A CELEBRATED DUEL

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4295, 2 March 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CELEBRATED DUEL

The commencement of the nineteenth century saw no apparent change in the view 1 M;ou by the majority of people in this country with regard to duelling, .'’’bile ihc killing of an opponent in a duel was legally called murder, and the survivor was indicted before the Courts for that crime, yet. as juries almost invariably returned a verdict of “Not Guilty,’'' Die law remained iu effect a dead letter. Nor can this be wondered at very greatly, for flicro is manifestly a wide difference between an assassin and a, duellist who has. killed Ida man iu what v. as presumably a fair light. Still, there was" considerable body of opinion hostile to the duel; and, as we shall see, two- or throe of tho encounters winch took place in, the ’thirties and the ’forties were of such a nature that the public, without any marked exception, definitely pronounced against the continuance of tho practice. The first duel of, a noteworthy char-

i acter at the beginning of this period I was that between two officers, named reij spcctivoly Lord Camelford and Captain i Best, who had a meeting behind Holland House, Kensington, in 18U4. The , two 'men had been very intimate bosom j friends, in fact, and, a woman was at j tho bottom of the quarrel—as usual. J This person, a Mrs Symons, whoso reputation was of the lightest, had been the choro amie of Captain Best; site was now- that of Camelford. One evening sho met Best at tho opera, and asked j him for something winch he. refused. I Sho became angry and abusive, and on ’ leaving him. declared she “would set Camelford on him.” And she was as good as her word, for as soon as she saw Camelford she told him that Best hail spoken disrespectfully of him. Camolford sought cut his former friend that very evening, and finding him in the Prince of Wales Coffee House in Pall Mall, immediately said, “I hear you have spoken of mo iu the most unwarrantable terms.” Ou Best making some mild reply, Camelford exclaimed that ho knew what had been said of him :to- Mrs Symons, and that the man who had said it was '‘a liar, a scoundrel and a ruffian.'" Whereupon Best made answer that there was now only one course open to him, and that was a challenge, which was given ajid’ accepted.

The meeting took place early in the morning of the following day in the, coffee room of an mu. The weapons agreed upon were pistols, and the encounter was remarkable, inasmuch as the two combatants were accounted the best shots iu the kingdom. Indeed, a, little time previous to the duel they had had a bet on of £'2oo as to which of them was tho bettor hand with the pistol. Best, knowing that - Camelford had :>been worked upon by Mrs Symons, was ; not anxious to fight, and tried to get ■ him to apologise. I “Camelford,” said ho, “we have been 'friends, and I know the unsuspecting ■generosity of your, nature; upon my honour you have been imposed upon by a worthless woman. Do not persist in expressoins under which one of us must j ••.lie'.y,” raid Camelford. “this is child’s {play: the affair must soon.” v,-=' P', c 1- ; eti-orts to bring rkr.ut a reconciliation, and the seconds measured the distance—fifteen paces. The word was given, and Loth fired at the same moment. Camelford fell mortally wounded. Best- was not even touch- * ed. Before he passed away, Camelford recovered sufficiently to- say, VI am kill|ed. but T acquit Best. I alone am to ■ blame.” And he begged him as a last favour to leave him, and make good j his escape.