Year: 1872

Corrcsp ndence Of the Chicago TribHue.


The largest corps student that ev-
er appeared at Heidelburg was an
American, who came here an aver
age size man and went away some
thing wonderful TO behold, and hay
ing the honor of being the best
drlnker, and also the best ducllist
iu H4idelburg. So you see Ameri-
ca bears the palm here, as every
where else. He fought something
like a hundred duels, and never got
defeated in a single contest un-
til nearly the last he fought when he
go this nose almost cut off; but moth
ing daunted, he stepped up to his
adversary, holding his nose with his
hands, and challenged him to anOth-
er duel, which was accepted. They
fought, and the indomitable Amer
lean, the hero of a hundred duels,
came out ahead, to the qualification
of ali his admiring friends. He is
considered to have been the great
est man in Heidelburg (which he
certainly was in size, and his name
will be handed down from genera
to generation, and looked up to as
something superior, something inn
mortal, by the students.


The house which they use for their
duels is situated u short dista~ ~ce
from the town, and when a duel Is
going on sentinels are placed com
municating from the house TO the
town; but this is entirely unnecessa-
ry for although duels are against the
law, yet they are Winked at by the
authorities; IN fact, the inhabitants
are rather proud of them than other
wise, and would be very sorry if they
we're put a stop to. The students
who took me to see the duels, aud
myself, started at half past ten in
the morning, and walked about ff-
IeeD minutes. We arrived at the
house, and after introducing he to
all of his corps, We sat down by a
table, and talked and drank beer,
and waited for the duel to COM
mence.


The duels are so arranged that
there are duels on three days of the
week, whether a ProvOcatiOn was
given or not. The way of ii is this:
| The directors of the duels takes the
names of the corps in regular order
and they are compelled to fight, al
though they may be the very best
in the friends In the world, or per
haps, even relations. So you see that
when fellow goes inGO one of these
corps he is compelled to fight, al
though he may be a very peaceable
| fellow; for, as I said before, they
wont wait for proyOcation, but fight
anyway. The swords that they use
are made of a very long and thin
piece of steel, which bends very cas-
lily, and is as sharp as a razor, so
| that the least touch leaves a mark.
The students here are cut up hor-
ribly and some OF them are really dis
gushing to look at, their faces are so
frightfully SCARED.


Last Friday / saw four duels.-
Each pair fought for a quarter of an
hour, unless the doctor declared one
of them too badly hurt to fight that
long, when, of course, the opposite
party was declared victor. When a
student got cut up, the students all
walkeI up and examin' d it in the
most uncOncernCd manner possible.
The director wrote down III his book
how long a cut was, and also how
deep it was (the longer and deeper
it was, the more the sufferer WAS
thought off, and the doctor washed
it out aud sewed it up, and the du-
ell continued, unless the student that
got 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 was calling out next when his
chair was empty.