DUELLING CENTRE OF PARIS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10580, 8 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

DUELLING CENTRE OF PARIS.

Sines the He do la Jatte of tragic meiivor.v lias been turned into a ; 'gardcn whore the .children play, little mindful of the .scenes'of bloodshed formerly enacted there, the Grande ll'ouc has hern the great centre of duelling in Pi"-;ci'. Its history,- however,' is ■ iuiiocnons cr.:i!pared with that of the old dr.cii:.:;.', ground of the island in the Seine. Ci-r "of the very last, of the meeting;; t)x re had a fatal ending.- "The nature of her husband's engagement was kept secret from the. wife of a duellist. He brought her to a restaurant near by—she had innocently insisted on accompanying; hirn- —and he left her and. the child on the pretext, .of a billiard match. He never saw them again, as he fell, pierced to the heart in the second : bout.':-.-.. ■'..■, . "_ ' : ■'..;■ Duelling is. a less serious business, ,writcs a Paris correspondent of the Pall Mall Gasette, since these "affaires d'honeiir" were regulated at the f;;ot of the great rotatory which pluiisra Parisians in midair. The present, manager has witnessed some 250 oiicoudt tors, and all save one or two have had a serio-comic rather than a grave aspect. One of the exceptions was the celebrated battle between the Vieomte Marc de Pully and the Baron del Prat

It was a tremendous setto. Vicointo do Pully was left handed, his right foieaim having been amputated as the icult of a ■•hooting ace "dent Kaily in tho engagement he -\a, badiv wounded m the libs, ti'i l >io d point of his adversary having di "7i\ ' .ltced his boch But, though tl bl< od gushed, he continued to ,vr\\ on. The uniwic wiencLed hu mm id from him bv fdee As a coi'seq ' " c oi his wound M de 'lull\ had to !(<,/ his bed six i.nmths

Four or hve years ago there v. as 01;othei sensational caeo ri spitting the enemj. The two men who faced one another weio Ivl. de Villctto and M. do Atploiv. The latter wis ratJicr seiiou&ly wounded. "When M. Dubois, the icaious "maitic d'armos,'" fought with M. Damotte. the letter received a slash th'itecn centimeters, long in his leg as o proof of the process of the piofcsnnal.

The French' law forbids duels, but takes no steps to provent them. Tec it is Lometirnes moved in spite of itself.' One of these occasions was when M. do Villas killed M. Piefcri, a Corsicaii journalist. The latter had no notion ot the use of his arm, whereas the foit mer was an expert swoidsrann. Mo, war found by a Seme jury to bo guilty of voluntary homicide and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. In other ca&es" where men have been kjlled—as occurred a year or two ago in a combat between two Roumaniati f,Uid«nts —the courts have taken a lenient vien. Die historic pitch, iuct at the base of the Great Wheel,; Which was constructed by an English firm .named Basset at the, time of, thq Great Exhibition. A gra-vellcd strip bounded at one end by a sapling and at the other by two palms 'in tubs measures -exactly thirty metres, thq regulation length for a contest with rwords.' The width is two meters,! When a duel takes place, which occurs about twenty times a year, the ground rccovtc-P fome sort of piFpaiilinn, the gra-. el being scraped off and replaced bv sand. The wits of the boulevards declare that the Great Wheel pays itsj dividend by its duels, charging £2 a time. As a matter of fact there is no tariff at all. The only payment paid is a "pourboire" to the men who propare the ground. The wheel's interest in the affair is the advertisement it gains from an encounter of the sort. Duelling is pn the decrease, the manager tell me. Its present form is so attenuated Hint it is ridiculous. . Most ! Frenchmen will admit it, but it is a cus- ■ torn and has to be respected even by those who feel its absurdity. In the vast majority of these morning engagements under shadow of the huge ma-

cliino the wound that brings the fight to an end is a mere scratch on '''the wrist. This is partly due to the sys■tem of duelling in vogue, known as the "methods Baudry." Its chief claim'"s that it places the inferior performer (n a level with the expert. . ,■ Baudry, the inventor of this simple "true," is a reputed swordsman, ;'out in "half an hour lie will show you hoyr to "disable the ablest antagonist. 30ho principle is to hold your swordl '-but straight and keep it there. By these means you can, bar accidents, defyftlie other to do his worst. Ho can hardly press the tyro for fear of piercing hifriself. Feints and counters aro practised on the actual field: movements aro the simplest; the straight thrust is met by an almost rigid arm. Military' officers fight the fiercest. They do not stop for the first scratch. Again, their reasons for fighting are generally of an intimate and private character, which give impetus to sword arm. It is generally a caso of "Cherchez la fomme," whereas the civilian is often inspired by political motiivos. Elections let loose the duellist. Quarrels between politicians .who r were rivals at the polls led to at least a couple of encounters at the Great Wheel this year. Journalism and the Chamber provide the major part of the scenes at this corner of the Champ de Mars, ■v ; »'i>h.- appropriately .Hear the Ecole Militaire, is opposite the site of tho old , Ualiere des Machines, one of the last vestiges of the exhibition ten years ago. Socialists are by their principles averse to the duel, but some have recourse "tout do meme" to the arbitrament cf arms. Quite recently the Deputy M. Messimy fought with a penman who had attacked him in print. Tho notorious Sarrant and PugliesciConti duel did not take place here, but on the outskirts of Paris. In this cas© the director of the combat was M. Clemenceau, M. Sarrants chief at that time at the Ministry of the Interior. The

incident which led to the spectacle'of two middle-aged' gentlemen in their shirt sleeves trying to pierce one another occurred at the Palais Bourbon itself... ' '

No duel is complete without M. Rou-gier-Dorcieres, who' must h;ivo presided over more affairs of the kind than anyone living. He is a journalist by profession, but is an acknowledged authority on the etiquette of duels. Some of these meetings . have n. thoroughly theatrical equipment, with a cinematograph, a big crowd, si roped ring, and .the rest; others are rigidly private and limited to principals, seconds, and di-'i-ector of the combat. Adventurous persons sometimes climb into the Wheel and view tho assault from above ground. The Inst theatrical fight was between M. Thorneques and M. H. de Pierrobourg. It was as crowded as a prizefight. ; There is something symbolical in the fact that boxing contests tako placq on the other side of the Grar.tla Roua from tho duels. The English method' of settling disputes is ' gaining ground—at lenc.t as a. pastime and a sport—in Fn!i:r;v It looks as if the game of fisticuffs is treading hard upon the heels of the chevaliorosque appeal to steel. At this Paris Wonderland portant glove fights take place on Saturday night during the season. The Grand Roue, therefore, makes a. double claim on sportsmen as an upholder of the nav and th? old method of regulating disputes, of proving who is the better men. Sword contests only take place at the Great Wheel; lights with pistols i'.re celebrated at the Faro des Princes.