The Spanish Faca Duel.
The frequency of knife duels in the citlas of Southern Spain is appalling to foreigners. Among the lower classes every man carries a murderous knife, the blade of which is usually 12in or 14in long, and of razor-like sharpness. Tt is called a faca. The entire man and boy population carry whistles. These are used for the purpose of announcing that a street fight with knives is about to begin. Everybody within hearing when a } whistle blows rushes to the scene, and is sure to witness the serious maiming, if not the killing, of one or both combatants. Statistics indicate that for every 100,000 inhabitants there is an average of one death per day resulting from these knife duels. These duels seldom end before, at least one of the combatants is dead, as they are always tied to each other, either leg to leg or left arm to left arm. The onlooking ci'owd gets furiously excited ■ as the fight goes on, and often small fortunes are won, and lost on the success or failure of the fighters. The law does not interfere.'*
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18990817.2.245.9
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2372, 17 August 1899, Page 62
Word Count
186The Spanish Faca Duel. Otago Witness, Issue 2372, 17 August 1899, Page 62
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