanzer. now president Of the
Italian delegation at the Washington
conference, fought Il duel with the
economist. Maffeo Pantaleoni. They
were sedentary gentlemen in the
neighborhood of fifty years of age.
Neither possessed particular physical
vigor. Yet they faced each other for