DUELS OF GERMAN STUDENTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5861, 1 May 1897, Page 3

DUELS OF GERMAN STUDENTS.

(Strand Magazine.) Often on Saturday mornings, from my study window, I have watched the cart load of duelling accoutrements passing up the road to a suburb of the town, and curiosity at last drew mo into the stream of students following. I entered an hotel with the others, and immediately found myself in a largo hall filled with students — some seventy or eighty — in caps cf All colours. It was a gaily dressed throng. Some of the students were drinking, 'and others, upon entering the " Kneipe-room " (where the .drinking goes on), introduced themselves to a sort of master of ceremonies by bowing and at the same time mentioning their names. On the other side of the hall was a door, labelled "Billiards," and into this I walked. The place reeked of iodoform and beer. In the centre of the room two chairs, about three yards apart, with their backs to each other, stood on a square of carpet, old and discoloured, with here and there a splotch of faded blood. A duel was just over, and THE SPRINKLED SAWDUST "WAS DOTTED WITH LITTLE BUDDY POOLS. Two students were sitting on the chairs as if for a shampoo, their heads bent over basins, while young medicals in long white aprons, with upturned shirt-sleeves, Avere stitching the nasty wounds. No anaesthetic was used, for no duellist would be thought "weak." While the stitching was proceeding preparations for another duel were going on, and two students were being strapped up in their uniform. This encounter, " with seconds," was to last for twenty-five minutes. I may add that when duellists havo no quarrel with each other, and are simply exhibiting their skill, they fight with seconds, and a halt can be called as soon as five blows have "been struck on each side, a momentary rest being thereby allowed. In the duel " without seconds" no halt can be called for twenty-five minutes, or until blood has been drawn and A COMBATANT IS DISABLED. When the dressing was done there was a delay of a fow moments, during which each* duellist rested his padded arm on a comrade's shoulder to prevent it getting tired. Suddenly there was a movement amongst the onlookers, and the master of ceremonies entered and made a little speech. The fighting students then took their places three feet from each other, each still wearing his cap and standing on a cross marked on the floor. They were compelled to stand on this cross, and upon pain of expulsion from the corps were not allowed to bend back to avoid a blow. The umpire stood a few feet to the side, and prepared himself to mark the time of the duel, to give word for the various halts, and to declare the number of blows which drew blood. A second now called put, "Umpire, please command silence for a fifteen minutes' 'Mensur' between Von Briesen and Boos with seconds !" The umpire gave the command and the caps came off. The second then cried, "Anf der Mensur! Bindet die Kl'ingen!" ("On with the match. Touch blades !") The swords were now crossed, and the seconds, who were standing at the left of each principal, touched the crossed blades with their own swords, one of the seconds calling out, " Gebunden sind !" (" They are joined !") The duellists now raised their right arm over their heads so that the arm protected the top of the head, the sword hanging parallel to the left side of the face, GUARDING THE LEFT CHEEK. As soon as both were on guard, one of the seconds cried, " Los ! " ("Apart ! ") and the fight began. Clash followed clash, and each tried to strike, the first blow. The fighting is all done from .the wrist, and the arm must be kept above the head. Each man tries to touch his adversary by reaching over tho protecting arm and striking scalp or left cheek, when the latter is unguarded. The fight continued for some moments, when one of the men began to bleed. "Umpire!" called one of the seconds, "please declare a 'blutigen' on the head!" The umpire declared it, and a doctor ran forward to examine the cut, which, ho said, was insignificant. Then the fight went on. In fifteen minutes it was over, and tho hospital work began. Two tired students, streaming with blood, were bending exhausted over the chairs. The rapiers, which had been bent in the fight, were straightened, and cleaned with carbolic acid, and the sponges, water and/crooked needles, filled with coloured silk, lying on a table near by, were brought into use. One of the doctors was entering up in a little book the number of cuts received, and the number of stitches required to sew them up. The doctor is the judge of a cut sufficiently dangerous to stop a duel, and his little book is THE OFFICIAL RECORD OF THE CONTEST. According to the rules of some Universities, the nature of the offence in a contest of honour requires a certain number of cuts. If one man, for example, calls another a " dummer Junge," which really has a dreadful sound, although it simply means "silly youth," the injured honour may be satisfied with twenty-four cuts with the sword. The same amount is prescribed for the injury done by the word " infamous," which certainly does not seem a fair penalty. Sometimes one student kills another. In that event he is advised to quit the seat of learning. He can, however, enter another university, but if he tills a second time, his reputation is gone, and no University will aHow him within its doors. Often, again, it happens that A DUEL BRINGS ON SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES not dreamt of in the German philosophy. In 1882, for example, at the University of Jena, twenty-three duels took place among the students in a singlo day, and all those who had bceu wounded suddenly found themselves down with blood-poisoning. Three of the students died, and forty-three were laid up in the hospital. It was quickly discovered that the swords, which had been used in the previous duels, had not been properly cleaned. But with all its dangers, from dirty swords or other causes, the custom goes gaily on, even in defiance of the law.