Year: 1872

HUicTtCdU lUO NtldInpiOHs


A letter to the Chicago Tribune
from Heidelberg contains the follow
ing:


The largest corps student that ever
appeared in Heidelberg was an Ameri-
can, who came here an average sized
man, and went away something won
derful to behold, and having the hon
or of being the best drinker, and also
the best duelest in Heidelberg. So
you see America bears the palm here
as everywhere else. He fought some
thing like hundred duels, and never
got defeated till nearly the last one
he fought, when he got his nose almost
cut off; but nothing daunted, he step
ped up to his adversary, holding his
nose with his hands, and challenged
him to another duel, which was ac-
cepted. They fought, and the indom-
table American, the hero of hun
dred duels, came out ahead, to the
great qualification of all his admiring
friends. He is considered to have
been the greatest man in Heidelberg
(Which he certainly was as regards
size), and his name will probably be
handed down from generation to gen
Grafton, and looked up to as something
superior, something almost immortal,
by the students.


The house which they use for their
duels is situated short distance out
of town, and when duel is going on
sentinels are placed communicating
from the house to the town; but this
is entirely unnecessary, for, although
the duels are against the law, yet they
are winked at by the authorities in
fact, the inhabitants are rather proud
of them than otherwise, and would be
very sorry if they were put stop to.
The student who took me to see the
duels, and myself, started at about
half-past ten in the morning, and
walked for about fifteen minutes. We
arrived at the house, and after intro
ducing me to all of his corps, we sal
down by table, and talked and drank
beer, and waited for the duel to com.
mence.


The duels are arranged so that there
are duels on three days of the week
whether provocation is given or not
The way of it is this: The director
of the duels takes the names of the
members of the corps in regular order
and pairs them off, and they are com.
piled to fight, although they may be
the very best friends in the world, or
perhaps, even relations. So you see
that when a fellow goes into enc OF
these corps he is compelled to fight
although he may be very peaceable
fellow; for, as / said before, they don't
wait for provocation, but fight any
way. The swords that they fight with
are made of long and very thin
piece of steel, which bends very easily
and is as sharp as a razor, so that the
least touch leaves a mark. The stu
dents are cut up horribly, and some
of them are really disgusting to look
at, their faces are SO frightfully scar
red.


Last Friday l saw four duels. Each
| PAIR Iougnt lor quarter OF an hollri
unless the doctor declared one of them
too badly hurt to fight it out for that
length of time, when, of course, the
opposite party was declared victor
When student got cut, the students
all walked up and examined it in the
most unconcerned manner possible
The Director wrote down in his book
how long cut it was, and also how
deep it was (the longer and deeper il
was, the more the sufferer was thought
of) and the doctor washed it out and
the duel continued, unless the student
that was cut was unable TO do so, when
he was declared to be the loser; and
the next duel went on in the same
manner. All this reminded me very
| much of barber shop, with the bar
ber calling out "Next," when his chair
is empty.